Miss Santana present. Mrs. Scott, >> we have a quorum present. Miss uh Miss Faria, would you please lead us in the flag salute 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. >> Miss Faria, would you please read the mission statement? Empower and inspire every student every day.
>> Thank you, Mr. Please read the Open Public Meeting Act statement. >> Good evening. Open public's meeting act notice. In accordance with the provision of the New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act, the Township of Union Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place they are published
in the STAR ledger in Union County at local sources posted at the administrative building of 2369 Mars Avenue, Union, New Jersey. file with the township clerk and mailed to all persons if any who have requested set notice. The board of education offers members of
the public an opportunity to address issues regarding items on the agenda or or any issues. Individuals need to identify themselves by name and address. Public comments are limited to three minutes. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be
considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. board ask all members of the public to be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Comments regarding students and employees of the board will not be responded to by the board. Mr. President,
thank you. I note that we have a number of members of the public here at 6 PM. We typically convene this meeting and then immediately go into executive session to discuss legal issues and personnel matters. So, and then we will reconvene promptly at 7 p.m. So, can I
have a motion to go into executive session? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> The motion's been properly moved and seconded. Roll call, please. >> Miss Carbonal. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Maki. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes. >> Miss Santana. >> Yes. >> Mr. One minute warning, folks. We're going to reconvene in one minute.
You're doing We're doing the MOA before public. >> May I have a motion to go back into public session, please? >> Second. >> Moved by Miss Santana, seconded by Mrs. Miss Fia. Roll call, please.
Miss Carbell. >> Mrs. Conte Maki. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Mrs. Faria. >> I'm sorry. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow. >> Mr. Nasta.
>> Yes. >> Miss Santana. Yes, Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> We'll now move to the approval of minutes. Can I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> The minutes of the February 10th work session and executive session, February
24th regular meeting and executive session. Moved by >> Miss Santana. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Miss uh Ki Macki. Roll call, please. Miss Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kaki.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes. For February 10th work section um and executive abstain for February 24th executive and public. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta.
>> Yes. >> Miss Santana. >> Yes. >> Mr. Con? >> Yes. >> I apologize. communications uh act forward action of which is reflected on the operation and personnel agendas as appropriate. I have >> uh without objection, I would like to
ask the board to take an agenda item out of order and move the adoption of resolution G2, which is the the approval of the memorandum of agreement only not proposed salary
guides with the Union Trip Education Association. Is there a motion? >> So moved. Moved by Miss Santana. >> Second. >> Seconded by Miss Faria. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Co, may I just please make one quick statement before the board votes, just
so everyone's clear. Um, pursuant to the public employment relations commission, uh, negotiations for a successor collective bargaining agreement with the majority representative. It's a voluntary process. Uh, there's a two-step process. Approval of a memorandum of memorandum of understanding as well as a separate
approval of the salary guides. Salary guides are subject to mutual agreement by the parties. Uh it's my understanding that the parties, the Union Township Education Association and the Union Township Board of Education have negotiated in good faith and arrived at
an amicable memorandum of agreement with language and salary percentage increases etc. It's also my understanding that the parties have not come to a mutual agreement on salary guides as of yet. So while there may have been draft salary
guides etc circulated to members of the association those guides are not binding on the board of ed because the board of ed was not presented with those guides in advance for its review and approval. So we're just making it very clear that the agreement tonight or the action of
the board tonight is to approve theou in accordance with the party's good faith obligations. The board will be happy to review and jointly agree upon salary guides with the UTA in an orderly and professional manner in accordance with
the law. Thank you. >> Is there any other discussion? Um I have a brief comment. As our council has just indicated, the board is is pleased that we've reached the an agreement with the association,
one that we sought for uh throughout the period of of bargaining. Um I want to put on the record that the notion that this board did not bargain in good faith was not correct. The agreement that we are ratifying
tonight, the framework uh and the general parameters was put on the table by this board in September and we're pleased that we finally reached the resolution. We will fulfill our commitments of that memorandum and one of those commitments is that we will
make certain the retroactive salary payments are made by July 15th. Our continued discussions with the association to make certain that we meet those mutually agree Mutually agreed upon salary guides will require us to get that done efficiently so that we can
meet that commitment. Hearing no other comment, we have a roll call, please. >> Miss Carbonel, >> yes. >> Mr. uh Mrs. Conte Maki, >> yes. >> Mrs. Faria, >> yes. >> Mr. McDow, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta,
>> yes. >> Miss Santana, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohan, >> yes. We will now have public comments on resolutions. And before we begin, good evening everyone. I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for being here tonight. As we begin the public comment
portion of the meeting, I want to remind everyone that we value input and appreciate your time and effort in sharing your thoughts and concerns. We ask that all comments be respectful and constructive as we aim to foster productive dialogue that benefits our community and the work we're all here to
do. Each speaker will be given three minutes to address the board. Please remember that while we're eager to hear your perspectives, we are unable to engage in a discussion during this portion of the meeting. However, your comments will be carefully considered by the board and if necessary followed up
on. With that said, I invite the first speaker to approach. All right, the first speaker is Glenda Ria Placio. >> Good good evening everyone. Thank you for having me here. >> There you go. >> Okay, perfect. So again, thank you for
having me here. And I was compelled to >> Hold on one second. Can you make sure that >> the microphones can speak directly? >> Hello. Hello. Better. Okay. All right. Take two. Good evening. Good evening everybody. Um my name is Ria Placio and
I am a union resident for just about five years now. Um I was compelled to attend this board of education meeting tonight with in response to the letter that Dr. Benista has sent to the Union Township um parents who we are currently
who have children in the school system. Um, I came here today because I am gravely concerned with um the repercussions of the budget cuts that you have stated in your letters. Um, I have two boys that's in the system. One
is a seven-year-old that is thriving in the Washington Elementary School and I have a cute, rambunctious four-year-old that is currently in the prek system, prek3 at the YMCA. Um, I am gravely
gravely concerned with the plans that you have regarding universalizing the prek center in this neighborhood. Um, I'm hearing rumors that it may be in the other side of town. I'm hearing rumors that it might be at Franklin, at Hannah
Caldwell, at Battle Hill. And I came here today to get clarification on what does that what does that what does that mean? So from my point of view, I get that there is that you have to make difficult decisions to make your new budget work. However, I'm looking at
this from a parents perspective and how I'm going to live through this school year day in and day out. I'm going to have to sign up for two before cares to make sure that I get from one school in one side of town to the other side of town to drop off my preschooler who is
eyes wide open on what an elementary school would even look like. How would I be able to pick up one kid from one side of town to the other side of town during half days? And I'm looking to this board of
education to help me understand how will that work? How will this minimize congestion throughout town and how will this really benefit the students that we have at hand? I get that money is an issue, but I'm trying to have your eyes
look at the well-being of our students first. So I'm looking to each and every one of you to help me understand what the rationale is, what the implementation plan is, how are we going forward with this plan from the last day
of school on June 22nd and making it come to life on September 1st. I need to understand these and I need to understand what your timing would look like. So from a parents perspective, I need to make a decision. if I choose to
keep my four-year-old in this public school system or do I need to look at other private centers to make sure that it's conducive to our schedule and it's conducive to his progress. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. Good evening. Uh, Peter Leone, 13 Stratford Apartments, Oldbridge, uh, teacher atwami Middle School. You guys know this. So, um I just um I'm just here to say uh it was a long
process. Uh but thank you for reaching anou as they call it now. I'm used to MOA. So um like Mr. Cohan said, I just hope that the salary guides are agreed on efficiently and quickly and then all of us can be behind all of us and we can
really look forward to the end of the year and next school year. So I just want to thank you for uh reaching theou. Thank you. Thank you. >> Margaret Shannon, 2591 Spruce Street Union and the UTA president. And I do
have to ask a clarifying question about what happened before public comments. So, did you vote on just changing the agenda with flexibility or did you actually vote on G2? >> Okay. Because I I I don't know what the
proper term is, but I take some objection or offense that because I wanted to speak to it before you guys voted. So, I'm not sure why we weren't able to do public comments before you voted on something, but just getting that off my chest. I'm glad that you
approved it. I was a little takenback by some of the comments that Mr. Cohan made about um I don't know if it was Mr. Cohen or Mr. Taylor, I apologize about the salary guides and the uh lateness of them. The salary guides were done a long time ago.
Yes, there were some questions. Yes, there were some mistakes made um from both parties. Not, you know, things were put down wrong, so things had to be changed. But those salary guides have been in around for about three weeks now. So, I just want to make that clear
that they were available. And I do, as Mr. Leon said, "I am glad that we've come to this point and I look forward to cleaning up whatever it is that has to be cleaned up on the salary guides, but again, in the future, I would appreciate public comments to be done before things
are voted on. Thank you. >> Thank you for comments. >> We'll now move to the superintendent report. Thank you and welcome everyone tonight. I apologize for my voice. I'm uh I have a scratchy throat.
So, as we do monthly, uh we're keep highlighting and as we talked about um why we're highlighting our enrollment um now and really keeping an eye on it is because enrollment is one of the the key things regarding uh within the funding
formula of a budget that the state looks at. So they take the the they look at your um enrollment on a specific date, October 15th. You submit it and then you know that's part of uh how they fund uh certain aspects of the uh state aid. So
what we spoke about is we um always grow over the year. We might lose kids from the previous year, but then we grow throughout the year and get it back to where it's been an ongoing trend year after year where um we get a lot of
students registering with us in a sense after October 15th. So, it's it we want to make sure everyone understands a lot of different aspects of then what ends up impacting us, you know, which we'll be highlighting tonight in our budget report, you know, but losing students
um in a sense can impact you in funding. So, you know, that's why we want to keep all our students here and and again keep them going. So, Delilah Haley, is Delila here? All right. So, I'm going to come back to Delilah, but she was our unsung hero and
hopefully she'll make it here. I know parking's tough tonight in traffic. So, why don't uh Ally flew here from our softball game. They won. So, so Ally um is our liaison this month and you know, we're going to highlight Alli's gonna
highlight our winter sports how well we did and it's nice that softball won today and and you're here to join us to tell us about all the wonderful things. So Ally, here the mic. >> Thank you very much. >> There's the clicker. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> Hello. Good evening everybody. My name
is Ally Sylvestri and I'm going to talk a little bit just about what's happening at the high school. Um, a little bit about me. I am a senior at Union High School. Very proud of it. I am a four-year varsity athlete and I am captain of the varsity
softball team. I am attending Gettysburg College in the fall and I plan to study health sciences to go in the medical field. >> Thank you very much. So to begin, we are going to honor our coaches. Um Mr. Dino Dubalonia, he
earned the Union County Coach of the Year, District Coach of the Year, and Region Coach of the Year. and Eric Loftton Harris in his first year as coach earned the coaches association Union County Coach of the Year.
Next, we have our JOTC program which hosted the North Jersey League Drill Championship and they did amazing. Um they placed first in unarmed color guard, armed color guard, unarmed regulation and unarmed exhibition. The
maroon guard and infantry guard represented Union with very much pride, precision and discipline. And this is just the beginning of all the amazing things that these people are going to do. Next, um, we had hosted Frozen in the
musical for UHS PAC and it was a huge success. Personally, I loved it very much. They all did amazing. Um, we had five performances and sold about 2,000 tickets and about 550 attendees on Friday night, which and over 400 for
closing, which is pretty big for a Sunday. During their final performance, the cast received a whole audience standing ovation from the start to the end of the boughs. And there were over 80 Union High School students participating. And apparently they are all recovering.
A lot of them were out yesterday, much needed time. And um they'll stop by to perform in the upcoming months. Uh our girls and boys basketball team did phenomenal this year. The boys basketball record was 22 and
five and the girls was 14 and 10. Both teams has have advanced to the state semifinals. Our boys swim team qualified for the state tournament as well as our bowling team which also qualified. And winter
track uh the girls won the STE section state champions, sorry. And our wrestling team had a phenomenal season. They were 22 and five. Unfortunately, they lost in the team state championship. Ariel Azerado Azeredo was
the region four champion. And we had three students who went to state qualifiers in Atlantic City. Ariel Azerado, Nikki Berlotti, and Obre Ingram. Very happy to say they are all my friends.
Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Ally. And uh we usually take a picture. >> Yeah. >> So we come in the middle with your fellow board members. >> Anyone have any questions while we're
getting ready for a picture? Any questions? >> I'd like to actually say something. And it just struck me um while Ally was uh speaking and I think all of her predecessors that have come uh uh in these past few months
I've had the honor of watching you grow up in front of my eyes from kindergarten all the way till now. She is a true product of Union and I want to say every other child that has been here every
month also. So when when we talk about union, this is what I want everyone to see. Thank you so much, Ally. Thank you. Thank you again, Ally. >> So, next, um, I would like to invite Miss up.
We're gonna share. I'll let Miss start. Um and then uh if I need to chime in a little bit on our budget. >> Okay. Okay. >> I don't think this is on. Is it on? Anyway, good evening. I'm Yolanda Um the school business administrator
here and uh all of you guys have come out. Obviously, the news have gotten out that the district has lost uh state aid um of 1.7 or 1.6 and um basically this is the second year
in a row that we have taken a significant um reduction in state aid. Um before I start, bottom line is uh to fund a school there are different components
that make up the revenue sources. local tax levy, state aid, you have some title entitlements, miscellaneous revenue,
um fund balance, which is quote unquote our savings, and extraordinary aid. um were able to apply for any uh reimbursement for special ed um related sources that
exceed the $44,000. So this year our gross revenue sources is 190,000 I mean million dollars. As you can see the operating which is our main piece is 17 um5 million uh dollars
representing 92% of uh the whole pie. Then you have your fund 20 which is your early childhood as well as any entitlements um and debt service.
Next, the operating is the big piece. That's where you see your local miscellaneous at 115 million which represents 66 of the pie, state aid 31, semi that we're spoke
about, extraordinary aid and uh fund balance. Uh now basically the state years years ago um selected a committee to come up with what would it take to
fully fund a district. That is what we call an adequacy budget. So they take the number of kids slice and dice them by all social economics um the town demographics etc. and then
they come up with what they feel we should um what the amount would be to fully um educate a kid. So that amount is $177 million.
So the funding formula as we know are being challenged and they're supposed to be changing that. Um but we're working with the local to help close that gap. Next
>> on the funding formula just so I mentioned attendance for our funding formula. So union we're very unique district uh we're large and we are around right now 53 54% free and reduced. But at the same time, our town
and the way the state looks at it, our home prices are going up much higher than the state home prices. So like when the states is say uh either staying flat or increasing a little bit on their home values, ours is going up much higher in
the state's eyes in their formula as well as our um community in a sense income. So they look at that where Where's your community at versus other communities in income? And ours is way
like the state average went down, ours went up. So that also impacts in a formula that you know you you state has this formula like Miss said, we're hoping the governor in 2027 brings a committee together to change it. My
argument is we're we're almost two different districts. We have a district that's 50% uh about 54% free and reduced and then we have another district uh that uh is not. Now when I look at
districts that are free and reduced and I try to find districts that are about our size in the free and reduced and then I say how much state aid do they get? They get a lot more state aid than we get for our whole district. So that's why I'm saying the the funding formula
does not benefit union and who we are and we have just as many needs as neighboring districts that are getting a lot more state aid and that's the frustrating part for us is you know it it we're on the side of it that it that it doesn't help but we got to work within the means that we have we are you
know given x number of dollars and we got to make it work but that's why uh there's more to come and we'll keep sharing but we on this end want to keep pushing and fight for what union needs and we will but it it takes the state to change the funding of schools. So
>> So what you see before you basically is another pie chart um uh identifying in large groups of how we identify different types of expenses. Um basically this again is the preliminary
that has to be submitted to the county by this week. Um this is a work in progress. Uh you'll see in the next coming slides and then we can kind of talk about the things that we feel that have been identified that is going to
help uh bring to fruition uh the uh balanced budget next. So again how did we get here on the revenue side for the last couple of years? You can
see we're we lost almost $4 million in state E. Our challenges are tax levy. By statute, you can really only raise local tax by 2% with the exception of any waiverss
that you may have, which would be your enrollment if your enrollment was increasing greatly. um bank cap if you have any bank cap which is um any difference in um tax levy that wasn't taken the previous year but we do not
have any of those items as well as health insurance and health insurance as everybody knows in all districts have gone crazy. Um we're still better than the state. The state has
been raising their health uh cost by 31.9%. In our case, we're at around 15%. >> And those that don't know about the health benefits, so when uh the Biden administr administration ended and the Trump administration started, there's
certain things in place that expire. So for this, it was a um there was a uh subsidy for health costs. So that was the the bigger health companies were taking that. So they didn't raise the rates as much. So now across the state
all everyone's rates went up. Even if let's say your your your na your annual increase is based on your experience of your health benefits which means your claims versus how much your plan is. They want to make money the health benefit companies. So if if you're above
100% that means you over spent your plan. They're going to raise the rates higher. But if you come in under 100%, they might give you a low increase, say five to 7%. But everyone across the state because of the cost getting shifted down ended up increasing a lot.
So you'll you're going to hear if you haven't already throughout the state the number one impact. Now that's a almost a $5 million in a sense hit on our district >> as he's pointing to >> that that came out of >> in a sense nowhere just because a change
of administration. >> Correct. And we were on target this year um with our targeted um claims that we have, but over the last uh two or three months, they have been very
almost a million dollars in one week for claims. Um so there are some things to put in preventive health um options. Uh but we have to deal with the cars we dealt with. Right now we're looking at a 4.5 increase on the industry side. Now,
keep in mind 2% is the cap from raising uh local and that's only 2.2 million versus already 4.5 million. So, you can see there's an imbalance there. Um also obviously, you know, our
contracted um collective bargaining salary increases and so these are our major, as you can see, uh cost drivers, transportation, education and obviously um inflation. >> Did you want to add anything else?
>> And if you just want to share the 2% that we go out to it, you know it's 2% and what does that equate to? >> 2.2. >> So 2.2 million we raise in a sense. It's one of the bigger funding sources that we are able to raise our budget. But if
you look up there, if we're getting 2.2% 2% to run the next year. >> And look at health care costs going up >> almost 5 million and salaries to pay salaries across the whole district 3 million.
We're already cutting and I you could go back in time when I been in this district a long time. I started off talking about our fiscal stability many years. wasn't rock science saying what's coming. Now the the health benefit 5
million over one year, but you see them increasing seven to 10% every year depending on what's going on. It it's it's hard to keep up at that pace. So, you know, we need we need more people to be aware of it what's driving this. But
what we have to do is find ways to continue to keep this district growing and and providing the supports the students need to grow to get our test scores which we spoke about many times um about not being where we want them and it's challenging. There's no good decisions through this process.
>> Not at all. >> None. So it it is very difficult but I'll uh >> very difficult. And just so uh to piggy back on what he said, um at the end of the year, funds or monies that aren't
spent at the end of the year get flushed into at the beginning of the um pie chart. Remember I talked about fund balance that you can is like our savings account. So to help balance budgets, BAS
tend to tip into the savings to try to, you know, reduce the budget gap. Well, it's running out. It's running out. We're tapping into it like two million a year on that front. Um, as extraordinary
aid, um, that is not as high as we anticipate. You know, we're getting more uh, students and, um, making, you know, making the best decisions that we can at the time. So, here we are u with action items that we are considering. Um, you
want to >> So, with that too, uh, we're we're very lucky. We, you know, I know someone earlier spoke about prek. >> We're one of the districts that right now the state is not funding prek, >> uh, like they funded it for us, >> um, >> where they they funded 100%.
>> So now it's the states if you 40% if you want to start a prek in your district, you get approved. >> So that's something we're very lucky to have. >> Uh, and it services about 500 kids. Correct. 494. >> It's through a lottery system, so not everyone could get it. If we have more
than 500, we pick and and it's first as far as uh um well, it's random, but um there's only so many slots. And the other thing is before, so everyone's aware how we're doing it now is we have depending on the classroom space, we might have one prek classroom in one
building, three in another, two in another, six in another. So the kids were never collaborating, never in the same environment. Um, and then we had a lot of parents that wanted that prek and it already was filled up based on if uh
say for example Washington >> might have had 30 40 people that wanted pre-k for one class, 15 kids. So, it's there, you know, there's other impacts that people might not see and other families that might have also concerns when they weren't getting a a
prek classroom in the school they wanted. But at the same time, um, we're going to be able to fiscally gain by making some hard decisions like this. >> Um, that's other thing is, uh, Isabella
Takosa, who's uh, in charge of our grants, we're very lucky. I mean, she's up to over $5 million. Yes. in additional grants to our district. She keeps she just applied for another big one that we're trying to do whatever we can to offset the losses or any revenue
uh sources that we're not getting. >> So, we're going to I I have faith that Isabella will bring that number up slowly year after year to then be able to put more programs or anything that in place that might we might not have had uh been able to or that we in a sense might have had a cut on the local side,
but now it's being funded through grant funding. But um we're looking at everything. >> All right. We have to um and so right now we're working on uh a a K to5 configuration.
Um I am I did uh put out a letter today to Franklin Elementary School will become our pre-K center. And I'm going to I offered a a parent night in that letter right after spring break because I want to talk about Franklin. So if they have questions specifically to why it's Franklin, we could explain it in
more detail there. >> Um but you know, Franklin um is situated very closely to Hannah Caldwell and and Jefferson. So when you go K to 5 and you got to fill up an elementary school now, you go to the the streets that are
around that school and you have lines boundary lines. So, we're adjusting the boundary lines slightly to balance out all our schools K to five while we're reducing transportation across the board, which then helps us fiscally. So, when we're looking at these things, it's
not individual, it's globally. It's looking at what's best for our whole district. I cannot stand up here and say I could please everyone. I'm not going to be able to. There's going to be people upset at some point, >> but I got to cut $9 million by April >> 28th. >> 28th. We have to in a sense and we got
to still make sure our district grows academically that supports are still in place for our students. >> It's very challenging. Again, like I said, there's not going to be any right decisions, >> but uh we're we're we're evaluating everything and over the next month
there's going to be a lot of information coming out and a lot of meetings. anyone that's going to get it impacted in a sense. So, let's say you had transportation and you're losing it, there'll be a meeting set up for those parents, I'm going to try to hit and have meetings with anyone that somehow
was impacted. Again, not that everyone's going to be happy showing up to the meetings, but I feel I need to at least go and and listen to the concerns and see what we could do. So there are going to be other things that we're going to be putting out to accommodate some of the things of now the uh difficulty say
with dropping off a child at two schools if you're in prek and you get a you get a spot. Again, not all the spots are guaranteed. We have to have enough classroom space based on the grant to offer it. And we're doing a random we're picking out randomly who gets the slots.
Truly random. prek >> prek four too. It's it's there's a limited number of seats. >> Yes. The grant only funds so many seats. Um and we always have a wait list. Not not very long, but usually four is a
little higher than three because a lot of people didn't know about but I I'm going to reach out to you specifically and talk a little further >> and and I can't go back and forth and we could talk. I I will definitely give you >> I'll be a meeting.
>> So again, I'm not going to go through all of them, but we are looking at everything. It's going to grow. We we for a week and a half or I don't know, six hours minimum a day. We're keep we keep talking about what are some things. So we want to try to um minimize
the number of positions we have to eliminate. So, I'm going to say right now we're at a number of 50 districtwide, >> but right now we we feel safe to say about 25 we're down to about 25 being
actual people in the positions. So, if what we look at is attrition. So, anyone resigning or retiring, not replacing that at the moment. Um, depending again on the position, it might be one of those subjects that we need to replace,
but anything we could do without trying to impact someone sitting in front of us, uh, we do. So, eventually, I'm hoping that number could get down to less than 10. And as we come up with different things and and and again, make sure Miss could could uh submit an
accurate balanced budget. Uh but even after that if we see other retirements that now could to make sure somebody has a job then they know they have a job before they leave us but there's going to be um reduction in force and increase
on class size. >> So um like I said there's going to be meetings along the way that you uh are more than welcome to join. Hopefully you do join >> uh for information. Uh but we are again at this point needing to pass a
preliminary budget and this is where we're at. >> Miss anything else? >> No. >> Mr. Again, I'm not going to go through all comments. I've had a lot of par positive comments on uh from parents on parent square. So
I know information is getting shared and and people are able to see what they want to see all the great stuff. So make sure you look at this will be posted online. Miss Brunswire as she does always wonderful job uh read across America getting everyone to come in. I love
going in and reading to the students. Um keep doing that. It's great. Um but uh a lot of fun. And how many people did you have coming in? Read total. All right. Excellent.
>> Thank you. So the the steam fair uh was great. Had a lot of uh people excited. A lot of great things that went on uh that night. The Hall of Fame's coming up. I'm excited. You could see who the first class that we we again recreated our
Hall of Fame. Um it was done years ago and then stopped and it was uh you know many years since we uh started this up and came at a discussion of the board. Mr. McDow said can we bring this back? And we made it happen. So it's awesome
and and and I'm sure those that have been in union for a long time will see some names. they definitely uh remember up there. So, we have a committee, we we get nominations, and we pick. And I'm excited uh to really highlight uh May 7th uh uh the first Hall of Fame in a
very long time. Um you know, here in DMK Theater, Llama Live is always exciting. If you guys haven't seen Llama Live, so he goes places. He like goes right in live to his class. The kids love it. He's done
it from a helicopter. Um, he's done it I can't even think of all the places, but it really gets the kids to go somewhere without going and and u creative, you know, he he uh maybe I'll get him to do Llama Live somehow to his class for some
board activity. I don't know. But uh he does a great job. And the mayor, Miss uh Gra Patty Gra Frasier uh obviously was joining him for this. But uh any of you if you search Llama Live, I think he has a a website you could go and check out some of the things. It really makes it
creative for our kids. Again, so many things happening throughout our school district. And um you know, we have some great educators that do a lot of great things. Um the AP awards night was a great night here in DMK uh theater where
we uh really uh highlighted um this the students that are are doing a great job. So, anyone that uh took three or more uh AP exams and got three or higher. So, thank you Dr. Rodriguez for putting that together. Um thank you to the board for
supporting that. This is also the second year we're doing. Last year was nice. They had a good ring, top 25 and 25. This has just as good of a ring, but it just shows how amazing our kids are and where, you know, they're going to be going to all the top universities. Um, and we're
going to keep this going year after year and and show our top 25 every year. Uh, and then this way we could, you know, keep track of all the amazing things. But it's not just 25. We have 26, 27, 28 after that that were very close. I think between the Val and S this year it was
like a hundreds of a point. So, um, but then after that, we have a lot having a very big high school, we have we have students that do amazing things and go all over the place and we just like to highlight the the kids that are really focused and doing doing great things.
So, check that out. Um, so around toughs, I'm not going to go through and play this, but there's a lot of other things I highlight monthly. I I don't take up the full time of the board. I try to go through it quick, but um real world down syndrome day. Um
watch the video. Um it was five seconds, but you could you could watch it. Um but thanks for that. Science in action at Jefferson. Great job there. Miss uh Miss Oats is with us today.
Um and you could go through that. Toughs attendance uh as you see are monthly ones. Our district in February is up to 93.6% but uh for February Hannah Cowwell gets the the highest. So congratulations to
Hannah Calwell and we're really as you know also Dr. Rodriguez this initiative the state really puts a lot of emphasis and and on uh the district to to make sure our kids are in school. Um it's a big um at the end of the year in our
performance report districts are rated on their attendance. So we're really doing a uh and I have to thank not just uh our staff for working diligently on this and and making sure the kids want to come to school and sitting down with the parents, but I want to thank the
parents too because we need them to make sure their child is coming to school and it's important. Um we want to make sure that uh our goal is met at the end of the year and in all every one of our schools to start was a more than 10% chronically absent. So we'll see at the
end of the year really where we land. I'm hoping all 10 schools are not in that but but we'll see. Um and I think the state would be proud of what we're doing for that. And we know the kids are learning at a higher level if they're in school. So, um, to conclude, I always kind of
show where we're at with parents score 100% uh, contact, which is so important. 40% of parents and guardians have downloaded. Make sure you should keep sharing that. If you want to know of what's going on in our district, that's where it's coming through. square and as
I have to do uh monthly to report incidents of hib from that period March 18th to the 24th we only had one to report and it was at Union High School and it was unfounded and then affirming uh from February 25th it's a longer
period to March 17th and it all is generated based on our board meetings but you'll see there was nine uh met five unfounded four inconclusive and the schools that um where they were at. And thank you very much, uh, Mr.
President. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Benquista. We'll now move to the Education Student Discipline Committee resolutions. And I'd like to call upon the chair, Miss Carbonel. Thank you, Mr. Cohan. Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, the Education
and Student Discipline Committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. E1 one affirm Superintendent's determination of HIP. E1A, superintendence report of HIB. E2,
long-term suspension and home instruction. E3 approved partnership with family center a Monontlair annual mental health screenings um which is a grant um where the students can be provided with mental
health screenings. E4, approve locations for extend the school year, which I believe this year is going to be Battle Hill and the administration building. E5, approve literacy outreach visit, Mount St. Dominic Academy. Um, some
students from there are coming and they will be visiting um Washington Elementary and reading to the students there. Um E6 approve agreement Ramopo College and this is for um teacher
interns. Um E7 approve the revised school calendar year and that's all I have for you. >> Thank you, Miss Carbonel. Are you moving those resolutions? >> I'll second.
>> Yes. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Miss Faria. The motion's been properly moved and second. Seconded. Is there any discussion >> hearing? None. Roll call, please. >> Miss Carbonel, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Conte Mackey. >> Uh, Mrs. Faria, >> yes. >> Mr. McDow, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta, >> yes. >> Miss Santana, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohan, >> yes. >> We'll now move on to the fiscal and planning committee.
I'd like to call on Mr. McDall and Miss uh Miss Santana to present the resolutions that be voted upon tonight. >> Thank you so much, sir Chair. Uh is it possible to move them in a block? >> Yes, of course. >> Thank you so much. Upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the
fiscal and planning committee present the following resolutions for the board's consideration. I'm starting with F1 and we're moving all the way down to FB6. >> I hand it back over to you, sir. Chair,
>> is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Mr. McDall. Motion's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I'd like to make some brief comments. Uh as uh regular attendees of the meeting
may know, I also serve as the chair of the fiscal committee, but I'm chairing this meeting tonight. And it's been acknowledged by a couple of the speakers already, and certainly we've heard from Dr. Benista and Miss in their presentation of the
preliminary budget that we have several very difficult challenges before us and many difficult decisions to make. I think I'm I can speak on behalf of all of my colleagues on the board. We're faced with these decisions, but we don't like the outcome of any of them. Uh but
we have a legal and fiduciary responsibility to administer the school district, excuse me, to set policy for the school district and we act upon the recommendations of the superintendent. We are fully committed to support Dr. Venicquist and Miss in their
efforts to to do everything they can to minimize the impact of these reductions on classroom instruction because that's our primary responsibility. Having said that, we need to proceed into the 2627
fiscal year with a balanced budget and that's what we we will be voting on right now. Thank you. Roll call, please. Miss Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes. >> Miss Santana. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> U. Next we'll have the grievance negotiations committee chair, Miss Kaki. Mr. NASA to move the
resolutions on the agenda. We've already acted on G1, but we have resolution uh G2. We have resolution G1. >> Uh yes, Mr. President. Uh upon recommendation of the superintendent of
schools, the grievance negotiations committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. G1 approved sidebar agreement of the UTASA. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Miss Santana. Motion been
properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none. Roll call, please. >> Miss Carbanell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Faria, >> yes. >> Mr. McDow, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta, >> yes.
>> Miss Santana, >> yes. Yes, Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. We now have the operations technology committee chairs, Mr. Nast and Miss Faria, present the resolutions to be voted upon tonight. Upon recommendation
of the superintendent of schools, the operations technology committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. 01, approve security drill bus evacuation reports. O2 approved submission of application
for use of Rapkin Park. 03 approved request from UHS class of 1975 reunion committee to plant a tree and T1 approve recycling of equipment. >> Is there a second?
>> Second. >> It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none. Roll call, please. >> Miss Carbonel. Yes, >> Mrs. Conte Maki. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes, >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes,
>> Mr. Nass. >> Yes, >> Miss Santana. >> Yes, >> Miss Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> We'll now have the uh personnel committee chair, Miss Conte Mackey, uh move the resolutions on the agenda. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um if it's
okay, Mr. President, can I um report these in block? >> Yes, >> no problem. Upon recommendation of superintendent of schools, the personnel committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. P1A was approved at the
March 17, 2026 work session. P1A P11A through >> P6. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Mr. Nesta. The motion's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion?
Hearing none. Roll call, please. >> Miss Carbonel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Conte Maki, >> yes. >> Mrs. Faria, >> yes. >> Mr. McDow, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta, >> yes. >> Miss Santana, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohan, >> yes. >> We'll now have the policy chair, Miss
Santana, present the resolutions of the policy committee on the agenda. >> Thank you, chair. Upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the policy committee presents the following policy for the board's consideration. This is the final reading and adoption. Uh I'm going to start with policy 2,
policy 1220, employment of chief school administrator. Policy 3, policy 1552, sexual harassment regulations. Regulation one, which is regulation 1552, sexual harassment staff new and being abolished. Abolish policy 3362,
sexual harassment. Abolish policy 4352, sexual harassment. Abolish abolish regulation 3362, sexual harassment of teaching staff members complaint procedure and abolish regulation 4352, sexual harassment of support staff
members complaint procedure. I hand it back to you, chair. >> Is there a second? >> Seconded by Mr. Nasta. Any discussion? >> Yes. I'd just like to um clarify a little bit uh on on policy just for those that are are new to this. When we
say abolish, we're abolishing because in in another part of it, we're we're amending it. So, it's not like if we're doing doing away with a policy of sexual harassment. I just want to uh make sure that that's clear. We're just updating it in another part. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you.
Any other discussion? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Miss Carbonel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Conte Mackey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Faria, >> yes. >> Mr. McDow, >> yes. Mr. Nasta, >> yes. >> Miss Santana, >> yes.
>> Mr. Cohan, >> yes. >> Um, we have the residency committee resolutions. Can I call on Mr. McDow to present the non- voting resolutions? >> Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Uh, the residency the residency committee resolutions. These are non- voting and
they're for information purposes only. But upon the recommendation of superintendent of schools, the res the residency committee presents the following resolution for the board's consideration. Again, there's no voting required. The following residency investigations were completed and the listed students were transferred to the
appropriate district of residents. There's one student listed there from Hannah Cwell. Also, the following totals are as of February 24th, 2026's board meeting. Uh, no students have been removed, but uh we have 12 total
students that have voluntarily transferred out of our district into the district residents. And Mr. Mr. Chairman, these are for information purposes only. >> Thank you, Mr. McDow. Are there any questions or comments from the board? Hearing none, we'll move on to the approval of bills. Can I have a motion
to approve the bills? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Been properly moved and seconded by Miss Santana, Mr. McDell. Without discussion, I have a roll call, please. >> Miss Carbonel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ki Mackis,
>> Mrs. Faria, >> yes. Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta? >> Yes. >> Miss Santana? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan? >> Yes. >> We now move on to unfinished business. Is there any unfinished business?
>> Miss Santana, >> I would like to uh uh just speak when we were going over the presentation. I wanted to comment on Jerry's going to pull it back up for us or Dr. Benista. when when we're faced with with a time
like this where we're making such hard difficult decisions, uh I did want to just highlight something so great. I have the uh uh pleasure this year of having a senior uh and uh he was on the wrestling team. So, uh along with other
people in the audience and on this board, we went to a lot of wrestling this year and I'm usually a baseball mom. So, I do want to talk about Yeah, thank you. Uh, I do want to talk about such a great sport that I just learned about these past uh few years that my son uh uh started wrestling. Uh, such a
sport that's a team sport, but when you're out there on the mat, it really is just you. Uh, I wanted to talk about uh the coach de coach Dino. I think he's been here over a decade. >> 15. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, when Jerry when Dr. Benquist was going over this
presentation highlighted Dr. Dr. I mean, uh, uh, Dino, Coach Dino, doing such great work. And then I'm not a basketball mom, but then I see our our new coach. It's his first year, and he's making Oh, the head
coach, I'm so sorry. The the county coach of the year. Just such great work that we do here at Union, and I just wanted to highlight it, speak about it, along with everything else that was in his uh, presentation. I did want to kind of just give kudos to these two great
coaches uh and all the great work that we do in union even during difficult times. Thank you >> Mr. McDow. >> Thank you Mr. Chairman. Uh I just wanted to make one comment uh uh about uh some
of the changes that we're looking to make here and that Dr. have been a Crystal went over uh and primarily the change from uh the configuration now to a K through five configuration for our elementary schools and what I'd like to talk mostly about is what's going on
what will happen at Jefferson school uh uh we are actually picking up an additional elementary school you look at it uh Jefferson will become K through five like other elementary schools in the district uh the savings there will be uh in transportation some savings there in transportation But one of the
other things that we uh will benefit from uh at least the kids in that neighborhood won't have to walk to one school to catch a bus to another school. They can go to the school in their neighborhood. And I think uh I went to
that school and for me it's a source of pride to have a school in your neighborhood. So that's one of the things we we are looking at. And I think um one of the other things is and I I don't know if Mrs. Paul is here or not, but this idea
this idea uh I think was presented six or seven years ago and there were people involved in certain committees to get this done and now we're finally getting it off the ground. It's uh and the great thing one of the other great things
about it is the the consistency that we'll bring to our district rather than the elementary schools uh all coming together from five or six separate schools elementary schools coming to the fifth grade then separating in the two
middle schools for three years and coming back to a high school for four years. uh it's a little bit up and down herkyjerky and it really doesn't give any consistency to what we're trying to do here but this way with Jefferson
becoming an elementary school uh we're going to gain that consistency and that's one of the things we're looking for it's easier easier to educate and one other additional benefit for incoming fifth graders is there's actually some extra school time I think
Jefferson has the shortest school day there is now >> I'm No, no, no, no. Absolutely, absolutely. But we we will pick up a few a few additional instructional minutes during the week
will add up also during the month and the year. So that's extra extra instructional time that the kids will benefit from. So uh and those that participated on the on those reorganization committees dur I guess over the past three or four years
county >> a long time. A long time. And as I said, we're finally getting this off the ground. And I It's a good thing for our district. It's going to provide us with consistency and uh savings in transportation. It's good for the kids.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McDonald. Other unfinished business? I have just a couple of items. uh you know we heard during uh the students report and Dr. Benquista's report some of the great news of things going on
around the district. I had the great pleasure of being able to attend the uh district steam fair u a week and a half ago at the Union High School cafeteria and I can just tell you that I was absolutely blown away by the the
intellect of our students from kindergarten students, 5-year-olds all the way up to our high school students. Um, I was so pleased to hear from a kindergarten student who was so excited about tornadoes and demonstrated his
tornado in a jar for me. Uh, there was another youngster who wanted to show me his solar powered robot car. Uh, but then I have to tell you, I learned a lot from our high school students who wanted to share with me information about how
the uh, the molecule for the is was an unintentional uh mistake was that the a helpful molecule of that compound has many benefits medically and biologically but a simple little switch
of of one presentation of the same molecule created the problems that that occurred back in the 50s with pregnant women. Uh there was another student who uh two students who uh took a look at room D2 244 at Union High School, the
lecture hall over there, and having experienced learning in there said, you know, it's not very well designed. And they went through a process to redesign that room to make it more feasible so that everyone seated in in the space would be able to feel included. They had
schematics. they had a a mockup. Uh, and then I asked them if they knew whether or not their their plan was going to be implemented. They did said they didn't know. So, I'll have to ask I'll have to ask the high school principal and and the superintendent to take a look at that and see if it's feasible for us to
undertake. Um, I just couldn't have been more impressed by the things that I heard. As I talked with the students, the high school students, I asked them what grade they were in and what their plans were for the future. uh many of them had plans to
go on to uh NJIT and and institutions all over the country. There was a young one young lady who said to me, "Well, I'm only a junior, but I'm going to be a doctor." It wasn't, "I'd like to be a doctor." It was a statement of fact. And
I just uh I was just so very impressed. I'd also like to uh acknowledge my colleagues on the board who uh joined me in marching in the St. Patrick's Day parade a week ago Saturday. It was a grand day, a little chilly with the wind, but it was a beautiful sunny day
just like it was today. And we had a great time. I was really very proud that day of of the representation we had from throughout the school district. We had students from the high school marching with us uh along with Miss Bosard and the junior ROC presented themselves as
they always do in an amazing way. Uh but there were also delegations from several of our elementary schools. So, a great time was had by all. Thank you very much. Any other comments? Is there any new business?
Yeah, Mr. Carbonel, >> I too want to express that um when we heard the news about the budget cuts, our hearts dropped. Um, and it's been a very somber um, experience and humbling experience
for us all. Um, but I can promise you we are going to try to provide you as much information as possible and work together so that we can minimize the blow. Um, it is truly unfortunate, but it's not just
union that is being impacted. Um, I just tried to Google briefly um how many districts in New Jersey were impacted with this funding formula, and I I didn't verify, but it says 167. Um, and there are many other school
boards and districts having these tough decisions to make and conversations. So, at this time, I I just pray for us all that we can find our way through this. and I know that we can if we work together. Um, but I do want to celebrate
a couple of things and acknowledge some staff members that did some pretty awesome things. And although Delilah was not here today, I I do want to thank you, Miss Tis and Miss Boser, for nominating um, Delilah as our
representative in the Union County Unsung hero. Um her story was extremely moving and you you want to talk about courage and perseverance and strength of spirit um with everything that she went
through to see her flourish um is really she's a role model for all of us and it was nice to go to that event where every Union County school district was represented and I was very
proud to have her be our represent representative here. So, thank you to both of you. And I also I would be remiss if I didn't um acknowledge the Irish parade because Miss Boser once again, she gets those kids with the
staff. There were a number of teachers there um representing uh ROC. We were just extremely proud the way that they carried themselves and I don't know if she's a captain. I I don't recall her name, the one that was leading them. And
she was tough. Um, I want to be her when I grow up. >> Um, they look phenomenal and they really represented us well. Um, along with the musical, um, the band, right? Um, we also had the
PTA there. So, thank you, a shout out to them. Um, Project Unified, which are were some of our special needs youngster youngsters, right? And I I don't want to misquote the elementary school, but there were a one of our schools was part
of the parade. They look so cute. Um I believe it was Washington, but please excuse me. Thank you so much. You see, I got it. Um but I I wanted to recognize everybody that participated because you
all look great. Um thank you so much. Any other board comments? We'll now move on to p uh comments from the public. I'd like to remind everybody that we value your input and we ask that
your comments be respectful and constructive. You'll be given three minutes to address the board and while we're eager to hear your perspectives, we're unable to engage it in a discussion during this portion of the meeting. Comments will be carefully considered by the board and if necessary, we will have a followup.
First speaker is Susan Lipstein. It's Susan Lipstein, 2569 Jackson. That's okay. I'm here tonight representing the Township of Union Education Foundation. And if some people here have never heard of us, we are the local charity, nonprofit, charitable
organization that raises money for grants that go to individual teachers for extraordinary programs, creative and innovative programs. And I think I'm probably the only person with good financial news tonight. the foundation, which has donated over $250,000 in
grants to teachers. This year, we will be donating several thousand dollars more in grants to teachers for the 2026 2027 school year. And we'll be announcing those grant recipients in April. They have some very exciting programs. I'll be announcing probably at
the next meeting. And I'm hoping that the superintendent board of ed sees fit to invite them to come to be um honored at perhaps the May meeting. We are able to say yes to teachers and yes to our students. Every member of our board's a volunteer, but we rely on donations and
fundraising to say yes. We have raffle tickets we're selling for $10 a chance to win a $500 gift card. And we are also having a dinner on May 7th that we will be honoring teachers that we'll be having some of the students that have uh
had uh done things with the grants to come. It's open to the community. It's $40. It's a buffet dinner. This is and we sell um bricks in a walkway of honor. This is a tough time to raise money, but we've got a proven track record of working with the community for 25 years.
We've done it with the help of the community. We'll do it for 26. I've no doubt the committee will come through. We're happy to accept donations both big and small. Uh we have always supported our public schools and we have always supported our teachers. I also just um
you know if you don't know about us I'll put something up on Facebook so you will know and uh thank you very much and we really look forward to being able to give money at a time when it is so tough we are able to say yes and uh we have a
lot of principles here those schools I think the principles everybody here their teachers of this school have gotten grants I see several people that have gotten grants here and I want to mention that Patty Frasier and Salomon Lama both have received grants. So, we've been around a long time, but we
need financial support to continue to do this. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Zaden X. Maxmillian May. Hope I didn't mispronounce your name. >> All right. All right. So, good evening.
Um, I'm here as a, uh, parent. My daughter is Khloe May. She goes to Franklin Elementary School. Um, unfortunately, uh, I feel the district has been failing, uh, my daughter. Um, uh, she's in fourth grade, currently
reading at a kindergarten or first grade reading level. Um, there have been no interventions put in place, um, despite countless communication to her teacher. Um despite meeting with the principal and the social worker um from my
understanding um there have been uh they started iron arrests process for her but unfortunately the social worker um is not there anymore. So as a result there has been no followup uh with that. So in
conjunction with that um unfortunately my daughter has had teachers at her tenure day each and every year they've been chronically absent. Um I demanded um um uh records um for
absenteeism from the teachers not for personal reasons but to just prove that this is directly affecting uh Chloe. Um I don't um and what's really frustrating is that as an educator myself um to go on Genesis and it's March, it's about to
be April and there's no grades for her. So I have no idea how she's doing. I have um I reached out to the teacher. I reached out to Miss um basketball. I have no idea how she's doing. And I I'm all for celebrating sports and
athletics. Um I've coached myself. However, I think we have to have a real conversation about the reading and math scores in the district. Um, unfortunately, I I don't I'm not a resident of the district any anymore. I'm a resident of West Windsor Township,
which is Princeton Junction. And honestly, um, but my I never thought my daughter would ever get a D ever in her life. I've done all I could to support her at home. Um, so I'm I'm actually advocating to get her the support that
she needs. Um, and I know a lot of you that's on the board here today. I know um some of you are parents and some of you have fought for and advocated for your children to get what they need to get the education that they deserve. So I'm I'm coming here um I heard I think
all of you said at some point in time, let's work together to support our children. And that's what I'm asking for. I don't want this to be um just a one off situation where I come here and speak and nothing gets addressed. Um I I I my daughter demands respect that she
deserves. She's only 9 years old. I I do I do expect her to be going to Jefferson uh next year, but I just heard you guys say um the class sizes will be increasing. So my question is with these budget cuts, the class size is increasing. Where's her reading
specialist at for her? Um, is there a compensatory education fund that's going to make up for all the hours of miseducation that she has not gotten from from Miss Meakans? And I've I've been absent before also. I understand things happen,
>> but my my daughter is not one of she's not I don't care about the 167 districts that statewide. I I don't care about that. >> Okay. I want to know what what is going to be done for her because there's no excuse for her to be ringing at a kindergarten arena level. There's no excuse for it and especially if
>> there's only Mr. May, >> excuse me, but your time is expired. Could you just finish your statement? >> Yes, I got you. So, the last thing I want to say is um for her for the teachers and the school to approve her to get a D when there's only two grades
and two grades measuring her um her um academic success, her reading level. I think that's unacceptable. I think we can do something about that. >> All right. >> Thank you for your >> Thank you. >> All right. Next speaker is Dolly Kadel Cobb because I wanted to know what the
>> Speak directly into the microphone, please. >> I wanted to know what the founding was of a incident. Um, you guys read it, but I'm gonna need a copy of the report, but I will contact the principal um for that. >> Okay. >> We'll make sure someone gets in touch
with you regarding a matter, right? >> Yeah. But I I can contact the principal. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I'm going to make sure it gets followed up. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next, we'll hear from Virginia Jeff. Uh, Virginia Jeff, 236 Brighton Avenue,
East Orange, New Jersey. Um, Vice President Cohen. Good evening board members, staff, members of the public in attendance physically and virtually. Concerns are the open public meetings act, walk-on resolutions, and board
policies in effect. And and the open public meetings act is designed for there to be open government meetings guaranteeing that the public is informed. This includes agendas be published slashposted with at least 48
hours notice before a meeting takes place. Walk-on resolutions are a violation of the open public meetings act as there is no notice given to the public bypassing any input, query, challenges, etc. from
the public. the February 24, 2026 regular session board meeting, a walk-on resolution was presented even though it was not on the agenda that evening and it was item P9,
dismissal of an employee. This was not published on the agenda. There's no board policy in place to accommodate walk-on resolutions. Board council read this unpublished agenda item into the record. However, the current adjust agenda
posted for February 21st, 2026 has been changed to add this walk-on resolution. This is an inaccurate official government record. There does not seem to be a current policy in place for a walk-on resolution
that can comply with the Open Public Meetings Act. When will the board enact a policy for walk-on resolutions so that the public can be properly and thoroughly informed? Also, I would like to make a statement
about the budget. Everyone is feeling the hurt at all levels with these budget cuts or the proposed budget cuts. And no one will actually know what
monies will be funded until July 1st. So everybody is on eggshells and I and that's completely understandable. Thank you. >> Thank you.
The next speaker is Shannara Davis. I apologize if I miss >> No worries. Uh my name is Shaneavia Davis. Um I'm speaking both as a parent and as an educator. So while I understand the district is facing financial challenges, >> but I'm concerned about how these
decisions are being made and implemented. Transitioning to a K5 model is a major structural change. Yet it's presented as a budget solution without clear data or an implementation plan. I'm concerned about the impact of increased class sizes and reduced
staffing on student learning and teacher capacity. Families and educators were giving very short notice about this. We received an email on March 19th stating that this uh decision would be finalized at this board meeting today. Um what opportunities were provided to
stakeholders in for stakeholder input before these decisions were made? Additionally, not only am I just a parent, I am a Franklin parent. Uh, my daughter has been in Franklin Elementary since kindergarten. Um, I'm deeply concerned about the decision to repurpose Franklin Elementary,
effectively closing it. While it all while it appears to be the only school in the district facing this level of impact, this is not a minor adjustment. This disrupts an entire school community and yet there is no clear plan on where our students are going, what class sizes
will look like, and how this transition will be supported. Additionally, families are being told that boundary lines and details are still being finalized, which suggests this decision is moving forward without a complete implementation plan. I would like to understand why, Franklin. What data
supports this decision and how the district is ensuring that this does not disproportionately impact one school community over the others. I'm not opposed to change, but decisions of this magnitude require transparency, equity, and planning. And right now these things
are not clear. Is there a plan to ensure that this information gets out to our entire community? Uh as you stated in your presentation, only 47% of families are on Parent Square. That means over 50% of our families are not privy to the
information because parent square is the only way that communication is being sent out by the district. So what is the plan for that? Additionally, lastly, I'll finish up. um this plan is going to effect for 262 27 school year. Why wasn't there a decision to take a little
bit more time and maybe implement these changes for 2728? I'm just not understanding on a logistical standpoint how these changes are going to be made from June 22nd to the first day of schools for teachers which is September 1st. That is a very tight time frame
especially when we are already facing staff shortage. We're sta facing staff shortage in custodial staff. Who is moving the desk? Who is moving this this property? In terms of turning Franklin into a prek center, how are the facilities going to be updated to manage
those students populations? There is not a lot of facil there's an upkeep that needs to happen at Franklin. Just if I'm just speaking of bathrooms alone. So, these are things that have to be considered and I'm just not understanding as a community member how we're going to make such a drastic
change to our district in such a short amount of time. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Next speaker is Miss Anne Margaret Shannon. >> I'll pass. >> Pass. Thank you. Next speaker is Stacy
Sanchez. Good evening. Um, my name is Stacy Sanchez. I have been an educator for approximately 28 years now. Um, and I also am a parent of three uh, boys who have all been u through the union school
programs. Uh, one is in college on scholarship. Um, I've had them. They have gone through G&T. They've gone through one needing child support services. So, I know they've received a quality education at Union. And I'm grateful because I did not have that same opportunity when I was growing up.
And one of the reasons I actually became a teacher um was to be able to make a difference in my community. And four years ago, I was hired in Union. And I was excited. I said, I can make an impact here where my boys are. I'm going to see the kids at the supermarket. I was very excited. Um, and to be quite
honest, a lot of people were just like, "Oh my god, you're going to Franklin." Um, and I heard a lot of negative things about Franklin. But what I will tell you is, um, what I've learned teaching at
Franklin for the last few years is it these children are a gift. They they have impacted me in more ways than I could have imagined. They are I I had the privilege of last year having these children for second grade and now moving
into third grade with them and they have grown by leaps and bounds. These children are not the they shouldn't be looked down upon. oftentimes as a staff member and as a teacher um and hearing from my students and families sometimes
they feel forgotten by the district but these children are capable of greatness and we're making changes that are going to seriously impact them and I want to know why they were chosen why this school was chosen to be closed first of
all um is it just logistics um is it just because they are the forgotten school over the last um last year. Uh my scores and this just to slow down to explain
how amazing these kids are. My I already scores last year increased by over 200%. So they thought let's go. Um Miss Santoro was um kind enough to share with her things that she learned.
She studied a science of reading program. we began implementing at the school. I have third graders that asked me to give them sixth and seventh grade texts to decode. They can read these words, no problem. I was being observed the other day and
my favorite moment was I have one little boy who's kind of struggled through things, but I always tell him, you're smart, you're capable, I believe in you, you've got this, you just don't have it yet. And so he was doing something and in the middle of my observation, he figures out how to do the syllocation of
a fifth grade word as an eight-year-old and he yells out, "I am powerful." And that moment is why I teach. These kids matter. So what I want to make sure is first of all, we don't forget these kids. That they get the
quality education that they're supposed to receive wherever they have to go. that the redistricting is fair so that they all receive quality education because even thinking about the logistics, I've been that mom that's had
to drive from three schools. I I did Battle Hill and then Jefferson and then the middle school and then I've gone the high school. I've done it all. But a lot of our kids walk sometimes a fourth grader walks a second grader home. How are they going to do that when school's two miles away or mile and a half away?
um we're not thinking about um stuff like that because they're not just having their parents drop them off in the drop off line. >> Excuse me, can you um share your last sentiments as your time has expired? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, yes. But I just want to say again be think about the kids
because we say it's all about you. Please make sure it's all about them. And also, I think it would be it might be beneficial to let us know before sending out an email because we because again, we're feeling forgotten. Why' they just send us an email? Why didn't they have a conversation with us? Let us
know what's going to happen because we're all reeling from the information. And that's about it. Just don't forget our kids. That's all I want to say. >> Thank you. >> Leticia Easterling. >> Good evening everyone.
My name is Leticia Easterling. Um, I'm speaking to formally express my deep concern and strong opposition regarding the planned conversion of Franklin Elementary into PreK Center for the 2026 2027 school year. My daughter is currently a student at Franklin Elementary and is scheduled to be a part
of a graduated fourth grade class during this transition. It has come to my attention that the current fourth grade class will be divided, reassigned to different schools for their fifth grade year. These children have grown up together since preK. Forcing them into different environments just as they prepare for
high stress transition to middle school is detrimental to their social and emotional well-being. Consistent peer groups and familiar environments are vital for academic success. This abrupt separation and relocation create unnecessary anxiety
and instability for students who should be focused on their academic transition. How is this being agreed upon when you don't even have a plan of execution? What are the phases? Who is going to be where? What will happen to the teachers at Franklin? How will this benefit the
students with larger classes? Increase on class size. How students are barely passing standardized testing as it is. I request that the board reconsider this timeline for the conversion. I look forward to your prompt response and clear outline of how district plans to
mitigate these um negative impacts on our children on our April 7th meeting at Franklin Elementary at 5:00. >> Thank you. >> Next speaker is Lemon. Good evening. Uh my name is Asia. I have a six-year-old um with special needs and
attends Connecticut farm. Um my question is can you clearly outline how these budget cuts will specifically impact the special education services including staffing shortage which there are already shortages therapies and classroom support. Also, how can um how
when will families be notified if their child services or providers or schedules will be affected? Thank you. >> I apologize for mispronouncing your name. >> Next speaker is Lin Cornace. Good evening. Good evening board members. My name is Lynn Quinacia, 455
Colonial Avenue, Union, New Jersey, Livingston School Elementary Preschool teacher. I have verbally announced my disapproval of having a preschool center. Um, Mr. McDow made it perfectly clear
that he grew up in a community. I grew up in a community school. We didn't have preschool back then, but we had kindergarten. The youngest of the youngest in this district are the preschoolers. Having them in their homebased school gives them the opportunity to develop friendships not
only with other other teach other teachers but other children in the building. Our fourth graders do activities with the preschoolers. We go to assemblies. We go to functions PTA functions. It's a family. Putting us in a center will only micromanage the
preschool department as it is. You say it's going to co it it's going to help the budget. It's not because now you're going to have to put bathrooms in classrooms that don't need to have bathrooms in them. You're going to have to have the maintenance department move everybody from one building to another.
Now you got to transport not the preschool department, but you have to transport all the kids. There's it's it's not feasible. Children need to be in their home schools. They need to be a sense of the community. They go after school to the playground. They see their teachers.
They know the community. My our kids know the building. They know what's expected of them. They know the teachers upcoming for the future years. You want to have a community. Stop with the preschool centers. They may work in larger districts, but we're not talking
about larger districts. We're talking about union school systems. I'm proud to be a preschool assistant. 21 years in this district and I wouldn't change it for the world, but I do not approve of having a center to segregate
the youngest of the youngest. They're your future. You talk about we are you. They're your you. They'll grow up to be educators, presidents of corporations, doctors, lawyers, even board members.
But start with them. We we talk about the high school kids. They earned it. They went through the system. They're phenomenal. I'm not belittling anybody, but it starts with the preschoolers. It starts with those in the district. Keep them where they are. If you're going to
move anybody, not that we should move anybody, but they're the youngest of the youngest. They don't understand things as adults do. Let's think about that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next speaker is Trish Gomez.
>> Hi, Trish Gomes, 47 Brookdale Road. Um, my concern are going to be class sizes uh for moving all these kids. Um, is there going to be any impact to the middle school and how is the middle school going to be impacted with any of this stuff? Um, and is the quality of
the education going to be the same, especially since we're losing so much money and there's such budget cuts. Are there going to be enough teachers to educate these kids? And how are they going to be able to get the same level of education? Um, and I hear a lot about
cutting teachers and support staff. What about cutting some administration? >> Thank you. The next speaker is Christian Restrepo. >> Mr. Strepo, would you also give your address when you begin your remarks? >> Do you want me to write down?
>> You don't have to write it. Just put it in the record. >> Sure. Uh >> 20 Morningside Avenue. Thank you. Can I raise this? It's okay. Uh good evening everyone. I'd like to start by echoing the early sentiments of my UTA colleagues and give my thanks for
the positive steps taken in the contract negotiations process. I'd also like to reiterate that all parties understand the unenviable task that the board faces in balancing difficult fiscal decisions without losing sight of the lives that these decisions will affect. Uh education, as you know, is a career
built on compassion, empathy, and enlightenment. and never will you hear a true educator reduce the efforts, contributions, or tribulations of any member of our union. So, in regards to future negotiations for our salary guides, I'd like to put forth that
teachers are not just line items on a budget. We are the backbone of this district. Every day, we step into our classrooms and we do more than d deliver the curriculum. We mentor, we support, we adapt, and we carry the emotional and
academic weight of our students, their successes, their shortcomings, sometimes without the adequate resources we need. In recent years, the expectations on us have only increased. We're asked to close learning gaps, address student mental health, integrate new technology,
meet rising academic standards, but our compensation has not kept pace with these demands or with the rising cost of living. So respectfully, I urge the board to think creatively and strategically. A reduced budget does not mean abandoning our priorities. It means
clarifying them. If student success is our top priority, then supporting the people directly responsible for that success should remain the center of our decisions. We understand the budget. We understand the high cost that you're facing. But for us as teachers, the cost
is burnout in our classrooms, at home, with our students, with our own children. The cost is high turnover, losing talented colleagues, watching them walk to neighboring districts who will pay them better. Ultimately, that cost will be paid by our students who are already
noticing the cracks in a very, very diminished morale. So, thank you to the board and to the negotiating team for the progress already made and thank you for all that you're going to do to get us through this. Thank you. >> Thank you.
Miss Shannon, I'll call on you again if you'd like to speak. Okay, >> that concludes the comments from the public. Uh there is no further business of the board, so I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Second. >> Moved by Miss Santana, seconded by Miss
Faria. All uh roll call, please. >> Miss Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Maki. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes. >> Miss Santana. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes.
>> How are you?