Okay, thank you. I call to order the November 20th meeting of the Vernon Township Board of Ed. Mr. Slam, can we get a roll call? >> Mr. Smaglia. >> Mr. Cino >> here. >> Mr. Fischer >> here. >> Mr. Krauss
>> here. >> Miss Pellet >> here. Dr. Ross >> here. >> Mr. Sweeney >> here. >> Miss Varella >> here. >> Mr. Zimmerman. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. It's recommended that the board enter close session for the purpose of discussing legal personnel
and student matters. All in favor? >> You need a motion. >> Uh that is the motion. >> Right. >> Yeah, we don't need a first and second. >> Uh oh, we do. Yes. Okay. I'm sorry. that what she's saying is essentially
recommending it. That's a motion. >> That's right. >> So, that's the motion. But we do need a first and second. >> Okay. Can I get a >> motion? Second. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All in favor? >> Awesome. All right. Here we go.
Thank you. Item four. Um it is recommended that the board return to open session. Can I get a motion? >> So move. Second. Okay. >> All in favor? I >> I >> Mr. slam. Just take attendance. M Miss Adano,
>> I didn't hear who you said. >> Oh, sorry. Uh just taking attendance. Miss O'Donnell >> here. >> Miss De Mendes >> present. >> And I am also here. And could you please rise to join me for
the pledge of allegiance? Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Item six, reading of the public notice.
The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to advance notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with provisions of the act township board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published
and notice provided and notice this meeting has been properly posted in accordance with the New Jersey open public meeting law. Uh just a quick note, the next public meeting will be held December 11th. >> Thank you. Item seven, approval of minutes. Um, can I get a motion for the
approval of the minutes of the closed public session meetings October 16 and >> go ahead >> and a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Carrie, we get a roll call.
>> Mr. Fischer >> here. >> Mr. Krauss >> here. >> Miss Pallet >> here. >> Dr. Ross >> here. Uh, Mr. Sweeney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carell here. >> Supposed to be yes or no.
>> Yeah. I right >> I'm a yes. >> Duh. >> I kind of figured out. >> Okay. Everyone's battle tonight. >> Yes. >> Sorry. >> You're like, you're here, right? >> Mr. Zimmerman. Uh, Mr. Smagley.
>> Yes. Mr. Contino >> abstain. >> Motion carries. >> Sorry about that. Okay. Item eight, presence report. That's me. Um, good evening everyone. Uh, we have a pretty full agenda tonight. We're going to hear from the Glen Meadow Middle School
students about our 21st century community learning center after school program. Looking forward to that. Um, we're also going to have the annual audit presentation from Mr. uh, Sarinelli. And I also want to note that our district's um Oh, I want to do a
shout out for our VTHS basketball team. Uh baseball team. Gosh, I'm really on a roll tonight. Baseball team for they did their uh 7th annual fall cleanup service project and there were 23 players participating. They cleaned up nine houses in need and
it's just really inspiring to see these kids like put in their time and effort to do that wonderful thing for our community. Um, and now I'd like to take a minute to recognize Carl Contino, who's leaving our board to take on a new role with the town council. We're grateful for his dedication and
commitment to serving our community. Um, Carl, on a personal note, I've really enjoyed working with you and the fresh perspective you brought to our discussions and your work on community relations were invaluable. So, thank you. Um, and now I'm going to read this longer, very official, um,
resolution honoring Carl. Uh, so it goes like this. Whereas Carl Cantino has dedicated nearly three years of service to the student, staff, and community of the Vernon Township Board of Education. And whereas Carl Cantino has demonstrated a
tireless commitment to the pursuit of educational excellence and the well-being of all students within the district. And whereas Carl Cantino has provided invaluable leadership, vision, and guidance in fulfilling the board's responsibilities, which include setting policy, overseeing the budget, and
ensuring the district meets state and federal standards. And whereas the contributions of Carl Cantino have significantly impacted the academic achievement and overall success of the school community. And whereas the board of education wishes to publicly acknowledge and express its deep
appreciation for the dedication, time, and effort Carl Cantino has voluntarily provided without pay or personal benefit during his tenure. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Vernon Township Board of Education does hereby formally commend and honor Carl Cantino for his
outstanding and dedicated service to the school district and the community. And be it further resolved that this resolution be spread upon the minutes of this meeting and a copy presented to Carl Cantino as a token of the board's sincere appreciation and gratitude
adopted this 20th day of November 2025 by the Vernon Township Board of Education. And now we have a followup. OH, >> thank you. It's it's um definitely >> um
>> thank you to everyone. It's really been an honor and a privilege to serve this district. Um >> and I'm going to miss it more than I think anyone will realize. Um, my life revolves around education and um, as I
take on this new responsibility as a councilman, um, I'll never forget what I learned on this board. Um, and to anyone who sits on this board after me, including whoever sits in my seat, my piece of advice would be, um, remember
why you did what you're going to do. Think about your why and think about your, what's the word? >> Motivation. motivation, your mission. Um, for me, I never forgot what it was like being a student in this school. Not
even 15 years ago. I remember being in this library and having kids pick at me and make fun of me and feeling, you know, like I didn't have a voice and feeling helpless and it's why I wanted to be on this board and it's why I always voted the way that I did. So,
thank you to everyone and thank you to the incredible board members and administration I got to serve with and thank you to our families for giving me this opportunity. I'm very, very lucky and I'm very grateful. Thank you. >> Thank you for BEING >> OKAY. And now item nine, it is time for
our presentations. Um, can I welcome the Glen Middle Glenn Meadow Middle School uh to the to come forward and tell us all about your program? >> Oh yes. Do they have they have slides? >> Okay, great.
>> Good evening. Thank you for having us this evening. I am the proud principal of Glen Meadow Middle School. My name is Jacqueline Van Orton. I am here with the assistant principal, Dr. Kosak, Dr. Eric Kosak, and we are here this evening to share a little bit about our 21st century community learning center. But
before we do, I have to talk about our Trees um our our Treps uh marketplace last evening. Treps for those of you that don't know stands for entrepreneurship. Treps being in the middle of the word. We had 104 students last evening in just
the sixth grade come together and sell their wares at the marketplace. Mrs. Macaloney is the adviser of Treps. She took the students through six weeks of learning how to market, establish, plan, and ultimately deliver with their
business. We tallied the results of their income, if you will. And before putting out the expenses last night, they took in $13,700. >> WOW. >> They were selling soaps, jewelry, dog
treats. Um, we had woodworking. What else? Pens and pencils. >> Bracelets. Hot cocoa. You name it. >> Exact. Everything was there and it was so impressive. Not only their manner in
which they they projected themselves and were salesmen and women on the floor, but as you see in the pictures, their displays were breathtaking. I was so impressed by the way that they displayed their merchandise after they had paid
out their expenses, which was generally loans from their parents or guardians. Um, we uh came up to almost $9,000 profit. So, that was incredible.
We are so proud of our students. We are so grateful for everyone who came out last night to support them and their small businesses. And um I just wanted to share that great news uh with all of you. I am going to turn it over to these
wonderful human beings. To my left, we have Emma, Gabby, EMTT, and Matthew. And they are here to join me this evening and talk about the 21st Century Community Learning Center, or we like to call it what? >> CCLC. >> CCLC. It's a little bit easier, less of
a mouthful. But before I do, I want to introduce Mrs. Kate Ramirez, who is the program director, and Mrs. Mary who is a site coordinator lead teacher who do a fabulous job at running this program. Thank you. >> Good evening. Thank you so much for
allowing us and inviting us to talk about the CCLC. I am again Kate Ramirez. I'm the program director of the afterchool program along with Mrs. Amato who's the site coordinator. We don't want to take up too much of our time or the adult time. We want to um we want
everyone to hear from the students. But just a couple of facts about the program. So this is federally funded by the New Jersey Department of Education. We are in our year five status. The cycle of CCLC is every 5 years. We have to reup on the program and reapply. So
fingers crossed that at the end of this year we will be successful in getting another five-year cycle. This is an academic enrichment program. So, we offer the students academic support which we will um Matt will talk about this evening. We also the um I'm sorry,
we also offer engaging workshop for students which include STEM. EMT's going to talk about that. Art, culinary, Gabby's going to touch upon that. Um physical education every single day. There's field trips throughout the school year to I fly. They went to
Pochuk. We have a whole bunch in the summer as well. and family engagement is really important to us as well, which Emma is going to touch upon. So, without further ado, we're going to invite Matt Bailey up to talk about the academic time.
Students have been using I Ready during academic time so they can get better at the Dionox and NJSL. What I have accomplished most about
academic time during CCLC is I can get more time on I ready and get more homework done. >> Thank you. And we are going to bring up EMTT to talk about the steam, robotics, drones,
and more. Hello everyone. My name is EMTT and I've been part of the CCLC program for three years now. From the very f ah sorry from the very start, my favorite part of CCL has been their engineering and steam workshop. I'm now in eighth grade and
the knowledge that I have gained from tinkering during steam has aided me in so many ways. The teachers who donate their time to this amazing workshop ensure that we are the ones choosing what we want to learn. On top of that, the resources that we are given access to through this workshop are immense
such as drones as we can see there. We also have Mindstorms, Lego, uh Beex, EV3, and uh many other things I cannot list in the time that I have. Uh whenever I enter the engineering room, I'm always amazed by what students are
building. But what I find even more impressive than their skills at creation is the community that we have built together. Students are always working together and giving tips on how to pro sorry on how to improve their peers creations. And the students attitudes
towards failing are amazing. Whenever their projects fail or break, they don't get angry. They look at what they have done wrong and improve upon it. So I want to say thank you to all the teachers, coordinators and students for making in such amazing workshop and a
community possible. Thank you. Thank you for your time. You're welcome. >> I would just like to brag on EMTT a little bit. Um the last couple of years he's definitely grown into a leadership role um with the steam program. If you
see on the last part of the slide, he has worked with me on ordering supplies. We go through websites. We go through our supplies. He gives recommendations of things that I'm not familiar with. So, I just wanted to brag on him a little bit. He has done an an
outstanding job um and is definitely a leader in that space. >> Awesome. SO, so now we are going to bring up another student leader in the art space, >> Gabby. >> Hi everyone. So, my favorite thing about
doing an art is seeing everyone's creativity and how it will how how it helps people feel comfortable in the little art space we have. Um and when people are doing art they start to open up about themselves and sometimes in their art they will express
their feelings in the art which also brings us more closer with us. Also the culinary program has helped the students by teaching them some life skills with knives and baking. And when we have family
nights, the students get to cook for their families and they and it brings joy to everyone and it brings families together when they don't have enough time at home. >> So yeah, and now we are going to bring up Emma who's going to discuss our family engagement and partnerships within the
program. >> Good evening everyone. So, what we do at CCLC is we have family nights and where families can come together and as you can see that's my family and we're painting. Um, we do painted grape, we do
family nights and um, next week we are doing a talent show that families can come together. Um, that's been something that families can come together and express to other families like what they do and like what they enjoy. And
especially like younger siblings, especially my sister and brother, they've been there since I was in sixth grade. And it's just something families can experience and enjoy with other families and just meet up with people.
And if we um and family nights are just something that I think everybody enjoys when they get to spend time with their families. And just a side note with this, actually Mrs. Post last week came to our program to do a STEM activity. She's a science
teacher in another school district. So we really try to encourage parents to get involved in that way as well. And in the next couple of months, we are working on doing a career night to invite even more parents into our program. So just to end off, we want to thank the
board. We want to thank the um district administration, our school administration, our faculty, our staff, our program staff, but most importantly, we want to thank the parents and the students because without them, we would not have a program and we would not be
as successful as we are. So, thank you so much for your time and have a wonderful night. Good job, GUYS. >> Thank you all for coming. That was great. Can we ask ask any questions or anything like that?
>> Probably not to me though. >> One of the one of the ch children's names was first and last Bailey, right? I I Matt Bailey. I didn't hear the last names of any of the other students. >> I'm very sorry. That was my fault. So, we have Matt Bailey, we have EMTT Pus, we have Gabby Meyer, and we have Emma
Post. >> Nice to meet you guys. >> That was wonderful. Also, does do the students who attend CCLC, is there any way to see or are they doing better in school overall?
>> Yes. So, we actually run reports. The state also requires anonymous reports. Um, they're really tagged by student ID numbers and it's not the school ID numbers. It's kind of given to them, but they do track their academics.
Absolutely. And we also look at the report cards. We look at the I Ready scores. So we use all points of data to try to see how the students are doing and gear our academic time towards that. >> And are they doing better? >> Yes, they are. >> Yeah. As they definitely use the time.
They're certified teachers. That was a note on um on Matt's slide. There is certified teachers with them in every space that they're in during academic time. Um so they are able to ask questions. They're able to say, you know, hey, I need help with math. Can I
go see Mr. Henry? They're with Miss Monoey in another room. So, they're able to kind of find their way with the homework time that they have. >> Is is participation at the maximum? >> So, we have 427
students signed up for the program. They don't come every day, but we have been averaging I would say about 80ish. Um >> 50 and 90. >> Yeah, 50 and 90 a day. It all depends. Um they don't have to come every single
day. A lot of them do. Um some come a couple times a week, some come every day, some come once a week, once every two weeks. Um and it's just, you know, that's it's open house basically. That's great. >> Anyone else?
>> Such a cool thing. I'm so glad that you guys are involved and thank you so much for coming to talk to us about it tonight, too. >> And I just wanted to say that I was at Treps last night, too, and it was like phenomenal. I And I talked with friends afterward who had been there, and everyone was like, "This rivals any
adult craft fair that we had ever been to." the and and also the way that uh you all had clearly like learned how to communicate and sell and talk about the products and the like one of the my son
bought a little um fishing lure I guess. Okay. And it came with a raffle ticket to potentially win a >> what am I trying and so like they had thought through the branding you know everything about it.
It was incredible. So impressive. So exciting. >> Thank you. Did a great job. Very impressed. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. I just I didn't have a question, but I just want to say from experience. Um you guys run the wonderful program. It's it's the kids
I've been there many times. Sometimes pick up my kids late, but um it's it's always a pleasure. Everyone seems like they're having fun. They're learning. It's such a it's a great experience just to even see what goes on there and and I'm glad you guys you you guys I think
you guys have been there the whole entire time and it's nice to see the students have been there for a couple years now. It's it's a great program and you guys do very well >> and so thank you for what you do >> very much. We we as teachers get to connect with the kids on a different level
in the program because they're definitely >> more comfortable. I think >> you know it's it's different than in the academic classroom. So it's really nice for us too. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you again for coming.
>> Can't move back till that light goes off. Can someone >> although you're going to be putting it back on in a minute, I guess. >> Yeah, maybe maybe we'll just do it. Uh so so now we're going to move on to our second presentation from Mr. Ray Sarinelli
um which is our audit. >> How are you? >> Thanks. >> Thank you. Uh, they're coming. We'll talk about that a little bit. Yeah. >> Mhm. Yeah, I'm gonna do Oh, yeah. I didn't want to do it.
>> Yeah, I was going to do an open board. >> Yeah. >> Is that too early? >> No, that doesn't make sense. So, good evening everybody. Uh, Ray Sinelli from audit firm Nvatia. Um, tonight I'll be presenting to you uh a
draft of the uh audit. So, a lot of kind of confusing, crazy stuff going on in my world right now that's kind of highly technical, but what's essentially happening is the federal government uh you get federal grant money and um we
have to do what's called a single audit on that federal grant money, meaning we look specifically at the grant funding you get. and the compliance supplement for that is not out yet. So basically um we did the audit, they issued a draft of that, we did our audit according to that
draft, but because that is not final, we cannot finalize the audit. The state of New Jersey uh still wants the audit filed. So there's been a little bit of a back and forth on, well, you should file the audit. Well, we can't file the audit, but we need you to file the audit. Yeah, right. But we still can't
file the audit. Um, so finally today the state has put out um a broadcast that says we want you to file the audit, just pull the federal grant information out of it. So great for us. We have to do a lot of additional work on all of our clients that have federal single audits,
but we're going to move forward and get the audits filed, but they are not filed yet. So, uh, nothing about the audit will change. Nothing that I present to you tonight will change. Um, just the federal grant portion of it. And most likely what will happen is there will be
no change to the compliance supplement. And so whenever that comes out three months from now, all I really have to do is sign my name and that's the only change that will happen to the audit. But so technical stuff, we're looking at a draft. The information won't change.
Most important points. So um without further ado, uh we're going to look at schedule C1, which is uh on the budgetary basis of accounting. Um, this is what I always present to all of my school boards because it's based on the
decisions you've made and will affect the decisions you make in the future. Um, there are a lot of other audit schedules that have a lot of highly technical information that I don't think benefits uh you the end user of the audit. So, I think we look at this, we
know where we're at for the year and then uh that will help you, you know, understand where you were and understand where you're going. So the schedule C1 is an income statement based on the budgetary basis of accounting. So what an income statement is shows all of your
revenue for the year. Then it shows all of your expenses for the year. Uh and then it shows your fund balance. And fund balance is like what retained earnings is in a business. It's just basically what is the financial health of the district and how how is it doing.
So um this first page has revenues on local level, state level and a federal level. Um obviously you know your local tax levy is your biggest revenue. Um that's your local sources. And then you know you have some other
things there. Tuition unrestricted. A big one is your uh interest earned which is uh doing very well based on the amount of cash that you have and also the uh you know interest rates uh being at higher levels than they have been and uh some renegotiated rates with the
bank. So interest is doing well there. You can see that maybe a quarter of the way down at the 551 960. Um that's really helping to enhance your your financial position. Um, next below that are your uh state sources of revenue and
that's your uh you know general state aid. Um that's dictated by a funding formula. Um as you all know that funding formula drastically changed about six years ago and your state aid has been reduced somewhere close to $8 million in
that sixyear time span. Um so you know there was a lot of tough times there through the years. I think uh you know things um are starting to get a little bit better. The the budget is a little bit more balanced. Um you can see on on the very right hand side is the
comparison of your actual to your um what was budgeted for and you see a lot of positives there. That means that you're not having to overly rely on your revenues and that the budget is in in a more balanced type of place. um you know
where as we were going through those state aid losses there was some pretty uh dramatic imbalances between the expenses and the revenues that were coming in. Um so that's the revenue side. There is a if you just scroll down
slightly, there's a revenue from federal sources. Um that has been reduced for for all school districts that that is a a federal funding source. Um and that has been reduced um albeit not dramatically, but $70,000 is $70,000
that we're short on that. So it would be nice if that was fully collected, but um you know, not the end of the world. So that's your revenue picture. Does anybody have any questions on the revenues? >> 70,000 we were shorted right from Medicaid. >> Yeah.
>> And then >> so collected about 50,000. The budget was in line with what has been collected in the past. I'm going to go ahead and guess change in administration. The way that program was funded wasn't at 100%. So not just Vernon declined. Everywhere
we've been everybody declined. I have a question about the other revenue. The TPAF revenue that's paper revenue. It's not really revenue, right? >> I would say that's a good way to put it. Yeah. >> Okay. >> It's really it's the only place that it happens is it's recorded in this schedule. >> So if the 15 million total revenue is
not 15 million total revenue, >> right? that money is. So the the state makes a contribution in the you know billions of dollars range on behalf of the entire teachers pension fund and then an actuary comes in and looks at
the demographics of all the different districts and assigns an allocation of that billion dollar several billion dollar contribution and says your portion of it is 2.8 9.4 117 and all that. Um, every single district gets
that allocation in some different manner based on what an actuary calculates it to be. You never receive that money. It does not come here. It does not leave here. There is also an expense on the expense side to reflect that
>> the state gave it to you and then contributed it to the pension fund. >> Really, it's just there to deceive everybody. So the the next portion is the expenditures. Um if you just want to scroll down uh with
just one page. Um I really I I don't spend a lot of time presenting all the expenditures. There's there's 12 pages of them. Um you know obviously running a school district there's many different aspects to where
your expenses go. um you know instructing the instu the students transporting the students uh extracurricular activities all those different things you know what I look at is is the budget balanced so are you spending the budget down to zero is
there money left at the end are you planning for the future and so now that we've kind of come out of that funding formula deficit of um uh of you know revenue um the the budget is in a much
more balanced place and there is funds left over at the end of the day and that's kind of important to not budget. So you know in certain places like tuition that the you know one student can fluctuate that um that expense greatly. So to know that you're prepared
for additional students should they come into the district, if you're prepared for, you know, the different things that go on during the year, that's important. And it also means that in the future, you know, you're looking towards continuing um to try and I'd say build the fund balance, but keep it balanced,
keep the the fund balance in a good place where, you know, there's not huge fluctuations, there's not dramatic decreases. you want to stay financially healthy to try and continue to provide the best education you can. Um, which was extremely difficult for a while,
right? The financials position was not very strong for a while because of the reduction in revenue. Um, and I think you know the planning that's going into things for the future is is um in a much better place. Um, so that's the expenditure side. if you want to flip
through those some of those pages if you have any questions on what we're looking at. But um you know I don't want to spend too much time there other than you know I think the for 2024 25 the bal the budget was in a in a pretty balanced
place and a good place to plan for the future. Um, uh, can we skip down to page? 12 of 12. Yep. So, uh, this page just shows the fund
balance. And so, when I talked about it, you have your revenues, you have your expenses, and then at the end of the day, you have your fund balance. And so um at the top there you see you started the year if we look at the actual column the um the year started at 12 million
667 and there was a decline to about 9.9 million. So, I talked about how this was, you know, the budget was in a better place and then you're looking at the fund balance and saying, "Whoa, it decreased dramatically." But there's a reason for that. And the reason for that is if we go down um about 3/4 of the way
down the page to our year-end encumbrances. And so last year and and so at the bottom there that's that the the the three-year comparison the 23 24 25 that's normally not part of the schedule but I thought it was important to kind of see what's happened over the last few
years as we come out of the S2 funding formula and we're coming into um you know hopefully a more um a better place. And so what you'll see on those year-end incumbrances is that last year they jumped uh in 23 they were 672,000 they
jumped up to 3.1 million. And what that is it's really just a function of timing and that those uh incumbrances what they are are like accounts payable. So there are expenses that were uh are going to be incurred related to specifically in
that year 2024. Um but they haven't been received yet and they haven't been paid for yet. So they're still in your fund balance, but we know they're going to happen. So we take a portion of your fund balance and we assign it to year-end incumbrances because we know it's going to get spent.
So what happened was the fund balance increased because that money wasn't spent and we were holding on to it in our fund balance, but we know it was going to get spent. So that's why you see the jump from 10.5 million up to 12.6 and now back to 9.9. So, a little
bit misleading in the total, but if you understand the function of that encumbrances number a little bit, that's why the the fund balance declined. And so, really what I see over the three years is the fund balance being in a a little bit more of a stable place. Um, which is a good thing. We want to bring
stability to the budget and hopefully that means we can, you know, uh provide stability in um the expenses we're spending um on running the school district. So, um,
we ended the year in a good place. Um, and I can talk a little bit more about, you know, the different, um, statutory categories there that the fund balance is in or if you have any questions on those, but I kind of want to spend a little bit of time talking about where
we're going now that we um are finishing the school year. So um health benefits is affecting every school district in the state. The state health benefit plan announced that they have um are going to be having a 30 38%
increase um to the users of of their their health benefit plan. And so while even though some districts are outside of that plan um health benefits in general are dramatically increasing. So you have you know one
cost sector that's really you know depending on how you look at not going directly to the education of the students that's increasing dramatically. Um, so as we look forward to the future, um, and health benefits is just one place that we're talking about, but
there's, you know, high inflationary costs that are impacting the expense side of your budget. And so your revenues are limited to 2%. Right? Your tax taxes can only increase 2%. That's what the law is. But the expense side of
your budget has the pressures of four, four and a half, 5% inflationary costs. And we know and that's the average and we know in the in the case of health benefits it's dramatically higher than that. I mean that one line item um will most likely eat up most of that 2%. It's
the single largest line item in your budget. So you know as this year kind of ends positively and I would love to be positive. I've been come here and been negative for so long. I am positive on the fact that we ended the year in a
good place. um there's going to be a lot of pressure on putting together you know the next budget um just because it's going to be difficult to balance the equation right there's only x amount of dollars of revenue if the expenses increase more than that and you can't
increase the expenses to meet that you know you have to cut expenses elsewhere so while you know I see a lot of stability and a lot of positivity um just the expenses on the horizon um you know tamper that positivity with we're
going to be in a little bit more of a difficult place as we're coming up on this uh next budget. You know, I think you've planned for it as best you can. When I look at things like um the excess surplus, you know, the funds that you draw down out of your own fund balance to try and help balance the budget, we
look at um you know, was that 3.1 million uh used in the sub subsequent budget in 23. It was 2.7 in 24. it's reduced a little bit in 25 to 2.5 million. And that should really be be what you're trying to do is keep that
number in a balanced place, but reduce it over time so you're not relying too heavily on your own funds. Um, and and just trying to build a balanced more balanced budget. So, you know, I guess if the message, if I could leave you
with any message, it's the administration is doing the best that the best that they can with what they're dealing with, but they're being dealt a pretty difficult hand and that's going to mean some tough decisions as we move forward into the future. So, is there any
questions on that? >> Does anyone have any questions? the finance committee members um heard this already and had some questions, but uh for those of you hearing it for the first time, anything?
>> Okay. Wow. >> Um >> hopefully that means I did a good job explaining. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, I'll just touch base on there. I I have two other pages that um uh I
normally don't go through, but they're a little bit newer um to the district. So, if you could just scroll down one page for me, please. Yep. So, this is schedule E2. It is um specifically where we um account for
your preschool uh education grant. And so uh obviously you know the preschool grant started um coming into in December the program got off the ground in the uh 2425 years 2425 school year. Um so uh
you know the way that the function of that is that there's um 2.7 million kicked in from state grant funds and 677 from local funds. And so that is all accounted for here. Um and then at the
bottom we kind of look um at how those funds were spent and um if there is any portion left over we roll that forward to the next year. Um we want to keep those funds as low as possible. The state has said if you do have carryover funds uh they're going to take 25% of
them back because you don't need them. Um so it's important that you spend the grant funds as best as possible because you're just getting your grant off the ground. they did not take any of those funds back. But, you know, we're it's going to be important to utilize everything that we can as we move
through uh utilizing this prog um this program. And you know, a lot of districts when they're getting this program off the ground, they do have a significant amount of dollars left at the end of the year, but you guys uh didn't. So, I think that's, you know, kudos to the administration to getting the program off the ground and making
sure that it was run pretty efficiently with the dollars that were received from the state. Any questions on that? Just wanted to briefly touch on it. Yeah, >> it is it is restrict that's restricted that that the extra money, right? Because it came from a grant and it has
to be spent. >> Yep. >> Where is So, this is not extra money that we pushed over to transportation or anything. This is directly >> specifically just for the preschool preschool students. >> And one of the things we did uh was we
got approval from um NJ DOE and the county at the end of the year when I was projecting out what our balances would be uh to actually transfer those funds to build the playground that's now being built uh behind Walnut Ridge, the new preschool playground. So that's part of
the reason why you see there's only $70,000. we foresaw was going to happen. I knew we knew about the 25% cut and we wanted to make sure as many of those dollars stayed in Vernon as possible. Um, and we knew that playgrounds were something that they would approve if you had the right justification for it. So
hopefully that playground's going up right now and we'll be able to to see that and um hopefully not too long before it gets too cold. >> Looks really good. >> So be clear, we're not we're not getting a 25% cut, are we? >> No.
>> Okay. We only have 70,000 left. Um, so I was at a PD uh pretty recently. They said that, let me put it like this, they never told anyone about the 25% cut the first time around until about 2 days before they let everyone know they were cutting it. So they did say at this
meeting, it was verbally, wasn't in writing, that was they weren't planning on cutting it again. But last time they told everyone about 2 days before, so I wouldn't put it past them for it to happen again. Um, and I just found out about that about last month. So, may not cut moving forward, but just in case
they did, we're in a pretty positive situation because we made sure that we allocated those funds in the best way possible for us. >> Just to clarify though, it's not a 25% cut, right? It's they take back 25% of what you don't spend.
>> That's correct. >> Yes. Yeah. >> And to to Ray's point, it is it was a one-time thing for for districts who had money actually left over from the 23 24 year, but like he said,
they you don't know when they're going to decide to do that because they literally decided two days before they put out the budget for um it's the future budget for 20 2425 PA. So continuing to be efficient with those
dollars and spend those dollars and keeping them environment is important. So yeah and then just to the last page please. So here uh this schedule is a little bit different from from other years and this is um this is an F1 schedule. So or
capital project schedule and this is um encapsulating um the state sources through the SDA grant for the believe it's the Glen Meadow school windows projects. >> Yep. >> Yep. Um, so what happens is when you get
the state funding, state funds about 40% um, and the district funds 60% and because you have multiple funding sources going into one project, we pull it out into its own uh, schedule so we can track those dollars um, through the project um, and make sure we collect on
those state dollars. So um, nice to see some additional funds rolling in for some capital projects. I know there's going to be some more capital needs coming up, but so we can get any other money from anywhere else we can. It's a good thing. So, um we'll be tracking
that through. Um that project's probably near completion or if not will be nearly completed by the end of this year. So, um this schedule is will come and go pretty quickly as we as we roll through that project. >> Yeah, it should be done this year. We're waiting on the windows. They're
manufacturing them. So, normally I also talk about recommendations. Um, there were no recommendations this year. We did have one on fixed assets last year that was remedied during the year. Um, there a couple of minor suggestions in there that going to bore everybody with. We
talked through them in the finance committee. Um, you know, but no official findings. So, I mean, I think that's that those two things kind of go hand inand as you as you you know, I talked about, you know, you're getting towards more uh balanced budget and uh you know,
looking to um you know, try and sustain the finances through the future, but things are in a pretty positive place there. If you're doing the right thing, you know, usually the finances close through with that. So um you know there's a lot of regulations that we look through and a lot of time we spend
testing you know statutoily the things that go on. Um, so, uh, everybody dotted all their eyes and cross all their tees this year, which is a good >> any questions, anyone? >> Okay, >> just to reiterate, zero recommendations.
>> Okay, zero. >> Way to go, Rick. >> Good job, Rick. >> All right. >> Great job by the business office team and thank you to our auditors. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Tinelli. We really appreciate you coming tonight and all your hard work.
>> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ray. >> Now I need the great shining light to go off. Otherwise, I just stay in the corner. Um, all right. So, we're on uh item 11 and
that would be our student. >> How exciting. after such a riveting. >> Oh, poorest. >> I'm sorry. I skipped. Oh my gosh. I'm really like, >> see, it was dark. It was dark. We're not up to you yet. You skip. >> Give me one more second. >> Um, Carl, community relations.
>> So, my final community relations board um report. The community relations committee met via um Zoom this time on uh November 3rd. In attendance were myself, Mr. Fischer, M. Mendes, other members of administration and the
public. Um we discussed primarily the state of that is just >> forgiving good >> state of the district address. Um along with strategic planning and uh ways that we can be more active on social media. We're pleased to announce that we found
someone for the PR stipen and that we have selected May 27th right for the second annual state of the district address. Um, seeing as this is my final report, I am happy to announce that the new chairperson of community relations
will be Mr. Fiser, which I'm really happy about. So, onward. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Contino. I think this would be an appropriate time to mention that the board will be accepting um applications or letters of interest
for the empty board seat that um Carl is uh leaving us with. And so we would uh love to hear from any members of the community who would like to um serve on as a team member for us. Um and those letters should go to Mr. Slam uh R SLAM atbtsd.com.
And um is now a good time to talk about the date because it's not really on the agenda, right, for the strategic plan since that comes under the do we want to talk about when we're going to do the strategic the first? >> We do have to talk about it. I have my
>> Oh, you have Okay. >> I just have a question. Did we Did he resign? Did we get a Do we get a resignation? Do we have to approve his resignation? >> Um, you know, that is a good point. Do we, Mr. Slim, approve a resignation or is it uh
just that he has to submit it? >> I don't think you have to approve it. Um, >> I mean, we can't exactly like say no, otherwise I would. >> There's no official. >> So, I emailed I emailed Jen. >> I do have it. I No, I'm sure you did. Yeah.
>> Don't Doesn't the board acknowledge the resation? >> I think that's what the >> Don't you have to accept it because if he wanted to resend bring it back? >> Oh, maybe maybe Mr. Slam. Do you >> have to resolution on to accept it? It wasn't It wouldn't be an approval. It would be like an acceptance. >> Okay.
>> So, that's something that we can put in maybe down towards the word forum portion of the meeting. Unless you want to do it now, that's up to you. Um, I don't have a preference on when. Okay. So, yeah, I guess we could do it toward the end. And as for the date, did you
have another time that you uh Oh, you you're waiting on Miss Ms. Mitchell. So, >> but I have a report on >> I do have I did receive uh dates from her that she can do.
So, maybe we should talk about I I mean I'm just worried because we have just so everybody understands we currently have the strategic uh plan meetings advert we we've advertised it already for December 11th and there was a suggestion that we change it to December 15th but our NJSBA
field rep can't make that September 15th date. So we have to either decide to do it um a different day or we have to push it back. So that's a conversation for the full bard to weigh in on. Um so uh
and I understood what was the like there was a reason that we couldn't do the 11th. Correct. >> We have um Christmas parties that are taking place in various schools and those schools have rented out locations for those parties and so then it's not
>> it's not convenient for the staff to attend. We won't say okay. So, the dates that I had as potentials um from Miss Mitchell were December 2nd, 4th, 16th, and 17th. Um if we can pick one of those tonight, that would be great. And if
not, I think we're going to have to agree to move it to January, right? Because there's no real way. Um is >> But we can announce them in our letters and in our social media. We can announce the date once we choose it. >> Okay. Well, for now, um, we don't, I
guess, officially have a date and we should just let the public know that the ones that were advertised. >> I can say the second, there's already two committee meetings that day. >> Uh, and then the fourth, I think, is al Yeah, policy is on the fourth and I
thought I heard something else. Tonight is on the >> a negotiations meeting. >> Negotiations. >> Yeah. No, negotiations. And I personally think that if we're heading into the 16th and 17th, that's a little too close to the holidays, right? I mean, don't you think we're going to have trouble getting
>> people or is that just my concern? >> No, it's going to be a problem. So maybe January >> just tonight for tonight for the purposes of tonight, maybe we just decide that we're going to do it. We're going to fix the date in in January. >> Okay. >> Does that final date? >> Sorry.
>> Does that affect our final date? >> I don't think so. I think we can work it through. So, if you could uh allow us to take that date back, we'll plan a date for January. We'll come back to the board um through the community relations committee um which has the strategic
plan ad hoc. Mr. Fischer can then um report out through the minutes on the date that's elected and then we'll communicate to the board and to our community. >> Okay. Terrific. Thank you very much. >> So, I had that on my calendar as December 11th. Yes, that that was the
original date which we advertised, but then there was a lot of conflict, so we >> Okay, I'm sorry. >> So, we're just going to I missed that part. >> Yeah, everybody, if you put it on your calendar for the 11th, take it take it off and um we do need to communicate that to the public. >> So, just delete that one. >> Mhm. All right.
>> For now, and we will we will get back to you with a new date. >> Yes. >> And once we have that date, we'll put a new advertisement out letting everyone know the 11th will be cancelled and then provide information on what that new date will be. Okay, great. And I think it's somewhere on our district calendar, too. But
>> we have one more board meeting we can announce. >> Yes. Yeah. And now Yeah, I think that's >> that's better. Um, okay. So, uh, technology report, Mr. Fischer. >> Okay. So, see, our last technology
meeting was on November 4th. The meeting was called to order at 402. Uh, we were at Walnut Ridge. in attendance were myself, uh, Jennifer Pellet, Ebony De Mendes, Mick Lasso, Charles Samaglia, Vincent
Gagloststro, and Carl Cantina. So, um, from the time we first formed the U technology committee, we had talked about establishing an AI policy, which we did. Uh and in the spirit of goal
setting, I had mentioned at our last meeting that uh a goal for the committee for next year should be to stay on top of changes in AI uh and try and keep our policy updated um as necessary. Uh Nick
mentioned that the policy does reference the AI plan which is a living document and he also mentioned that the internal AI committee had been reformed and will be meeting before our next technology meeting. Uh among other things, the
internal committee will determine which stakeholders are responsible for what. I'm scrolling. So, uh Charlie had asked to uh go over the policies that reference the plan. Uh Mr. Mlia noted that when he went to the
back to school night, uh different teachers seem to have different visions for what AI is supposed to mean in the classroom. Uh he found teachers who he thought completely supported using AI in the classroom and other teachers who uh
didn't think that it had a place in the classroom at all. Uh Ebony pointed out that now that policy has been adopted, the next response is to develop an AI plan. Um and this needs to run the scope of implementation as to what is allowed
and what is not allowed. What programs are going to be used, what programs are going to be prohibited, and uh it is now the charge of that committee to develop what we want to see in our classrooms. Vinnie Vinnie uh Gaglioso brought up
that uh expectations uh when it comes to AI are part of academic integrity. Uh and policies need to be spelled out uh for what is expected of students and what they can use AI for uh before they take the
class. Right? Uh so that was the the AI discussion. Um I saw in today's today's White House news conference the education secretary also said they are
now looking to implement uh nationwide guidances on AI and want to encourage the use of AI as a tool for students and teachers. though there is
uh encouragement for AI at the federal level and it's just comments that she made today while she was talking about shutting the door down. >> Right. >> So um
I had looked into uh just a very unscientific survey. I looked into uh how many other districts in Sussex County have technology committees and just by looking at people's websites, I found about 25 to 30% of other school
districts here in Sussex County also have technology committees. Uh when we were in Atlantic City, I went to an AI forum where a number of the people that I spoke to at that forum uh were from districts that didn't have technology
committees that were interested in having their districts form committees. So, I made a suggestion to our technology committee that we reach out to some of the districts uh here in
Sussex County who have technology committees uh to see what it is that they're doing with their committees and to see whether or not um they're doing things that we're not doing that we might consider for our committee or vice
versa that that they're not doing things that we are that we might consider altering our vision. Uh so, um Jennifer asked me if I'd be willing to take the lead on that, and I said, "Sure, I would." So, I did draft a
message that I sent to uh Ebony and Jen uh to see if they thought it was a good message. They both approved and I've started sending that out. So, it's a it's a little slow because I kind of have to go to each district's website and see who their board members are and
who's the technology chair and but I've started sending the messages out and hopefully we'll be able to report back by our next technology committee meeting and see you know how that went. Um, as a matter of my own curiosity, I
had asked um, Ebony if the uh, President Trump's executive order 14277, which dealt with AI in the classrooms, actually brought any unique funding opportunities for the district and found
out no unique funding opportunities for the district. So, that was just my curiosity. Uh we had a a discussion about Chromebooks uh and the discussion began with Nick explaining how Chromebooks are are
purchased and how they're distributed. So currently students are given new Chromebooks and in sixth and 9th grade. Uh and when those students return those Chromebooks, the technology department
sorts through the returned Chromebooks and the best of the best of the returned Chromebooks are then given to the second graders. Uh so Ebony pointed out that when the second grader gets a Chromebook,
theoretically that Chromebook at that point could be anywhere from 3 to 5 years old. I think we said so there was a discussion about whether or not we need to revisit exactly how and when
students are given Chromebooks and and um whe whether we we want to um think about whether we're doing it exactly the right way. I think we had
um just done some rough math and figured out that if instead of giving second graders used Chromebooks, we gave them new Chromebooks, it would be about $70,000 a year as a as a new expense. And then
we also talked about the various options where maybe you give a second grader a sort of scaled down Chromebook. So maybe it didn't cost you 70,000, it cost 40 to 50,000. And then maybe that meant you could give the
eighth graders a little bit of a better so that the bump is, you know, somewhere between 40 and 70. But this was just all conjecture and and discussion about whether or not this is something we want to look at. And I think it was decided
we wanted to ask for opinion here at the the committee as a whole. Uh and finally, Nick talked about the NJSLA exams which were given to 1,800 district students. Test had math, reading, and writing components. Nick
said we needed a completely new system to implement the test and things went relatively smoothly. The meeting adjourned at 4:56 p.m. >> Thank you, Mr. Fischer. Um, regarding the Chromebooks, uh, did do we want to
talk about that tonight? I feel like I don't have enough uh knowledge. >> Well, I I think you know we discussed it you know just as I said that you know it's um was I would I say sixth eighth and
then second graders get used and then Ebony had brought up whether or not that was what we wanted to do. >> Sure. Sure. So um Mr. Lasso presented um some preliminary thoughts around what we
could explore. Um he and his team will put together um some ideas and uh present them at the next technology committee meeting and maybe once um a formal presentation or a plan with some explorations is presented then we can
come back at a future board meeting to give the board more data so that you can um make a more informed decision. and I saw or felt um Mr. Slam's uh hair go up on the back of his head when he heard the figures. So um we
uh yeah, these are going to come at a cost and so we're going to have to factor, you know, in what can we do with the resources that we have. Um but the team is working on the fact that um yes by second grade the Chromebooks are four
to five years old and is there another way? I think you know it's a challenging year to bring up but you know what it every year is going to be challenging to bring up a new expense like that >> and you know to be honest four to five
years old is ancient when it comes to technology >> you know >> with that said Mr. Gaglaststro and Mr. Alaso are looking to see if there are any funds and if there are grants available, we will turn over every stone before we come to the board or the
budget with an expected expense. So, um we are working on that as well. >> I I feel like in the past we have managed to get grant money to cover this kind of thing. So, hopefully >> and if we're going to get grant money, I know we're holding on this, but if we're going to get that, I think we're going
to have to do it now. There are projections coming out that next year we can expect um some grants to be significantly cut, specifically title grants. So I think we're going to have to really just think about what can we apply for without dependency on title
grants because we are expecting reductions. >> Um so very preliminary information. We're just I've actually heard about this at my um PD the other day too. >> Yeah. and at the Supreme Court round table. >> Um but uh they're saying I think we
probably share it uh you know 10 to 20% cuts potentially in title funds. >> Um title one you know is probably the title that is um most stable like something that we if you're looking at it that's the one that's most likely I think that would be
funded. I think there's some more questions when it comes to title two and three and four um but we'll see as that information comes out. Uh, one of the difficulties there is we do use um, title one funds for some of our uh, Chromebook purchases.
>> So, okay. >> So, it'll be we know it's going to be a rough budget year, >> you know. >> Yeah. And don't title funds also pay for that wonderful program we all just heard about? >> Uh, CCLC separate funds. So, >> is that at risk as well then?
>> So, this year we almost didn't get uh the um those funds. It's a separate grant. um they were held for a while. I remember there was that time period where >> we kind of sent a letter out saying, "Hey, we're not sure if it's gonna run because we don't know if the funding is going to be available." It did finally, you know, get released and we had those
funds. I have not heard anything moving forward. >> Um but hopefully those funds will still be there because obviously, >> you know, we all know it was a great program, but it's great seeing the kids come out and and hearing, you know, firsthand about how great the program is. >> It's always concerning with grants because you never know when they're going to stop.
>> And also, we're in year five. Uh we're in year five of CCLC, so we're at the end of our grant. We would have to reapply if they extend them. Yeah, >> we would have to reapply. And I guess the wondering for us would be, are they going to give other districts an
opportunity or are we going to be able to extend into another cycle? So, I just want to temper that >> a little bit, unfortunately. >> Carrie, did you have a question? >> Yes. Are there um are the students and teachers expressing dissatisfaction with
the technology they have now like the used Chromebooks? Are they not working well as we need them to be? >> No, I think we have a very um strong uh Mr. Fischer feel free to jump in, but we have a strong uh program for fixing Chromebooks in house parts. We have a
team that you know functions to do that. uh what the expression was um from staff is that at our K1 uh level they are not allowed to bring Chromebooks home. They're young, right? Um and so there's no one onone one initiative at those
grade levels. So they're sharing. It would be great to be able to provide um more resources at that level, but then the um time um the year of the Chromebook for the second graders, if
it's a four to 5 year old uh unit, then it's probably getting fixed more and then we're straining on those resources on that end. uh that team is doing the best that they can, but if there was a way to find a grant, um that's probably where we would begin as it relates to
Chromebooks. >> Okay. >> Just a question. Can the Perkins grant be a tool or or a vehicle to get money if we can establish a program of instruction >> going forward or is that just on the high school level? >> Only high school,
>> but now we have it. >> Okay. Those are also federal funds. So, we have to see. >> No, I understand that, but I don't know if if it's a separate federal fund that's going to be cut as well. It probably is, but you know, just a thought. Just throwing it out there. >> Yeah, I don't think there's any knowing
until unfortunately we know in terms of what will be available. Um, there are other avenues, you know, we can look at in terms of how we purchase, you know, Chromebooks and things like that. Uh, yeah, exactly. We could look at leasing. Um, I just always I want to be realistic
with everyone in terms of, you know, we're going to talk about health benefits in a little bit, the increase of that. >> Um, you know, we're in a contract here. >> Um, I see, you know, that is all for Chromebook. I understand that's a valid >> a valid concern. Um, but I just I want to be realistic in terms of it's going
to be a hard budget and as always, we'll do the best that we can with the resources that we have. Um just to note the IT department has also mentioned that the care of our Chromebooks among by our students has been lacking and at times
um bordering on I don't know vandalism. So So anyone listening at home, please encourage your students to take better care of their Chromebooks since we may be stuck with them for some time to come. >> I think Nick said we we have a full-time staff member, right, whose whole job is
repairing Chromebooks. >> Yeah. and if it's accidents happen, but if to the extent that people can reduce the wear and tear, that would be helpful. >> Um, >> I was going to say it's great to have that program because that that does save the district a lot of money um in terms
of needing to get repair say if we had repairs out of house that would be much more expensive, but also you're able to make the Chromebooks, you know, work well longer, right? >> Do they still have the students doing the Chrome busters thing or is that happening? >> I'm not familiar with that program. I
don't know. No, take that. >> Yeah. Um, Miss Ross, did you have a Dr. Ross? >> Yeah, I'm questioning myself because it might be more it's sort of a curricular um than the technology, but I am just I'm thinking about what you're saying,
Ray, about like we have with the limited resources and it's what's the thing you say about it's a it's a it's our priorities, >> financial expression of >> our district's priorities. So I do just wonder about the age best practice around what age these little kids need
onetoone and how much screen time they're getting and >> um I think it's just something for us to keep in mind. Sometimes I wonder if the onetoone movement districts are pulling back a little at the young especially at the younger but
I think all the way through when we see you know eight plus hours of screen time for kids uh like school-aged kids and some of the costs and benefits of that and like I know as we do our curricular work some of they do spend some of their curricular is online and some is not and
that's something for us to be thinking about and then maybe we maybe we wouldn't need to prioritize like you know the this the laptops for the second graders perhaps or or something but I think this is where the technology overlaps with the curriculum. >> Yeah, I appreciate that nuance that was
brought up in the committee and we did discuss that as a um a considerable point of consideration. Um we do want our students still reading books, flipping through pages, smelling their books, right? Understanding how to hold them hold them up the right way. uh we
don't want them just looking at screens for instruction and then going to their laptop for instruction and then going to the device or the app right it's a lot so I think that's just an excellent point and and we did discuss that at length and it is a conversation of topic
um for us as we think about curriculum >> we're more and more relying on IARD is all through computer right >> and there's some research I think they're wondering about how like reading compreh comprehension as it relate uh compares on a screen to a book and
there's some question of that for kids too. So >> yeah just for point of reference I ready is 40 minutes per week >> depending upon their age or >> that's the that's what we're looking at as a marker or as a request uh that's
where the research would say is effective. So um Mr. Gagglastro has been very um pointed in communicating expectations around I ready to include please don't exceed that right we should have that 40 minutes per week but we don't want to see our students on there
for 90 minutes or 100 minutes that's too much we want them problem solving with their pencils writing working through their math um and that should be a tool a resource but not a primary um source of instruction. >> Thank you.
>> That's great. Uh, anyone else? Okay. Now, item 11, student students on report. >> All right, this one's exciting, guys. Are you ready?
>> Ready. Okay, so our fall sports have officially concluded with the exception of cheerleading and their ongoing competitions. They actually had one today. They left early from school. I saw it. Um, our field hockey team won states against Homeell 3 to zero, which
was very, very exciting for them. Um, our girls soccer team made it to the semifinals of HWS, which is the Hunter Warren uh, >> Warren County, and Sussex County. Um, I don't remember who it was, but someone
was talking about abbreviations, uh, and how they don't mean anything, but um, Yes. Yes. Probably. Um, so they went all the way to the semi-finals of HWS. Um, and unfortunately they did lose. Um, and
then they went all the way to the finals of states and unfortunately they, I believe, lost one to zero. Um, so with the upcoming of our winter sports, they had an interest meeting on
October 30th for all winter sports. Um, and practice has begun for two of them, I believe. Hockey and swim both have started. Um, with that, our first hockey game, I believe, is on December 6th. I think that's a Saturday, Saturday night at 8. So, if any of you guys are
interested, it is very, very fun to come and watch. It's a very interesting team to watch. So, highly recommend. Um, our student council is planning our 12 days of holiday fun and the winter prep rally is being planned. uh the theater
department, we closed our fall show with much success. I believe we sold around 450 to 500 tickets over the course of two days, which was very, very good. >> Do you know anybody who started it? >> Oh, you know, speaking of, there was
this really, you know, she wasn't that good. >> It was a wonderful play. >> Thank you. Um, we just had our auditions for the spring musical, The Hunchback of Notredam. Um, on Alert O. That was that was exciting.
>> Um, this past Tuesday, 11:18, we have we had callbacks today and the cast list comes out tomorrow and we have a read through on Monday. So, we will see how that goes. Our marching plan band placed second in the group 3A US bands New
Jersey state competition which is like nationals for band. Um and the group 3A is like how populated your school is. So it's how many people you have to pick from to be in this band. Um so group three means
you have uh a average amount of people. So, we've got like about 900 kids in our school. Um, in group 3 A just means that there's three different divisions of group three. So, in that
group 3A, there was probably around I want to say 60 or 75 bands that they were competing against and they placed second, >> which was very, very exciting. Um, our clubs,
they had the unified club had a costume a costume contest for Halloween um during lunch which was very very good. Um, mock trial is competing or yeah, they're competing in February. So, they're prepping for that right now.
Um, Key Club is planning a Thanksgiving basket, uh, gift basket making for families in need. And they just recently had a field trip this past Sunday, which I believe included a rally and training for uh, Key Club mentors. So, including
the president and the vice president, they all met together uh, down in whatever Six Flags is in South Jersey. And >> Jackson, >> yes, that's the one. um
>> one of them uh >> they all met down there and they had a seemed to have a very good time. Um we had our math league competition again. Um DECA has their new applicants in. Speaking of DECA, we they are involved
in something that will also come up later, but they are involved in a Keith Hawkins assembly. I don't know if any of you if that's been brought up before. Um, but it is a day of understanding for our freshmen. So, I went through it, the juniors went through it, the sophomores
went through it. Um, but the DECA members and upper classmen get to be mentors for these freshmen. So, I'll get to talking about that later because this happened today. Um, so our team mental health, mental health
first aid had their first meeting on uh 10:29, which was a survey that went out um I believe it was probably earlier in that week, they sent out a survey to us. We had to fill it out and it was um
at a mental health survey. Um, and with that, it was anonymous, but they pulled the kids uh, student IDs, um, and set them up and said, "Do you want to go to like a it's kind of like a group therapy thing, so they set them up, um, with a group therapy that went on, uh, 10:29."
Our winter SAT team, their interest forms went out. So, that will be held by Mr. Lugitus, I believe, this year. um performing arts. So, we had a successful county band and uh choir concerts for both the middle school and high school.
Um our choir council election results came out. So that's uh Jake Remington as president, Liam Kelter as vice president, uh Dominic Pek as secretary and treasurer, Cassandra Cruz as uh le uh librarian, Juliet Jalber as
historian, uh Sail Nine as uh concert choir representative and Thomas Kimble as Meister singer representative. Our honor societies, the I am missing a page. Hang on.
What's happening? Okay. Stapled it wrong. Um, the thespian Honor Society had a successful craft fair on set on um November 9th. Uh, we raised, I believe,
$450 in profit from, uh, hosting a kitchen for the craft fair at Madonna Hall. Our next fundraiser is going to be a Santa breakfast on the December 6th as well at Madonna Hall. Um there's also a Santa breakfast for the softball team if
anyone's interested. It's at the high school. It's about a lot closer than where's ours is. >> Um the when date do you have the date for that? >> Also December 6th. >> Okay. >> Um the National Honor Society. So our
acceptances went out to a total of 26 applicants. Um, induction was held on 11:12, which I am happy to say that I loved your speech, Mr. Mendes. Um, I also had to tell everyone how to pronounce your name before you came. Okay. >> So, that way they didn't get it wrong. >> Thank you.
>> You're welcome. >> They we hosted a blood drive with HOSA um on 11:14. So, that was that Friday. We recorded a total of 90 donations, which uh in total will help 270 people if they need a blood transfusion. Um,
and we are planning the annual making of holiday baskets for first responders soon. Um, the math honor society, they had their math competition. Our honor society uh had a successful first annual cornhole competition um at 11:15.
For some reason, no one knows who won first place, and I do not know who won first place, but I know Mr. Dubsek and Mr. Blaval won second place. So, um, we had a fundraiser for the senior class
at tomato garden, which was very successful as I know. We also have one November 22nd at Chipotle for the senior class in Newton. If anyone likes Chipotle. Um, the junior class, their student of the month was Reagan Miley. The senior class, our student of the
month was John Florio. As far as colleges go, we've got a couple upcoming visits. So, we had Lincoln Tech uh November 5th. They gave a whole presentation on their technical school and what would be the best pathway for students.
Um there was an NGIT there was an NJIT visit uh 11:17. Um there was a Moravian visit or there is a Moravian visit tomorrow. There's a SCAD visit which is the Savannah College of Art and Design. There is a Temple
University visit on December 4th. I have to go back cuz I stapled this wrong. There's a Railo instant decision day on December 9th, which is instant decision is like automatic admissions. Like you go into an interview and they say yes,
we want you in our in our program. Uh so that's very exciting. Um, as far as colleges go, we also had a FASA walkthrough for uh night for parents and students on 11:13. Um, we have a Common App cafe. So,
Common App is our application service that we have to apply through college to. Um, for any seniors struggling to applying to college, it's now open. So, it's uh during lunch, I believe, every A and B day. So, it's the whole lunch. You get coffee and you get tea, you get
snacks, and you figure out how to apply to college. is very excited. Um, our Cosmo Salon, so for the ladies, if you are looking to get your hair done, um, is now open on Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:30. Um, for our senior cosmetology
students to have clients and build portfol portfolio. Um, along with that, our senior cosmetology students also had their board test, believe yesterday and today. Um, and as far as I know, everyone who went yesterday, their
results are that they passed with exceeding uh success, which is very, very exciting because it's a hard test. >> Um, our student athlete of the month in the Vernon Living magazine was Juliet Miller. Uh,
>> for tennis. For tennis and swim. >> Oh. >> Um, which I did not realize, but I read it today because it came in the mail. Um, if you have not gotten a chance to read it, I would highly suggest because she is an amazing person. Um, and she's like so so sweet. She is the kindest
person you would ever expect. Um, she is eighth. I believe it's eighth. So, they're second I think it's second in the state for the 200 free in swim, which is I don't really know swim terms.
Um, phenomenal. I think it's Yeah, it's very good. It's very good. >> And I think it's I think she's 10th in the country for 200 free. >> Wow. >> Which is incredible. So, if you have not gotten a chance to read it, I would highly suggest I think she's on page 14. >> Okay.
>> Um, our sophomore student of the month was Grace Cresenza. Our freshman student of the month was Isabella Elder. Um, we had a Ryan Story assembly which was for the 9th and 10th graders. So, it's
an anti-bullying assembly um that talks about a parent who lost his child to suicide due to bullying. He came in when I was in eighth grade, I think, and shared his story and it was very moving. It was
very emotional. Um, so he came in uh I believe on November 10th and he talked to our nth and tth graders um to try to motivate them to uh raise awareness for it.
We also had our Keith Hawkins assembly which I mentioned earlier um today. So we had a training last night from 5:30 to 8:30 with Keith Hawkins. He is a very very motivational guy. If you have never seen him before, look him up on social
media, look him up on YouTube, whatever it is. He is incredible. Um so mentors were chosen in pairs of two. So um me and my best friend were chosen as mentors. Um so we got to be a part of
this training and this assembly that was today. And it was incredible to watch such a um ah such a class of freshmen that
the entire school, some staff included, that were like, "These kids just need to be led." And sitting in the assembly today, I truly believe that they were moved by it. And I'm extremely proud to
say that I helped with that. And it's it's an incredible program. So when you get home, you look up Keith Hawkins on Instagram or YouTube and he's an amazing person. I cannot stress that enough. So that is all I have. >> Thank you so much, Kalista. You're
welcome. >> I just love your reports. You know, all that detail about what's going on in our buildings. It's really great to share it with us because we don't get to see it firsthand. Um, okay. So, now we're up to item 12, public comment. Um,
to read this nice little thing, shrimp. >> During the course of the hug meeting of the Bernard Board of Education, the public is offered the opportunity to address the board on agenda items and any issues regarding the school district. The board reminds individuals who take this opportunity, they must identify themselves by name and section of town and limit their comments to
agenda items and are issues that directly relate to operations of the school district. Issues that are raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board or administration at the time meeting or at any time. All comments be considered and response be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board requests that
members of the public keep their comments to limited 5 minutes. Be courteous, respectful, and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board of education should be thoroughly considered by the speaker. May or may or may not be responded to by the board or administration. beautifies that students
and employees have rights of confidentiality and other protections under the law. Student name should never be used. Excuse me. The board bears no responsibility nor will be liable for any comments made by the public during the public portion of a board meeting. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights
those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible and potentially li uh with potential liability for the comments that they want make to the board. >> Thank you, Mr. slam. Do we have any members of the public who want to make a
comment in person or online? No. Okay, we're sure. Okay, seeing none, um we will move on to superintendent report. >> Oh, good evening. Uh so before I start my report, I too uh Kalista admire, right? So you spoke about Mr. Hawkins,
but you two are phenomenal. Um we see her here. I went to the play rumors and I said, "Oh, there's Kalista." And then I walked into the honors uh and look at the handout, right, with all of the names. Oh, there's Kalista. And then
they call the people up to sing and she's singing. I say, "Oh, she sings, too." Uh so, you know, just congratulations on everything that you're doing. Uh you really are embodying student leadership and and we appreciate that. Thank you. Um, and then just while we're in thank you mode, um,
just to Mr. Slam, I know today we heard our auditor um, really articulate where we are with our budget. Uh, it is not common uh, that we have no recommendations. It's just not common, right? uh districts. Uh we are um certainly uh blessed to have you here
and for the stewardship that you are um demonstrating and making sure that the monies that our community members are really expending and trusting the district and the board with uh with their taxes that we're expending them well and efficiently. So, we appreciate
that leadership. Thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Again, just a shout out to the business office team, too. just I know they're not here tonight, but we wouldn't be in a good place we are without them. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Um so, uh
someformational items. We're pleased to announce the district artists of the month for November. Our um Rolling Hills students artwork is being displayed at the board office. It is beautiful. So, if you haven't stopped by to see it, please do. Uh you do have the enrollment report that's attachment S1 and our
harassment, intimidation and bullying report for October 25th is also um here as attachment S2. And then uh congratulations to Michelle Riley McKon. She is uh on the board agenda tonight for her tenure date on November 19th. Uh
she serves as a teacher at Glen Meadow uh serving our LLD students. And so, as we say, we are now married. Um, then there's a heartfelt thank you to our Vernon community. Um, November was a month that reminded us certainly
of the strength and compassion that defines our Vernon community. We know that so many of our families really experienced disruption in their support services, uh, food insecurity, and our community, once again, our community, I
am now Vernon. Woo. Um, but our community stepped up in true Vernon fashion. Resources were shared across our schools and neighborhoods. Families in need, received donations. Our seas facilitated food drives. Our local food
pantries partnered with us. Restaurants generously provided free meals to our community members. Just kudos to all of them, to tracks, and everybody else who said, um, where there's a need, we're here and we're meeting that and filling the gap. Um, so, u, thank you. Thank you
to everybody, um, in our community who really, uh, was selfless and, uh, thought about someone beyond themselves and spread, um, from what they had to make sure that someone else in need, um, did not go without. Um, that spirit of
giving is continuing. We leave next week for Thanksgiving. um and we are going to uh really um get time to spend with our families but that uh charity is still moving forward. Uh our community is
continuing our schools are continuing to make sure that we have our families that are identified as in need. Uh we've collected lists, families have uh reached out um this is our need and so our schools are still collecting.
they're um pulling together turkeys and you know um boxes and um partnering with the weekend bag program um so that they can receive um goods prior to Thanksgiving and after. So there's also teams of schools who are uh going to do
that. Um Lounsberry, Rolling Hills, Cedar Mountain, they're all um they've taken the weekend bag program list, they've split it up so that we don't have multiply donations. So, one is taking all of the um you know the
toothbrushes and those hygienic products and another has taken a different part of the list. All of those uh donations will be collected and then our Lounsberry students and our Glen Meadow students are going to pack the bags themselves. So, they get an opportunity to really feel and engage what it means
to um serve our community um and and what um just giving looks like at that young age. So, I think that's fantastic. So, as we prepare to close next week for the holiday break, uh we do so with full hearts. Uh and in this season of
reflection, uh we certainly want to take a moment to say thank you to our community, to our board of education. Uh you volunteer your time and you volunteer your leadership and we appreciate you. Uh to our staff, they pour out their time and energy and care every day for our students. We say thank
you to our families for trusting us with their children and with their future. Uh thank you to our school and district leaders for guiding us with purpose and direction. Uh to those who show up quietly and consistently. Um um and to
our students who show up um for theirelves and that's powerful, right? When a student can show up for themselves and advocate for their own benefit u for their resilience, creativity, and heart. We wish all of our Vernon families a joyful, peaceful, and safe Thanksgiving. Um we are truly
better together. Uh on the celebrations uh this uh past week we celebrated our governor educated of the year award, our educational services professional of the year award. Uh so as we are grateful for everything that's happening in our community, we're
so grateful for these teachers who are not only demonstrating and exemplifying excellence, God bless you, um but that they were selected by their own peers, right, and by our parents to receive the award. So uh today I will just mention the honores from Walnut Ridge, Cedar
Mountain, Rolling Hills, Lounsbury, and Glenn Meadow because the high school is still announcing. They'll announce on Monday. So for Walnut Ridge, our governor's educator of the year went to Angela Dixon. For our educational services professional, it was Leslie Lombardi. At Cedar Mountain, the
governor award went to Christina Magnan and the ESP went to Christina Crops. Rolling Hills. The governor's award went to Jquel and Fiser. And the ESP went to Barbara Shell, Lounsbury Hollow, Lauren Elmo, and John Getat, Glenn Meadow, Amy
Systo, and Jessica Rastami. Uh, as I said before, VTHs is to be announced, and it was just beautiful to visit um the celebrations in the schools. uh the prior winners, some of them gave speeches to the new winners and there
was cake and there was festivities and their families came and surprised them. It was beautiful to see the spouses and the little ones, the children come and just jump in their parents' arms, right? And congratulate alongside. So congratulations to all of our honores.
YEAH. And so you heard us um start our initial conversation around strategic plan. So for those of our parents and families who are watching online um and for those who are going to watch the video later, please come and join the conversation.
We are going to uh launch our strategic plan in the upcoming month. As uh Miss Pellet said earlier, we will uh establish that new date um and we will communicate that as soon as possible.
Um, our community values collaboration, transparency, shared purpose, and we believe the best decisions are made when we listen first. And as we launch the development of the new strategic plan uh to our families and community members, your voice is essential. Uh, this plan
will shape the goals and direction of our district over the next several years. It is a plan that needs to outlast us. As we've discussed, right, it's a five-year plan. It won't start until September. And so then this governance structure might here right here might change. Um but that plan will
still be here and it needs to serve our students and families well. So we need to hear um from our families. We need to hear from our staff, our students and our community partners about what matters most. Uh what is your interest? So from curriculum and instruction to student well-being and support systems,
growth and opportunity, communication and community partnership, whether it's facilities and finance um or additional ideas and f um feedback. We're inviting our families and community members to join these meetings. There will be three. Um they are posted. The only one
that's changing is the first one. Uh but we need our families to come out, our community to bring a friend and be a part of shaping the future of the Vernon Township public schools. Better together, right? Next, our inclement weather and
emergency closing guide. Oh my goodness. While we're busy planning for the future of our schools, uh through our strategic plan, we're also prepping for the kind of strategic planning that comes with the winter weather in Vernon. Uh everybody knows I love the four-letter
word snow. And so we want to be prepared, uh communicative. We want to focus on student safety. Um, and so as we approach the winter season, we want to remind our families that our inclement weather and emergency closing
guide is now posted on our district website. It outlines how weather related decisions are made in our public schools, how our families will be notified in the event of a delay, early dismissal, or school closure. Um, it was shared with our entire district, which
we have more than 3,000 stu um more than 7,000. There were 7,000 families that it was shared to. 580 read it on um November I think 18th. We need more families to read the guide. So, you know, uh so please visit our website.
There are notification meth methods, decision timing. We will notify our parents by 5:30 a.m. Um if we're going to close or a delay, we will notify our parents by 10:30 a.m. for early dismissals. Uh as you know, student safety is our top priority. And also
we're communicating that we need to make decisions based on the safety of our whole community. So wherever there is the need if it's in our upper elevated areas like Highland Lakes, that will determine the delays and the closures for the entire district. And while we
understand that that might feel frustrating to say, well, we're down here and we see nothing. Why are we delaying or closing? uh wherever there is a potential for a safety concern, that means that it applies to the whole district. So that's how that decision will be made. Um so thank you in advance
for the flexibility to our parents. Um safety first. School happenings. I think Kalista did all of the high school, so I will do elementary. Walnut Ridge construction has begun on that new preschool playground. We see those trucks behind our windows
all day, but it looks beautiful all day long. >> Background to our meetings. >> Yeah. Right. All right. But they're going up, so we're excited. The little kiddos are going to have some place to play. Uh Cedar Mountain grandparents.
Someone's special visitation days begin November 21st. Students are so excited to show off their school classrooms. Teachers and friends to their grandparents. Woohoo. We're excited too, right? Rolling Hill students had the opportunity to purchase books at the annual book fair. Uh family night took
place. The SCA sponsored a paint with me event for the students and parents. It was beautiful. Uh Lounsbury Hollow students invited family members who are veterans to attend the annual Veterans Day celebration on November 11th. Wow, that was so moving. It was beautiful. So, our veterans were there. um the
children uh were called up to say something about their mom, dad, grandparent, whoever it was that they were celebrating and then they had breakfast together. So, it was really nice. Lounsbury did a great job. Um Glenn Meadow talked about the Treps
Marketplace that was a huge accomplishment for our students. Um and we heard all about our high school and our athletics teams. Um, we had an ESL family night on October 30th at Glen Meadow. We had so many families out and
there were a lot of activities and games and just some family bonding time. So, it was really nice to see uh our families come together with similar linguistic and cultural backgrounds to celebrate and socialize. And then lastly, our weekend bag program is up
and running. It is so nice to see um that um these two young ladies started this um program where they would collect donations, do shopping, provide bags to um students that are in need. So our
students get their bags on what days? Fridays, maybe sometimes Wednesdays. >> It depends a little bit on the building and also um the size of the bag and the size of the student. Yeah. Yeah. So, for our preschool students, they have to break them up
over a couple of days because they can't get it all in their back. But that just means abundance, right? Abundance of food and provision to families who are in need. So, we love it. We're serving 110 students right now. >> Yeah. And um one of the great things that was mentioned earlier is u a lot of
the bu the buildings are really coming together to help collect for this program. Um, and the hope is that if we can continue to, you know, support with donations that will hopefully be able to expand um, that number from 110 because we do have a couple of students that are on a wait list right now. So, yeah,
>> that's something we want to keep thinking about as we move forward with the program. >> Where does that info go out like uh, you know, where they're collecting what what schools are collecting which items. >> So, there is a list that the weekend bag program provided us. Uh, we shared that
with each of our school leaders. Okay. >> And so then that's how they took the list and kind of split it up amongst them for the collections. Um we can share that. Do we have it posted anywhere? >> Um I'll double check. I would think that >> I'll confirm, but I would think that they probably will be sending it out on
their weekly um >> Okay. >> newsletter, right? But uh if it's not, then we'll ask them to do that. >> Yeah, I would love to. I I really could be missing it. >> And I think we could also post it on the website, too. >> We can certainly post it on the website. Um, I would suggest if you want to get
more students because you said you have a wait list right now, correct? >> Yes. So, the weekend bag program um actually serves a number of local school districts, right? And we're um so they have a limited number of students like per school that they can accommodate, but yeah, absolutely. There's some students in a wait list right now.
>> Um I would suggest reaching out to Miss Romeo who is the uh executive of Key Club in the high school. Um the amount of food that she raised last year just for the Thanksgiving baskets was incredible. Um and that's what they're working on right now. I'm sure she would
be happy to help you guys out. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. That's awesome. >> Yeah, that is great. Um and just a point of communication. Uh you've received the superintendent's report. Um and everywhere you see an asterisk on any of
these announcement, that means that it ties directly to a district goal. Uh so this is a way of also just communicating out how we are um progress monitoring our own progress toward our goals. So whether it's communication, strategic plan um or um really just thinking about
how we're uh rallying around our families um for support and our students. Um please just note those. Okay. And that concludes superintendent report. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That's great. >> Okay. Item 14, reports, discussions, and
recommendations. We're going to start off with a board committee report from Mr. Smagley on governance and policy. Sure. So, the um policy governance and policy committee um you name u I have to
we met on um 11:13 at about 5:30. We always do it uh over at Google Meets. Um, in attendance with myself, Miss M de Men D Menddees. >> Kalista has to teach you how to pronounce my name. Mendes.
>> Thank you. >> Mr. Krauss, Dr. Ross. Um, and um, we went over Brian, you weren't you weren't there, right? I wasn't. Okay. I I was like, did I forgot to write your name down? But okay. Um, we
went over um an interesting topic. We we had some uh um some new policies coming up for review and uh we spent the majority of time and the one policy kind of led into other discussions and and we're going on
so to be continued. We will be you'll be seeing some nice um some changes. Um but we did try to bang out a couple of other policies out of there so we didn't go. You can't just move on to >> you have to say what it was about. >> It's still in discussion. So,
>> it's like to peique your interest to get >> coming soon. >> Yeah. Coming soon. >> I have noticed nobody's reading my notes. So, >> so I figured >> all right. >> Well, we we we um there's a couple policies up for review. Uh tonight,
second reading. Um we we we again agree with what's on the second reading. So basically to sum it up, uh don't share suntan lotion and no miniature horses. Move on from that. Um the ones up for
for the policy first reading this time are actually it's one policy that we had 2415.50. Um it used to be labeled um Vernon High School and the Glenn Meadow Middle School. Um now it's relabeled. That's
going to just be for Vernon High School. This is this is in um has to do with title one and uh students and the family engagement. So this is uh I guess title one would be federally right. So this is federally mandated stuff. Um now it's
broken up for each school. So we have 51 to 55 and it's each school is is there. So combined took took one separate took one and made it into six. Um we also have a 7101
which is educational um equality for capital projects equity for capital projects and um we the the um business uh office gave their blessing and we look we're we're going
with with the recommendations. Um, we had two that were being removed. Uh, 70 74 10 and 9100. 7410, which seems like we should have, right? Um, it's actually not for us.
It's for a district that has two or less schools. Um, this is recommendation from Strauss Esme that we're we actually have another policy 7410.1 or is it Yeah..1 that is for us. So, it's still being covered there. Uh 9100
is also a redundant policy. It's now covered in um 90 9120. So, we're removing that. They're no longer no longer needed. Um we also talked about um uh so since we
are governance now, we'll expand we expanded our uh >> scope. >> Scope. Yep. And uh and we we looked at um we're looking at the HIB. So I was just just not I'm sorry not Hib Oprah and uh we looked at Oprah and uh we're
at we had four Oprah's request for OC for November uh October at six hours. Um the cost we we did have a cost for for the lawyer u but it's a down about third a third of uh about a third of the cost from the
previous month. So moving in in the right direction with the trying to keep the cost down and everyone's working hard, but as you see the I guess it's like that's almost two hours over requests it's taken us. So um but it's been handled. The good thing is is
everything was closed on time and and they're being handled uh appropriately. Um the other thing that since it's also governance we I'm just going to should I mention it now or >> you can >> okay you'll see it as letter as number
four we're just we're we're closing um dissolving uh three uh committees the cell cell phone air ad hoc the chronic abstent ad hoc and the special services which is going to be combined
into their uh curriculum committee. Yeah, very important. We're not dissolving it. We're >> adding it to a different committee, >> morphing it, >> and um and that's all I have. Any questions?
>> Questions? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Smeagglia. Um item B. So, do we Oh, do we vote on Yeah, I do this. Okay. Uh, can I get a motion to approve items 14 B1 through B4? >> Moved.
>> Thank you, Carl. What am I going to do when you leave? >> Second. >> Second. >> Um, thank you. Uh, does anybody have any questions or comments on the policies governance items? >> I do.
>> The uh chronic absentee absenteeism ad hoc committee. Did we get a final report and how did we do >> in yeah you know we uh we were looking pretty good I can tell you at by the end of last year but we didn't get that final final report. I think we did ask
about numbers and um we should follow up on that we can probably follow up on that through the curriculum committee because that is you know sort of under that opus >> and then the uh cell phone thing I guess the state is going to be taking over that. Yeah, I did wonder, you know, are
we pursuing any of that grant money because now they're giving grants to districts for doing this thing that we have a nice plan for. Can we apply for >> that was for a specific use? >> Yeah. Um, since we were kind of ahead of the game on this, uh, this grant, these grant funds were essentially for kind of
like storage boxes for phones and things like that we had already purchased. >> Yeah. Unfortunately. >> Okay. And lastly, I think I think the special services committee should stay separate. I understand what you're doing, but I think it's very important
that a large portion of our budget is for special services. And just phil philosophically, I think it should be kept separate and kept as a priority in our district. That's just my opinion. >> Well, we definitely intend to keep uh it
as a priority. It's just the way that we're structuring as you know. I mean, it was kind of actually your original proposal to uh to kind of become a board of committees and then as we became a board of committees, we felt the need to recast our committees. But >> it wasn't mine. It was just the group at
the time. I was there just the president at the time. It wasn't my decision or my >> No, it wasn't your decision. No, I'm just saying I I recall you you were one of the uh first people to bring up the idea of becoming a board of committees and then yes, we all took it in >> and the curriculum committees got a lot
on their plate. >> That's my opinion. >> Okay. Well, thank you for sharing that opinion. Um and we, you know, it's always something we can revisit. If it does not work, we can always add back a committee. It's not set in stone forever
more. Um, any other questions or comments. Okay. Um, can we get a roll call? >> Mr. Krauss? >> Yes. >> Miss Pallet? >> Yes.
>> Dr. Ross? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sweeney? >> A yes on one, two, and three. No on number four. >> Thank you. Uh, Mr. Mclo. Yeah, >> Mr. Smeaggley. >> Yes, >> Mr. Cantina. >> Yes, >> Mr. Fischer. >> I
>> motion carries. >> Personel. >> Sure. So, upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, we have uh the approval or we're seeking the approval of the board. um the following items. C personnel resignations, retirements, terminations for
non-certificated staff. Uh B is to deactivate the following substitute. Uh two for appointments. A certificated staff appointments. B non-certificated staff appointments. C substitute appointments at the appropriate sub
substitute rates for the 2526 school year. Three, compensation adjustments. Letter A, hourly stipent adjustments. Letter B, certificated staff sixth period teaching assignments assignments. Letter C, staff start date adjustments.
Uh, four, leaves of absence. A, leaves of absence for certificated staff. B is the leaves of absence for non-certificated staff. Uh, five, transfers. Letter A is the transfers of certificated staff. B, location change
of certificated staff. Number six is the submission of the 2627 school year preschool projected enrollment report. And number seven is the submission of the 2627 school year preschool operational plan.
Thank you. Um can I get a motion for items uh 14 C1 through C7? Somebody other than Come on, you can do it. >> Second. >> Second, >> Charlie. Thank you. questions or comments?
Anybody have any >> questions about these? No. Okay. Do we get a roll call? >> Miss Pellet? >> Yes. >> Dr. Ross. >> Mr. Sweeney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Aello? >> Yes.
>> Mr. Smaglia? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cino? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer? I >> Mr. Krauss? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Item D, curriculum and instruction. Oh,
actually uh that's me. Okay. Uh the curriculum and instruction committee uh held a meeting on November 12th. Um in attendance were Ebony De Mendez, Vinnie Gagglastro, Dr. His Shep, Dr. Carolyn Ross, myself, Charlie
Smeagglia, and John Krauss. Um, in continuing business, we uh got an update on the early tier support curriculum coherence plan. Um, we talked about the need for a multi-tered system of support for students and the need to reduce the disruption of curriculum changes as
students transition to a new building. Um, and we heard a little bit about the need for interventionists and an ELA supervisor in the future and discussed um that there are financial barriers there. Uh we also discussed the special needs audit. The committee received an
update that the audit is underway and January is the target date for report uh for an initial report. Um for new business, we talked about the state evaluation pilot. Uh our district leaders have been participating in a working group led by the state to update
and improve teacher evaluation programs, including revisions to the structure of student growth objectives, which are academic goals for students. Our district team's been working on this that was working on this was recently commended by the state on their proposals for revisions and models and it's exciting to hear how our districts
helping to shape the future of these uh evaluation programs. Um and they'll be following up on this after uh at the next meeting. Um we also talked about the grade policy. We revisited the new Greek grade the new grade waiting system
um to hear a little bit more detail about the delineation between major and minor grades and the need for um and discuss the need for a minimum number of major grades to be given in each marking period and then how the system is being monitored and adjusted to ensure efficacy. Um we'll be following up on
that throughout the year looking at alignment between grades and other benchmarks. Um the next meeting date is December 9 and from now on Dr. Russ will chair the curriculum committee. >> Woohoo. Thank you for stepping up. Looking forward to your leadership
there. >> All right. Um so um we move now to uh curriculum instruction items. Uh D2 is travel attachment C1. Number three is
the 202526 student teacher assignments. Number four is the administrative agreement between Sussex County Community College and the Vernon Township District School District for the fall 25 spring 26 academic year
for the concurrent enrollment program. It is attachment C2. Number five is a field trip destination for the 2526 school year. Number six is the Center for Children Behavioral Health for Home Instruction Services for the 2526
school year at the rate of $99 an hour per student. Number seven is the Rutgers instructional coaching agreement for excuse me agreement for 20 days in the amount of $1,500 per day. This is pending the placement of an acceptable coach and would be funded through title
2A. >> Thank you. And can I get a motion for items 14 D2 through D7? >> So moved. Second. >> Thank you, Stephanie and Carrie. Um, questions or comments?
>> Okay, Jim. >> Okay. I'm sorry, Dr. Mendez, can you ex expand on the number six, the recommendation for the uh CCBH? >> Yes. So this is um we have uh students who are required to receive home
instruction under our special educational services. Uh we contract with private providers in order to provide those services. And so then this is that contract. >> This is not uh bedside instruction. >> This is bedside instruction.
>> Do our current staff also provide bedside instruction for CL? >> Um this is specifically for special education services. Yes, they do on for specific students. This one is just for special education services through um
child behavioral health. >> So, do we our current employees provide instruction but not during the day because they're in in class, but they do it after school, right? >> Yes. >> Do they get that kind of money for per hour?
>> I would have to find out how much they get paid for our staff. Yeah, I don't think it's that much. >> I'll find out. >> Way less. >> Okay. >> And maybe if we had more, if we paid more in that
area, we might not need I'm just, you know, thinking out loud. Trying to save a buck for Mrs. Slam. >> Got it. >> I'll look into that and I can get back to you. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, >> John. I I love that we have these articulation
agreements with with other schools, universities, and colleges. Could you expand on that before? How many of our students actually utilize that? Do you know offhand how many people are taking college classes? >> I can ask Mr. Gaglaststro to give us an update. Yes. Would you kindly?
>> I don't go crazy. just I mean >> I'd have to look at our updated numbers but usually during one of the curriculum committee meetings during the year we we go through and we share exactly what
>> normally around January because >> the semester's full oddly with concurrent courses. So some of the students even though they've been taking things since the beginning of our school year they're technically in a spring community college course. >> Yeah. You have to register your kids for
each semester of the college. Even though they're taking economics all year, it's economics one in fall, >> but it's a popular thing that a lot of our students take part in. Do they have to pay the tuition? >> Yes, they do. >> Okay. >> But it's reduced, right? >> It's reduced. Yeah. >> Yes, it's significantly less.
>> It's a Yeah, it's it's a great program. And >> Oh, I agree. I might. the kids, just for anybody who doesn't know, they get Yeah. they get college credits or uh or credits toward a a C certification and um it saves our families a lot of money. Uh saving me a whole semester.
>> Just quickly, do we have I'm sorry. No, you're good. >> Do we have any other articulation agreements with other colleges or or justice community? >> We do, right? or we used to see Paul. >> Yeah, we we had a few with uh some other universities, but uh you know as we go through we have seen Paul right now as
well. Okay. >> Um but a lot of ours we offer the same things through Sussex that they were offering these other universities. Um Ruckers we have all health through where students can get credits. The thing is, you know, as Mel can tell you, when
students are getting credit for certain things through universities and then they graduate and they want to go to another university, depending on where they go, what they're majoring in, um >> whether they accept the credits or not, right? >> Yeah. Are are up in the air. Yeah. So,
um usually the community college they'll count as general credits at least, if nothing else, right? So >> yeah, they do seem to like those community ones, but um yeah, but sometimes the other schools aren't on their transfer matrix, so you might not get credit and they tend to be more expensive the tuition that you pay. Like
the community college is the least expensive uh concurrent program that we have, I think. Right. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. No problem. >> Okay. Any more Carl? >> So I see instructional coaching through Rutgers for 20 days of the amount of
$1,500 per day. It's obviously funded by title 2A, so it's not something we pay for, but I'm just curious, what is is that like professional development for teachers? Is that coaching in classrooms that, you know, the teacher would benefit from? >> Yes, absolutely. Um, so we are entering
into a plan development for uh curriculum coherence. We are evaluating our curriculum um grades K through 8. Um, and in doing so, uh, we don't currently have someone who oversees ELA and who can provide, um, direct
instruction and direct support to that area. So, we're partnering with Ruckers, um, while we're doing that coherence work. What will that look like? They will help us with that curriculum. They will push into classrooms and coach teachers, and they can also coach our coaches and build capacity in them. U,,
we do have up to 20 days with them. And so then we can use them in a variety of ways, whether it's to directly support that curriculum or the instruction or those tier one interventions that we need in the classroom to also support our work with multi-tiered instructional
supports that we heard about earlier. >> But they can't observe people. >> No, not at all. >> Okay. >> This is professional development, building capacity, and running alongside us in an area that we have a gap. >> Thank you. That's awesome. >> I just had a question. The piggy back of
Mr. Krauss. Um, Mr. Ali Astro, the concurrent credit with kids going to Sussex Community, right? Does that also account for the kids that are paying um the tuition for the classes if they're taking an AP course for concurrent
credit? >> So, it's separate. >> It's separate. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, if you are an AP course and it also happens to be a concurrent course, um, you could still take the AP test. Uh and right
>> you know depending on how you score you may get credit that but normally if you pay for concurrent course um you can't double dip can't get credit twice. >> Okay that's that was my question. Okay >> great question.
>> Okay Brian >> I just wanted to uh follow up on Mr. Sweeny's question on item six. How many hours are we talking about? um this is for a specific student and so then it will be the plan that is developed for
that specific student while they are on home instruction. We can look into ours. >> Uh yeah, I was going to say it's a very specific situation and this is a stop gap uh until the long-term solution is um figured out and approved.
We can't go too far into the we're providing education to the student while >> we don't have a ballpark on the number of hours 20 100 200 >> I believe it's up to 10 a week um but it'll be for the it'll be for the
duration >> for the rest of the school year >> it will most likely not be for the rest of the school year um because they're I can't really talk too much about it because it's student but >> so it's I guess it's a stop. It's a stop contract.
>> But is this budgeted for already? >> Uh yes, we budget for home instruction. Um yes. >> So why do we need to approve it now? >> Uh because it's a contract for a
services to a specific student. So we're approving the contract. like they have like we have a bucket of money that we budget for that and now this is the specific use of that money. Is that what you're saying? >> So it's budgeted based off of kind of historic norms because it's very hard to
estimate in a given year what students might need these services >> a line item in the budget we approved. >> Yes. >> Like an estimate. >> Yeah. for these types of services but not specifically for the student because at the time we wouldn't have known that
these services be required right because it's a very >> um when the services are required generally it's a something that happens at that time and we do have funds budgeted for but not per student because hard to estimate so we offer historic norms
>> I just agree with with Mr. to Sweeny's point that you know if these resources could be spent on our own teachers, you know, A, you might be saving some money, right?
B, if you increase the rate over what our teachers get hourly, it's an inducement and C, it's >> keeping it home. >> There's a geographic reason for this particular instance where Yeah. See?
Okay. Y >> and I just I want to go back to your question about the concurrent credits just I don't know just out of personal experience um if you take if you do if you do both if you do uh if you pay for the credits for some if your if your
class is both an you know a class that you can take an AP in or you can do concurrent credits you and you know where you're going to go to college you might want to check in advance because different schools like some schools will take the the the the community college
credits, but they their AP credit policy might be really high or they you know what I mean? So like you might want to make your choice based on which school you're going to and if you don't know where you're going, you might want to pay for both because some of them will take you know. >> Well, right, that was my point. So, we were accounting for the students. That's
why I was asking is because if we're accounting only for people that are taking the community courses, which I'm sure is a lot less than the kids that are taking AP courses and possibly passing those or paying for the concurrent credits. That was that was >> yeah,
>> it also um what I've learned is depending on your major, so like if you're a science major and you took AP bio, they will not take your credits. >> It depends on the school. >> It's Yeah. And it's the it's the core classes that come with your major. It's if you are an English major, they
probably will not take your AP lang. >> But it's very it's very school specific because I, you know, my kids applied to a bunch of schools and there were schools that took my son's environmental science major. >> The school he's in accepted his environmental science AP credits. And
and meanwhile, my other kid, >> it was a little harder. >> So, yeah. So, it really depends. And that's why it's really if you know which school you're going to, you can pre-check it. You can look and see what are they what is their policy on, you know, AP classes in your major and what is their policy on AP class scores cuz
some of them want a three, some of them want a four. So it's good if you can pre-check because then you know what your parents should pay for and what they shouldn't. >> Right. >> Exactly. >> So anyway, just details. Um, okay. Anybody else? Any questions on anything
else? All right, great. Um, can we get a call on that? >> Oh, don't Oh, wait. >> Lost my place. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Uh, so I still need a motion. No, we did a motion. We did a motion. Yeah,
we can do roll call. Yeah, >> we were in discussion and questions. So, we're gonna Are we going to I don't know why there's no grid here. That's why I added it. Yep. >> Oh, you added it. Okay, good. >> Dr. Ross. >> Yes. Mr. Sweeney, >> yes. >> Mr. Aarella,
>> yes. >> Mr. Zimmerman, >> Mr. Smeaggley, >> yes. >> Mr. Cino, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> hi. >> Mr. Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Pallet, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Item E, reports.
>> Um, yes. Item E, reports. Number one, it's the acceptance of the HIB report reviewed at the October 16th, 2025 meeting. Attachment R1. Number two is the approval of the random drug testing and school safety report for October
25th. It is attachment R2. >> Thank you. Can I get a motion for item 14 E1 through E2? >> Second. >> Thank you, Carl. Um, questions or comments?
>> No. Okay. Can I get a roll call? Mr. Sweeney, >> yes. >> Mr. Varo, >> yes. >> Mr. Smaglia, >> yes. >> Mr. Canino, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> hi. >> Mr. Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Bell, >> yes. >> Dr. Ross, >> yes.
>> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Um, item F, finance. Mr. Krauss. >> And now for the bad news. >> Oh, boy. >> Okay. Um, we met on November 10th, um, 25. The meeting was conducted online
through Google Meet. In attendance were Ray Slam, Joe Van Kirk, Ebony Deendez, myself, Brian Fiser, Jen Pellet, and Ray Zimmerman, Thomas Trury, and I didn't get the guy's last name. His Paul from Brown and Brown >> McGawen.
>> Been Paul Begawan from Brown and Brown and Ray Sarinelli from uh Nissokia. Yep. >> Okay. So, at this meeting, we were shown two presentations. The first one was from our health insurance broker Brown and Brown and the second one was from
our auditor Niss Nisoia. Mr. Thomas Turi presented on the state of our health care costs for the upcoming renewal period. The situation is dire. Our health care rates are increasing by 26% and our prescription costs are going up
by 20%. This comes to a 25% increase for Vernon. This is a huge increase over the 12% budgeted based on market market conditions last spring. This means that we have to come up with an additional $660,000
for the period of January 1, 2026 through June 30th, 2026. Some of the reasons given for the renewal um or for the increases are a hospital network fees are going up 20 to 25% as hospital systems negotiate
contract renewals with insurance carriers. These contract renewals are connected to financial pressure on hospital systems as the cost to provide care continues to increase nationwide. At the same time, there has been a steady increase in the utilization of
medical services. B, the prices of GLP1 drugs and things like gene therapies are extremely expensive and are continuing to rise. And C, the district's claims experience is currently running high. This data is utilized by insurance
company actuaries to build renewals or decide whether a company will submit a quote. The district went to market for medical and prescription. However, multiple no quotes were received which limited our ability to negate negotiate a lower renewal rate.
Several quotes were received for prescription. However, these quotes were more expensive. Some significantly so 138% for Benard for instance while not offering better benefits or they get had more restrictive formulas. So we are keeping Horizon and since
Kroger is leaving the state we are going with Optum RX through RX data for our prescription. The second presentation was by our auditor Nisavoia Mr. the race salinary already Sarinelli already gave it to us so there's no me for me to reiterate any
of that so so that and last buildings and grounds we were going to discuss the Lounberry PA system but since this meeting was very long the discussion was put on hold until we wait further information on the cost of the high school PA system and so replacement so
we'll talk about that at the next meeting >> thank you Mr. Krauss >> Mr. slam business administrators report. >> Scrolling back up. Sorry. So, Mr. Krauss did a really good job of
covering all the bad news, making me uh not have to go through it again. But um so essentially uh just to reiterate, we went through a very thorough marketing process. Um you know, we knew it was going to be tough once we started
hearing some things across u you know, kind towards later summer. Um but um you know unfortunately with uh us going to market uh our utilization um and essentially um
some areas with like the the length of time we've been out of the state because when you're in the state plan there's very limited data uh that they provide right reporting your claims data. So, it was very good that we got out last year um cuz I was actually just at a PD yesterday with a bunch of other BAS uh
and I sat at the Sussex table and there were quite a few people at that table saying we're trying to get out of the state plan but we can't. So, it was very good we got out last year. Um but with that being said, we only have about eight month seven or eight months of claims. They trend that out and they use that to decide whether they're
interested in our business or if they're not going to quote or what our renewal will be. Um, our first proposal from Horizon was at about a 34%. Um, we got them down to a 26%. And the timing worked out for us because they agreed to 26% right before we got our
September claims and our utilization for September was about 188%. So, they told our broker essentially that if they hadn't already agreed to 26%, we wouldn't have gotten 26%. Right? I was at the time hoping that we were gonna get good September claims and that
we could we could go lower or if we got another um quote we could use that to leverage to go lower. Um so again, difficult market. I think everyone's kind of hearing similar things probably in the news just kind of across the board. Um so it's not just schools. Um
but unfortunately the only other choice you would have had would go back to the state plan and the state plan was about I think a 32% increase um when you account for the medical because their prescription is going up significantly in the state plan
and obviously you don't want to jump back and forth every year either right so um so difficult situation we are monitoring that situation uh we will be monitoring claims as we move forward and if there is an opportunity uh for us to
get a better deal with Horizon, we will obviously pursue that opportunity. Uh but in the meantime, um we'll be working work work I'll be working to locate the funds for the first six months of the year. Um and then obviously, as we mentioned earlier, that's going to have
budget implications for next year. Uh because the way that works is the first six months of next school year will be at the rates we're getting now, but the second six months of that year will have a renewal percentage on top of it unless we're able to have our claims come down
in the meantime and kind of go back to the table, right? So next budget year would have this increase plus then another increase next January. So just to kind of um give everyone an idea of what we're looking at, right? Um
prescription, same thing. Lots of lots of quotes. Uh those we did receive quotes for mainly because we have the self-insured option. We did look at a fully insured option as John mentioned. Uh fully insured option through Brennar was 138% increase. Um so we kept the
self-insured option uh which does give us a little bit more leeway actually uh in terms of control with the formula and things like that. So there are positives uh related to that. So, I think I we have probably uh talked about health benefits more than anyone wants to, but if anyone has any
questions, obviously at the end or at any time, you know, feel free to ask. Um, and I sure everyone really enjoyed reading my exciting memo. Uh, so, uh, information, other information items. Um, letter A, uh, the
attachment use of buildings and grounds. Letter B is our budget calendar. Uh these are preliminary dates. I just want to reiterate that because the um election calendar has not come out yet. So I'm going based off of prior year's
dates and just experience on when generally those things um are due. So there may be some slight shifts. Um, another thing I I do want to mention, um, that again came up yesterday, uh, among some of the Sussex BAS, uh, was
that we have, um, a new governor coming in this year. So, one of the effects of that is that state the state aid the governor's address will most likely then be delayed, which then also means that we we will not find out about state aid
quite as early as we did on a normal year. normally and it's and normally it's not even early. We usually find out the end of February, our preliminary budget is due about midway uh it's usually March 20th it's due. Um so that already gives us a short amount of time. So this year there's probably going to
be I would say a maybe a two or three leak delay um usually. Right. >> We still have the April deadline. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I don't I don't So it's by law so unless they change it. Um but speaking to some of the other BAS, uh essentially
we're thinking it could be maybe a two or three week delay until we find out about state aid from when we normally find out about it. >> Uh with that being said, I mean I'm budgeting and flat um and then the hope being that there's not a cut. There are some implications there also that we
discussed um related to funding that the state is losing. Um, so that could impact the state's budget, which then could hypothetically flow through us. So, I'm hoping I hear more as we get closer to that time of the year. Um, but you know, review the
budget calendar. It's an attachment. If you have any questions, uh, please let me know. And we're working on the PCR right now. Um, and, uh, that's obviously going to be one of the salary and benefits are one of the largest costs of our budget. So, last year I think was around 74 75% of the
budget. it's probably going to be a higher percent of the budget moving forward uh because of the healthcare renewal and um contract year. So, and we will be sending out invites to our admin um and sheets to our admin resources to them to start thinking
about their building based budgets. uh and that way they're having their meetings in December and then in January they can meet with central office and we can just really sit down and just you know go through everything um figure out you know what we need where we are you
know talk about priorities right and um yeah I said try to use the resources the best that we can uh so letter C that's just draft uh this will be on this agenda and also the next agenda asformational items. Uh those are
just the draft board meeting dates for next year. Um you'll see that uh again that may also change once we get the um board of election schedule as well. Right. So all right. So business office. So I'll
try to go through these um quick and then obviously anyone has any questions. Um, you know, I like talking about numbers. So, >> all right. So, uh, letter A, these are our financial reports of the month. We have our list of checks, our list of
hand checks. Uh, that's attachment F1, F2. Our transfers is attachment F3. Our purchase orders for October is attachment F4. Uh, letter B is approval of the board secretary treasures report for the month of October. That is
attachment F5 and F6. We have letter C which is the uh transportation for the month of November. That's attachment F7. We have a proposal um by USA Architects for the Glen Meadow Middle School Science Lab upgrades uh not to exceed
$25,000. That is attachment F8. Letter E, uh which is attachment F9. Uh it's a proposal for the design bid design uh bid specifications approvals and and uh assistance with construction management
um for the fire alarm upgrades at Rolling Hills and at Warner Ridge and the amount of $71,000. Uh letter F, uh we have professional services proposal from Hower Engineering for Engineering Consulting Services and
amount not to see not to exceed $9,000. Uh that's related to some new regulations from the DP related to our septic tank up at the high school. That's attachment uh F10. Uh approval of the contract between Vernon Board of Education and New Jersey
School Boards and uh for strategic planning amount of $4,500. That's F11 each. Is we have a lot of great donations here. So I'm going to >> I'm going to go through them just because I want to recognize them. >> Yes. Um, so we have a donation from uh the Rolling Hills uh SCA uh for the
Earth Dome Assembly, Earth Dome Assembly for third grade students, an amount of $1,595. Letter I, uh, Rolling Hills SCA for the Mad Science Assemblies for second and third grade students, a $1,425. Man, they're busy.
>> Donation again from Rolling Hills uh, SCA for the Sky Dome Planetarium Assembly for second grade students amount $1,595. Letter K is a donation to the Vernon Township High School for Mr. Rossy for a cello and case in the amount of $1,000.
Letter L is a donation from Jersey STEM to the Lansbury Hollow School after school STEM program for 12 LEGO education spike prime sets in the amount of $4,799.40. So just you quick moment to say thank you for everyone um that is supporting the students to donations. It's really
great to see the community um you know involvement and and the support for the for the kids. So letter M and N is the acceptance of the annual comprehensive financial report and the annual management report. Letter O uh which we
spoke about pretty uh extensively is the approval for Horizon for medical uh Optimum RX prescription plan through RX benefits uh for uh our prescription uh just designating Brandon Brown our broker of record which uh they currently
are and then just authorizing us to take action to put those contracts in place. Uh and then letter P is the approval of disposition of uh the items on attachment F12. And they're either obsolete or in disrepair. And um any
item on there that we could potentially sell, we will be putting on um gov deals to see if we can sell for some revenue. We had some success with that last month uh where we're able to sell some old equipment we weren't using anymore. Um so those funds come in as miscellaneous
receipts for our budget. And that's it for me for now. >> Can I get a motion for um items F3A through F3P? >> Second. >> Thank you, Carrie and Stephanie, my
friends. >> Um questions or comments? I see Carl. >> Yes, I have um two questions. First, um about the high school septic system. What What has to be done to it? I'm very curious.
>> Um, so they are essentially there is a requirement now where there has to be inspection pipes and this is for the engineering of the inspection pipes into the current septic system and then once it's engineered then we'll have to
partner with the contractor to install them. >> So it's not like we have to put in a new leech field or something. >> No, no. This is just uh there's a new D regulation that the these inspection lines are supposed to exist. So now >> we're just getting into compliance
essentially. >> And this is just a charge for the engineer. It's not the covering of the actual this doesn't Okay. >> Yep. And um it says not to exceed because it depending on what permits are required it could be less than 9,000. >> Okay. >> I have a question about that same thing
>> if I may. And then the cont the proposal has a amount of the number of students at the high school has 1,600 students. >> We don't have that many students. I I if you wanted to um I don't think it
impacts the contract, but we don't have we have 900 students. >> Yeah. Uh it doesn't impact the contract, but I don't know where they >> what state website maybe they pulled that from, but uh definitely old information. >> No, that should be Is that the max capacity? Because that would impact the
second >> that's where I started. >> So it could be that the 1600 students is is um >> the capacity >> describing the capacity of the septic system. >> Just make it double check. >> Talk about 12,000 the number of students
there. >> Yeah, it's worth asking. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, I I can I can find out. Um but I I I'm I think I'm pretty confident. If we can say above, Mr. Slam, I know you'll be on top of that. >> Yes. >> Could it also include faculty and staff?
>> Yeah, it does. 100. >> Yeah. So, I think it's a description because it says approximately uh 1,600 students and approximately 100 faculty and staff with a sanitary wasteland, permitted flow of 12,000 GPD. >> And then it goes to talk about how there's cafeteria, locker room, showers, uh laboratories with sinks. And
>> I mean, I don't I don't think it has an impact, but it's worth asking the question. >> I'll ask. Sorry, Carl. Go ahead. No, it's okay. It's my last meeting. >> A >> you're a lucky winner. >> But my second my second question is about the health benefits. We're
selecting Optimum RX um as our prescription plan. Is that going to have any impact on our faculty's prescription coverage? Is it the same as um as Kroger? Because I remember when we switched to Kroger,
that was a big concern of our staff. And I just want to make sure as we do this, we're being as considered as we can. >> Yeah. So, there should be um familiarity with Optimum RX because that's actually who we had when we were
under the state. So, they partner with Rise of the State. Um but this will actually be a similar to Kroger, a better formulary than we had under the state cuz the state's more restrictive. Um and it's something we talked about when we went to Kroger, too. But um essentially when you're with the state
there's kind of like two levels of formalary depending if you're chapter 78 or chapter 44. >> Yeah. >> Right. The two those are two laws that dictate the two the different plans you can be a part of depending on when you're hired. >> Um so uh chapter 78 is direct 10 and direct 15. Chapter 44 is New Jersey
educators plan and guard plan. So generally in the state plan there's two different formularies. So the direct plans have a richer formulary. The educator plan and the guardcy plan have a less rich formulary. because we're self-insured, they'll still have access to the same formulary. Um there are some
restrictions on educators plan where you you have to go generic, but you still have access, you just have to pay the difference, which is what we have right now, too. Um, so essentially it should be similar to what Kroger had, which was if it is uh if the medication is FDA approved for that treatment and that's a
treatment that you're being um prescribed that medication for, uh, there shouldn't really be an effect, but there will be more information coming out the staff. Um, there will be a session for questions >> that'll be recorded. It'll be shared with everybody. Um, as always, anyone
that if there are any hiccups, uh, we have Brown on Brown as our broker, which another one of those benefits of leaving the state, the state plan doesn't recognize brokers, so you have to call yourself. >> When you're in a private plan, the private plans recognize brokers, so you can call the broker, and you can have the broker fight for you, and they have
points of contact, so that fight is usually shorter, and it's usually more successful. >> So, anyone out there that has any hiccups, please reach out to Brandon Brown. Uh, we'll be we share that information in the past. We'll share it again once um the information on the actual um presentation date and then
also the video goes out. Um just I always like try to put that in there because sometimes people forget, right? Um but yeah, so we will be sharing more information. >> Thank you. I >> anyone else Charlie? >> Um
you you said and I'm correct if I'm I'm sorry if I missed it. You might have said it, but you talked about when you were at your meeting that some of the other districts were disappointed that they can't get out of the state plan, right? So there is restrictions if you go into the state if you're in the state
plan, you have to stay in there a number of years. >> So they can't get out. So there's restriction in terms of you need to give them 90 days notice. So if everyone remembers last year, I was we were at the market, no one wanted to give us a prescription. Then all of a sudden,
Kroger gave a proposal and we had to move quick and um that was because we need to have the board approval be and give the notification 90 days before the plan ended. Um so that there's that limitation, but when I'm talking to these other BAS, the reason they can't
get out is because of the utilization rates. And that speaks to a larger problem with the state plan where any district that could get out is either out already or trying to get out. And if you're still there, it's
because you can't get out. And that has to do with your utilization. And it also has to do, >> and this is something we talked about, I think I think uh Brandon Brown talked about a little bit in our finance committee meeting. It has to do with the level of risk that health insurance companies are willing to take right now.
So, they're being more conservative. Um, and part of that is because of market conditions. And the other part of that, I think, and Brown has also kind of gone in this direction with is that we think
that the state being at such a high renewal gives these private companies a little bit more ability to be more conservative. Right? So there's a balance of one, the state's really high, there's limited competition, and then two, the second part is they don't want
to lose money and they're taking on higher expenses, so they're being more conservative. Um, so they want to leave, they can't leave because of utilization. Speaking to the larger issue, eventually that's just going to turn in, we think it's going to turn into just a bad risk pool and it's going to have to have higher and higher renewals until either
something is done to intervene. Um some change in law perhaps some change in benefits uh or it'll implode. Uh the municipal side is going through this already because there's separate silos. Um and they had to make changes to the municipal side in terms of the qu the level of benefits they're offering
because they couldn't continue to operate um and be um without essentially like a deficit or a loss. >> And then I just have one more question. It's really actually not a question. I just because the way it's worded in here, the letter G, we're not buying a
3D model, right? The 3D is the model that's called deter from uh school boards. This is the building buying the >> Oh, that's what they call their contract. Uh strategic planning 3D model >> determination dream. That's what it's I just just the way it's worded. It looks
like we're buying a 3D model. >> Yeah. No, we're we're paying them to run our plan. >> The enterprise. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Exactly. >> Okay. Yeah, John, >> I have just one question. And in letter E, with the upgrades that are fire alarm upgrades, um, is any of that from the
preschool grant being paid for the Walnut Ridge part of it? >> So, unfortunately, uh, and I think I've gone to Unfortunately, uh, the PEA uh, has limitations on what you can do facility-wise. They will only let you do
what they consider minor improvements. It's very limited um what they include in that category. Things like replacing toilets, uh changing how high sinks are. Um they'll let us do um air filters. They'll let us do painting. They'll let
us do ceiling tiles. Let us do rugs. They won't let us do anything with moving walls. They won't they won't let us do a fire alarm system. I did um I guess it's probably a good time to mention it. I did submit a letter based off of the one of the PDs I went to. There's a question about whether 3M
film could be allowed. So I I'm asking for approval for that. I don't know if we'll get it, but >> yeah, but you would think safety is would be a primary issue when the fire alarm system is primary issue. >> They consider it um a major improvement to the building and they won't allow funds for it. So this will be from
Capital Reserve. >> Okay. >> Yep. And the reason we're going um this route instead of a cooperative is because the experience we had with a cooperative at the high school. >> Yeah. Yeah. Remember >> remember we have to change order because they missed devices. We ended up switching vendors, right?
>> So we want to have architects do the complete design, complete bid specs, leave no room for >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I had a qu Oh, go ahead. Sure. >> Yeah, I'll go last. Okay. Um, I'm just
curious, what is Brown and Brown's market share? >> I don't have that information off the top of my head, but they do have a pretty I know they have a pretty sizable portion in New Jersey. There are aren't that many um companies that work in this
space, but they're probably one of the larger ones, I would say. >> How did they get to >> I don't know the history of the company that far back. Uh, We cut that. >> Oh, how do they get paid? Oh, I thought you say how do they how did they get so big? Sorry, I misheard you.
>> Um, part of the reason we had some extra savings last year is that initially they're getting paid off of a percentage based commission. Um, but I went back to them and I said, I don't want to pay a percentage based commission because percentage based commissions go up and
we all know health benefits is continuing to get more expensive. So, the more expensive health benefits get, the higher the commission would therefore get. So, I'm um I had them agree to a flat fee last year. Uh and that covers our uh medical, prescription, dental, and vision. Um
can't remember the exact number off the top of my head. Um but the change saved us about $100,000 last year from what we would have paid if we would have stayed on a percentage based commission. Um and then also there's just the future savings because like I said, that number would just continue to grow if it was based off a percentage.
It's so big there's there's like no competition though. It's not like another broker you can >> Oh, I I said that I I said that I'd go to an RFP if they didn't do a flat rate. There are other brokers. I've worked with two other ones. >> Really?
>> Yeah. So, if but they right away said absolutely. And then they gave they gave me their proposal. I don't remember exactly what it was. I turned around and said that seems a little high. Can we do this? And we kind of met in the middle. So, um, but yeah, I look at that all the time. Yeah. But >> right now, that's
>> I know they have a huge longer chair. >> Yeah. And it does help us with negotiations because they're representing um so many different schools that they get like a little bit more attention than maybe a smaller firm will get, right? And they have those kind of contacts through the different insurance companies that they can reach
out to and get an answer quicker. It helps on negotiation side. It also helps us on assisting staff, right? because they know who to call to get something resolved and get it resolved relatively quickly in most cases. >> They're big enough. I think they public list >> Oh, yeah. >> New York.
>> Yeah. They're huge. They're huge. >> Yeah. They do municipalities. They do some private industry, too. So, >> they've always been very responsive, right? >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Yeah. They they get back to us pretty quickly. >> Yeah. >> Usually the same day, if not within the same hour or two.
>> Yeah. Um Okay. Anyone else before I ask mine? Okay. for uh item for uh letter P. Um the disposition of items. I notice there's a ton of robotic stuff on here. We did have a um former longtime robotics coach who has repeatedly
expressed interest in in uh receiving anything that we're no longer using. Um has can we confirm whether he was given any opportunity there? >> So nothing has been um got rid of yet. Uh but we can talk to the Bo principal.
>> Yeah. I just want to make sure it's only right. He gave up his time and energy and you know had asked repeatedly and been actually I think kind of told that he would by uh an an administrator that he would have some opportunity there. So just want to
make sure it doesn't disappear, you know, without him getting on the >> listed. I was already >> Oh, you were? Okay. Thank you. That's great. And whoa, are those cars? >> Yeah. So, we had the um >> fourth >> earlier in the year. I think it was over the summer maybe. You remember there was
the lease purchase for five vehicles um that had like significant mileage. So, um these are two of the vehicles that don't operate. >> Oh, yeah. So, we're going to put them on um uh Gov deals, see if we can get anything. I have had a little bit of
success in previous districts where even if the >> truck's not running, it's you know, I can't remember. It's like an F250 on there. I think >> 250. Yeah. Two. Two F250. >> Yeah. So, they were running. Um, >> but you could have someone that wants to fix it up, right? Or someone that needs
parts and you can get a little bit of money for them. So, >> okay, that's it. Um, I'm going to ready for roll call. Everybody done? >> So, what would you do? Do you put this on you use a firm or something to put these out on a bit? Because
>> we can't guarantee we sell to somebody, right? because that wouldn't be fair. We have to >> Yeah. So there's gov gov deals is used by um municipalities, schools, um other forms of government all all in between as the
place uh for a marketplace where you put it on there and anyone in the public has the opportunity to bid on it. um you put a reserve on there and then if it goes over the reserve and whoever has the highest bid uh wins and it's for example like with the trucks and the equipment it's asis right
>> you say hey this is this is what it is if you want to bid on it you bid on it and then if they win they'd come pick it up so >> yeah so we'll see hopefully we'll we'll get some revenue from that >> okay can we get a roll Oh,
>> Miss Macarello. >> Yes. >> Mr. Smagalia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cantino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> Hi. >> Mr. Krauss. >> Yes. >> Miss Plet. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ross. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sweeney. >> Yes.
>> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Oops. What's going on with my pen? Um, special services. Um, that would be Thank you. >> Continuation. Thank you.
>> So number four um item A uh upon recommendation of the superintendent schools approval by the board of education of the following out of district placements for the 2526 school year. Um, can I get a motion for F4A?
>> Second. >> Thank you. Carrie and Carl, questions or comments? >> I have a question. Are these new out of district placements or are these continuing? >> Um, Commission of the Blind is a charge from the state. Um, so those are
students we're aware of. Just we're putting them on now because we've received the documentation from the state. Um, trying to remember I think Benway's school is a change in placement uh from one placement to another. >> So I mean we're not adding out of
district placements. We're just pretty much staying the same. >> Uh right now I think we we're either same or slightly up. Um but we'll continue to monitor it as um you know new needs arise. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Okay. Any other questions? >> Roll call. >> Mr. Smagley. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> Hi. >> Mr. Krauss. >> Yes. >> Miss Pellet. >> Yes. Yes. >> Dr. Ross. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Sweeney. >> Yes. >> Miss Aarella. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Item 15, public comment. Do we have any members of the public here or online who would like to comment?
>> No. Okay. Um item six. Oh, wait. Uh Carl's res, how are we doing this? >> I have it in um open board member forum right now. I added a motion. >> Okay, great. So, um item 16, open board member forum. Uh, do you want to read
that motion? >> Yeah, I can read it. So, um, I'll read it and then you can ask for the motion to second. So, it'll be motioned by blank, seconded by blank to accept the formal letter of vacination provided by Mr. Carl Cantino. >> Okay. Um, is there a number that I can do we do we have a number on that or is
just >> uh I didn't do a number just because it's one single resolution by itself. >> So, can I get a motion? >> So, move >> John second. You guys, >> everybody wants to hang out all night. >> You have to stay down.
>> Sorry, Carl. >> Questions or comments? Does anybody want to comment on Carl leaving? >> I have a comment. It's been great working with you. You are one of the best people I ever met. Congratulations. I love being on committees with you and doing other things. You were great.
>> I know you're going to do great things. I want to say I am very very lucky to have served with the board that I've served with because I've learned so much and especially having the perspective of beginning my career as a teacher and
being a board member and getting that dual perspective that is something that will impact me for the rest of my life. That combined with like some really difficult lessons like when you're voting on this board or any board you're
ever have the privilege of serving on, you have to remember your priority and your I remembered the word that I was looking for. >> Your um >> it's so late. Oh my gosh. Your Oh my your intention has your intention. Why
did you want to do it in the first place? And sometimes you have to make decisions that seem really unpopular. But with the information that we have and with your, you know, priorities, if you have them in line, you should always have a guiding light there. But I learned that from the people that I had
the honor of serving with. And I'm lucky to have sat on this board with such a great group of people. and my three years on this board are a blip compared to the incredible service that some of the other board members I've served with have given. So, I'm very very very
lucky. I am humbled and I am honored and I'm going to miss this a lot. >> Miss you, >> but you'll you'll see me on the town council, I guess. So, >> you'll still know when the meetings are. We post them on the website.
>> Thank you for your support. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I am not going to say anything else because I will cry. Um I'm going to miss you. All right. Uh any anybody else >> that Carl, it was good working with you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you and thank for moving on to something else and that will benefit the town. >> Yeah, >> I hope it's a lot. >> Yeah. Uh, and then uh I just want to say I forgot to say something about traps before I was like uh driving by and uh I
promised I would stop by. >> So I was driving from Maple Graange and >> I there was no parking. >> Yeah. >> So then I was like, "All right, I'll hit on the way back and I was astonished. There was so many people like 8:40 and people just walking out. I'm like
>> you couldn't get in there?" >> I didn't know it was I was I was like, "Wow, what's going on?" Like this was very amazing. But other than that, I just uh wanted to wish everyone happy Thanksgiving, our community members, our staff, and our students, you know, happy Thanksgiving. Have a safe holiday.
>> Okay, you just hijacked the motion, but okay. >> We have to vote on Carl's resignation. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we doing the other. >> Okay. I'm excited for Thanksgiving. >> Open board member forum, >> but we have to vote on it first. We have to vote first.
Yeah. >> Yeah. We don't accept your happy, >> right? We vote no. If we all vote no, he has to stay. >> It was out of line, Mr. >> Point. >> Do I get to vote on it, too? >> No,
>> you vote. No, that will be funny. >> You can vote on it. >> You should probably You should probably abstain. >> Yeah, you should abstain. Oh, it's >> Can I come? >> Yeah. >> No, I I I just want to thank Cole, you
know, because uh you know, it's pretty obvious Carl and I come from opposite ends of the political spectrum. And I think Carl was a little concerned when I came on the board and I had heard about that and I gave him a call
>> and we sat down and we talked for a good three hours. >> Yep. >> And it, you know, at the end of the discussion, >> uh, Carl said to me, you know, I I still don't agree with the way you think, but I understand
how you think that way. and and it was a a good >> honest discussion. And I I think if >> if uh more people who come from opposite ends of the political spectrum were able to have the open dialogue that Carl and
I had that Saturday or Sunday morning, whatever it was, >> we'd have a lot less problems right now. And I I want to thank you for that because, you know, in in my time here, you know, over the last year, I've come to have a lot of respect for you. And same here, you know, I respect your
integrity. >> You know, they, you know, last year for the budget vote, I had actually said to call Call, you vote, no, you can go into the election in November and say, hey, I voted against higher tax. And Carl said,
yeah, I could, but that wouldn't be with where my principles are. And I I told him right then and there, I really respect you for doing that. >> Thank you, Brian. Like I said, I'm very lucky to have served with the people I've served with because I've learned a lot from each and
every person that I've sat with. So lucky. >> Well, we were lucky to have you. So, thank you. Okay. Any other open board? Oh, we got to vote this motion. Nobody wants to vote on this.
>> All right. Is it time? >> Go. Yeah. Hurry up before you leave, >> Mr. Staglia. Yes, >> Mr. Cina. >> Abstain >> Mr. Fischer. >> Hi, >> Mr. Krauss. >> Yes, >> Miss Pellet. >> Yes, >> Dr. Ross.
>> Yes. Reluctantly, >> Mr. Sweeney. >> Yes, >> Mr. Sarella. >> Yes. >> Motion unfortunately carries. >> What would carries? >> They still resign. >> You can't make me stay.
>> Yeah, that's the thing. You can't force somebody. This is a it's a formality, but it's something nice to do, you know. So, >> I wanted to say something about traps. >> Oh, okay. >> Traps is incredible. I remember doing traps in the sixth grade >> and I remember selling lemon bars and
brownies and it was a lot of fun. >> And I remember for a while we didn't have traps, right? What didn't something happen where we didn't >> when the budget cuts before the revised budget, the stipen for traps went away and then as part of the revised budget, Treps is one of the stipens that came back.
>> Yeah. Yeah. one of the >> I am just I'm so glad we offer that and it's such an incredible program and I still think about things that I learned doing that 15 years later. So >> yeah, it's a great program. John,
>> I'm sorry. I need to go back to the previous vote. I supposed to have abstained on one of the check numbers and I didn't do it. >> Oops. >> Okay. Do you have the uh >> Yeah, it's check number 96574. I have to abstain only on that from the previous vote.
>> Okay. >> 574. >> 57. Thank you. >> Noted. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> 574. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. >> All right. Did have a quick question. Did we
specify what date we would like the letters of interest to be submitted by? >> We did not. Um, when is our next meeting? >> Uh, our next meeting is December 18th. So, >> can we say the 15th? >> Yeah, I was going to say probably the
Monday or the Tuesday, but I wanted this. So, maybe the Monday. Okay. >> The 15th. >> So, uh, end of day uh, December 15th is when the letters of interest um, and resumeumés will be due. Uh, please email
them uh, to me uh, rslamvtsd.com. Um, it's also also on the website. Uh if anyone wants to hand deliver that's too that's okay as well. >> And please everyone spread the word because we don't have a lot of people here tonight so we need to get the word out.
>> This is letters of interest for >> for uh his seat. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Um All right. Anything else for open board forum? >> All right.
>> I had the pleasure of going to traps. It was awesome. My wife spent a fortune there. >> Yeah, that's the bad thing about >> the play was fabulous. Kalista was wonderful. >> The kids had so much fun. National Honor Society was wonderful >> and Kalista was there too.
>> And um Ms. Deendes gave a nice speech at at the National Honor Society induction was very nice. >> And uh I went to a soccer game which was fabulous. They won. But >> so I would encourage other board members to go to other activities. It's it's fun and you get to see the kids in action
and the parents. It's wonderful to, you know, to meet them. So, >> good good couple of weeks. >> Parents get very very vital about kids in sports. It's very funny to watch. I highly highly recommend. >> I remember it well. >> Yes. >> Yeah.
>> Happy Thanksgiving, Charles. >> Yeah. >> Happy Thanksgiving >> and everybody >> and happy Thanksgiving to the community from from all of us. Um, okay. So on that note, uh can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> Move.
>> Now you're ready. Second, Stephanie. All in favor? I I tell her.