e e e e good evening I would like to call this meeting to order may I have a roll call please miss capiello miss carbonel um present Mr Cohan here Mrs K
macki here Mrs FIA present Mr McDowell present Mrs ni Mr nasta not here miss Santana president Mrs Scott heeden here board member Mr M McDow would you
please lead us in the flag salute yes Madam president rep for it stands one nation with liberty and justice for all board member Mr mcdonal would you please read the mission statement yes I
will Madam president the mission of the township of Union Public Schools excuse me the mission of the township of Union Public Schools is to build on the foundations of honesty Excellence Integrity strong family and Community Partnerships we promote a supportive
learning environment where every student is challenged inspired empowered and respected as diverse Learners through cultivation of students intellectual curiosity skills and knowledge our students can achieve academically and socially and contribute as responsible
and productive citizens of our Global Community thank you so much Mr McDow Miss would you please read the open open public meetings act statement yes open public 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 this meeting to be published by having the daytime and place thereof published in the Star Ledger and Union County local sources posted in the administrative building of 2369 Mars Avon Union New Jersey file
with the township clerks and mail 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 regarding items on the agenda or on any issue individuals need to identify themselves by name and address public comments are
limited to 3 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 the board asked 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 Madam president thank you so much Miss the board will now go into executive session if feasible to discuss personnel and legal issues an action may be taken
may I have a motion to move into executive session sove second any discussion this motion has been properly moved by Miss thank you missah
and miss and seconded by Miss Sana can I have a roll call please miss capiello yes Mrs K macki yes Mrs FIA yes Mr McDowell yes Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott
heeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss carbonel yes e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e every I wish we could Bend these oh thank
you good evening everyone beginning or the end may I have a motion to move back into our public regular meeting second the motion has been properly moved by Miss Scott Hayden and seconded
by Miss Anana can I have a roll call please miss capiello Mr Cohan yes Mrs K macki yes Mrs FIA yes Mr McDowell yes Mrs V
oh sorry she's not here Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott Hayden yes Miss Sana yes Miss carbonel yes so good evening everyone on behalf of the township of Union Board of Education um in the community we would
like to host a moment of silence for those that we know have passed away um and those for we may not have information about out of respect um we just want to hold a moment of silence for one of our students thank you and may her memory be a
blessing thank you so much may I have a motion to approve approve the following minutes second this motion has been properly moved by Miss um K macki and seconded by Mr Cohan roll call please miss
capiello Mr Cohan yes Mrs K macki yes Mrs FIA yes Mr McDowell yes M uh Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott haeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss
carbonel yes now we're going to move into our Communications that are reflected on the personal agendas but before we do so I I just want to welcome our addition tonight to the board um it she is a
union high school scholar Miss Ayana josephat and um we look forward to getting your report thank you good evening everyone I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for being here tonight as we begin the public
Comon portion of this meeting I want to remind everyone that we value your input and appreciate your time and effort in sharing your thoughts and concerns as Miss stated previously I ask that all comments be respectful
and constructive and that we refrain from calling out yelling and disrespectful language our students are watching our children are watching each speaker will be given three minutes to address the board please remember that while we are eager
to hear your perspectives we may be unable to engage in a back and forth dialogue during this portion of the meeting however your comments will be carefully reviewed and taken into consideration by the board and if feasible the superintendent or designate
will respond to questions in real time or provide a response at a later date thank you so much do we have any [Music] cards only thank you first
session miss Jeff good evening is this for Resolutions or are you waiting for the second set of public comments thank you so please come up to to the mic Virginia Jeff 236 Brighton Avenue East STS New Jersey uh good evening to
all in attendance physically and virtually I have questions on the resolutions and one was the physical planning committee um in reference to the attorney bills and
this was asked at the last meeting the work session that was held last week on March 11th why is the check register so unorganized why are the checks not in sequential order why is the check order in the form of a running account for all
attorney costs and why is there a check register only for legal legal fees and out of bills and claim by vendor's name as in item 17 approv of bills and why are the invoices identification not in the invoice column as for tonight's
policy committee under 15a the first readings of these policies were never presented properly for the public to comment or have input there must be a first reading at a public meeting before there can be a second and
final reading at the March 11 2025 work session under 14a policy committee policies 0155 board committees and policies oh my God and policies 7510 use
of school facilities and policy regulations 7510 use of school facilities they were presented as a first and final reading for adoption the so on tonight's
agenda those policies are not published on the agenda so people do cannot comment on them they're unaware of them and they lack input so the
board is not following proper policy and having a first and second reading only at a second reading can a policy be adopted you can't do a first and only reading and adopt the policy thank you
thank you Miss Jeff okay we're going to move right along to the superintendent report thank you thank you thank you madam president um so first up tonight uh as we did last month and we're continuing I would like to welcome
uh up here at Kelly piano principal of Washington Elementary School and Miss Christine Henderson PTA president and they were going to provide a a uh a presentation on Washington no she just sure good evening everyone I'm Kelly
piano the principal at Washington school thank you for having us tonight I'm here with Miss Melissa Glenn she is of our PTA executive board members will be sharing a little bit about our PTA as well so tonight I'd like to highlight some of our academic growth thus far
this year some of our kindness initiatives and some of our family engagement activities so first I'd like to show you some of our I ready growth from the uh diagnostic one so diagnostic 2 from the fall to winter it's broken down by grade level and this is math on the the right
side you will see the percentage that was on or above grade level at the beginning of the year and then the second number is on or above grade level at the second diagnostic the number in the green bubble is the growth we have seen from diagnostic one to two and
we're expecting a larger growth until the end of the year at diagnostic three so for kindergarten uh they've gone from 19 to 52% first grade 11 to 27% second grade 10 to
29% thirdd grade 12 to 35% and in fourth grade 35 to 50% and that is on or above grade level at this moment um in the area of mathematics in the area of reading our kindergarten students began at 36% on or
above grade level and they are now 62% our first grade went from 26% to 45% our second grade students 34 to 60% our third grade students 50 to 68%
and our fourth grade 40 to 48% so I'd like to congratulate all of um my hardworking teachers and students for all their hard work so far huge [Applause] grow the next few slides I'd just like to highlight a few things that we are
doing at Washington this year um we are the Washington Wildcat so every month we are cele celebrating the students of the month as the Wildcat of the month and the theme goes along with the character treit that our counselor does lessons on every month so all the themes our bulletin board would be respect our
activities on respect and then we celebrate the student that's nominated for that character trait so some of the themes so far have been respect kindness Integrity responsibility and fairness each class has a representative they receive a certificate and their pictures
go in the Weekly Newsletter and the kids love it we also celebrate every Friday any students that were caught being kind any staff member can nominate any student um for an act of kindness sometimes it's tying someone's shoe sometimes it's
holding a door sometimes students are absent and then the next day a student will catch them up um so we have all the way from prek uh there's a prek student up there up to fourth grade and again they receive a certificate they get to pick a prize out of my PR box which they
think is an amazing um prize box but it's just Amazon and they um get their picture in the newsletter one of our really fun activities this year was the great kindness Challenge and the theme this year was kindness moves so what I liked
to I wanted to get the children moving especially it was in the winter it was last month um so what we did was we had a dance party so Monday through Friday we had the five grade levels come down to the gym we played music um and they just danced and they had so much fun so
that was one of our really fun activities this year and here are some other activities that go along um shout out to our counselor Kim Morano who does all these kind activities with me you might think I'm crazy at times but um we had the whole building come out in September and
we did a huge rainbow right in the middle uh all the students participate in everything all their thumb prints are in the rainbow of respect all the students filled out boomerangs how to be kind to someone so it can Boomerang back to them the kindness pledge um and the unity and
diversity and I'd like to turn it over to Melissa so she can just touch Bas real quick on any PTA uh family engagement events good evening everyone I'm Melissa Glenn I'm the PTA corresponding secretary for the Washington PTA our president Christine Hendrickson couldn't
be available this evening so I came in her place as working parents we know how hard it is to make school events a priority we have work we have after school activities and adding another thing to the list can be really hard sometimes so that's why this year our
executive PTA board really wanted to make parent engagement and involvement a priority and communicate with all of the families of our students so we started by making communication a priority by putting a PTA Corner in Miss piano's
weekly Wildcat newsletter which it goes out every week and the PTA has a dedicated section in the newsletter to let parents know what's going on every single week which is awesome we also have been using social media to keep families in the loop about upcoming events volunteer uh opportunities
fundraising and other ways to get involved we also have been focused on planning activities that are fun meaningful and also make it easy for families to be able to show up for their kids and it's working we're having a really good turnout at our events especially at our grade level curriculum
nights seeing so many families come out to be a part of the school Community has been amazing and we're so grateful for the support I also want to take a moment to recognize our amazing teachers who have taken time out of their personal lives away from their families to be present at a lot of these events which
take place after school their presence has made such a difference it means so much to the amilies and to the students to see them there so I definitely wanted to say thank you to all of them and to Mrs piano who always shows up we're very Greatful for her as well it's been a great year so far so we have a few
pictures I'll take you through really quickly this is our family nights at chuckecheese we raise money for the PTA and we all get together that was a lot of fun we had a Zumba night 90 style for the 90th day of school and then we have our curriculum
nights this was the prek curriculum night they had an Under the Sea theme we had a kindergarten curriculum night first grade curriculum night as you can see great turnout lots of kids coming out we have our second grade curriculum night and our third grade
curriculum night fourth grade isn't in here because they haven't had theirs yet but it's coming we also had um a really fun theater activity where the kids could participate in a play they had roles they had costumes it was great very well attended this is our Fall
Festival which we have at the beginning of the year to get started on the right foot awesome turnout for that as well we had skate night we had this at warle Park basically shut down the whole rank just for Washington families that was fun and I'm very excited about this we
have our Washington Heritage night coming up in May where each family if they're interested can host a table representing their culture they can decorate it they can share food wear traditional clothing artifacts art and basically just celebrate the great
diversity we have at Washington school I'll be representing Italy my last name is Glenn but I'm Italian so I'm looking forward to that one thank you thank you for having us [Applause]
tonight colleagues any comments or questions well in and I apologize if I didn't get the name right Lisa Glenn Melissa Glenn I apologize um Miss piano Melissa that was a wonderful presentation and it is true
what they say uh pictures say exactly what's happening in terms of the culture and environment that you are creating and fostering at Washington and it is just nice to see that this partnership works and that the students
all ultimately are benefiting from that partnership so thank you to the parents and to the staff and to the leadership thank you so much thank you Madame President next up uh is Jefferson School uh if Miss Laura damato could come up principal Miss Lori
roof is Miss roof here um that's the vice principal that supports and leads the building with Mr M as well as Miss Lisa McMahon president of the PTA um but before we let Mr M start the presentation I would just also like to
congratulate Mr M on Jefferson School uh who was selected to participate and showcase uh School in the year this year's pbsis Forum uh as we know pbsis is very important uh you know teaching the kids
uh a lot of different things getting along leadership and stuff like that so um congratulations that I'm excited to see what you could share to the state and everyone else participating in the pbsis so congratulations thank
[Applause] you so I would like to switch over want us to we have want me to come over stand in of them we'll make it quick created a
formula thank thank you thank you open no I can't when we go to presentation everybody on the count of three do this and it's going to je for us ready it works at Jefferson oh yeah does um oh I thought
NOS was gonna fix it I used I counted to three and went like this okay thank you everybody uh good evening I'm Laura damato I'm the principal of Jefferson School uh we do have a vice principal her children are high in right now and uh was unable to make it is Lisa McMahon our PTA
president this year uh and I'm very honored we always get very excited to have the opportunity to talk about Jefferson uh and uh it is a magical thing that happens that we have six elementary schools prek to four that come to us for the one year this is
actually our 11th opening after the renovation this year uh so and it still looks brand new uh the children coming through us from 10 quick months that we have them it is a tricky way to uh build an
investment from our PTA because they're so you know with the Kor buildings they're there every year year after year uh and of course we see siblings come through and that's always very excited and I don't want to date myself but I'm in The District 26 years now so now I'm seeing more than siblings come through
for my first couple years of of teaching uh so with our I do first want to talk about the the pbsis because it is a big part of our uh environment at Jefferson we are a leader and me State um
Lighthouse school which is actually a global recognition because leader and me is there are leader and me schools all around the world we are a state school of character we are a national school of character uh all of those things tied into our pbsis very nicely uh pbsis is
positive behavior supports in schools where basically the children are rewarded when they're caught following along with our expectations of kindness respect uh doing their work being responsible for each other and what's so nice about each school year that comes through and each group of children they
come to us and so quickly jump into carrying themselves as Leaders where we all know in fourth grade you know you're the oldest of the building you get to really stand out from all of the children but in fifth grade you're all 10 you're all turning 11 uh so it is
really nice quickly by October to see our children that stand as Leaders carry themselves as leaders and are all helping each other the most um what we don't talk about so much is how does all of that
social emotional learning turn and help our academics but as we all know when you feel appreciated when you are uh contributing to your environment if you have jobs in school we have uh opportunities for the kids to take part in so many different clubs within our
school day when you feel appreciated and valued you do better and you want to be there and our scores also then go up so there's empowerment on the teacher level there's empowerment at my level at the administrative level and then the children too with tracking their
academics and helping each other uh and it's it's a beautiful thing that we get to watch um in a very quick 10 months so the state Spotlight School little fun fact in 2010 Hannah Caldwell received uh the state Spotlight school and I was
there with Kelly piano Melissa Glenn Les Nigro we all happen you know there's a large group of us that over the years have known each other Kelly piano was my son's fourth grade teacher and he is 27 you're welcome so so it is is nice over the
years to see uh the connections being made that way too but uh Bernette was once a a state Spotlight school as well this year we have been acknowledged because of our tier two work so the tier two work is uh the tier one is you know catching the child being good they get
the um blue Knight nickel they're allowed to use it in the store or put it in a raffle uh things like that today there was a high um hot chocolate social that children were allowed to use their nickels to participate in so uh all those amazing things that you're going to um meet in a minute um Miss fatan de
Court our counselor that she does so many those things in the school building uh so but the tier two is uh when we see maybe there's some groups of children that they just need a little extra resources and support we are being acknowledged for how we are reaching
those children as well uh to have them be a part of our school community and feel like Leaders Moving On to middle school so that is a uh a niche kind of thing but it's very important test so right now I'm going to change it over hand it over to miss man to share with
you about our PTA activities um and then I know we have also another presentation for two of our staff members so just children Andes M would known so that was a big activity we have
a welcome back stff breakfast the holiday lunch in um go to breakfast obviously the first week of school and then the holiday lunch before the holiday break we have a school spirit fundraiser throughout the year is on um social media a flyer one home be also uh that's
open throughout the year and we receive um a nice profit from that also towards our fundraising efforts um every other month we have a pretzel pajama day um some of the board members take I usually take a day off and I go one of the other members pick up schol sort them
out kid get very excited for that is actually diding State we did theater week that is a huge turnout it's kids get very excited for it um DIN and donates we just did one last week with Five Guys alac we've done Master Pizza family
paint night uh we have Jill rival she's a teacher at our teacher at kwami she's fantastic we did as a family night you paid per per person and the canvas all your paints and she L everyone a beautiful picture uh dve Busters was a
huge uh huge uh fundraiser Who Sold three loaded cards before the holidays was still because it was stocking stuffers we re sold few thousand worth and then they could use it any time but then we had a family F night and that was a huge turnout had a lot of
Jefferson families come kids all play with their friends and ran around and if we all sat eight we had a whole section game clusters it was a really nice night holiday shop holiday course three times a year we had a family bingo night as a give back no charge you know only few
want to BU snacks but the project World sponsored by the PTA we've had two um assemblies so far and the last one was like glow-in-the dark kindness an anti-bulling I know the kids I know my son and his friends came home and said it was probably the best deem they ever saw I just at at the end of February had
a VIP dance that was very well received like I think more than half the school was there um and upcoming we have teach appreciation like to give it back to our wonderful staff we have the closing drive this Saturday if anybody wants to drop off anything 9 to 12 uh family fund night is going to be bowling and lyen
Lanes that's more information to come we're going to have a Mother's Day plant sale a graduate lawn sign sale and our biggest uh event of the year is the pool party we fundraise all year because it does cost a few thousand dollars grand for pool for the day K get bus there
include all their food snacks the DJ just make it a nice enier party for them thank you both very much Mr V thank you um questions we're good any comments Mr McDow I see
you well I wasn't going to say anything but uh I I think uh you guys had planned a a karaoke night yeah because I was looking forward to that I was going to come and sing but you can Count Me In too if there's a karaoke
oh sorry to hear that the board was ready but thank you Mrs uh McMahon and uh Mrs damato yes Mrs damato misss McMahon and congratulations once again on the pbsi is award um it seems like
all the schools are taking um great care to Institute activities and initiatives that address the social and emotional along with the academic so thank you to all of you and um Miss McMahon those
were a hefty number of activities um and and it's nice to see that the academics is being complemented so congratulations to all and we're going to lean on Miss tomato to make sure she shares all these secrets are getting recognized because now like you said over the years we
we'll get them all our all our schools recognized right under your leadership so thank you very much I with uh miss deato being here I thought it was a perfect timing I'd like to call up Leslie Nigro and Fatima dor so there's a Governor's award every year it's
overseen by the department of Ed um and you get nominated and then the department of Ed selects um we had two people this year that are being recognized for the Governor's a year uh Governor's award uh representing our district so congratulations that's
awesome it could be teachers esps so any of our support staff as well as our teachers uh when they get um you know nominated and and selected you get recognized so congratulations U Mr M if you want to stay we'll get a quick picture uh Mr cour and M nro who's uh Mr
cour congratulations great job um every year but thank you for being recognized come on in and then we Greg yeah Greg just move a little this way
there you go thank you congratulations again thank [Applause] you so uh next I would like to ask we we have uh three student Liaisons that are joining us for the next few months the
first up is Ayana Joseph Al so you have a lot of pressure on you you're to First going but I I I I met them all uh a couple weeks ago and uh we have some amazing students uh these are three that really show what uh kind of students go through our Halls at the high school and
I'm uh uh excited to have a share with us um some some stuff around the school district or the high school good evening everyone my name is Ayanna josephat I'm a senior at Union High School and I'm one of the three student
Liaisons um and today I'll be presenting on different positive events um that's going on around the district um between February and March okay to begin with in honor of Black History Month the Vox Hall Historical
Society held its annual Black History Month essay contest Geral TC is very successful whenever they go out to competition so they are currently in preparation and with practices and fundraisers for the National High School
drill championship in May and the National Honor Society students are providing tutoring in the different subjects like math science English and history to the students in the high school um the girls in gear program it was um launched um it was an it's
basically an enrichment program for young girls focuses on confidence boost and life skills and it also invites B biking a nice activity to get the girls involved and then recently a survey was sent out to people in the township
called the strategic planning needs assessment survey which was to receive feedback from the district on how to improve and how to shape future initiatives now moving on to March the Juniors just recently took the NJ GPA
last week between the 10th and the 14th the valorian and salutatorian of Union High School Mr Shaw and Mr GK were announced as well as the top 25 were acknowledged in the Allied Health Program um they participated in a blood drive many of the students are CPR
certified and EpiPen certified um also the parent advisory group also known as cpag had a training on March 13th peer ambassadors um they attended led by Miss Bridges they attended the
cane leadership conference the UHS dance team they've been also very successful they attended competition and they scored the highest in both of their categories Washington School um participated in a clothing drop and Hannah Codwell participated in a food
drive and two UHS students Ethan Santos and Ray javate were accepted into the prestigious West Point Academy now moving on to Athletics um there were about 350 student athletes during the winter season dist
districtwide including UHS and the middle schools wrestling boys and girls basketball teams at the UHS all qualified for the New Jersey state tournament Caleb duelen and badera Alo were the 2025 group four team shop hook
Championship Champions girls 4x2 200 and 4x400 relay teams won the 2025 North 2 group four winter track Championship our track team is very successful um rayu javate and Arian
bensis they both qualified for the njsi AA Last Chance qualifier for the Stant tournament and this is the first time in 10 years that this happened and Ariel Ariel azero qualified for the njsiaa state rent State wrestling tournament in
Atlantic City that's all thank you thank you Ayan and a did highlight the top 25 in 25 and she is on that uh list so anybody
uh any questions statements comments so may I tell them a secret are you ready Ayana when she first sat here she said that she was you know a little nervous but I just think that you just did amazing I think you
did better than us I you have me nervous so amazing job very thorough presentation and top 25 that is a great great [Applause] achievement Ayana I just want to ask
you when you graduate what are your plans share a little bit with us about you um when I graduate I decide well I'm planning on attending a college or university and then from there I would
like to go to law school woo very good there we go anybody else no thank you thank you so much so Madame President while they're
getting that back up uh we were having some issue with displaying I'm going to just continue to go um got to be prepared so uh this this uh a couple weeks ago we had our first uh parent advisory board meeting uh I'm meeting
with a group of parents uh uh people uh put in themselves to uh be part of this group we made a election to get representation districtwide and we had our first meeting looking forward to working with that group um a lot of uh uh my presentation I aana
covered so thank you you made my life a little easier um I really want to focus on uh our fiscal uh but hopefully this comes up so Dr benaquista as it comes up can can
you tell us a little bit about the recipients that got the governor's Awards so yes uh yearly all districts can nominate uh people from your District uh selections get sent in uh you know through uh the county and State
uh Department of Ed and then uh you get selected either as a teacher or an ESP so it's just another recognition that the state does to kind of really recognize all the hard work and dedication that goes into you know every
day as an educator um it's it it uh I guess I was asking about the two oh so young ladies Miss de cour and Miss Nigro so yes Miss de cour and Miss Nigro I mean uh I worked with Mr court at uh the high school uh she was a counselor there
for many years and and uh I got to uh get to know Miss over the years especially when they were uh vetting a new Ela system uh or program but uh both of them are outstanding uh Educators um helping our kids in many ways so uh I
think it's a good representation of our district so we're going to move on since this is up and that's great we will have more student Liaisons over the next two months Dr benus I'm so sorry so being that um Madam chair did ask about Mrs Nigro and Mrs D Court I I must say that
uh personally they taught they both taught two of my children and they are we have amazing amazing teachers amazing amazing students but uh those two women uh bring a flare to Jefferson uh they were actually my first introduction to Jefferson uh and uh a million times over
and over great women great teachers great Educators and I would just like everyone to know that's watching this presentation is will be up online so there's other things that are part of it that other people covered um that you could also go back and um but a quick um
slideshow of all our Black History Month projects throughout uh the district so all our staff do an amazing job they do a lot throughout the district this is a short highlight without without them we we wouldn't be able to and the one thing I would like to highlight in those
pictures is you see you always see Smiles on the kids faces which is huge when when you're enjoying yourself uh and learning it's awesome uh we did just recognize our unsung hero uh Damen kazal at Kane this past week um Hannah
Caldwell celebrated the 100th day of school um I really want to to share some of the impacts on the budget this is our Revenue impact and as you as you look at that um you know a lot of numbers there but I'm highlighting where we lost
funding so the community is aware it's going to be challenging we got to still put in this is a preliminary budget right now the end of April will'll be submitting to the state a final budget but where where we lost um uh Federal funding we're anticipating uh a loss of
877 that comes out later this year uh uh Medicaid reimbursement we lost 200,000 plus uh enrollment adjustment we lost 1,1 147,000 um Equalization Aid uh why I have an asteris there is it's part of
state but I really wanted to highlight you know we lost from the last year over 4 million almost $5 million that's a big number uh total state aid loss is 1.7 uh but again we lost in other areas as
well um if you're if you're looking at our total loss in Revenue this year it's 3.9 million but but to just put it in perspective we're running next year's budget a million dollars less than this
year a million dollars less a year later with you know how contracts increase salaries benefits increase um and you'll see some of the costra drivers um every year you know when we
bid out transportation we get hit sometimes with a 10% increase and that's one of the areas it's tough to get Transportation contracts to support your District um so we're going to be working Miss
myself the leadership team on uh doing the best we can on making sure we're submitting uh we're still working through it from the preliminary to the the uh actual budget will be submitting the final budget in April 29th or approving April 29th but um you know we
we really do need to reflect on those numbers this year uh we will get through it as we always do but uh you know there's going to be some impacts so the cost drivers and and this we're highlighting 93% of our budget operating
budget only a couple areas 93% so 72% of our budget is salary and health benefits that's you know a huge percentage and then you look at the other ones that make up
um you know about another 20% so in the end that 7% left for everything else that's not represented there it's challenging I don't have facilities in
there and we we have a lot of work to do with our facilities but again just to bring perspective to how challenging and this is Miss Coon's probably toughest time of the year uh but we work collaboratively and
we support each other we'll figure it out but those numbers just keep increasing too again at a district tuitions we get renewals again if they want to increase it we're we're kind of
stuck um related Services Transportation like I talked about and don't get me wrong salaries and benefits I'm highlighting because it's the biggest percent but education today educators are not you know it it it is a tough job to
do day in and day out and is I wish we had endless amounts of money to be able to really pay our Educators uh what they deserve but obviously uh you know our budgets aren't endless so I just really wanted to highlight that
again so Hannah Caldwell real quick uh as you see the the map's progressing you can come and look at this further the it shows what's being demoed we have a small area that's still being demoed mainly the gym and Auditorium the rest has already been post cleared um this is some of the uh stuff that we've been
going on uh part of the uh before we could put it back is the encapsulation uh I wanted to show that we had to clear the concepts out we put them in storage units but you could see the finishing of the demolition as well um these are some of the upcoming things that it's exciting because when you're
talking sheetrock I'm getting excited because that means we're coming back to to putting that school back together but we want to make sure it's sealed tight and that's one of the biggest things we needed the temperature to be above 50 to do a lot of the exterior work and now that we're getting warmer temperatures we're able to do some of those things we
have some other things we got to make sure but before we put anything back like we've said the past few months uh we are uh going to make sure uh that that's uh sealed tight so I I did put up there we put out um uh information to
the families in in multiple languages uh I ready had to access it because it is a good indicator I know it was highlighted in the in the uh principal's presentations uh we're seeing growth which is awesome uh but there we put out how the parents could act uh access it
so they see what their child's doing and where they're growing um but we we did see growth in many areas from one to two in reading and also math and again there's the other links uh to it so anyone that didn't see it in their email could go there we also did an over
overview on I ready our uh uh directors uh were interviewed and and the links there as well look for this uh about the uh it's all about the you farmer Frontline farmer Frontline is student l about the you is is Staff fled about a lot of
great things going on in our district our strategic plan I know was mentioned Ayana mentioned it um but I'm already uh so excited because over 2200 uh already uh filled it out and we're going to keep going hopefully get a huge representation of our district um as I
have to do U monthly a hi reporting this is a affirming the cases um so we had eight founded uh uh not founded or in conclusive with three there's the locations the Battle Hill I did italicize because that's the one we uh
from last week to this week we ended up changing from not found it to uh found it uh reporting again these will be affirmed next board meeting we had five founded uh six not founded are inconclusive and there's the locations and then the reporting periods there too
this is March 12 to March 18th so I would just like to highlight one of the the resolutions this month uh the bar family Workshop um you know check it out we do a lot of parent workshops um you know we want to get as
many people involved uh some are are in person some are online but please make sure you're uh you know going and checking out a lot of the things we're offering we have a whole uh uh platform online that you could always go back also on watch but Madam president that's
going to conclude my uh superintendent's report [Applause] Dr benaquista I know that we ask you for a lot um to share with us in a very short period of time but but thank you
for a very thorough presentation and you know when we have individuals come to the board meeting um we take everything that you say very seriously and one of the areas that that we've always
considered is the social emotional aspect of the child the academic um but a lot of the things that we can do are really dependent on the
budget and it it was rather defeating when we got news that some of our titles and Grant funds uh were going to be reduced but knowing the the staff and the leadership in the community here I
know that we can work together to figure it out and not compromise the standard of education for our children so thank you and ab absolutely you know even though these are our numbers right now we're going to fight for more funding uh and again we do have a great
relationship with our legislators uh legislators and as well as the town so we're going to continue to get back some of the money that we lost thank you anyone else mran yeah thank you madam president I was going to reserve these comments to
the start of the fiscal planning committee uh report but I'll I'll offer them now uh so as Dr Bist had shared with us we have a very challenging budget before us uh as we move through final Drafting and adoption in in late
April uh I'm aware that the administration working with our council is going to be looking to appeal the decisions of the State Department of Education in an effort to try to get some of that funding restored and as Dr benaquist also mentioned we are in regular dialogue with our state
legislator legislators and and I know that they're on our side and they will advocate for us uh so that's helpful to balance the budget uh there have been some reductions in in several areas and I I want to make sure that I make note to the public and you'll see
this reflected in in resolutions F18 through f24 uh we are making an appropriation from our reserves to try to get the budget the balance $3 million will still remain in reserve but that's only
1.7% of our operations so it's not like we're flush with cash it would not be advisable for us to use the rest of those reserves we need to have something there in the event that we have another catastrophy like we had with Hannah cwell School this year um one of the
things that is unfortunate in in regards to the way that the state has responded to us this year in the state funding um appropriation is that it's based on the state funding formula which is found in law and there's a there's a
u a standard in that statute called sufficiency where by the department of education's analysts take a look at the economic wellbeing of each community and determines how much money the community should be contributing
toward its operations so as we all know as we look around Union is thriving right now in many many ways however while on paper that sufficiency calculation might suggest
that we are in a greater ability to pay uh higher taxes we also know that 52% of the families and and our students are eligible for free and reduced lunch which is another indicator of economic well being and one of the other challenges
that the board has before us and it's not not a small Challenge and it's not an insignificant one uh is that we are currently bargaining for uh agreements with our employee unions and we want to make certain we reach Fair settlements
with them in accordance with the esteem that we hold all of our employees so all of these things come together at a critical moment and impact one another in in very different ways and in very challenging ways one of the other aspects under the
law is that we could seek to increase taxes beyond the 2% uh statutory cap but we would have to get the uh approval of Voters and we don't think that that's appropriate or advisable at this point in time so we're not going to be doing
it we have to live within our means we're going to be seeking to get the additional state aid and we're going to look for the efficiencies that we need uh to find in our operations and as Dr benaquista mentioned he and U Miss will present to the board a balanced
budget or they have presented a balanced budget in draft form uh that will be preliminarily submitted to the Department of Education for review and approval and the budget that we approve in April will be balanced thank thank you so much thank you so much Mr
Cohan um before we continue I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge um the the St Patty's Day parade this Saturday I had a a wonderful time and experience um I had never been there I'm ashamed to say that but um it was a
large turnout um highly diverse participation and um it was nice to see Miss boser there and our Union Township High School students participate in the parade so kudos to the town and all
those individuals that help organize that event um also I love the pictures um Dr benaquista for Black History Month I I just would like in the future for us to get a little background as to what the pictures are about in the
activities beautiful and um also March is women's history month so I guess we'll be seeing a similar presentation in the future thank you so much now we will have the education and student discipline committee chair Miss Faria to present
the resolutions that will be voted upon tonight thank you so before that I'd like to highlight some other U upcoming events March is also uh National steam month or New Jersey uh stem month so uh the community is having a three I believe K5 or 35 steam night tomorrow at
the high school starting at 5:00 p.m. so if you have time to go look at some wonderful stem projects made by our youngsters it's I'm sure it's going to be a great night um to your question there's I I can't stress enough the reading the newsletters but I want to highlight they talk about an event with
our prek students that they did for Black History Month and just highlighting how well it was embedded into their learning so they have a unit on clothing which really supports students with fine motor skills mathematical skills as they count the buttons uh literacy learning about
clothes but they took in optimize this opportunity to really bring in about how different cultures do different um styles of dressing and they actually brought in um uh a someone who is a
well-known fashion designer to talk to students about uh fashion and they ended with the their own fashion show in prek so like what a great way to really bring that into not as an extra event on the side but to really embed it into what our students and starting as early is
prek so I just wanted to highlight that very nice um so upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the education student discipline committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration E1 the superintendent report of hi e1a to
affirm the superintendent's determination of Hib E2 to approve the bar family Workshop event E3 approve to amend the Su dates for the credit recovery program E4 uh un uh Union High School long-term suspension home
instruction E5 approve makeup dayses for Hannah Caldwell Elementary School second thank you any discussion Madam president yes I'd just like to thank Dr benaquista and U the
administration for uh the recommendation E5 regarding the makeup days for Hannah Coldwell School these were there were s there was a survey taken in the school of both the uh staff and the families and these were the the top three days
they will offer minimal disruption to the overall program of the school all three of these days happen to be days when other schools in the district will not be in session but the this Hannah SCH
cwell School Community felt that they would be the most appropriate way to make up the days that were lost early in the year when we had a close the school thank you so much Miss bam I just want to thank the district because as we're seeing attack on some
of our most vulnerable and marginalized students to see uh something here to support our multilingual Learners and that we are committed to all of our community members all of our students so I just wanted to thank the district and
the leadership for that thank you m fuam this motion has been properly moved by Miss Faria and seconded by Mr Cohan can I have a roll call please miss capiello Mr Cohan yes Mrs K macki Mrs
FIA yes Mr McDowell yes Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott heeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss carbonel yes next we will have the fiscal and planning chair Mr Cohan and Mr McDow to present the resolutions that
will be voted upon tonight thank you madam president uh I won't add anything to the comments that I made on the budget but I would like to call the board's attention to or and the community's attention to resolutions f13 and F14 because these
illustrate some of the extraordinary costs that we have within the budget to provide the the required Educational Services for some of our students these two resolutions represent uh almost a quarter of a
million dollars just to transport two students for the balance of this school year here it's an incredible expenditure uh we Mr mcdal and I have had conversations with the administration about taking a look at these particular placements and the particular bus
services that we are under contract to determine whether or not we can find some Savings in in this specific area next year uh so that concludes the additional commentary about the budget in addition to my prior comments and I'll now defer to Mr mcal thank you Mr
Cohan and thank you Mr Cohan and uh once again I'd like to thank you for um uh going into a lot of detail on some of the finances that uh the district is experiencing uh now and uh Madame President since there
are there were no questions about any of the resolutions in fiscal and planning i' like to pass them uh in bulk sure uh except for uh F7 which was uh approved last week uh and I think there's one
F uh F attorney which is one uh that we do not have to vote on uh uh legal for for Legal Services second any
discussion all right the motion has been properly moved by Miss Mr McDow and seconded by Mr Cohan can I have a roll call please miss capiello Mr Cohan yes Mrs K macki yes
Mrs FIA yes yes Mr McDowell yes Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott heeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss carbano yes thank you Miss
FIA um next we we will have the operations committee chair Mr nasta and Miss K macki to present the resolutions that will be voted upon tonight thank you madam president Mr naster and myself really
you know listening to the budget constraints um and how much money we have as a community are losing um from a federal level we want to really give a shout out to the facili team members who have really
been working Round the Clock diligently on projects keeping our infrastructure kind of sound it's no no no mistake that our buildings are over a hundred years old there are countless
problems and as we look to the budget and the limitations of what we'll be getting you know we hear you know the the salary of our team members and that needs to be to keep our education to standards um but as the
list goes and decisions are made the infrastructure is always kind of at the bottom of the list um because of the budget constraints and so I am truly hopefully hoping that you know we'll get a hell Mary um where
we'll get some additional funding um to our district because our buildings are in need of it um but I really want to and Greg and I really want to say thank you to the facilities team members who have been working around the clock due diligence just trying to help these
buildings hold afloat while we figure out ways to get the resources to rebuild our infrastructure um and so that's what I wanted to add to it thank you Miss coni now I'm assuming both physical and
cyber yes because it all falls under it you know I think a lot of times whenever we think of operations it's just oh the buildings but security is a part of that upgrading maintenance with our security infrastructure our cyber security in the
world that we live in now um the educational component takes a hit because of the laptops Chromebooks and things to keep our our district moving to a level of Excellence that we already have but with this budg
um going the way it is and not really knowing what direction financially will the toll take on our on our community um it is of concern and we don't want to not express our concerns and every time we attend
operations meetings we we have to hold our heart because it's just like oh my God the boiler or is it the roof um and we all know you know what we encountered with Hannah Caldwell um and so that being said it's really just letting the community Community know that from a
budget Wise It's really constrained and the limitations and operations does take a hit and it is a course the board and so we just want to put that out there in full transparency thank you so much Miss con ma Mr NASA thank
you uh upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools the operations committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration o1 approved security drill bus evacuation reports and O2 approved
request to use Union High School auditorium that's all I have thank you so much is there a second second any discussion this motion has been properly moved by Mr nasta and seconded by Miss K
Mackey can I have a roll call please miss capiello Mr Cohan yes Mrs K macki yes yes Mrs FIA yes Mr McDowell yes Mr nasta yes Mrs
Scott heeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss caranel yes next we will have the Personnel committee Miss Scott Hayden and Miss Santana chairs I'm Sorry Miss Scott Hayden and Miss Santana to present the following resolutions that will be voted
upon tonight good evening due to some legal Natures of items discussed in Personnel um there will be items we cannot bring forward to the public however the Personnel committee welcomes you the community to our monthly board meeting as we move to continuously fill
necessary positions to ensure that we are meeting the needs of every student we want to also acknowledge all of our retirees and thank all Educators who have served our children over the years it is our intent to make sure that whatever adversity that may come through
budget cuts both state and federal that our students success Remains the focus of our decision making and that we work collaboratively to ensure that we maintain educational Excellence by retaining the best and brightest
professionals across the Spectrum we as a community must remain Vigilant in these times of uncertainty and unite as a Union Community to demand that children and staff have all they need to continue to to move into exemp public
schools in this Township When We Stand Together Union we win Miss s Miss Santana will read the resolutions thank you nicely said Miss Scot Hayden Miss Santana thank you so much uh may I move
this in a block Madam chair of course thank you upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools the Personnel committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration I have p1a a through P
5 is there a second second any discussion this motion has been properly moved by Miss Santana and seconded by Miss Scott Hayden can I have a roll call please miss capiello Mr Coan yes Mrs
kante macki yes Mrs FIA yes m Mr McDowell yes Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott heeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss carbonel yes in the absence of Miss Mani um chair
one of the chairs of the policy committee Miss FIA if you don't mind um will present the resolutions that will be voted upon tonight upon the recommendation of the superintendent schools the policy committee presents the following policies for the board's consideration
this is a final reading and AD op option policy 4 um 0141 board member number and Term Policy five uh policy number 2200 curriculum content policy 6 policy 3160 physical
examination that should done block policy 7even policy 4160 on physical examination policy 8 policy number 5337 service animals policy 9 policy 5350 student suicide preven vention policy 10
policy number 8420 emergency and crisis situations bless you policy 11 policy number 8467 firearms and weapons policy 12 number 9181 volunteer athletic coaches and co-curricular activity advisers and assistants policy 13
regulation 3160 fix physical examination policy 14 regulation 4160 physical examination for support staff policy 15 regulation 5200 on attendance policy 16 regulation 8467 on firearms and weapons
policy 17 which is to abolish policy 016 4.6 remote public board meetings during um a declared emergency finally but not least policy 18 is to abolish policy 7231 gifts from
vendors thank you so much Miss peria is there a second second any discussion this motion has been properly moved by Miss Faria and seconded by Miss Anana can I have a roll call please miss
capiello Mr Cohan yes Mrs K macki yes Mrs FIA yes Mr McDow yes Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott heeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss caranel yes moving
along we will have the residency committee chair Mr McDow present the following non- voting resolutions thank you madam president upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the resident The Residency committee presents the following resolution for the board's
consideration and again these are non voting uh resolutions R1 is the uh removal of voluntary removal of a student uh R2 is to uh another um to approve the removal
of a student from the attendance R who's not uh uh domiciled in Union uh and so that gives us for the for the year again this is non voting students removed seven students have been removed from our district and 11 students have left
voluntarily point of order Madam president it does appear that resolution R2 requires a vote oh thank you I'm sorry thank you removing the child is there a second does the motion have to change
no any discussion all right this R2 R2 R2 has been properly moved by Mr McDow and seconded by Mr Cohan may I have a roll call please SC
was it Scott Scot I apologize okay who was it Scott just properly moved by Mr McDow and second it by Miss scy Hayden may I have a roll call please miss cap Mr Cohan yes I so
here Mrs kante Macky yes Mrs FIA yes Mr McDowell yes Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott heeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss caranel yes there are no technology resolutions to present for
tonight's meeting May I have a motion to approve the Bill's list so moved second discussion the motion has been properly moved by Mr Cohan and seconded by Miss Anana can I have a roll call please miss
capiello Mr Cohan yes Mrs K macki yes Mrs FIA yes Mr McDowell yes Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott heeden yes Miss Santana yes Miss carbonel yes and and I just want to say for the record um when I asked for a
second I hear like three or four different voices colleagues so it's hard to ascertain who I'm just picking one of you in a given moment um unfinished business no one I I'm I just wanted to
uh bring to light I think I mentioned it during our uh work session uh we hosted the wrestling uh tournament it was a great event um uh I would invite everyone in the upcoming years to come out and support uh Union High School we
wrestled well and um we will live to fight another year thank you so much Miss Santana new business Madam president Mr Cohan thank you I I I too would like to uh offer a comment about Saturday St Patrick's Day
Parade while it was your first it was my 28th wow yes and you dressed the part and you know what I was going to say that because you should see Mr cohan's cane that comes with a beautiful Story
full of history and love and um you certainly were a great mentor as I walked with you through the through the procession so as I Shar with Miss Santana uh I have my grandfather's walking stick it's a sometimes referred to as a shalele
although this is a walking stick a hickory walking stick and it sits by my front door 364 days a year and on the 365th day it goes with me to the St Patrick's Day parade and I carry it up moris Avenue um
I was also wearing my father's U Aaron knit sweater yes so I've got all the all the the generations marching along with me uh and I I was also very proud to see the marching contingent from Union High School uh the junior Roc marching unit
was just spectacular they were very very impressive they're huge there had to be 80 to 100 students marching and um they looked fantastic um Miss bosard led the way with the rest of the students that were marching and I would like to
challenge my colleagues on the board I think for the Memorial Day Parade coming up at the end of May we should all be marching together in front of the Union High School consen I just want to say that we discussed this together it was not just his idea
but I'm challenging the portion okay and we certainly would welcome marching with the students I think right and representing our school district and I have one final comment Madam president in light of all of the news coming from
Washington DC uh and the announced cuts to the Department Federal Department of Education and the stated intention to close the department uh and and all of the other policy decisions that are being
made you know one of the things that I've said over the years is as we all know this is not my statement but you know elections have consequences and one of the things that I've said after each election is that the winner of the election has the the
right to prosecute the policy priorities that they hold and that they've shared with the public in their election campaign what disturbs me about some of the decisions that are being announced out of Washington these days is
that they fly in the face of what I believe to be established law they fly in the face in what I believe to be the established norms and values of our country I believe time will tell uh as
to what the courts have to say say because we do have a constitutional government that has checks and balances and the Judiciary uh interprets laws and executive actions and we will see what the final outcome is what disturbs me
most is that we are at a point in our Civic Liv as a country that we're unable to have conversation and dialogue with one another over these important issues in ways where people who may have
differing opinions can understand why others hold different opinions um I don't agree with much of what's happening right now personally and I've got grave concerns about what's going to happen to our
students and our community and our school district if the most Draconian cuts are made to the funding that we um we rely on as Dr benaquista reported almost 9 00,000 in federal funding will not be forthcoming in the
new year at least and it could be more so I I would just encourage all of my neighbors all of my fellow citizens in in Union to just continue to pay attention make certain you know what the issues are and let
elected officials know how you feel because that's the only way that we can have our voices heard and affect change thank you thank you so much Mr Cohan um for very very insightful
words um Miss Scott Hayden yes and thank you uh Michael Coen for those words as well um I just wanted to state for myself I'm also going to read something for uh Miss Mani who's not here but to follow up on what you were saying um I had the pleasure of
sending in a ACLU um presentation today for work um and they indicated that they are willing to come to the school district to speak to our staff because the presentation was about all of the executive orders that are coming out of Washington DC which are not legal
because um our laws are defined by the con Congress um you just can't write an executive order and to overturn the actual law so um while our president seems to think that he can he's written 90 executive orders in his short time in office already um even that um disband
of the Department of Education which is currently being challenged in court as we speak by the National Education Association um is on the docket uh also they discuss ice rise and knowing your legal uh uh rights um and how to handle
it in regards when uh if I should come into our school buildings um so knowing your rights for our students um the citizens our Educators as well um and what a legal warrant actually looks like so what you should be looking for is someone says I have a warrant what that actual document should entail and have
on it I think is worth us as a district as a Township to actually have the ACLU come in and present the very presentation that we were fortunate enough to have today because it was highly informative um I'm pretty sure most of us don't know what an actual
legal warrant for detainment from Ice actually looks like and what you the the um benchmarks that you should be looking for but also knowing um the questions to ask if someone should be detained um so I'm going to implore um our superintendent and his administration to
look into having a night maybe with either just starting with staff or perhaps the community wants to link and have a ACLU they said they're willing to come and present the information um all you need to do is fill out a form and a request and they're willing to do
so and and Miss Scott Hayden thank you again as you bring a lot of stuff back to our district I'll be happy to uh reach out and have something scheduled great thank you so much and these remarks are in behalf of Miss Nancy Mani
she said thank you Miss Bruns me for inviting me to read to the prek classes at Living Livingston school I really enjoyed reading to miss Brun Meer Janowski katone and mle classes the interaction was amazing one student even told me that there was an alliteration
in the story thank you to our amazing students and Educators as a member of the senior citizen advisory board I am also pleased that our members are so grateful and happy that our Union High School students come to the center and
provide services thank you to miss Royer and her cosmetology students for providing our seniors with manicures thank you to Mrs Zer and her Allied Health students for providing valuable services to our seniors this collaborations between senior Senate
director Miss terza and our administrations is amazing this is a true example of collaboration with within this great Township of Union have a great day and week she said and she'll see you at the next meeting thank you so much Miss SC Hayden
and I believe the police department was involved in the reading or donating yes they did so sorry in the fire I also was invited by Miss Prince Myers to to read in her classroom and I just I'll repeat the
comment I made last week there's nothing quite like having a spontaneous hug from this a dozen four-year-olds yes I agree um I I also want to bring up and I we brought him up um last week Mr
Riley um the security guard that um heroically um was with his family at the time was not at work but um witnessed uh a car accident in the car there was a fire right um and he very courageously
without thinking selflessly um save someone's life so he is one of our staff members um he's recuperating um obviously um burn you know his hands um but kudos to you and um much respect to
you Mr Riley and um thank you thank you for your service I believe he was a fire he was a firefighter was a union police officer and firefighter at at during his career and as soon as he does get healthy we're going to uh make sure we
recognize his uh heroic uh uh you know how he reacted in that he was a hero and and last but not least thank you Mr Cohan and and Miss Scott Hayden for your words um I I thought that they
were very timely and I just want to remind our community that was going to set us apart during this very difficult time is us working together and not forgetting that what we do we have to do
on behalf of children that children are watching us and that ultimately what children are looking for is just like us adults is love in a sense of purpose and as we engage in Sharing different points
of views and perspective let's do it with respect and model what communication looks like what collaboration looks like and what empathy looks like so with that I will open the floor for public
comments thank you first is Miss Laticia s easterling and please correct me everyone if I miss pronounce your name I promise I will get it right the second time good evening everyone my name is latia e as she said um my daughter
attends Franklin Elementary School good evening good evening um so I just have a few questions concerns and issues with the we districting um so the first one is what are the anticipated benefits of this change for the students teachers and
Community where where will the where will the extra money be saved for the transportation go tour s how will the lunches be ran at Franklin Elementary School currently they only have 20 minutes to eat lunch how long will recess be with the transition between
the K and sixth grade will the schools be modified or upgraded to accommodate additional students will the bathrooms be renovated upgraded specifically at Franklin Elementary the boys bathroom have been updated but not the girls parents have issues with their
first graders using the same bathrooms as a sixth grader sixth grade is considered as a middle schooler how will the school measure the students progress and provide feedback how will the curriculum be structured structured and aligned across grade
levels what teaching methodologies and strategies will be used to cater to the different learning disabilities and styles and needs how will the school support additional students with special needs or learning differences what is the time frame on the redistricting um when will when will
the pars be notified and those are some of my questions or concerns thank you so much Miss 27th Miss easterling and I I love your questions and one of the things that we
want to encourage is questions from our community members that impact them and us as well and also ideas as we work through these times so on March
27th um a letter was sent out to so so on March 27th we're we're bringing all all the Committees together um shortly right pretty much after that there'll be a community update on what direction we're going with the realignment um as
uh um a lot of things were brought up uh we're still um looking at a lot of different points of data and we wanted to bring the committee together uh to allow them to also respond to some of the work they've been doing and then make a final decision for uh the
upcoming year as well as our future and and please understand that um as we move forward we will be adjusting as needed and as information is provided to us based on the capacity to
successfully F you know fold this I mean execute this plan so thank you you so much for your feedback additionally one of the areas or you may sit down if you want I I apologize um one of the areas
that that we have been looking at for a couple of years is uh how much we spend on Transportation it is a big one of our biggest ticket items and unfortunately I know change the change is difficult the
there's a dip implementation phase right where people are accustomed to things but we do have to change is necessary for us to continue moving forward so thank you so much for your questions and your feedback and I hope that we can see
you on the 27 Miss Danielle Pinkney did I say that right Miss Danielle Pinkney okay thank you Miss or
Mr jaquel Brighton I am killing this left Miss Chanel shers shers thank
you Miss an Margaret Shannon good evening an Margaret Shannon 2591 Spruce Street and the UTA president so lots to piggyback on tonight because Mr Cohan I too have marched in the parade for 28
years but more importantly the Union Township Education Association and its sister organization the union did I say Union Township or Union County the Union County Education Association we have been Faithfully Marching for probably almost 20 years by now so it's a really
great day we do have a nice little breakfast at the office and Union Center so hopefully next year some of us some of you will join us um on re cross America day when the police uh do give the children books the Union Township Education Association is a financial
partner with them to help them purchase those books so we always enjoy uh that partnership and number three so uh about financing and finally about the shenanigans in the federal government regarding Public Schools the
Union Township Education Association hopefully everyone knows is organizing a rally tomorrow I am so appreciative that last week uh my colleagues in the njaa met with myself uh the board president
Carell vice president Scott our uh board I mean our uh Administration was there Dr Rodriguez Dr benaquista has been really involved the township committee has been involved uh the police we are going to have a rally tomorrow morning
coffee and donuts are coming out at 6:30 and the speakers are speaking at 6:50 it's going to be at the board of ed building on Mars Avenue uh the police are really helping us out to keep everyone safe we have some great
speakers Madame President Senator cryan um Dr benaquista um who else uh njaa I'll say a few words oh mayor Bowser so it's going to be a great event I know it's early but it's a walk into school so we
can't have it after school when we walk out of school so we're having a walk in at 6:30 a.m. I hope you're all going to be there and please wear red for Ed thank you very much thank you so much Miss Shannon
yes and bernardette was also there on Saturday so thank you so much and she gave beads at no cost right thank you Miss Miss Natasia
Lopes did I get it right tonight miss miss Lopes thank you good evening good evening n lops 871 pach stre road so I went to the high school I
walked tonight to the high school for this meeting and thankfully somebody was there and gave me a ride here because I looked on um website and it said High School Union High School not just me but there was a few other people there I truly apologize
for them um I already spoke to miss Nunes and she said she's going to look into it because it was not put everywhere where that the meeting was here all right thank you um thank you for your work and I have a
question on the policy 17 abolish policy 01 64.6 remote public board meeting during a declared emergency are we abolishing that we're never going to have remote again or are we abolished that I I'm trying to
understand no thank you is that your only question comment yeah well I have I'm not um into finances but are we by any chance as um School Board doing biddings to see who
gets like the insurance for the teachers all of this or are we just giving it to somebody that's been here for a while I no BS looking depending on on uncertain amounts Miss would you like
to speak a little bit on the bidding process if my question is just do we have biddings I you don't have to tell me to what it's yeah we have toy code I mean by Statute okay um and in terms of the
policy so the way that it works for school districts and I'll give you a very short answer but um we h a company is hirees Strauss Esme and they recommend What policies need to be added or
removed um should districts have to go back to remote what they would do is update it based on the governor's guidance and the law at that time so all right thank you I know that there was a question from a few parents that wanted
to know if we could bring it back so they could be part of it yes it's usually like that is based on the current codes and laws and and public laws that are sure put in place thank you is that
it Miss Kathleen Bren Meyers is hard to take you very seriously with that poster when you're jumping very exciting good evening everyone Kathleen Brun Meers good evening 287 Bloomingdale
Avenue in Cranford during the nighttime Livingston Elementary school during the day um I wanted to give a huge shout out to all the readers who came in and we have some future readers who weren't able to make it but we did have many that are seated among you come in to
read to my class and the other classes that we have now at Livingston including our Hanah calwell adoptees of prek I had many parents who came in as well so I want to thank them the fire department and the police department came in I want to thank them as well um the union I
have believe provided some of the things that were offered during the week of read Across America so it was a great collaboration I invite anybody who's listening to reach out to their classes in elementary school maybe middle school high school they wouldn't let you come in to read a book to your kids but if
you're out there and you're listening the kids love to read read they love to be read to and I don't think they care how old they are they really love to sit and enjoy a story and so I put it out there to the rest of you to please come in anytime you want and the parade was awesome I usually march with the Union
but I wasn't great this week so I sat and got to enjoy the parade and it was awesome I grade the band from the high school was amazing to get to see so many of my former students walking was fabulous and it was a great opportunity for the town the county and every
everyone to just come out and get their Irish on case she didn't notice yes thank you everyone thank you so much you too Miss Trish Gomes good evening hi good evening Trish GS 47
Brookdale Road um I just have two concerns are is the the district going to do anything about verifying that the students who are actually in our school systems really Union students especially with all the budgets stuff going on they're like can we verify that everybody really is a union resident um
and my other question is if the state or federal government does cut funding for meals for some of these children who need morning breakfast and um lunches is there going to be a plan into place to how to feed these poor kids so so right
now the B verdict is not fully in on the federal um allocations um however the state has recommended that we plan conservatively which the district we're
very you know appreciative of the district leadership Dr benaquista Miss and the other leader District leaders um but we we don't we will not have that information just yet I am usually when situations like that occur the state does jump in
and provide additional Aid um but it is in our radar I know Madam Vice um and a few other of my colleagues to my left and my right we we've been sharing articles to make sure that we stay on top of what's happening and um we will
certainly come up with a plan to ensure that our our children H eat a me eat eat meals um because we know that with a a an empty stomach um is not conducive for learning or or just having a happy child
so we are very aware of that and and we're we're thinking of everything possible to make that happen in terms of The Residency I'm glad you bring that up um and I want to give a a shout out to
Mr McDow and Miss Mani um and I believe you joined a couple of those meetings Miss SC Hayden um they've been working diligently to whenever they get information to work with the administration
to engage the parents and the students through a process to make to vet them and make sure that they verify that they are residents of Union and and listen I'm an educator and I'm a parent it breaks my heart to have to
send a child away but the reality is that we can only serve our own right now and that's just the reality um and I hear situations where individuals tell
me the kids are coming from a bus stop or something we just all have to be vigilant and if you see something say something and I I hate it that it has to be this way but the reality is we do the
right thing in Union Township our families are hardworking families and part of this formula that in um impacted us is because the residents of Union Township do the right
thing every day so we were penalized for doing the right thing and subsequent to that our children should not be further penalized um we need to serve them and prioritize them so thank you for your questions and just to followup Madam um
president uh we have some fabulous investigators that when they get the information let me tell you they're on it I told the gentleman we're in the here the other day I said I remember when I moved to this town and I came out my house and I saw you across the street and I was like who is that right and he's like I came I said no you were at
my house I said you asked me let me see your three grandchildren I need to make sure they live with you so I can assure you it's two of them I believe that's do the investigations when I tell you when they come to those hearings they have it's not one or two pages it's five or six pages of data where they have
followed these people we know what kind of car they drive when they leave the house in the morning when they drop the kids off where they go to at night if they sleep in the house so by the time they get to us we have enough information to know whether or not these people actually live in Union or if they're living somewhere else so yes we
are doing our due diligence and we continue to do will do so uh I just want also add to that uh that we probably don't have enough investigators um and as as Madame President said if you see something say
something or if you know something contact contact the district and and just to let you know how serious we are about this one of the students that that we voted to uh eject tonight uh is in the 12th grade 12th grade and we're in
March and we're putting him putting this person out 12th grader but we are serious about this and if you know anything about students that are not living in Union and going to school in Union let us know thank you thank you so much Mr
McDow anybody else Miss Louisa bias good evening good evening Louisa Bas 591 Duane terce Union New Jersey so I also was going to talk about residency
verification um a few years ago we did everything online to lessen the Manpower of someone having to collect or make lines or whatever so we have to think of um creative ways to do re uh residency verification because there definitely
are people that don't live here that go to school here ume so I also was um one that went to the Union High School because I verified it and on the website it said Union High School I apologize for that the location was not updated so
okay so I'm not sure if I'm too late but I think I am too late but I was uh going to talk about P5 the approv attendance at American Association of school Personnel Administration um so we're talking about all the the money that we don't have and we how are we going to
pull this um we have uh uh some topheavy administrators that are going going to go to Nashville Tennessee for an annual conference of $8,000 I'm just saying we have to cut where we have to cut um I'm Sorry Miss
bias what resolution are you refering I'm looking at P5 approve attendance at American Association of school Personnel Administration we just have to be very transparent and where we are cutting and what we're doing um we need to really think about what programs we're going to
cut before we cut AIDS or anything else that we need the everybody we have topheavy Administration that we need to look at thank you no thank you so much um Dr benaquista can you give some information
about this training so uh as we do yearly uh all staff uh put in to to go for professional development um and um a lot of times I I don't know Miss can maybe uh help me or we could get the information back to miss
bias but a lot of times there's certain funds that have to be spent uh on professional development so it might not be local funds that you know sometimes we can't uh use funds for areas that we wish we could uh use it for but I would
have to look a little further into it but I could tell you uh part one of the biggest things uh to to us to get better as a district is ensuring that a lot of our uh staff if not all are receiving adequate professional development uh to
continue to progress forward and in some of these conferences I will say we do um gain units um of training I know for the board we have to attend an annual
conference for specific trainings so but thank you so much for the question and following up on because you were the second comment about the location I just want to let everyone know Miss Lopes also um our next April and May regular
meetings will be held here at Town Hall um I believe after that um we will probably be next door but that is still tentative but I I will keep you up to speed so that way you have the information as well all right thank you
so much ladies and next door meaning the new library yes the new library thank you Mr con Madam president if I just make might make a comment although everyone is right we our s our website should be updated with where we are there is also a subscription service
that when I was um coming in at just as a parent you literally you subscribe to it every time there's a change for anything that we do here you will get an email and it will have the most upto-date data I am not saying that we should not have the most upt dat data on
the website ite but with those emails I even remember where to go with those emails cuz I still subscribe to it so I'm just putting that out there so so we did send out a robo call today uh regarding it uh I could have another one sent out tonight just to
again um ensure that everyone knows it's start at the board office I'm I'm looking at the website now I I'm trying to find it myself have some information I can't I'm
sorry yes Bernadet Watson good evening how are you good good 2511 bramford Avenue or my other address at 855 Lehi Avenue um there were two places for tonight's meeting on the calendar it did say the
high school but if you go to uh the Board of Education tab on our website to um let's go back the board meeting information go down to scheduling notices February 14th
we did post to say that the meetings for February and March would be here at Town Hall thank you so much and it doesn't hurt to share in multiple places and I I I going forward we'll make sure that it's been changed and board members if you remind me we'll
also announce it at next month's meeting just to keep everybody appr prized Mr Ramon Hernandez good evening Mr Hernandez good evening Madame President and fellow and board
members good evening excuse me um romal Hernandez 135 135 Lowa Avenue this is also my first time attending a Schoolboard meeting for this town and I'm as a local resident thank you thank you for coming yes welcome thank you the
reason why I'm here because I'm looking at some concerns um I have been reading I've been spending my time reading the agendas one of the main concerns I have that when I see any policy coming into the agenda I'm not seeing the details
within that policy which is I have to say it's I see I see it has to is got to proove or what what it goes to but inside that inside the policy didn't show what is what is there and it's
becoming less transparent when it goes to the public for example I was looking at more at policy 0141 and on this page p on zero on policy 8467 which I noticed it's twice
inside in one sheet because when I see the when I see the policy in here it doesn't show the details inside that policy that what's in there and why it has to be approved or not that's what that's something I have
a concern here that if it's going to introduce a policy inside the policy has be added in there so people have a right to know thank you thank you so much and we'll certainly have a discussion with
um the superintendent about this in the process of sharing I promise you that thank you Miss Virginia Jeff [Music] okay Virginia Jeff 236 Brighton Avenue
East Orange New Jersey good evening good evening to all in attendance physically and virtually there are concerns on the agenda and the March 11th 2025 work session agenda which I spoke
at previously in another segment of this board meeting but I will repeat it under physical planning why is the check register so unorganized two why are the checks not in sequential order three why is the check register in the form of a running
account for all attorney costs four why is there a check only for legal F fees and on the bills and claims by vendor name as in item 17 approval of bills five why are the invoice ident identifications not in the invoice
column and this was under approval bills number 17 during the work session and again why one one why is the check register different for all other vendors lawyers and government agencies the check
register is not consistent two why are these check registers not treated as running record and these were the March bills 1 2 3 4 in a PDF on tonight agenda item 18 approval bills for March 18th
there have been additions added to this they are March 2025 bills number five March 2025 bills number six March 2025 bills number 7 March 2025 bills number 8 March 2025 bills number
nine March bill number 16 a most pending Appo payments have no dates when Services goods are rendered and those are Pages 1 through four and bill number seven why does each vendor ID have the
same check number which is number 31420 25 B why is the check number 31422 5 identified as an HP hand printed only I understand it's payroll but it's confusing number eight most pending
bills have no dates when Services SLG goods are rendered number nine some pending payments have no date of when Services SLG goods are rendered an example number one is PG Chambers school on page three there's no date at all for
this service provided and another example is too many checks are slated CP which are computer partial for charter schools and non-public schools without any dates to them and this look at Pages
six through nine on that also the issue about the meeting dates for the year have all board meetings at the admin building for work session and at the Union High School for regular meetings it's been quite a while that
these meetings have taken place at City Hall however there has never been an update to the meeting dates and where they take place except when the agenda is published and so therefore most of
the public are unaware that the regular meeting dates are not going to be held at the Union High School and that can easily be corrected that could easily be amended thank you thank you so much Miss jeffre and we certainly correct
that thank you everyone for coming out tonight um I don't believe we have additional cards no and I hope everyone gets home safe uh motion to adjourn so move
second Santana this um Miss capiello roll call please Mr Cohan yes Mrs K macki yes Mrs FIA yes Mr McDowell yes Mr
nasta Mrs Scott Hayden yes Miss Miss Santana yes Miss carbonel yes good night everyone good night