Yeah. >> No, it's I want to just confirm that it's on the TV. >> Oh, that is on TV. >> Okay. Good day teaching simple places.
All right. >> May I have a motion to move back into public meeting? So moved, Madam President. >> Thank you. May I have a second? >> This motion has been moved properly moved by board member Santana and second
by board member Carbonel. Can I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Miss Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Macki. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Mani. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes. Miss Santana. >> Yes. Mrs. Scott. >> Yes. >> The superintendent has a uh statement he would like to uh make before we move on.
>> Just if uh in case anyone is uh uncomfortable um if we get more people coming in, we did set up a another room across the hall that'll be televising everything. So, if somebody uh I don't know, it's I know it's hot in here a little bit, but there might be other
space that if people need it and if anyone else comes, there'll be space for them as well. Now, we move on to the approval of minutes. May I have a motion for the approval of the following minutes? >> So moved. >> Is there a second?
>> Second. It's been properly moved by Chassis Santana, board member Santana, and second by board member Carbonel. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Cathy Ellen, >> Miss Carbonel, >> yes. Mr. Cohan, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Farah. >> Yes. Um, except I believe the March 24th. Abstain from those. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Beni >> yes to March 17th and abstain from the
21st and the 24th >> Mr. Nasta >> yes >> Miss Santana >> yes >> Mrs. Scott Hayden >> yes to all them abstain from the U March 24th meeting. Next, we have our communications that are reflected on the operations and
personnel agendas. You can review them on the agenda. And at this time, may I have a motion to revise the order of the meeting to combine both the public hearing on budget and both public comment periods number eight and number 20 until after
the superintendent reports in the light of anticipated questions and comments regarding the fisc year 27 final budget and all other items on the agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> None. >> Seeing none, can I have a roll call,
please? Miss Capiello, >> Miss Carbonel, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Conte Mackey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Faria, >> yes. >> Mr. McDow, >> yes. >> Mrs. Beni, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta, >> yes. >> Miss Santana,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Scott Hayden, >> yes. >> Now we move on to the superintendent report. >> Thank you, Madam President. So, as we've been doing monthly, uh we could just focus on >> our enrollment. Uh as we continue, uh
kind of balanced out from last month. We're one student off. uh just trying to keep track of where our enrollment is compared to October 15th. So, I'm excited. Um I'm gonna ask Mr. D. Balonia to come up and help me with this. And we're going to ask Ariel,
Nicholas, and Oberite to come on up as well. I know you I know you guys wrestling in big matches are used to a big crowd, so this shouldn't be anything for you. But I'm excited to uh um you guys could just hang up here. I'm going to talk a little
bit and then Mr. De Balona as well. So uh our wrestling team, as we know, we we highlighted it um the last uh month or so on how well they they've done these three young men. Uh it's not easy as a wrestler. I I I wrestled myself my whole
life and uh to to make it to the states to have the records that they had and and Ariel even had 100 wins this year. >> Um this is not this is not easy to accomplish. So,
and I and I felt like this team that that that ended the year, the seniors, you know, stayed together. You guys wrestled for how many years together? >> Four years. But a lot of you together through the wreck.
>> So, successful teams. It's it's it's players. It's it's it's our our our community of athletes staying together and that's when you see success when they stay together to the end and and we had some first times in a long time uh
in our in our athletes as well as our coaches but um Ariel um you know winning the regions and I it was an incredible match that gentleman went on to take uh I think eighth place um and and you
fought to the end and And for the first time, we had a regional uh champ in 10 years. And and Nick and and Oberite um you know, you if you watch those matches, they were fighting tooth to nail to just again finish in a place that could get
them to the states because your goals probably in the beginning of the year was to make states, correct? Setting up goals. Um I I in my mind you you guys did a phenomenal job. Thank you for leading uh our our wrestling team this year. Uh we had a lot of great seniors.
I you gave me enjoyment and moments to almost, you know, remember some memories myself of when when those things occurred many years ago. But I I love being able to watch you guys and and see you compete. So Andino, do you want to just say a couple words about the these
three? There's uh there was a lot of emotion this week because we had our banquet on a Tuesday night. So, I'm kind of drained, but these guys did a a great showing down at the States in Atlantic City. It's not easy to qualify. It's a long season. It's uh it's tough.
Wrestling is fighting with rules and um these guys did a great job re representing Union uh at the county level, the district level, region level, and in Atlantic City. I got so many of my coaching colleagues from around the state just uh so impressed at the way
that they competed down there. So, it was a total team effort this year. Our whole team, the fans, the families, uh my assistant coaches, Bobby and Nick, uh it was just a tremendous year in a lot of ways. And these guys really uh made
it. They were the icing on the cake. when you can get to Atlantic City and compete down there in that venue, that says a lot about the work ethic of the kids. So, >> and Dino, do you mind just reading one of the uh So, we we wanted to give you guys a obviously a certificate showing
how much we appreciate you and then you want to just read one of these for what uh Senator Cryan um also gave you guys a citation. >> Sure. That's sir. >> Uh reads Senate citation commendations and praise are extended to
Nick Berilotti, Ariel Azero, Ora Ingram by the citizens citizenry of New Jerseyy's 20th legislative district through their elected representative Senator Joseph Cryan in celebration of your NJSIA state qualifications presented on this 30th day of April
2026. Senator Joseph P. Cryan. So again, you you got a lot of the community, you know, supporting you and and watching you through these times. You know, the only thing I ask is you come back and and share with us after you wherever you
move on to your next endeavors in college and whatever you're going to do, come back and and share with us. Share with our kids, help our kids because you guys have shown success that you know, just give a little bit back to our future hopefully state uh places. And
so, uh, board, do you want to make any comments or come up for a photo? >> I have some brief comments. He's next. Uh so coach Dalonia congratulations on a fantastic career but I want those present to know and those watching at home that coach Dalonia stands with the
giants of union wrestling coaches more recently Al Lily Walt Shaross and Harry Lake. Some people may know that the fieldhouse is named for Harry Lake near our football field. Uh and I I'm sure that the wrestlers know that u Mr.
Blake was the founder of the state wrestling tournament that you guys participated in last month. Um they actually started here at Union High School in 1934. So I I just want to say it's it's both exciting and gratifying that we as a
board have the opportunity to recognize you tonight along with all of our other amazing coaches and a athletes from an incredibly successful season. All of our sports did great this season. You've brought great recognition to your school, our district, and our community, and we couldn't be more proud of you.
Thank you. And Miss Santana. >> Oh, thank you. My apologies. Um, Coach Dino, >> I want you part of the picture. Senior wrestlers, I'd like to share with everyone here, and I'm happy we have a good turnout because they get to hear this fabulous stuff. Um, this Tuesday
was it? We had our our our banquet, and there were a lot of tears. There was a lot of happiness, but one of the most memorable things that I got that I received out of it was that uh there's a plaque of this year's
wrestling team that will hang in the wrestling room for this specific team that went through so much personally and uh uh awardly, right, if that's a word. And one of the things that I want and I forget if I get it
wrong coachino, I'm so sorry. But um on the plaque, one of the things that it said was, "I am not a quitter. I am a union wrestler." And it will stand in the Union uh wrestling room and I selfishly, my
baby's on the team, look forward to a time where I'm able to walk in there with my grandchildren and say, "Your your father, your uncle, look, he was part of that team." So I tell you boys, walk in there with pride anytime you
want. Your shoulders back and held head held high that you did this. Thank you for letting me be part of your journey. I am here with tears and smiles. Thank you. If I could have cheered louder, I
would have. Congratulations, boys. Thank you. want to get a picture and and athletes, I think you would agree with me. Without having fans, it it brings more excitement when your fans are cheering. I just want to thank Miss
Bruns Meyer because you whenever I go to something, you're there supporting our our our our students, you know, and it means a lot. Thank you. >> They are the best. >> Mr. Zer, our athletic director is also supporting us tonight. Ready?
>> Come on. Get it. >> Stay. Stay up. No problem. >> And just be careful as uh don't no jumping off the stage. >> You want to stay? >> Congratulations again. Thanks. Good job. Congratulations again.
>> Congratulations. >> Now, I'm going to also ask uh Eric Loftton Harris to come up as well. So again, yes, again with uh having good sports teams, having good athletes, we need a great coaches to give them what
they need to be successful. And I'm very excited um to have uh and highlight Eric Lofting Harris in his first year as head coach, >> former former Union student and and
outstanding athlete. Uh was honored this year as Union County Coach of the Year. uh uh the coaches association and um I got to see a couple games and and seeing your a lot of times I I we were down and your
team stuck in stuck with it and uh finished off uh even if I didn't make it when I checked in to the end of the game we won and it says a lot about what you're instilling in in the players to not give up to compete to the end even when they might have been down by 10 15
points and and I think uh uh it It's uh something I'm proud to have you uh you know be able to keep them competing. It makes me proud as a superintendent and I I thank you for everything you do. Dino uh same thing you you know we've known
each other a long time. Coaching you guys know it you put in a lot of time and energy, a lot of love. Um, you've been a wrestling coach for many years and I know it's not easy for what
you decided to do and and take a step back, but I also have a lot of respect for everything you did through the years. Um, we were talking years ago and Mr. Zer was involved and we were on the brinks and and we only had wait maybe maybe less than 20 kids and it took a
lot of time and energy and sweat for you to build back that program. but also the kids bought into you and your system and it means a lot. People that don't get to coach might not understand the full
aspect of when, you know, you're there alone at night trying to figure out maybe a lineup that can make a difference in the the the ma next match. And in wrestling, people might not think of who steps out on that mat first could
make the difference in how the match ends. their strategy into it a lot. But your coaches with throughout the state saw your accomplishments, saw who you were as a coach and and I think that says a lot when your colleagues, the
other coaches that you're going against are highlighting what kind of coach you are. And I am thankful and proud to uh be able to acknowledge this. you both of your successes, this little bit tonight at the board meeting, but um just keep caring and doing what you do for our
kids and and and then you know I know we're we're giving our kids what what they need. So I appreciate what both of you So we have a certificate as well as a citation that that um Senator Cry gave again. Um I had you read it. We don't have to read it again, but thank you
guys again for everything you do. Mr. Caesar, do you want to just say a couple words? Couple words. They're coaching. Good evening everybody. Uh, this is a pretty interesting moment. Eric was on my basketball team probably about 15 or 20 years ago. Uh, you know, and as a
hard-nosed athlete, he brought that same mentality to the basketball court this year. Uh, I had to I coached with you. All right. And now, you know, working with you, you know, he did a tremendous job. Um, you know, he was nominated as Union County coach of the year from by the Westfield coach, which, you know, if
you know anything about us, that should not happen. So, you know, that was and there was other coaches that put his name out also. So, that's it's a very very big deal when you're nominated to be a Union County coach of the year or a state coach of the year because you get the other coaches do the nominating and that just shows respect right there. Uh, and then my man Mr. Coach Dalonia, you
know, it's, you know, we had the dinner the other night. It was very, very emotional. He is stepping down this year. Um, he left this program in a very, very great spot. I mean, it was Al Liy, then it was Ron Bumnowski, and he took over after them. And, you know, Al Lily was a legend. and Ron Bumnowski was
a union guy that you know became a very very good coach and a legendary wrestler and he took over after them for the past 17 years. So, you know, as we have a first year head coach, we now have, you know, a last year head coach. And I think this is, you know, just they're they're both just great for our kids.
And I think that's very important. >> Board have any uh comments or >> So, we'll just get a photo. You want to move? Yeah. Congratulations again. Thank you, Mr. Caesar. Thank you, buddy. Thanks. Thank you.
Thank you. And uh those that don't know, we are former player. Um very exciting. Last uh week uh was drafted in the second round to play for the Buffalo Bills. Um,
unfortunately, Davidson's senior year got cancelled because of CO during CO. But, um, the one thing that I always remember is when school got let out, Davidson and a bunch of the other players, you know, as I'm walking out of the board office,
there's a half a dozen, a dozen kids playing football uh, one-on-one, challenging each other. I I I didn't know Davidson as well as probably his coaches and Mr. Zeser, but I could tell you this this young man >> has worked so hard for what he what he
wanted. And I'm so happy that he got selected in the second round, which is amazing, at the highest level of football to play for the Buffalo Bills. And it really says a lot about not just him as a person and as an athlete, but
the people that come through our program, you know, that that learn from our coaches, learn from coaches that got honored tonight, you know, athletes that come through. Um, but I I'm hoping he has come back and and and walked the halls and saw saw his teachers and and
and and players that are are around. I know our current football coach is getting people to come back and such a great um person for our kids to be around because he has so much um his
work ethic is is doesn't stop and he he never um stopped fighting for what he wanted and that's what we want our kids to do. Believe in yourself and believe you could accomplish anything and then it could happen. >> So uh just congratulations to Davidson.
Hopefully he's watching tonight. If not, Miss Nunes, you could make sure he sees us uh congratulating him. And I'm very uh our our top sport of ed liaison uh Carrie Towns, but uh on the left uh she's gonna Are you going to talk about
our top 25? >> I could. >> All right. So, I'm excited. You have a big audience, so this is great. >> But it's all yours now. >> Um hello everyone. Good evening. Um uh this is our top 25. A lot of them are actually my friends. Um for me myself, although this is in alphabetical order,
I'm actually placed ninth out of our 599 class. Thank you. Uh yeah, all of us work very hard to make sure we're keeping up with AP classes, honors, so it does take a lot of effort, but congratulations to all of them. Obviously,
um that's me. Um so I just want to start off with a brief um introduction about myself. Obviously, I already mentioned u my class. Um I'm a current senior at UHS. I'm in extracurriculars like key club, marching band, um black excellence. I won't name all of them, but a lot of
them are kind of towards volunteering or my major which is chemical engineering. So robotics and STEM pathways. Oh, thank you. >> Um personally, um just with my family, I live with my mom and my older sister and my cat Stevie. Uh she's a girl. Um and
just a fun fact about myself is that I love to roller skate. I do want to talk about one of my extracurriculars which is Key Club. Um Keycl Club is an international um club actually. It's in um Asia, Europe, pretty much everywhere. Um but we focus
key club on a New Jersey level. It's actually the biggest volunteering club um at Union High School. We do volunteering around the town. Um we do food distributions at the Golden Lodge by Jefferson. We do garden party at the town's garden and also events at Kain. Um actually this picture um top left is
actually at our Junth event the town had. Um so we do things that are outside of that range. Um in school we do um volunteering for ourselves. Keycl Club is student run like completely student run. So we do a lot of our own financing so we do fundraising. Um we do events like our holiday festive where we watch
a movie um just have fun um with the club and to keep all 168 of our members engaged. It is um a very large club I will say. Um but one of the big wins that Keyclub had was actually at Decon. Um decon is our district educational
conference. Basically it's a culmination of whatever community service um key clubs did um in that state. Uh so for us uh we have obviously a lot of awards actually every single um officer officers go to decon. We were all recognized for something that we did.
Um, our main award that I do want to point out is our district service project where we won first place for New Jersey Key Club. Our district project was team homelessness. So, Union High School, we did a hygiene drive and doing that won us recognition for first place.
Um, me personally, my distinguishment was charter champion um because I helped charter key clubs around New Jersey um on the district level. So, that was for me. Moving on away from Key Club, we have some other big events um at Union High School. Our unified flag football, they
have two wins and only one loss for their first ever season. So big congratulations to them. You can come support them at home um at the UHS Memorial Field. It's on May 7th and it's versus Wong Hills at 4 p.m. Um next up we have 43rd annual law
enforcement torch run. It's on June 5th. Um, our athletes, they'll be running a torch run with our local law enforcement all the way from the Union Police Department to the Milbourne Union line in support of Special Olympics. So, that's something to watch out for. Um, we also have UHS flag football. This is
something that was really big. They played at the Jets facility in Floren Park and they beat Lynden 12 to6. So, big win. Um, yes. Um, Amaya Lou Julis was awarded the Gatorade Player of the Game. She got a pick six and she won
$1,000 for the flag football team. So, that was really impressive. Yes. Um, next up we have softball. This is something I literally heard all over the school. Um, Ali Sylvester, she got her 100th hit. Um, so big win to her. That
was really impressive. Yes, trust me, we were all talking about it. Um, and senior day is actually tomorrow on May 1st, so you can come out and support. Um, and yeah, that's all I have for you guys today. >> Thank you, Carrie.
Any questions from the board? Do we want to get a just a picture as we do with all of them? >> Is your family here? >> Oh, um, unfortunately my mom and my sister cannot make it. They're both at work. >> Okay. >> So, we'll take a picture and we would invite them up.
>> So, where are you going to school? I'm going to Ruckers New Brunswick and Oh, I didn't even tell the school yet, but they'll know. >> May 1st. >> Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. >> I didn't even tell my best friend yet, but I'm going to Ruckers. Um, >> this is live. >> Oh. Oh, okay. Whoopsies.
>> Um, and I got into the honors college, so I'll be going there for chemical engineering to pursue pharmaceuticals. >> Congratulations. That's awesome. >> I'll tell her. We're going to go right in the middle. >> Come on, J.
>> No, I'm waiting for them. Let's give Carrie another round of applause. >> Great job. Thank you. And please come back and share things with us. So those >> Yeah. And it's going to be a long meeting. You're welcome to stay, but I
know you guys had some other prior engagements that if you wanted to step out, don't feel bad. >> So those that don't know, I'm happy to um share uh that the commissioner of education visited our district last week, uh Dr. Lily Locks and um we got to
show her a couple of our buildings. She got to talk to some of our students. Um go visit some of our classrooms, had some great conversations at Franklin Elementary School with our students. And uh I got a good chance, which was great because what we're facing with our
budget to really share what union why it's unique and why the funding formula uh hurts us. I tried to spend as much of my time. We also highlighted our mental health program which uh uh she was very excited about because in the governor's
message and in in her message uh they're they're looking to give a lot of funding to mental health. But it was great for me to just share the uniqueness of Union uh how the school system doesn't necessarily match our community on the
components of the uh formula where then we negatively get impacted and lose state state funding. So, I'm hoping that in the future, um, you know, I I offered, but I'm hoping in the future when they start talking about the
funding and changing the formula, um, I would love to get invited to be part of whatever committee they put together because we are unique. And I mentioned it in past meetings. When you look at our district, 54 right now, free and reduced students, and you break it up into two different districts, and I find
districts that are at 4,000 free and reduced students with only 75% say free and reduced, they're getting 80 something million in state aid. We get 56 for our whole district. So, it doesn't make sense for us. But again, the state says that they look at our data and they say we have one of the
highest in our township. It's one of the highest income growing income as well as home prices which may be true but our schools are different. Our schools have more need and we have just as much need as these other districts that have 4,000 students at 75% free reduced our 4,000
need equal to that and we're not getting the money that we need. So hopefully it resonated with her and uh hopefully she wants to come back and see more things. Um um I'm hoping to partner with the state on our mental health program uh
down at school boards uh in October. So I wanted to highlight one of the things because again again just with the funding that we're um dealing with that it's not enough. uh Miss Cakosa uh since she's been with us, I think she's in her
fourth year, um has brought in so many grants that again, it might not be able to be infused into uh salaries and benefits, but it brings a lot of stuff to our district. And if you go through, I'm not going to read through these, but if you
go through all of them and at the end uh and some of them already uh have we've already used, but they keep growing. And she to date has brought to our district, not including the title funds or prek an additional $7 million plus. And it just
says a lot. So we are actively and I want community to know we are actively looking for all grants that could benefit our district that could bring more resources or different programs to our students. So we'll continue. She is phenomenal uh what she's accomplished
since she's come to us. And the other thing is all these things she's like a state model to compliance when we're getting money through grants. There's a lot of work that goes into compliance and and the state looks to us and she got uh um not too long ago honored by
her peers uh and and went to DC to be recognized on what kind of job she's doing with the grants. So, uh I I never have to worry about us complying with all the components once we get the money and that helps Miss as well uh making sure that we're we're in
compliance on the fiscal side. Um, so just to highlight our our US concert band, marching band, swing higher and dance team competed in the World Strides Heritage Musical Festival in Boston uh just uh last was it last
week about a week, week and a half ago. And um congratulations to Jack Song Golden. Uh he was selected uh by the competition judges and uh for an audition and a spot to perform in Carnegie Hall uh with our performance
ensemble. So, that's awesome. Um, and I'm looking forward to Frozen this year. Those that didn't see it, uh, using our new big screen, uh, in the auditorium was awesome. Uh, gave a different, uh, spin to our our our musical. And I'm I'm excited to see what next year they
bring, uh, tapping into technology and and and all that within their performances. So, I'm excited. Again, we have uh, great performing arts uh, productions. We're going to continue to have it. And uh I'm always so excited to see how our kids uh perform.
So there's just some things around the U uh that you could go on and and get more information on. Uh but we did just uh get to spend some time in and with bus and transportation and the drivers and and par and the aids uh just to say thank you and and appreciate. Uh but I
know we talked about May 1st. Um and tomorrow they're having a program um where uh there it's I think throughout the state uh it's uh the uh day that the ch children or the students uh kind of say where they're going to college. So
um uh it's nice to have a decision day throughout the state, not just uh so all of them post. And uh we're getting ready for our tests. So, we're kind of getting creative in our schools and trying to make it fun for the kids to be relaxed. And if anybody could could help that's
listening that's here, make sure you talk to your children. Just tell them to come in and relax and do your best. That's all you can do. If you could come in and relax and test, you you will be prepared. Uh sometimes anxiety gets in the way, but we want to make sure our students are are relaxed and and and
perform the best they can. So, autism awareness month, we put in there a couple things that our our schools were doing. Um, you could go and and and check out that uh you know, at Connecticut Farms and then Livingston, we highlighted a couple things on our
newsletter. There'll probably be some more highlights to um what we uh uh celebrating autism awareness um and and what great things we were doing around our district. I'm happy to uh make everyone aware that
Jacqueline Cassandra uh was named the top 20 finalist for a national elk scholarship. Um you know it's awesome and um you know it's it's that's a great uh she's going to Harvard obviously it's going to help with uh the tuition there.
Um as we highlight because we put a lot of onus on our attendance. I want to just every month thank the community because our our attendance uh competing among schools is great. But uh this this time Hannah Caldwell got a 976 6.7 uh 90
96.97 uh percent which is awesome almost 100% but as you see all the schools throughout that we've been recognizing um and and competing with each other. I think Connecticut Farms might still have the edge but it's getting close to see.
We're going to keep following this throughout the uh rest of the year, but for March, Hannah Caldwell gets the nod. So, as I have to do monthly uh the incidents to report and affirm for HIB, uh there you see it. We had five that
met the criteria uh one unfounded and five inconclusive for reporting period. That'll be affirmed next month, our next meeting. And then, uh affirming three met, one unfounded, and one inconclusive.
And those are the periods of time that uh they're for. Uh so we spoke a little bit the football team, the Giants donated to our football team for I believe just the weight room. Um you know, so that that's awesome.
There's a lot of news. I'm not going to again read through everything. I don't have enough time to highlight everything. So, please check out this this presentation as well as uh um you know, our newsletters that come out and the Hall of Fame's coming up. But
those that didn't see who the nominees were, um you know, May 7th, it's the first time we're bringing back our Hall of Fame uh for the township. So, I'm excited for that program and see how that goes and meet a lot of the the
people that um are being recognized. So, I'm going to ask uh uh Lisa Narcissis, our she's from our broker, Fairview. We we did a presentation uh last at the work session, but I think it's very important for our community to
understand uh another thing that came out of nowhere that impacted us fiscally. And Lisa's just going to share a little bit about what the No Surprise Act uh is and how it's impacting not just us, but uh many school districts as well as other entities. Thank you, Lisa.
>> Thank you. So, thank you for having me. Um, little tidbit, I actually saw your wrestlers down at the state um wrestling tournament. Just a little add-on to that. If you wrestle in the state of New Jersey, you are probably one of the top wrestlers in the the country is what I will probably add to that. Um, my
daughter wrestles, so I'm a little biased. Um, go girls. Right. Okay. But now to the not fun stuff, right? My job is to be your insurance broker. So, I work for a company named Fair View Insurance. We're part of Foundation Risk
Partners. I handle the benefits for all of the employees here in the district along with the team um that works out of my office. So, plenty of the staff have probably spoken to myself or some of my colleagues. What does that mean? My job is to go through every month with your
administration here what the spend is. That means the way insurance works is claims in is premium out, right? So claims in that means when you go to the doctor, there's a bill that comes in to the the um district and then the
district has to pay that. On the other end, that gets partially paid by the employees in the terms of a deductible or co-pay. The other portion also gets paid via your premium. So when the claims go up, right, the the amount of
doctors that are billing, your premium potentially could go up. I'm not saying that that's going up, but that's like the gist of insurance, right? So what has come into play here is what we call the No Surprise Act. Well, it really is
a surprise. Um what happened was the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. They wanted to say, "Hey, we're going to protect the consumer, the members, the people using the plans because we don't want you to get these surprise bills."
So, effective January 1st, 2022, if you've ever been to like the emergency room, right? Those doctors will bill you faster than than you've ever seen and you freak out and you see this huge bill or they would say, "Oh, you your plan didn't pay enough. we're going to do what we call balance bill you because
they're not contracted with your insurance provider. So that would be the Etnas of the world or the Horizons of the world. So they wanted to pro protect the the consumer by all means we I I use insurance trust me this is like one of the most personal things that anybody
has to deal with. So what happens patient protection act they want to protect you from surprise bills but what happens? who's going to pay that bill? That bill still has to get paid by somebody. So now it shifts the the
financial responsibility from you the member, right? Saying, "Hey, I paid my co-pay. I went to the emergency room or I had a surgery and I don't know, I went to in network doctor. I went to in network hospital, but I don't know who
that guy is putting that mask on me to put me to sleep. They're an anesthesiologist." Well, most likely they're out of network because they know that they're going to be able to make money from the financial aspect of the plan being the insurance
plan, right? Or the employer. So, what happened with this act was to protect you from getting that bill, it gets pushed over to the employer. So, now they want to say, "Okay, we're going to have a way that we're going to get paid instead." So before that the prov the
insurance company would say hey this is what we see as reasonable customary or the average payment in this area for a doctor that would be in network well the anesthesiologists might not like that right so what happens with this bill
they said no we're going to find another way because you know I know this is really small we're going to find another way to to make money really so when what is this really applying to it's applying to non-surgery, non-emergency surgery.
So, think of the anesthesiologist. Think of the assistant surgeon. I go in to get, you know, I have breast cancer. I need to get breast surgery. And I have a main surgeon. Well, he brings his friend in to also help. I don't know who that person is. That person has to get
paid somehow. We're finding that they are getting paid. And the other one that is very very you know what I would say not often is air ambulance. So I need to get medevaced data somewhere. Not finding that as often. So what does this mean? The school district gets hit with
those claims. Well from the law and I'm going to give you a couple insurance. We use all these acronyms. So no surprise act. We use the term NSA right? What happens after this? Everything goes into arbitration. Right? They want to get
their bills. They found a way to get some lawyers. It's now 2026 and what is happening? We're finding that they found a loophole in the law to hire these attorneys. No offense attorneys.
I have a son about to be attorney. He's got to take care of me someday, right? So, they found a way that there's called arbitration and Medicare has an arbitrator that they hire, right? So CMS that's the center for uh Medicare and social security. So we call it Medicare
is another branch under the health and social services you know arm of the government. They find these arbitrators that are going to say hey we'll take the lawsuit from the provider and now we're going to go to the plan and say what are you what's your best and final offer to
pay this provider. Now, the providers also figured out we're we're going to get paid a really hefty amount because they look at it nationwide, right? Instead of saying what would Medicare pay, they want to say what's the highest we can really push here. And there all
they have to do is put a number out there. And what's happening with that is they they come up with their own calculation methodology. And the arbitrator, by the way, also gets paid. They're a third party. They can get paid up to $30,000.
So why am I telling you all of this? This is all coming down to dollars and cents that's getting hit to the district. So we go into this arbitration and they have 30 days once that arbitrator says, "Hey, you have to pay." If you go out onto the New York Times,
there's a really interesting article that just was posted. Um I believe it was a week ago. Somebody had a breast reduction surgery. An assistant surgeon wanted another $440,000. And that's what they were awarded. 88.
Originally, we were seeing 80% of these being um found in the favor of the provider. Um as of this week, the reports are saying 88% are being found in favor of the provider. So now, think of a $440,000 surgery. I have another
client that got hit with a $500,000 assistant surgeon bill just over in Mars County. So what happens is the district pays these claims, right? Claims are coming out. They basically after that arbitrator has gone to negotiation
period with the carrier, they the carrier has 30 days from what that assigned amount is in order one to negotiate. Then it comes back and they go into what they call, right? Everything has an acronym and it's an independent dispute resolution, right?
So that's that back and forth with the arbitrator. After that, the arbitrator signs that amount and then they have another 30 days that the district has to pay that bill. There's no questions asked because for every day that they don't pay, they get hit with another
penalty. Right? So here we go. 88% of the disputes are securing for payment for the provider. They're favoring the provider instead of let's say the plan. Um after that the financial impact is coming here to the district. They there
there's no push back right now. There's no way to go and say I don't want to pay that because you get hit with another penalty that the district has to pay. Then right now these are the numbers we're looking at for the district and just the no surprise act. So last year
as we were following this last year 2425 plan year. So that's July to the to the July. The district was hit with about $551,000 in these NSA claims manageable within what we had in our budget. This year we've been watching it month by month.
And now these claims can go all the way back to that 2022 time period. So that means for four years the district would have no idea which claims these would fall under. But these providers have found this loophole. And in the last two years, our our agency has seen huge
uptick. Now, in the last year, this is the number that we we had as of I believe it was last week, claims run that the district is looking right now from 25 to 26 currently, you still have until July 1st when this plan renews
that the district's getting hit with an additional $2.9 million in these surprise claims. There is no way to know what claims are out there. There's no way to know when they will hit, how much will hit. It makes it almost impossible
to make put together a accurate budget. And the reason why I bring this to you is one, we do have a little bit of a solution going forward. We've contracted with another company that already adjudicates or looks at the out of network claims and reprices those.
Typically what we're doing with them is they're going to handle the claims going forward. They look to negotiate a lower payment for those NSA claims, their attorneys on staff, and that's what we're looking to have a legal agreement
with. The other thing is going forward any claims that are out of network we're looking to work with the this vendor the FIA group who's already on the plan but we're looking to engage them from the legal aspect so that they can make agreements with out of network providers
that you know we've identified as some of these hot areas so that potentially the claims won't be surprise claims down the road. Why do we also bring this to you? The fear group was just in Washington DC last week speaking about
this. This is not just the union board of ed. This is not just public entity. This is everybody who has health insurance in the country and their plans have not identified this as a major issue. Our firm has been speaking with
Congress already with our representatives within the state. But I need your help to also understand this because this isn't just what's going on here. This is going on everywhere and it's just beginning to come about and
become public. So, write to your your um representatives, make a little bit more of a stink about it because $2.9 million is actually our budget issue within the health insurance side. I'm not talking about your total budget, but in the aspect that I handle. And what will this
convert to? Unfortunately, this converts into issues within your own overall budget. So, please make this look Google NSA claims and um Google health insurance, any of that, you'll see articles popping up and everybody has
had originally looked to protect the consumer. But the other part is they didn't realize that there's another end that's going to end up impacting the consumer because it's going to come through on your employer budget side. And that's all I have for for my bad
mood. >> So, thank you uh Lisa. I really appreciate you coming and explaining and I I Anybody have any questions? Board. >> So, as as Lisa mentioned, she made this presentation to the board at our last
work session. And you know, I think it there's a great irony in the title of the of the statute, the No Surprises Act. >> Absolutely. Um, and I think what it comes right down to, this illustrates perfectly our our immediate challenge, but it also
illustrates what's wrong with the macro healthcare economy in this country. >> This is not a problem that we can solve. It's a problem that our country needs to solve at in Congress with policy change. Right. The the intent of that
legislation was just right. protect consumers, protect people who are ill or injured and are unable to make informed decisions in the moment. They get the care that they need and then they're faced with six figure bills after the fact. >> That's been solved on the part of the
consumer. But as we all know, at the at the end of the day, we're all going to pay the bill and we need to make sure that this problem gets solved because it is untenable. It's not something that we can budget for. It's not something we can predict. We provide uh we want to
provide quality health care for our employees and we pay the bill, we pay the the premium. In the moment the set the the claims get adjudicated and they get paid and then this crops up to four years later. It's just it's insane.
>> Anyone else? Did you want did you want to add a >> So, thank you Lisa. I really appreciate it and I'm hoping the community I think these are big things issues that need to understand uh what could be impacting us
and again not no control not knowing it's coming at this time I just want to pause for a second and madame president I know is going to uh speak uh briefly >> so good evening again um I want to thank my uh vice president Michael Cohen who
took the opportunity to uh this evening prepare a statement on behalf of the entire board and to address the community and all those present at night tonight and also uh via Facebook live. Good evening. I want to begin by
acknowledging the presence of many of our staff members and neighbors from the community who are here to express their opinions about the actions this board will take tonight. Each of you and each one of us have a vested interest in a public education provided by this
district on behalf of the children of Union. We acknowledge that there are many opinions and ideas and concerns regarding how to go about providing that the education the most productive education in a caring and affection
efficient way possible. But we are faced with an incredibly difficult crisis brought about by forces almost completely out of our control. We are being asked tonight to approve cuts to our current programs that no one on this day is is happy with or wants to
happen. But we have several basic responsibilities as a board under statute, administrative code, and the provisions of our oath of office and the code of ethics which compel us to take these actions. Our first priority is to
ensure that the students of this district receive the best classroom instruction we can provide. We have a second and sometimes conflicting responsibility to adopt a balanced budget. The presentation you will hear
tonight from the district administration along with your comments and opinions in response to that presentation will outline our challenges. Please remember that while you may while you may disagree with the actions taken tonight, that does not mean that this board is
not aware of the differences of opinion and differences of priorities of others. In fact, we may each personally agree with some of the perspectives presented. We are nonetheless compelled to adopt a balanced budget and to act on the recommendations of the superintendent of
schools. >> Thank you, Madam President. and Miss uh, do you want to, uh, come and join me? So, we're Miss and I are going to present the the budget, but before Miss gets into the slides, I just want to give again an overview for those that that haven't
heard it, why we got why we're here in a sense. So, uh, I know Lisa just shared a little bit about unexpected um, costs to our district. Those unexpected costs could be there next year. We don't know that. We we can't anticipate. We don't
know what's gonna we're gonna get hit with with the No Surprise Act uh next year, but right now we know that our current benefits are going up $5 million next year. $5 million. So you take that with the loss of state aid in the last two years,
the 3% max. And even though it was 1.6 1.7, that first year's compounded. So you're close to 6 million that we lost in state aid. If we got last year's 3% plus this year's we would be at and we didn't have a $5 million increase on our
benefits in a sense it's $11 million increase to our budget. We would be positive 11 million. So we wouldn't have to worry about figuring out how we're paying for a $5 million increase and we'd have another six million in in in
in revenue. That's two big things. So, I can't stress it enough of why we're here today. We don't control the increase in in the in the health benefits. We don't. But like Mr. Cohen said, we want to make sure our employees have a great health
plan, which we do. But the the cost of a health plan is just going up so much it's hard to sustain. A family plan, Mr. Ratino, right now is average >> $51,000 for a family plan.
So, I know years ago, many years ago, because I'm getting very old now, I think the family plan was under 20,000. It's $51,000. It's almost unsustainable. >> It's going to surpass our starting
salaries for teachers. It's passed a lot of other starting salaries. So the the issue that was spoken about tonight is not the bigger issue is health benefits. The the bigger picture is regulating the costs of these health
benefit plans. >> Absolutely. >> But again, if it keeps going up two to three, four, five million a year, we can't sustain that. >> We'll figure out a way. We're going to have to. But that is in a nutshell one of the biggest hits to our district.
On top of now you take into consideration the three plus million we just got currently hit with. You add that together next year if we happen to get hit with three million. >> We're not we'll have to figure it out. But we're not ready for it.
>> And again something we cannot control. >> Yes. >> Like I said I'm going to keep advocating. We're going to keep advocating for the with the state to give us the funding that we feel we we should get for our district based on other things that are out there and we
see. But again, the realistically by next year's start uh next year's budget if the formula doesn't change, I'm concerned because we're projected to lose another 3% based on the state formula which is
going to be another >> 1.7%. No. 1.7 million. >> 1.7 million. >> Okay. >> So, >> this is scary, but this is real. >> And I could go into the other additional
increases yearly that we we have to deal with. But look at those just those items without going any deeper. >> It just doesn't that revenues do not equal the expenditures. >> So, m Miss do you want to uh go
through your presence? >> So, good evening. I'm Yolanda school business administrator of Union Township. Um, thanks Lisa for um, articulating uh, to the community. Um, I know a lot of you it just sounds like
numbers, but I'm living it. I'm looking at the budget, the bank account, and it's like an open checkbook. When you budget, say 600,000 and it comes in over a million.
weekly. So, it's very very uh difficult for this current year. We're not even talking about next year. We're talking about this year and we have two more months to go. That's eight weeks.
And somehow we have to come up and find this money and that would come from either our fund balance or unassigned uh surplus which we only have maybe 2.5 in.
So it is very uh scary. We've reached out to the county. We reached out to the auditors, the lawyers. I'm sure Lisa is tired of my emails um because I'm like what do we do? So anyway, um moving along,
we're here to uh present our final proposed budget. Is it the middle button? Okay. So in this slide, we are showing our grand overview of our revenue. Our
revenues are pretty much broken into these main categories. I can't see so I need to move up so excuse me. So it's broken into these various different um categories. The largest category is our general
operating which is mainly your main uh bank account where all your transactions uh for the most part flow through. Second that is our prek grant um basically servicing close to 500 um
three and four year olds. Our next bucket of revenue sources is the fund 20 uh entitlement grants and those are federal grants to help in content areas teachers uh for professional services
and that's representing 2% and lastly we have our debt service which is our bonds uh representing 1% and that was for major capital projects that they have done in the past. um the bonds, the next
one doesn't roll off until 2029. So, we still have a couple more years before um that bond expires. So, these again are buckets of revenue streams overall. The next screen is pretty much our
general um operating revenue and we have subgroups. What makes this up is our local uh property tax levy and miscellaneous for any kind of um uh reimbursements
or over bills from um special services uh could be uh our rental property from uh Hamilton uh would go into that bucket. We also have our fund balance of 2.9 million. That is quote unquote like
our savings from year to year. We have our state aid. I'm not sure if you said 56, but it is really 52. 56 was last year and we lost 1.7. This year we lost
1.6. So that's our um state aid. And then we have our semi and extraordinary um aid uh to make up the local um revenue. Here basically are our appropriations.
These are we have over 2,000 or so active budget line items that we basically categorize and sort into these various different categories. I don't need to read them. They're pretty self-explanatory. salaries, um, equipment
totaling, uh, the 176 million, uh, dollars. Um, last month in March, we had to approve the preliminary budget and prior to, uh, the preliminary budget, we had
already cut non salary appropriations of 4.1. So our total overall shortage was around 14 million. So we cut 4.1 prior to the preliminary
and then at preliminary time it was 9.8. So how did we get here from the revenue side of things? We lost state aid in 26 of 1.7. This year 1.6. Other challenges that we must face is a 2% cap, our fund balance,
which we're not replenishing. Um, so those are a lot of our challenges that we face from the expenditure side, as Lisa alluded to, healthc care is just right now out of
control, and that really scares me. Um, so I'm hoping um that something comes through because what do districts do with an open checkbook and you don't have the funds? Where do we go?
So anyway, um moving along, we also have our increases in salaries for the district, roughly 3 million and other cost drivers that we have to manage transportation uh tuition from uh special education. Uh
if you looked on the agenda, we have uh roughly 15 in to I think it's 1500 total um special ed students 185ish and that fluctuates monthtomonth are out of district. If you look at
that, that's $20 million that we're sending out. And each year typically we estimate about 5% increase in tuition. And that's a million there. A million dollars off of 20 million.
And regular inflation on all the other um budget lines, you know, electricity, um other uh property insurance, um charter schools, there's a a host of other um items that we have to consider.
So to balance the budget for the preliminary, we knew the targeted and identified the targeted areas which were the transportation. we felt we could um uh revamp and revisit salaries, health
and miscellaneous uh judgment um and PERS. So that's how we ended up uh balancing at the preliminary um time frame. These are action uh items that were recommended. I'm not going to read them all. They were discussed during the
preliminary, but the biggest is to um uh the configuration close or repurpose uh Franklin prek to a prek center and um change Jefferson to a K5. Um along with
transportation and you can see um unfortunately uh the reduction in staff. We have to take a look at that and uh re-evaluate some of the other um cost items.
So what changed from preliminary now to final? So if you recall from the previous slide, these were our estimated targeted areas in which we felt we could find some savings. So now we just needed to fine-tune them.
So follow me here. So the shutfall at that time was 9.8. eight. We were able because we were very uh conservative in um estimating what the health care would be for next year. So we increased our um
percentage um based on obviously some of the issues that uh Lisa brought forth. Um and that yield an increase in income of 1.4 million. So if you take 9.8 eight
less this revenue piece of 1.4, you're left with 8.4 still to reduce. And on the expense side, we were able to um reduce savings or reduce cost of 2.1 in
transportation uh by pulling back at least 13 routes from Union County Ed services um and nine routes within the district. Correct. within the district from um
that could that could redistribute because at Jefferson we basically had what 13 buses all coming to one and so we repurposing uh those uh routes so that they can handle the high school and uh Battle Hill and that yields to 2.1
and then obviously we had to look at personnel um and I believe the total FTE was 56 or 56 and 30 >> right now 30
>> 30 staff members. Mhm. And then um the last was the health and miscellaneous of 1.2. So if you do the math it comes out to zero and we are balanced.
>> Thank you. You want to add anything? So, Madame President, that concludes the superintendent report and the budget report. Thank you everyone. >> Do we have uh any comments from the board before we move into um public
comments on the budget? Seeing no comments from the board calling up the first speaker. The first speaker is James Moser. My name is Jer. I'm a theater teacher here in the district for over a decade at high school. I built recognized
theater program. During that time, our students earned 138 nominations and 36 awards awards including three best musicals. And that comes out of 100 schools from across the state of New Jersey.
Ladies still holds the record of nine awards in one evening held by a program during my time there. We were featured in the New York Times. We were featured on PBS in a documentary about me specifically and um we also received a
$10,000 grant from NBC television. Um more importantly, the success of the program is based on the reflection of students themselves. Many of them now are on Broadway in film, in television, uh working in shops, working in uh production across the land. Uh and much
of that is not from college programs. Many of them walked out of this building and then ended up working in business. Uh I dedicated my life to that program. I was there at 7 in the morning. I left at 10:00 every single day. And after that, um, I would come back on the
weekend and I would work from 10:00 a.m. to 10 pm building scenery with these students every single week. I started to make ask questions about funding and budgeting after $7,000 of our money was stolen. I set up um multiple meetings with the business administrator at the
time with the school principles. We sat for weeks talking about this money that was never recovered. Subsequent meetings were consistently cancelled over and over again. And then finally, after I was made the teacher of the year for my building and the teacher of the year for
the PTA, I was brought back to school where I was put on administrative leave for eight years. Eight years this district paid me to sit at home and do nothing. They were told multiple times that they should send me back. There was a judgment from the Department of
Education. There was a judgment from a judge and they chose not to do that. They spent millions of dollars in legal fees to this man's law firm over and over again. And the corruption that runs in this place is so incredibly deep that
now they are riffing me and getting rid of my job instead of dealing with the situation. If you think that these people are doing anything for you, you're out of your minds. Every single one of them got their raises
>> and did nothing at all. >> The public deserves to know what goes on in this place and the nepotism and the theft that happens. How do you have a $190 million budget and you cannot
retain all of these teachers? Other districts of similar size have less money and they seem to be doing just fine. So, good luck to all of you. See you in court. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Next, we have Anthony Canel. Anthony cancel. >> A little hard to follow that up, but uh >> how you doing? Um so I'm a parent. I have a daughter who >> Oh, name and address, please. >> Jefferson. And she's currently in
Jefferson now. Name and address, please. >> I'm sorry. >> Said your name. We need your address for >> Anthony. Cancel. 713 gate service. >> Is this not working? Hello. Hello. >> That's not working. You want Can I just talk loud? Can you guys hear me? >> You can hear me. >> Okay, awesome. So, I just have I have a
just a couple of quick quick questions. We were just told about this 2.9 uh additional insurance that >> is that better >> started yet. >> So we just talked about this additional 2.9 million that was needed for this no
surprise act. Um, one of the things that just kind of strikes me, and honestly, I understand the tough position you all are in, right, and trying to reconcile such a a large budget, but it kind of surprises me that we're kind of being
asked to cover basically out of insurance cost that we're already covering for health insurance, right? So, in the in the budget, there are two line items that kind of stuck out to me. there's kind of a 4.8 million reduction
in staff and so forth, but a similar increase in the health benefits, right? So, if we have less staff and we have more health insurance and now an additional 2.9, how is that calculation or you know, how
is that coming to be? And if we're taking that same approach with that, because that just doesn't add up to me. If we have less people, but yet we're increasing the benefits for the remaining staff, then we're adding an additional 3 million coverage,
where is the education and the process of just the selection of the health process in it of itself? I know myself before I go to the doctors, I have to make sure I'm in network. I have to make sure that whatever I'm getting done is not going to come back and bite me in
the butt. But yet, we're being asked to kind of add that coverage, which listen, it's all good, right, for the teachers. But what if we took that 2.9 and just gave it right back to the teachers instead? Wouldn't that make more sense, right? If we can reconcile that a little
bit, how is it that those numbers aren't adding up? That's just my question within that respect. All right. Thank you. Next we have Michelle Zada. >> Hi. Can anyone hear I don't know if the mic is actually really on for anyone that's watching. Um my name is Michelle
Zada. I am a parent at Livingston and Hannah Caldwell Elementary School, uh, 1523 Brookside Drive. I'm actually not surprised we're here. I've been waiting for this day to actually come. It's when we're going to announce the deficit, and
that's because of Hannah Caldwell. Okay, everyone knows that had happened last year. Okay. But no mention of why we got here was because of Hannah Caldwell and the meeting of last fall of
September 16th. Uh if you go back to the hour of two hours and 33 minutes, Michael Cohen states that Hannah call will cost the district $8.5 million excessive amounts. I don't know why that
was never brought up as to why we are financially in this situation. So where you want to know where your money went? That's because of neglect that had happened at Hannah Caldwell. The incompetence that happened at Hannah
Caldwell. Okay. So that's where a lot of your deficits coming from that was never mentioned there. Everyone knows about the trauma that happened at Hannah Cogwell. Okay. So I also have one more
question and in that the budget that is posted online there's a budget called transfer of fund to charter schools and the budget amount of $1.14 million. What is that chart? What is that charter
school fund I want to know about? Um, I don't know of any charter schools, but I do know that in uh the summer here it's marked by Morgan and Municipal and I actually have copies if anyone wants this copy on June 27th,
2025 by Morgan and Municipal. It says it is under is in is our understanding that the board of education intends to build a new high school where Weber Park currently exists. This school will be
approximately 250 students with 48,000 square foot building. Okay. I was on the committee to help realign make new buildings. This was never ever talked about. This was in the summer's meetings. And I'm just
wondering, are we going forward with this? Is this what $1.14 million charter school is part of? because anyone knows that with charter schools that the the district the people that's where you're funding
the money from and I just see it as another way of where taxpayers money is being unaccounted for. So I'd like some answers on that $1.14 million charters and if we're actually going forward with
the Weber Park Academy. Thanks. The the 1.1 represents 11 different charter schools that we pay. >> Thank you. >> Susan Lipstein. Susan Lipstein. Somebody has to close this.
>> Can you hear me? Susan Lipstein 25. >> We have a tech person. >> Thank you so much. You're welcome. >> Yes, cuz I think we fired the tech people. >> They couldn't get in the budget. >> No, we just let him go. Susan Libstein,
2569 Jackson Avenue. Everybody knows that I'm at a for li school libraries, but we have other people here to speak. I'll let them take that time because I have something else to say. I've been attending board of ed meetings for many years. I've never seen a shortfill in
our budget like this in 37 years. Our budget problems didn't start overnight. The financial status of this district started to deteriorate after we were forced to spend millions of dollars of unbudgeted money to repair Hannah school after years of neglect, which meant we
got no insurance reimbursement. That started us on the road to where we are now. That's not the fault of the teachers or the students or the but they're the ones that are being victimized. Ministry administration and board members knew the district was
facing a multi-million dollar shortfall as far back at least as February 2025. They should have put gone into crisis mode then and the board and administration needed to start looking for cost cutting measures. Did they?
Bloomfield stopped raises for their administrators when they had a $1.7 shortfill. We did not. So far as I can see, the school district is facing bankruptcy, the shortfall of 9 million plus 2.9 whatever announce that this is
unacceptable to taxpayers, teachers, and the children. I don't know if even board members know this, but the district can, should, and desperately needs to apply for a loan from the state. The district would have 10 years to pay it back. It would stop these proposed cuts from decimating our district, which is what
will happen if they take effect. And I don't think the district will ever recover and neither will the children. Someone from outside this district needs to come in and take a good look about how we spend our money and offer course corrections that we possibly probably
most likely need. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to lose by going for a loan and getting some outside eyes coming in to take a look at how we have spent and our spending money. The time for that is now.
Next we have Beth Thomas. Uh Beth Thomas, Battle Hill Avenue in Springfield. I am a past president of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians and I am reading the statement on behalf of our current president, Gab Cacaseri, and the many community members concerned by the decision to cut the school librarian
positions in Union Public Schools. This decision is educationally unsound and inconsistent with New Jerseys legal framework. First, this raises serious compliance concerns. It is in violation of the standardsbased instruction regulation of the New Jersey Administrative Code, which requires all
districts to provide library media services in each building. The law explicitly mandates that these services be provided under the direction of a certified school library media specialist. Eliminating your school librarians prevents the district from meeting this mandate. The 2025 CUSAC updates reinforce this. Governance
indicator 14 now explicitly incorporates the New Jersey administrative code requirement, reiterating that districts must employ certified school librarians to remain compliant. Additionally, the school funding reform act and the 2026 educational adequacy report support the inclusion of school librarians in
staffing models. The state's professional judgment panel recommends one full-time school librarian for elementary and middle schools and two for high schools. Reducing this district to zero school librarians across 10 schools falls dangerously below these adequacy benchmarks. Looking ahead, the
district must prepare for new state standards in information literacy and digital literacy. These align with New Jerseys information literacy law, which requires all K12 students to develop skills in evaluating, accessing, and responsibly using information. Certified school librarians are uniquely trained
to lead this work. Their certification requires specialized graduate level coursework focused on information literacy instruction, research processes, and digital citizenship, expertise that cannot be replicated by uncertified staff or volunteers. Recent schoolboard policy updates driven by the
Freedom to Read Act further underscore the importance of having certified professionals oversee library collections. Updated policies from both Strauss Esme and the New Jersey School Boards Association established clear standards for the selection, organization, and review of library materials, emphasizing intellectual
freedom and the role of trained school librarians in maintaining those collections responsibly. It is also important to address a common misconception. School libraries are not interchangeable with public libraries. They serve fundamentally different roles. School librarians are educators who integrate directly with the
curriculum, co-e with classroom teachers, and deliver standardsbased instruction. Public libraries, while invaluable community resources, are not designed to provide the same instructional support or align with school curricula. Each operates within a distinct professional framework requiring different training and
expertise. Discontinuing library services will have long- lasting negative consequences at a time when students must navigate an increasingly complex information landscape, diminishing access to trained professionals who teach these essential skills is a significant disservice to the entire school community. We urge you
to reconsider this decision and to maintain the current school librarian positions. Doing so is not only a matter of compliance, but a commitment to providing students with the comprehensive, future ready education they deserve. Thank you. Next we have Ana Hop.
>> Oh, thank you. Okay, stop. I'm going to cry. Be quiet. Um, Ana Hawk 360 Colonial Lab. Do not come to my house. Um, I'm not going to talk as a staff member. I I don't think I need to. As a parent, I'm going to speak. Um, a couple of years ago when you guys proposed drastically
reducing our students access to specials, you at least had the decency to present a plan to the community. Even without legitimate data to support those decisions, the public could seek and respond to your ill-thoughtout proposal for our kids. This year, even that basic level of transparency was gone. You have
let go of teachers and eliminated entire departments and services without informing the public beforehand. These are not minor adjustments. These are decisions that fundamentally impact students education. And yet, they were made without clear communication, without community input, and without accountability. So, I'm asking, what are
our classrooms going to look like next year? You're already out of compliance due to a lack of pair of professionals across the district. Are we now going to place even more students into classrooms for longer periods of time with fewer supports? What will schedules look like when there are little to no specials for our students to go to? If the goal is to
save money, then let's talk about spending. You continue to pour money into Chromebooks and programs that keep students on screens all day. Programs like Il and I Ready, despite data showing that they are not helping and in some cases are actively harming student
learning and progress. Students are disengaged, sitting on devices, playing games, watching videos, and using AI to do their work. And then we act surprised when literacy rates decline. But instead of addressing that reality, you cut library services and financial literacy programs that directly build reading,
research, and real world skills. That's not just contradictory, it's indefensible. At the same time, teachers have worked an entire year without a contract. Many who live paycheck to paycheck and work multiple jobs. Meanwhile, administrators received their raises at the beginning of the year.
Some individuals in leadership roles had barely been in their positions before receiving their increases in September. The district tagline is it's all about you. So I'll ask plainly who is that you? Because it doesn't reflect students or families. It certainly doesn't
reflect the teachers who show up every day despite the conditions that you have created. The community is paying attention. We see the lack of transparency. We see the priorities and we see the consequences for our children. I hope you take a moment to reflect on that because these decision these decisions do not live on paper.
They play out in real classrooms with real students every single day. And if this is what it's all about you looks like, then it's time to be honest about who you have been prioritizing and Margaret Shannon. Whoops. and Margaret Shannon, 2591 Spruce Street
and very proud uh president of the UTA. 33 positions are being cut. That's 33 educators who directly teach and support the children of our district. Elementary music teachers who put instruments into small hands for the very first time. World language teachers who open the
door to cultural appreciation and global citizenship. Librarians teaching information literacy in an age of misinformation. Business teachers preparing our young people with the tools of financial literacy, vital skills which our students need more than ever. These are the positions you're
eliminating. And yet, when I look at the multiple layers of administration, I see an area that has been untouched by the budget cuts. It seems the top is being protected before eliminating 33 people who have direct and tangible impact on
the children of our community. Has the question been asked, "Have we done everything possible to reduce administrative costs first? You're cutting 33 people who teach children, but not cutting people who manage the people who teach children." What message does that send to the community? What
does it say when we eliminate a music teacher making $70,000, but save administrative positions, several, costing the district well into the six figures? What about essential personnel like par professionals? There are not enough to go around. So students lose
services. And information technology really you cut a network engineer. That's disgraceful. There were only five to begin with and now we only have four staff members to service 12 buildings. How can that even be done? Who's going to help the 7,800 students and the 1300
staff members? Before cutting programs and closing our library doors, I ask if there has been any comprehensive review of our administrative structure. Can roles be consolidated? Can we improve our organization efficiency at the top before another classroom teacher,
librarian, or library aid is let go? And here's your answer. There is overabundance of high administrative salaries with eight directors and 12 supervisors, but more importantly, a huge redundancy on the curriculum side. Why are there three levels of curriculum
administration? At the lowest level, there are eight supervisors who work well with the UTA. But do those eight people really need four bosses? One boss per two people. Don't you trust them to do their jobs? At the top there is an assistant superintendent for curriculum.
And in the middle, not one, but three, and I say three curriculum directors. If you reduce management, you could probably save six to 10 teachers. Our students deserve music and world languages and libraries they can visit during the school day. They deserve to learn from teachers who care about them,
not machines who will not only contribute to their increased screen time, but won't help them see the value in who they are and what they're learning. The UTA cannot support the board's decision to create a budget that protects administrative positions at the expense of those people who work
directly with our students. Please vote no to resolutions FB1 through FB7. Go back to the drawing board and keep the children in mind. Next we have Peter Leon. >> Hi, good evening. Peter Leone to Arcade Lane uh Old Bridge, New
Jersey, KMS teacher and the vice president of the UTA. I'm here to speak tonight about the reduction in force that is affecting both the programs that are offered to our students and the teaching staff that instructs those very same students.
Earlier this year, it was highlighted how low our test scores are and how they need to be improved. That was done at a board of ed meeting. When the media center is abolished, when there are cuts to the business department or language department, fine arts and performing arts departments, and reducing
elementary school staff, how can this district hope for improved test scores? How can our students achieve the great things that our school system is known for? We all know that librarians help to instill a love of reading in our elementary students and our librarians
in the middle and high school teach our students the proper research methods methods skills that will help them in college. You know, lately I've seen our students get accepted into Ivy League schools. How are they going to have the skills to be successful in these
institutions of higher learning if they are lacking the skills needed for their success? It goes without saying, but we all know this. Every day we have staff that comes into their buildings with one thought on their mind. How can they best educate their students today? Through thoughtful
and careful planning, teachers execute their plans. From day one until the last day, teachers get to know their students, establishing a positive rapport with them, instilling curiosity, responsibility, critical thinking, creativity, and a lifelong love of
learning. So much so that students look forward to seeing the same teachers year after year. Perhaps in a Spanish cycle, a students a student looks forward to seeing right I'm sorry I lost my perhaps in a Spanish cycle a student's interest
in Spanish is peaked by a teacher and that student then signs up for Spanish not necessarily because of Spanish but they really want to have that teacher because of the impact that teacher made. For the first time, a young student is given a book to read and the student
holds that book and they look forward to seeing that library who gave them that magical experience. Students have even asked teachers to go to the next school so that they can teach them again. Next year, students looking for that staff that have been cut are losing out on
these experiences. Our schools have an excellent reputation for the programs we offer. foreign languages, theater, marching band, and others. Programs that provide an an that provide an enjoyable experience for our students. Programs that give our students a non-academic
experience and an outlet to hone skills that are not necessarily taught in the classroom. Programs that may have a monetary price tag, but provide an experience that you cannot put a price tag on. Yet, these programs always seem the first to go. A couple years back, I
was speaking to the board of ed because they were going to reduce the library programs, music and art programs. >> Excuse me, your time has expired. Could you please? >> Okay. I just want to say slowly but surely these programs get decimated to the point where they are gone.
>> It's not going back in. I'm just going to hand this to the next. I can't get it back. >> Yes, it's Christian. I think it's Bright. I'm not >> uh 1283 Robert Street. Um I'm Christian. I am a librarian upstairs in the kids' room. Some of you
will know me from there. Um I am today going to read a letter that our supervisor Emily Mloud wrote. Um, I want to be clear, we're reading this as individuals and not on behalf of the library or anything. Um, I'm writing out of deep concern about the cuts that were announced on Monday.
Although I'm an employee of Union Public Library, I'm writing this as a private citizen and these views are on my own. I understand that the district is in a tricky financial financial situation. However, those who suffer the most as part of your proposal to eliminate all the library media specialists throughout the district are the students themselves, especially considering the
abundance of misinformation, sketchy AI content, and bad actors on the internet. These days, library media specialists are integral to teaching them dig digital literacy, digital citizenship, critical thinking skills, and so much more. While the public library can partner with schools and supplement what's taught by sharing resources, by
no means can it act as a complete replacement for the important work of library media specialists. Most public librarians do not have the specialized training or teacher license lensure that school librarians do. When you go for a librarian's degree, there is a special track for school librarianship which involves different courses and different
skill sets. upstairs, we have a full plate and lack the bandwidth to fill in all the knowledge and support gaps that will result from these cuts. Um, I implore you to re reconsider this plan for the sake of our town's families and its future. Um, so that's Emily's
Emily's note and I'll just say uh to to reiterate that um we we I think we do a nice job upstairs, but what we do is not is not what the school librarians in this district do. um we don't have the training in those particular areas and uh if you guys
think that we're going to be sort of picking up all the slack, I got bad news for you. We can't we can't do it. Um thanks. >> Next we have Susanna Mensah. Good evening.
I'm nervous. My name is Susanna Mensah. I live at 388 87 Wallingford Terrace. I have three children, two at Washington Elementary in the third grade and one at Kowami Middle School. Um, I've shared these concerns via email to all of you, but I wanted to make sure my voice was
also heard directly. And I'm here tonight to focus on one core issue, which is transparency and communication. Um, specifically about the redistricting. Since we received the email last week, sometimes seemingly overnight, boundary assignments have
already changed without clear notification. Our family was um redistricted to Connecticut Farm School, while Burroughs Terrace and David Terrace, which is in our same neighborhood behind us, remained at Washington. I've come to find out
Burroughs has now changed to Connecticut Farms. Many of those families told me they were never notified of that. If the criteria are changing or the lines are still being adjusted, families deserve to be informed. These also raise
important questions about what criteria is being used and are those criteria being applied consistently across streets and neighborhood. When you look at that, you'll see many inconsistencies. Neighborhood schooling and walkability
are highlighted as reasons for this change. But I come to talk about my specific experience. Walking to a Washington elementary school from my current residence is three residential blocks which includes crossing guards which is safe and manageable for my now
almost 9-year-olds. On the other hand, the route to Connecticut Farms requires walking along busy Chestnut Street, crossing the 139B Parkway exit and under overpasses. I avoid driving there, much
less walking. The other route, which is down South Master Parkway, is also under highway overpasses, and many of those streets lack sidewalks. This is not safe for my 9-year-olds, yet alone other children. We'll try to adjust if we need to, but I
know on my street there are grandparents who walk their grandkids to school. We are no longer assigned to our neighborhood school. Finally, I'm not going to spend a lot of time, but I do want to um address enrichment programs. I know we've had
the discussion in 2024. Thankfully, they were not implemented. Now, looking ahead to 2026, we're hearing about these reductions again, and I truly understand that tough decisions have to be made with these budget constraints. But I
want to be very clear. Reducing enrichment isn't the way to keep students engaged and families in this district. My middle schooler who has always loved school, he came home and told me yesterday that he no longer wants to
attend union schools if his favorite if his favorite subjects or programs are no longer available. We often ask families to support district decisions without clear communication and transparency to understand those decisions.
>> Excuse me, your time has expired. >> Thank you. I just really ask for clear communication and transparency and for meaningful opportunities for parents in the community to discuss those. Thank you. I'm going to apologize ahead of time if
I mispronounce your name. Dr. Collia OA. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Dr. Calia OJ and I'm an assistant professor of sociology at Africa and Africana studies at Kain University. But I'm talking as a
private citizen and parent of two children in the township of Union public schools. I'm greatly troubled by the proposed budget cuts, specifically the potential loss of my daughter's kindergarten teacher, Miss Nicole Alfano, along with cuts to library and
music programs. These are not small adjustments. These are decisions that are directly shaping the quality of my children and our children's education and their daily experience in school. Miss Alfano is exactly the kind of teacher this district should be
protecting. She is organized, innovative, and deeply committed to her students. She has created a classroom where children feel supported, challenged, and excited to learn. My child's growth this year is a direct reflection of her dedication and
professionalism. That is her real measurable impact. Removing a teacher like Miss Alfano does not strengthen this district. It weakens it. As a sociologist of education, I also want to be very clear. There are
decades of research that show teachers are the most important in school factor affecting student success. When we destabilize classrooms by removing effective teachers, we disrupt learning relationships and student development. I
am equally concerned about cuts to library and music programs. Libraries are foundational. They support literacy, critical thinking, and independent learning. Music develops creativity, discipline, and cognitive growth. When we remove these programs, we narrow what
education looks like. These decisions raise serious questions for us. Who gets access to full enriching education? Families who can afford to will supplement these losses privately. But many of us cannot. That means the cut
deepens inequality within our district. If student success truly matters in this district, then we must act accordingly. That means retaining highquality teachers like Miss Alfano and protecting these essential programs. But as a scholar and a mother, I'm asking you to
make a decision that reflects the value of our children. Most importantly, these decisions made today will shape the township of Union from decades from now. Divestment in education is an investment in long-term instability in our children
and our community. That means lower employment opportunities, deeper cycles of poverty, and potentially higher rates of crime. Let me end with my little pun on you. So, I leave you with this. Who is TUPS
fighting for? Because if it's not you, then who is it? And the answer should be simple. It should be us. Kathy Jack, >> Kathy Jack. We have Megan Donnelly. >> Megan Donnelly.
Alex better. >> Good evening. I'm Alex Bakagianis. I live in Wildwood Terrace. Uh my boys attend a Livingston school. And so um you know I think most of us uh agree we want re to be responsible with taxpayer money and give our kids the best
education possible. You know programs like music, media, business aren't extras. They help our kids build discipline, creativity, real world skills and skills like financial literacy and decision- making. These are
the kind of classes that keep our kids engaged and prepared for life. Seeing this impact the elementary school which directly affects my kids and their friends. You know, losing great teachers like Mr. Cruz, music, a subject my kids
love. Miss Alfano who made a really big impact on my kids. You know, I was once a student and I've had good teachers, I've had bad teachers, and I haven't seen a lot of teachers in my life care like Miss Alfano did for my kids.
So, you know, these decisions may, in my opinion, may not have been fully thought through. If we're facing a budget shortfall, it's important we take a careful and transparent look at spending and priorities. At the same time, we should be cautious about cutting teachers and
programs that directly shape students day-to-day learning. You know, I don't want my kids sitting in front of a screen all day. I want them learning, exploring, discovering their strengths through subject like the arts, history, business, media. You know, our kids have
a lot of potential. the growth. Uh the goal should be to make thoughtful balanced decisions that protect the their opportunities while being responsible with the budget. Next we have Justine Ferrer. Hi, my name is Justine Ferrara. I live
at 19 Rock Street in Jersey City, but I am a um a public librarian here, Christian. Um I am here to read a statement from the president of the New Jersey Library Association. Um, but before I do that, I would also just like
to echo what my colleague Christian said that um, we upstairs are unable to fulfill the same um, wonderful work that the library media specialists do in the Township of Union Public Schools. Um, and I think it would be a it would be a
huge huge loss to um, go forward with what is proposed. Um, the letter that I have here is from the president of the New Jersey Library Association and his name is Brett Bonfield and it says, "I
learned today that Union public schools may be eliminating library media specialist positions. While I know that school funding challenges are forcing many New Jersey boards of education to make difficult decisions, I urge you to select other ways to fulfill your
duties. As New Jersey Library Association Executive Director, I work with our membership comprising 4,000 New Jersey based public and academic library staff members to help every resident in our state identify and gain access to
the information they need and develop the skills to assess and use that information. That process starts with our colleagues who staff New Jersey's school uh school-based libraries. Students who have access to a
professionally curated collection and instruction from a degreed expert in information science do better in school both as K through2 students and if they enroll in colleges or universities. Providing students with expertly curated
collections and specialized instruction equalizes opportunity. Ensuring that they that all emerging adults can compete in the workforce or college classroom, not only the students from the best resourced school districts or those students whose families have the
means to provide supplemental resources. Union is fortunate to have a magnificent new public library upstairs. Its resources and my colleagues who work there provide a superb complement to the services your students receive from
their dedicated library media specialists. What a public library is not and cannot be is a substitute for school librarians. For all students to realize their potential and to empower and inspire
every student every day, students need the accessible, tailored learning opportunities and robust support systems that only library library media specialists can provide. Thank you, Dana Weiss.
Thank you. Uh Dana Wise, 733 Greenwood Road South. Uh I cannot begin to tell you how disheartened I am to learn of the cutting of elementary school music programs. You deem music education is non-essential. Even though study after
study tells us that music education enhances brain development, improves memory and attention span, fosters creativity, reduces stress and anxiety, and overall aids students in academic performance. We are all very focused on test scores, and yet you're proposing a
cut to a program that shows direct correlation to higher test scores in both math and language. It doesn't make sense. For many kids, visual and performing arts classes, including general music education, are the classes that keep them engaged and excited about
school. Having these classes in school, is also incredibly important for those underserved kids in our community that do not have the benefit of getting these important resources elsewhere. On a personal note, we are a Livingston Elementary family. Mr. Cruz, our music
teacher, is a wonderful asset to our school. In addition to the curriculum, he teaches our kids daily. He's also out there every single morning and afternoon playing music for the kids as they enter or leave the building. Sometimes it's classical music, sometimes it's rock or
soul or dooop or pop. This may seem like a small thing to some, but every day he's exposing our kids to new music that they may not have had the chance to discover elsewhere in their daily lives. He's teaching them even outside of the classroom. This is so important. And
while I'm sure he's feeling incredibly unvalued right now, I just want to tell him that we see him and we're so grateful for him and all that he does for the school. Thank you. >> Did Megan Donnelly make it to the room? No. Okay,
we're going to move to Saulencio, please. Good evening, Solatens 340 Willow Drive. I'm going to start with it would have been so much productive if decision would have made would have been
made uh by taking in accountant in accountant the community. Um but that didn't happen. Uh so it will also be productive to start to
understand what criteria were used to determine which positions were actually considered to be eliminated. That's I feel like that's
something that would have been also very productive and it would have been um it would have addressed a lot of the the the disheartening that we are all feeling in this room today.
um when a lot of the position that are being let go um in addition to staff is also great teachers um some of the names that have been said in this room I know the names
my children's went on those were in those classrooms I know the teachers they're great teachers um I I feel like that we that we should been aware we
should have been aware of what impact assessment were conducted on class sizes, student services, overall educational outcome. Weap prioritization criteria were used
to determine which areas were reduced versus protected. What alternative scenarios were evaluated prior to implementing staff reduction and why were they not pursued?
Librarians are not clerics. Librarian have a very important librarians in school setting have a very important role on children's education. Um, I hear a lot about
children's that um graduated and went to college and I hear them saying, "I don't think I was actually prepared for this." Um, it the fact that they need to go back
and and do research and read books and and be able to actually identify what they need to actually complete the work that they need to do. >> Excuse me, your time has expired. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Did Kathy Jacquisitz make it back to the
room? No. Okay, we go to Douglas Alfano. Good evening everyone. I'm speaking tonight as as the husband of Nicole Alfano, an elementary teacher that was included in the recent reduction in force. I'm not going to speak about the
incredible human being and teacher that she is because that would be incredibly biased of me as her husband, but also because some outstanding parents already did that. I do have some concerns that I like to bring up. I want to be very clear. This is not asking for special treatment and it's not about challenging
the need for difficult decisions. I understand these realities. What I'm here to speak about is the is to the manner in which these decisions appear to have been made and presented to the staff. I understand that when whole departments are cut, it is an easy
decision, an easier decision. But when faced but excuse me, but when faced with elementary education teachers grade K to six, there were cuts made and not all non-tenure teachers were impacted. And when that is the case, it raises a fundamental and reasonable concern. What
objective criteria determine who stayed and who was let go? As a sherm certified HR director, from where from where I sit and from what I understand, those criteria are not clear, which is mandatory with a riff. When decisions lack clarity, they invite doubt. When
they invite doubt, they erode trust. And trust between educators, administration, and the board is not something that should be taken for granted. Although my wife is not in tenure at hearing union, she has dedicated over 15 years to education. She has built relationships, delivered results, and
earned the respect of those that she worked with. But this isn't just about her. This is about whether every educator in this district can feel confident that decisions impacting their careers and their livelihoods are made through a fair, transparent, and consistent process, which again is
mandatory in a riff. So I ask you respectfully but directly as it pertains to elementary and K through six teachers that were non-tenured. What specific criteria were used to determine which non-tenure teachers were retained and which were not renewed? Were all
non-tenure teachers evaluated using a consistent set of criteria or did the process vary by building or administrator? Were experience, performance history, and contributions to the school community formerly weighed? And if so, how? And were administrators held to a
standard standardized process? And were there safeguards in place to ensure that these elections were not arbitrary? So I simply ask, can you stand behind the process used in these elections with confidence that it was applied consistently and without ambiguity?
Because if there's any hesitation in that answer, it's worth taking a closer look. This community expects strong leadership. And strong leadership isn't always about making hard decisions. It's about making them in a way that people can understand, trust, and stand behind. You're very lucky to have a lot of these
teachers. And I know you're very lucky to have my wife who is an outstanding teacher. Um, and I thank you for your time and consideration. I'm going to apologize ahead of time if I mispronounced your first name. I believe it's Ariad Najiraa.
Good evening. I am Arande and I'm a student of Bernett Middle School and a Battle of the Books member. I stand before you today not just as a student but as a voice for many others who may not have the chance to speak. The proposed cuts to our libraries and our leadership opportunities and other
programs are not just financial decisions. They are decisions that shape who we become today. A school without a library is a school without a foundation for knowledge. And a school without leadership program is a school that silenced the very voices. It should be uplifting. These are the not luxuries.
These are necessities. When you take away these programs, you are s not simply balancing a budget. You are limiting opportunities, reducing opportunities, and sending a message that these parts of our education do not matter. But they do matter. They matter to the students who find peace in a
quiet corner of the library. They matter to the students who discover their confidence by stepping into a leadership role. We are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet. We are more than just test scores. We are the future of this community. And we are asking you to invest in us, not cut away the things
that help us grow. I urge you to reconsider these decisions, protect our libraries, support students leadership. The question isn't whether you can afford these programs. The question is whether you can afford the cost of losing them. Thank you. Next we have Isabella Dilva.
>> Hello, I am Isabella Dilva and I am uh but though most know me by Bella. I am a student at Bernett Middle School and a Battle of the Books member. We are facing a moment that will shape our school for years. Decisions are being discussed that would close our li that
would close our libraries and cut our teachers. And we cannot let that happen. A school library is more than a room with books. It is where students discover their passions, where imagination grows, and where every child, no matter their background, has access to knowledge. Closing libraries
doesn't save money in the long run. It costs us opportunity and inspiration. And teachers, they are the backbone of our schools. When we cut teachers, we increase class sizes, reduce individual support, and place more pressure on people who already give everything they have to help students succeed. Cutting
teachers isn't a budget strategy. It is a direct hit to the quality of education kids like me and my friends receive. We can't claim to value education while dismantling the very things that make learning possible. Strong schools require strong investments in people, in resources, and in spaces where students
like us can grow. So today we need to say our libraries matter, our teachers matter, our students matter. Our community deserves solutions that build our schools up, not tear them down. Because investing in education is investing in every kid's potential. Thank you. Kathy, you can come on up.
>> Perfect time. >> Okay. >> How you doing everybody? Um, I am here not only as a teacher. I grew up in Union. Love the town. Like most teachers, we have a million different degrees. Um, that's the only way we can make money. and I'm still teaching
because of my absolute love of teaching like most of us. I was also a board member for 10 years in my own district. So the amount of disappointment I have coming here is exponential because I know how it can be done right and I know how it can be done wrong. And I'm watching the worst of the worst in this
particular scenario. And when you we had to take away 10% of our budget back in the day. We had no prior knowledge. You guys had a lot of prior knowledge on a lot of the money that you don't have right now. So shame on that and your business administrator should have been seeing that and seeing it for years
prior to this. The amount of administration we had, I did a lot of little of math here and there. We had when I graduated in 1983, we had roughly the same amount of students. Our board office was maybe a third of what it is now. So we are here for one reason. We
are here to educate kids and that's it. We are not here for big business. Our bottom line is our students. And if you look at our test scores, they're abysmal. Administration does not help our test scores. Large classrooms do not help our test scores. We have 29 kids in
a lot of classes and per square footage on some of these rooms is abysmal. And we would be breaking rules. We are breaking rules tremendously because we don't have the square footage for the kids. You guys are making that worse. As a board member, when we had to do it, some of the board because they weren't
educators, the first thing is, oh, teachers are the easiest thing to go. We're the largest mass percentage wise. So, it's the easiest out you can possibly get for two reasons. One, because so many of us, and two, you don't know the names and faces of them because unfortunately, you're not in our buildings, which is a crime within
itself. When we had our administration in our buildings, you would not be doing what you're doing right now. But because it's a name on a on a board opposed to the ones you're seeing in front of you, it's a lot easier to say they're not going to be needed. So, what we had done, um, and 10% is a massive part of
your budget. We did not let one teacher go. We worked our asses off and we were there for hours and hours for months upon months. We not only got rid of almost our entire um central office, we were down to
minuscule numbers. And what we did with the positions that we knew the I shouldn't say positions, the jobs that needed to be filled. We gave teachers stipens. The teachers were beyond thrilled. They got extra money. The jobs got done. There was no extra insurance
to pay nor extra additional salaries. And that goes on for year to year and year because those percentage of salaries will increase year to year and year. Not only did we save, we had to do the 10%, we did the 10%. With not letting go one teacher. We are all here for one reason people and that
is to educate kids. So when I'm watching our board office, you can't even move in those board office because of the support staff in the board. We hired administrators this year. That's a disgrace to me. Not only did we hire, we hired an administrator on our IT
department and then we just got rid of it who's actually in the buildings. That's asinine at best. I can't even fathom how anyone can agree to that sitting there. And some of you are former teachers and educators. I can't even imagine that. >> I have came to this board a number of
times over the decades and I wasn't involved in the union back then. I am now. >> Miss Jack is your time is smart. >> Thank you. question. Mle. >> Hello. Attorney. >> Go ahead. You might proceed.
Uh, first, thank you very much to our students who showed up tonight. >> You are the reason why we are all here. Do not be late to home room tomorrow. Uh, I'd like to start by wishing all of our school and public library members a
very happy library week. I'm sure the irony of the fact that this year's theme is find your joy is not lost on anybody. Uh teachers and school librarians are not background figures in our community. We are the architects of this community. We arrive for our
students early. We stay late. We carry home the weight of every student who is struggling. Every question that goes unanswered, every bit of stress and turmoil birthe from the everinccreasing list of demands that we must shoulder. Our work does not begin and it does not end when the bell rings. It continues in
our homes with our lesson plans and in the materials that we choose carefully for students who are reluctant or apathetic learners. We put patience into every day and we have to summon even more so in our hardest days. And this year has been a mountain of hard days.
Uh yet we see teachers who use honor, humility, and dignity to make sacrifices. And those teachers are receiving disappointing news that no person should ever receive. Our educators, whether they're in the classroom or in the library, uh offer stability when there is chaos in the
home. For some students, teachers may be the very first adult in their lives who say, "You matter. Your voice matters. Your thoughts and your opinions matter. Your future matters." Our town motto is all about you. But the string of proposed cuts have many people
questioning who that applies to. It does not seem to be about our students who will suffer from less personal attention in larger classes next year. It seems to be less about caring and dedicated staff who are there to help them during tumultuous times. Uh our school librarians who are too
often overlooked are sources of something incredibly fundamental. Access. Access to knowledge, ideas, and perspectives that expand minds beyond the limits of their circumstances. Libraries are a promise to our students regardless of their backgrounds that they have the right to explore, to
question, and to imagine. When we protect teachers and when we protect librarians, we do so not because of our profession, but because we honor a principle. The principle that education should be thoughtful, inclusive, and rooted in trust. The principle that our students deserve mentors who are
supported and respected, not silenced, not undermined, and not stretched beyond our limits. And when the threat the trust in the educators is lost, there is no way to strengthen our schools. We only weaken them. When we restrict access to ideas, we do not protect students. We confine them. And when we
fail to support educators who dedicate their lives to learning, we send a message that our work, which many people have poured their heart and soul into, is not essential. It is expendable. If we want stronger communities, we must invest in people who build them from the ground up. If we want informed citizens,
then we have to support those who teach them how to think, not what to think. If we want to hope, if we want to have hope in our future, we have to stand firmly by people who nurture the present. Uh, I can only sympathize with the choices that this board has to make and the choices that our union leadership has
had to make over this past year. >> Excuse me. Your time has expired. >> Thank you. >> All I want to say is don't listen to us. Listen to them. They're here for us. >> Thank you. Joshua Exus. My name is Joshua Exus and I live in
1323 Center Street Union, New Jersey. Based on the information from the board of education, I understand that all schools in the district could close riaries close riaries access or dedication ries. Riberies are not optional. They are essential for teach
for students and teachers to learn without libraries without libraries independently without them students lose opportunities to grow academically. Students need libraries to grow as a human and actually need it to
like understand lessons. And I'm coming from this is personally since I like reading books from English and from English and also under New Jersey code 6A132.1 schools are remain to provide library
media services in every building. This means that every school in the state of New Jersey are required to have a ribery. Thank you and for listening. >> Next we have Yalen Ramirez. Hello, Yalen Ramirez, 1332 Link Chris
Terrace. Um, after listening to what everybody else has says, I almost feel silly with what I'm about to come up here with, but I want to reiterate what everybody has said. Um, I also want to kind of say shame on all of you, specifically Dr. Ben Aquista because he
did not look up once at any of the three children that stood up here and had the courage to speak up against all of the horrible decisions that you're all making today. Um, besides that, I'm here as a Hannah Caldwell fourth grade parent
because last month at this very meeting, you all made it seem like the only students and the only families being affected by this redistricting were going to be the Franklin families. Um, yet we found out that everybody is being
affected. Um and now we are in a position as fourth grade parents and fourth grade students of not being able to have the children's endofear celebration because well we have fifth grade next year so why would you celebrate twice? However, as the parent
of a Hannah Caldwell student who was displaced last year um due to the mold situation and I was actually forced to make the decision to request and it was so kindly granted that my children be moved to Battle Hill so that they didn't
have to be separated and be taught in school gyms before the Kane University space was, you know, obtained. Um, now we need to move back cuz now I've been redistricted to Battle Hill. Uh, but meanwhile, when I requested over the
summer for my children to stay at Battle Hill for the sake of continuity, that was not granted by Miss McKenzie. Um, so now, but now we're going back. But now my fourth grader, oh, she can stay, but I have to take my second grader to
Battle Hill. So I have to be in two places at once at pickup and drop off. um because you've now decided that, you know, my fourth grader can stay so she could finish out her year with the peers that she was with since kindergarten, but I can't have my second grader stay.
So, I'm just here to say I did email Dr. Benquista about this. He did respond and he said that this decision was made collaboratively. However, it didn't involve parents. Um, and I don't understand why because it doesn't cost the district anything for our children to have a simple celebration um on one
of the, you know, four or five half days of the school year and walk across the stage so that their parents can see them and they can get a silly certificate. Yes, it's silly, but to them it's not silly. Okay? And it doesn't cost you anything because as fourth grade committee parents, we do all the
fundraising. We put everything together. We do all of it. So, I don't understand why it's being made such a big deal and why only Franklin students are allowed to have their fourth grade celebration when plenty of other fourth grade students across the district are being
moved and are not going to be able to celebrate with the peers that they have gone to school with for 5 years. >> So, that's that. Yeah. Thank you, >> Louisa Bayas. Louisa Bayas 591 Dukane Terrace. Hello
everyone. Um, good evening. I'm here to speak about the proposed library cuts. I know it's we've been talking about it a lot, but it's very important and it's very like dear to me. My kids love the library, but that love for library started at Livingston School. Um,
libraries are not extras. They are foundational. The love of reading begins early at home from birth and then it's nurtured in our schools, especially in our elementary years. From pre-K to fifth grade, that foundation matters. It shapes how students think, learn,
communicate for the rest of their lives. Regular reading, not just test prep, not structured drills, but simple, consistent exposure to books, language. It builds vocabulary, strengthens comprehension, and develops attention span. These skills don't appear
overnight. They grow over time, and compound year after year. And just as important, everyday conversations around books help students develop verbal reasonings and communication skills. These are the skills we want our children to learn. They'll develop. They'll continue to grow in middle
school and in high school and eventually they can use in their workforce, in their education, their college, wherever they decide to go. This is the work our school librarians do every single day. They are not just managing books. They
are building readers, thinkers, lifelong learners. When our public li while our public libraries are incredible community resource, they cannot replace what happens within our schools during instructional day. They are not equipped to fill the gap that these cuts will
create. By reducing library access in our schools, you are not trimming a luxury. You are removing a critical support system that many of our students rely on. I urge you to reconsider these cuts. Our
students deserve access to book books, literacy, and opportunities that come with both. I have something else. Okay. And since our elementary schools are already struggling, our scores are low. These proposed cuts are not going
to help. In fact, it didn't start today. It started several years ago when you guys decided to as the board eliminate kindergarten aids. Kindergarten is where the foundation is built. This is where students learn how to read, how to focus, how to function in a classroom.
And yet we are asking we are asking these teachers and we're cutting some kindergarten teachers to teach 20 up to 25 year olds who by nature are distractable and discovering and developing these basic skills. This is
not setting them up for success. We need stronger outcomes. We need to start early. We need to invest in our youngest learners so they can become strong, confident readers. And now with these reductions in force, we are making decisions that will only widen these gaps. We need to think outside of the
box and think how we can make cuts. Right. >> Excuse me. Your time has expired. >> I wanted to make some >> at the next board. Trish Gomez. Hi everyone. Trish Gomes, 47 Brookdale
Road. Um, so we've seen that there's a lot of teachers getting cut. Um, and they all got riff letters, but when do they go out to the administration? uh administrations are still getting increases. They're still getting their bonuses and I'm pretty sure I haven't heard anything about any administration
getting cut yet. Um a little earlier we mentioned that there are some charter schools that we have to pay money to. Which schools are those? I don't I don't know that Union has any charter schools. I've never heard of them. So which money where is this money going? Um my other
question is um I watched the show with Mr. Benquist with a cup of Joe with the senator and I want to know where the new where the money is coming from to support and build this new high school. And also in that um in that meeting or
that podcast, Mr. Benista mentioned that he's going to be keeping all these coaches. Why do we need so much so many coaches? How about we keep the teachers? They've been doing their job. They know what they're doing. Why do we need so many coaches? Let the teachers just do what they do by nature. They know how they have figured this out. They figured
this out for years. We don't need any more coaches. Um, also we mentioned busing and how busing is a big issue. Um, how much of the busings are we paying for out of district? I'm not talking about to like the Union County
Tech schools, but like religious schools, other private schools. How much of our funding is going to those schools? Are those parents getting reimbursed for any of those schools? and how much money of our money is paying is going towards those private schools.
Um, another question that I have is um earlier a lot of teachers are getting let go and a lot of teachers are also resigning. So, how come the insurance money is keep going up especially since so many teachers are resigning and let being let go and why are only the
elementary school kids uh being affected by these cuts? I don't see, and I'm very sorry for all the parents who have high school kids, but I don't see any high school sports or any um of the high school stuff getting cut, just the elementary stuff. Thank you, >> Virginia Jeff.
Um, Virginia Jeff, 236 Brighton Avenue, East Orange, New Jersey. Board President Scott Hayden. Good evening, board members, employees, and members of the public. in attendance physically and virtually
about the budget hearing concerns and questions. Your advertised revenues for grants and entitlements has a student activity fund which has for the 2025 2026 year been zeroed out. The
scholarship fund revenue for 2025 and 2026 has also been zeroed out. Why is that? You have your advertised appropriations for the capital expenditures facilities acquisition and construction services
as a line item. Is there an advertised revenue line item for this? And where is the advertised revenue for this line item under your advertised recapitulation of balances which is unrestricted monies
that you I I understand you can use any way you choose. The legal reserve went over the successive years from $1,5001 million 970,000
to last year of 3,900,000 and the projected one is for 240 2400,000. So the audited balance was for 2025 was 3,900,000.
And why was this so high? And this far exceeds the per people pup people cost of $77 for about the 700 $7,728 student enrollment costs which was a little bit under $600,000.
So you far exceeded what your per people cost for legal services was supposed to be in 2025. So the the the estimated balance for this year 2026 is 2,400,000
and this so far exceeds the per pupil cost of $16 for about $8,781 student enrollment with a cost of a little bit over $800,000.
So the costs that need to be cut should be in your legal services which nobody is really paying attention to >> under physical and planning committee resolutions the FB3
we're establishing a maximum dollar limit amount for prof professional services is over $4,527,768 and the legal is supposed to be capped at $785,000. What are these other legal services to be contracted for?
>> May your time has expired special ed related. >> What are the type of special services to be contracted for? May I have some other comment just quickly? There seems to be an era when the public can access the budget physically. The complete budget
will be on file. This is from this is from your your we gave everybody the same amount of time. We gave everybody three minutes. >> Some people were able to email us. You're going to email me for your comments. We're all going to get it. And some people
thank you so much. Thank you. The next person is Terry Seuss. >> Yeah, it's on file. It's it's given it's >> Terry Seuss is next. Thank you. >> This read this then >> there's there seems to be an error where the public can access the budget
physically. The complete budget. Oh, I'm Terry Seuss. I'm at 29. >> Excuse me, ma'am. Are you reading for her? Cuz that's part of your three minutes. That's part of your three minutes. I just want you to be aware. >> My name is Terry Seuss. I'm at 292 Chestnut Street. I hope the clock is just starting now since I was
interrupted. And um I'm a retired person who moved to Union. I don't have any children. I've never had children. My hat goes off to every one of these teachers and every one of these parents and every one of these kids who came to this meeting. And let me just tell you,
this is happening across America. You guys are not alone. What's happening is we have no news reporters. So we are all left to do all this research all by ourselves and we are not
doing it very well. People have not seen this budget or if they have they've had to struggle to find it. I live on a corner where they just made a Dunkin Donuts a drive-thru where there's five streets coming into it. How did that
happen? Yeah. I do you sit on the planning board? I'd like to meet you. Um and then don't talk about Merc. People just found out now that there's a data center in their backyard and that happened a year or two or three years
ago. So, where are the news reporters and where are the community organizations that are going to have to really be coming together here to do our jobs to hold people accountable because obviously you guys are doing what you're
doing in a little bit of a void and you're not thinking about the people to cut school libraries is what brought me here. I heard about that this morning. I left all my weeds in my garden and I came over here
and I'm telling you that is a wrong decision. You and I and everyone the adults in this room had access to libraries >> and now you know and and don't talk to me about Corey Booker because he cut
Newark public libraries by 40% about 15 years ago but those were public libraries. I don't know how their schools are doing right now. Everyone says, "Oh, it's all in your phone. You don't need a library. You don't need a librarian." It's only in your phone if
you know it already. You cannot get information from this phone that you do not know. And you only learn that from libraries. These school libraries generate the patrons for our public libraries. They generate our citizens that can can come
and talk to you. I mean, in these young girls, we all saw ourselves, >> you know, that was us. And that's how we learn these things. So, I would just urge you to not vote on this budget, to send it back and actually have
actually have some hearings where you actually meet in small groups with an a an array of parents, an array of teachers and work this out because this town has a great reputation and it's a
wonderful place to be and we want it to be like that. We want it to thrive and prosper. And if you do things like this, you're only helping to destroy it. And it'll become a good uh real estate investment for someone because all these
families are going to leave, you know, and we need them here. So, we need you to really buck up and meet these people, okay? And meet them where they're at and do a process. Thank you.
The next person is Anthony Balgarama. Yeah. Uh, hi. My name is Anthony Valdorama. I am an eighth grader at Bernett Middle School and I'm part of the select course at Bernett Middle School. And what I came here to say is how disgusting the fact that you guys think that by shutting down the
libraries by firing all the teachers. You think that's okay? Well, I'm here to say this to you guys straight to your face. It's not okay. Because the more teachers you guys fire, you I'm going ask this for the superintendent. Superintendent, >> I got a question for you. So you all say
that that you guys all want us to succeed. Am I right or am I wrong? >> Absolutely. >> Yes. And we are the future, but if you guys are not investing in more teachers to actually help us go to the future, it's not going to help you guys out in the future at all. Cuz I'm going to say
this right now. The more teachers you guys fire. I'm saying this cuz I've seen this from firsthand. We only have one teacher in the classroom. So many teachers, so many kids disrupting the class, getting kicked out of class all the time. It's not even It's no joke. I can barely learn just because of the
students that are literally being kicked out of class, disrupting class, and the teachers at this point, they don't have anybody else to help out. They don't. And the more teachers you guys fire, it's not going to help out your guys' case. It's not. It's just going to make it worse. And I am just so disgusted to
the fact of the people that we have in this this whole this whole board. I promise you they they need you guys need to figure something out because this makes no sense. First, the library. What's next? That's all my question is. What's next?
>> Next, we have Chris Bassy. Chris Bassy. Yes. Uh, I think I'm the last speaker. Um, I wasn't prepared to speak here. My name is Christopher Basy. I live at 1471 Brookside Drive and I'm a candidate for Union County Commissioner. We represent
21 towns, including Union, the second most populous in the county. My colleague Kathy Jacko sits is here. She's a teacher. She spoke earlier and having heard some of these stories inspired me to get up and say we we're running because we want to speak to the Union County Superintendent to limit the
number of administrative staff so that so that the money can go to students and teachers. Every well-run organization, which I'm sure some of you administrators must be aware, especially nonprofits are not supposed to spend so much money on administration. Um, in my day job, I
work in communications for a cyber security company. In my part-time job, I'm an adjunct instructor of communications at Munich at um Monontlair State. I have to say this young lady in the green is a tough act to follow, but we want her on our campaign. Um library media specialists are first
and as the um young man just said, what's next? Um it's just unbelievable and unconscionable to see that these budget cuts go so deep into such dedicated teachers. I was moved by the gentleman who said he and I've read about these things. He was in
administrative holding tank for eight years being paid. Where's the fiscal responsibility and accountability when you have such a dedicated gentleman who all he wants to do is teach? Probably would have done it for free. I know I would teach my Monontlair students free, which it almost is free for what they
pay me and and he comes back and now he's he's losing his job. These are the kind of people you want to keep. Put him on the board and get rid of some administrators. >> Um, so that's unconscionable. Also unconscionable. um is is this kind of stuff. Um I'm only
really here to say that. Um the people behind me, I would love to lead from in front. Um if you have my back, I can promise you we have your back. Once again, kudos to Kathy. Uh we're also running with Miguel Rodriguez. Um and all of us are looking to get the first
Republican since 1995. 1995. Kathy's a math teacher. She corrected me. It's not 25 years. It's 35 years, I think. and and and have um an independent voice in Union County. Thank you. >> Yes.
>> I'd like to know how many teacher how many administrative staff and support staff were taken away. >> Kathy, >> we know we have 30 plus teachers. How many support? >> We love you dearly, Kathy, but your time is up, baby. Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Together. What was >> Jaylen Joy?
>> St. Joy. >> Hi. Um, my name is Jaylen St. Joy. Um, I live at 1076 Sto Street. >> You don't have to give your name. Mhm. >> Um, and I'm a eighth grader at Bernett Middle School. And it's really sad to
see a lot of our teachers are being like forced in to all these like predicaments because we need to learn. These teachers make an impact in our daily lives and they literally affect how our future is
going to be. So the library being taken away like Miss Hawk, it's being taken away from us. So we can't do presentations anymore. We can't research anymore. We can't have so many opportunities that we should have because you guys just want to spend your
money on things that don't even matter to to us. And there's a lot of things that impact our families and our peers and classmates. And like for example, my
English teacher, Miss Lewis, she has made such an impact in my life. Like I have grown so much over the over the school year. And my math teacher, Miss Brody, she's helped me so much to learn
and make a difference in my life. and make difference in other people's lives. So, I think it's very very sad to see how you guys are prioritizing the these funds that don't matter that much and over our teachers who literally
come to work every single day and then they try to help us and they contribute so much to our lives and make a difference and they contribute to our growth and our enrichment. And I feel like you should be able to stand up for
us and you should be able to help us because we are the people of the future. We are the people who are going to make a difference and who are going to lead this new this next generation into what is going to be. So I feel like you guys
should stand up because we are union and we are like what we should be I guess. And I thank you for I don't know. And I like and I thank all of the teachers
here and all the people who came today who tried to stand up for us and who just always are there and who keep on coming and putting up with this crap and just keep doing this. And I thank you.
>> I don't know. I don't I keep thinking The board will take a fivem minute recess for um before we move to resolutions. Thank you. >> We're going to we need a vote before we take it. >> So a motion for recess
>> move second. It's been moved by Michael Cohen and second by Nancy Mani. Diane, can have a roll call, please. Miss Capiello. >> Ms. Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Mackey. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Beni? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta? >> Yes. >> Miss Santana? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Scott Hayden? >> Yes. >> Yes. back to uh business. >> Second. >> This motion has been properly moved by
Mr. Vice President Cohan and second by Nancy Mani. Uh Miss Cabio, can I have a roll call? >> Mel. >> Yes. Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes.
>> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Beni. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes. >> Miss Santana. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> We're moving on to resolutions. We have the education student discipline committee chair Miss Mani and Miss
Carbonel to present the resolutions that will be voted upon tonight. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the Education and Student Discipline Committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. Um, I will be calling these in block E1
through E9. However, please note that at the last work session, E1, E1A, E8, and E9 were approved. Second. >> Is there a second?
>> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, the motion has been properly moved by Miss Carbonel and second by Miss Mani. Can I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Miss Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Mackey.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Pereia. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. Mrs. Beni, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta, >> yes. >> Miss Santana, >> yes. >> Mrs. Scott, >> yes. >> Next, we have the fiscal and planning committee chair, Mr. Cohen, Mr. McDow,
and Miss Santana, to present the resolutions that will be voted upon tonight. >> Thank you, Madam President. Upon the recommendation of Superintendent of Schools, the fiscal planning committee presents the following resolutions for the board consideration. F1
through, excuse me, through F13 >> and FB1 through FB7. >> Second. >> This motion has been properly moved by Mr. Cohen and second by Miss Santana. Can I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiola. >> Miss Carbonel.
>> Yes. Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Macki. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mani. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes. >> Miss Santana.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Ceden. >> Yes. >> Next, we have the negotiations committee chair, Miss Carbonel, Mr. Nassa, and Miss Faria, to present the resolutions that will be voted upon tonight. Yes.
>> Upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the grievance negotiations committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. G1 approved salary guides for the UTA. Second.
>> Second by was that you miss carbon now? >> No. >> Oh, Mia. Okay, great. Um, the motion has been properly moved by Mr. Nassa and second by Miss Faria. Are there any discussions? Can I have a roll call, please? Miss
Capiello. >> Miss Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Maki. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Maria. >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kissi. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes. >> Miss Santana. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Graed.
>> Yes. Next, we will have the operations technology committee chair, Mr. Nassa and M. Faria, to present the resolutions that will be voted upon tonight. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the operations technology committee presents the following resolutions for the
board's consideration. 01 through 07, 02, and 03 were approved at the previous session. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> I I do. I know it's been a long night,
but I just wanted to uh bring up 04 um happy to see a prior alumni, right? Uh Darnell Stapleton um bringing home that uh a nice football camp for for our children. >> That's Thank you.
>> Any other discussion? Seeing none, this motion has been properly moved by Miss uh Faria um and second by >> Mr. Mr. Nass. >> Mr. Nasta. Thank you so much. Um, Miss Cabo, can I have a roll call?
>> Miss Carbonel? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Mackey? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fia? >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Veni? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta? >> Yes. >> Miss Santana? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Scott? >> Yes.
>> Next, we have the person personnel committee chair, Miss Ki Mackey, to present the following resolutions that will be voted upon tonight. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um, Madam President, it's okay. I like to pull these by block. >> Yes. >> Thank you.
Upon recommendation of the superintendence of schools, the personnel committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration P1A through P5.
Uh P4, however, P4 was approved at the work session on April 14, 2026. Second. >> Is there any discussion? It's been properly moved a second. Is there any discussion? >> Seeing no discussion.
>> No, Madam Chair. >> Sure. Vice President Cohen, you >> prior to um moving on these resolutions, I I just feel compelled to reiterate the position, my position and the position I believe of my colleagues on
this board that we're not happy to be taking these actions. We may even disagree in principle with many of them, but we have no alternatives. We respond to recommendations from the
superintendent. We have been briefed through the process about how they were engaged in review and decision-m and we are faced with this decision tonight.
So, while many of us, myself included, might be reluctant to to take these actions, we're going to take them. >> Any other discussion? Madam President, I just want to say that um
this is definitely not easy. Um, as somebody who is a parent of a child, two children, a son who graduated, deeply committed to this district, have been on the other side with the parents in the in the in in the gallery.
Um, as someone who has been out of work, um, laid off for two years, as someone who has gone through much of these challenges where decisions have had to be made, this is not easy on any of us. As a board, we have deeply gone back and
forth um about this and it's not an easy decision. Um and it's rough. I think when we all get on this board, we are volunteers. This is not a paid position. >> This is what we are doing because we're
trying to do good for our community and our students and our teachers. >> That being said, >> that being said, Ma'am, ma'am, >> a lot of the things that you've said in
the community, a lot of the comments you've all bought have been discussions within all of us collectively. It's not an easy decision. So, it's not on the faintness of light. There have been discussions. There's a lot that goes into these
decisions and it's not an easy one to make. And all I can say is this is the recommendation of the superintendent. With that being said, With that being said, >> order here, please. >> Order. Or order. We're going to be
respectful and if you everybody had their opportunity to go to the microphone and speak and address their concerns and we respected your time at the microphone and your comments and I'm going to ask you to do the same. >> Mr. Personnel Chair, my heart is heavy right now with this decision. Madame President,
Don't do not respond. Thank you. >> My kids are still in the district. I still have a child with a disability in the district. So my kids are here. So every decision that I make on this board is not taken lightly. So please do not
make assumptions. It is a very heavy heart here as a mother as a child as a mother of a child with an autis autistic disability to sit up here. Please as an audience we all individually go through stuff and feel some of the pain that is
happening right here. So please soul and the team in this audience. We are parents up here as well. My child is still in district. So decisions that are made are very heavy as board members
>> and oftentimes I get it. I've been there. I've been on the other side. I have made those conversations. But there are things that happen and there are decisions that need to be made. So my god, please don't ever make the assumptions because you don't know
what someone's going through the same way that I don't know what each of you are going through. But I can collectively tell you that we are all feeling the same pain. whether you choose to believe that or not. But I will say at the end of the day, I am a mom and I have three kids. One is
graduating and one is at Kwami and another one is still with a disability within this district. So I don't take this seat lightly. And that being said, please understand these decisions that we make are very
heavy and hard on all of us. That being said, Madame Chair, I yield back to you. >> Thank you so much for that, U Miss Ki Mackey. And I'm not going to go deep into it either about um the sentiment that is felt up here on this day. Um
being coming from public education myself, for me personally, this is not an easy thing. Um worked in public education for 26 years. I know this is common around the state right now with layoffs happening. The only thing that gives me um a little bit of soloulless
is that I know that sometimes we're able to uh go back and take a f another look even after this board meeting happens tonight. Uh God willing, right? Something may shift and we may be able to call some of these individuals back. Um but in the interim of that, yes, we
wish we didn't have to do it. However, we do have to have a balanced budget to the county superintendent by a certain date. is no one in here that I can't tell you whether I know you personally or not that I don't feel what you're going through. I honestly do. So to sit here and say that we don't care, we
absolutely do care. We go behind the curtain. We fight it out. We make even cry it out. But we have an obligation to have a uh pass a budget um and do the things that are necessary to make sure that we do that. So, like I said, the only thing that gives me solace is that
the hope that somewhere down the line, hopefully soon, someone whether it be in Trenton or by some other force that we able to not have to go through with this in the end. But yes, tonight we do have to take a vote and unfortunately it's not popular. but to criticize these
people, these individuals that give up their time and and and it's twice a month and no, nobody told us to run and know it's not a paid position, but we ran and we're here because we genuinely do care about the students that we serve in this community. So, with that, we will take a vote. And Saul, I'm not
going to uh intend like go back and forth with you, but you're being very disrespectful this evening, but I'll let you live for the moment and I'll talk to you offline. Thank you. So, we're uh with that, Miss Capiello, can we have a roll call vote? Thank you, >> Miss Carbonel. >> Yes,
>> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Conte Macki. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes, >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Benezi. >> Yes, >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes, >> Miss Santana. >> Yes, >> Mrs.
>> Yes. Now we will have the policy chair, Mr. Cohen and Miss Santana, to present the following resolutions at this time. >> Upon the recommendation of superintendent of schools, the policy committee presents the following policies for the board's consideration on final reading and adoption. Policy
one, policy 0142.1 nepotism. Policy two, policy 3125, employment of teaching staff members and policy 3, policy 4125, employment of support staff members. >> Second.
>> This motion has been properly moved and second by moved by Mr. Cohen, second by Mr. Antana. Is there any discussions? >> Seeing none, may I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Mr. Mr. Carbonel, >> yes. >> Mr. Cohan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Conte Mackey, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Faria, >> yes. >> Mr. McDow, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bi, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta, >> yes. >> Miss Santana, >> yes. >> Mrs. Scott, >> yes. >> Moving along, we will have the residency committee chair, Miss Mani, Mr. McDow,
to present the non- voting resolutions. Upon recommendation of the stu stu superintendent of schools, the residency committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. R1, report of students transfer to district of residence following residency investigation
and um just the total for the year for 2025 26 so far. I just want to um commend our residency investigators and our people up at central office for all their hard work um and completing these
investigations. >> I second that. >> If I just might add. Um >> Sure. Mana, >> I'd like to uh Nancy, who else is on the committee with you? I'm sorry. You're just >> Mr. McDow. >> Mr. McDow, let's say just you. I just want to commend just all the work that
you Nancy for I I think that you're the one that's been on the committee the longest that I know and Mr. McDow because I think we you as a committee but we as a board kind of get kicked around a lot um in reference to um letting children that aren't in the
district in and and and doing all all that it is but I think we spoke about it at work session was it? >> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. just everything that you do, everything that the district does to make sure that the children we are teaching are in district and slowly but
surely we continuously um making sure that that process is clean and is kept and when we are faced with those challenges where people don't live in district nine times out of 10 like you said what is it that they do? >> They voluntarily withdraw.
>> Yes. Thank you. I'd just like to bring that to light. Thank you, Miss Santana. >> Thank you. >> May I have a motion to approve the bills list? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any discussions?
The motion has been properly moved by Mr. Cohen and second by Miss Santana. Can I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Miss Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Maki. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Beni, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta, >> yes. >> Miss Santana, >> yes. >> Mrs. Scott Hayden, >> yes. >> Now we move to unfinished business. Is there any unfinished business?
>> I have unfinished business. I'm sorry, I completely forgot dealing with first of all, I would like to say that I sleep swimmingly every single night. I'd like to say that first and foremost. And then secondly, what I also would like to say is that it is baseball season, my friends. The union farmers, do you know our record?
>> I don't know, but I know um coach cut off, too. >> I don't know. But I know that you can ple you can please go to a baseball game for our children. It'd be great. And the softball. And the softball. >> Excuse me. >> Uhuh. No, no, no.
>> Go ahead, Mr. Thank you so much. I was saying that our children but the baseball season is in full swing. I've been out there. It's fun. Who did I see? Wait, did you go? >> Yeah. Yeah, you went. So, thank you for going. Uh softball season is out and
it's a great time. I would love to see everyone there. >> Any more unfinished business? >> Let's go together. >> Maybe you should work on your attitude, too. How about that? >> Unfinished business. Any more any additional unfinished business?
>> I'm done already. >> Seeing none, we're going to move to new business. >> Miss >> Sure. >> Miss Mani. >> Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to talk about a few um events that I went to um
this past like during the April. I think the end of March, I went to the AP awards. it was held here and it honored our AP students uh for all the exams that they have taken and passed and the exams that they will take. Uh many of them were in the top 25 of our um
graduating class. I went on April 9th to the Treps at Livingston School. It was so nice to see the students and their families along with the staff enjoying a profitable evening that I made many purchases. Um I also went to the ribbon cutting there on the book vending machine which
was really nice. Thank to thanks to Miss Cahuza for getting the machine and the students were happy to get their tokens and they were able to um pick a book to keep. Okay, they they're not don't have to be returned. April 17th, I attended the um performance of letters from Anne
and Martin, which was um through Kain University and the Holocaust Association. and they had actors read excerpts from Anne Frank's diary and Martin Luther King's writings when he was in jail in Montgomery, Alabama. And it was held at Bernett, but it was for the eighth grade of Bernett and Kowami
school. April 22nd, I attended the health fair presented by Mrs. Zer at the al and the allied health classes at the high school. U very informative, all the students participated. It was a real pleasure to see um how engaged our students were. And then finally, April
24th, I attended the French and Spanish Honor Society induction at the high school. So, there's lots of good things going on. And um I'd like to thank everyone for um including me in these um nice little celebrations. I know I can
go because I'm retired, so I know it's hard for everybody else. Most of these are during the day. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Co. >> Yes, Madam President. I would like to just respond to I believe one of the questions uh was asked about the charter
school um of a million dollars that are in the budget. Um by code the school districts are required to pay for um any students that attend charter schools if they are um residents of this town. Um
currently we have around 11 charter schools. I can't name them all, but I can get that information uh to you. And at uh totals of roughly about 61 students that attend these 11 different charter schools and so we are required
by law to obviously pay and I anticipate another three or four for the following year. So those charter school uh amounts continue to increase as well. >> Are those schools around? They are all around some in
Planefield, Newark, um Charter Phillips, uh Academy, um uh what is it accept our students from? >> Correct. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure that that question was answered um since it was brought up twice um by two different
speakers and not just left lingering. Um any more uh new business? Mr. Co, Vice President Cohen. So, as difficult as it may be for our audience tonight to hear this, and as hollow as these words may ring,
it would be wrong for me and for this board not to acknowledge that next week is teacher appreciation week. And despite the actions we took tonight, we do in fact appreciate our teachers. And
part of the decision making that went or the deliberations that went into tonight's decision-m was to ensure that the teachers that we have in our classrooms in September have the resources that they need to do the job on behalf of the students of this
district. We know that they do it well. We know that they're currently serving the community in the way that we need for them to do do so. And I just want to make sure that all of our teachers know that we do in fact appreciate them during their week of celebration next
week. >> Is there any other new business? Seeing none, I'll um entertain a motion to go back into executive session. >> So moved. >> No, we second. >> So moved. >> Second. So moved.
>> We already had a motion earlier in the meeting to change the agenda. >> All in favor? >> Okay. Move. It's moved and second to go into executive session. Um uh action may be taken. All in favor, please say I.
>> I. second. >> A second. >> This motion has properly been moved by Mhan, Vice President Cohen, second by Miss. Can I have a roll, please, Miss? >> Miss Carbonel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Conte Mackey. Mrs. Faria, >> yes. >> Mr. McDow, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mani, >> yes. >> Mr. Nasta, >> yes. >> Miss Santana, >> yes. >> Mrs. Scott, >> yes. >> Move to a journ. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I >> That room is not locked, is it? >> In the front right by the I just started.