Okay. I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Vernon Township Board of Education. The public board meeting February 19th, 2026. It is 6:00 p. M have call uh roll call Mr. Slam please. >> Mr. Smaglia Mr. Fischer
>> here. >> Mr. Krauss >> here. >> Miss Nichols >> here. >> Miss Pellet. >> Miss Pac >> here. >> Dr. Ross. >> Miss Sarella >> here. >> Mr. Zimmerman >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. Um it's recommended that the
board enter close session for the purposes of discussing legal personnel and student matters. May I have a motion, please? So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman and M. Vicarella. Um, all in favor?
>> I opposed. >> Okay, we're in close session. Okay. It is recommended that the board return to open session. Can I have a motion to do that, please? So move. >> Second. >> Thank you. Um Mr. I could take a roll
call, please. >> Mr. Fischer, >> here. >> Uh, we're uh voting to come back uh to open session. We we changed up a little bit. >> Uh so it's a vote to come back to open session. So uh I or >> say I or yes. >> I
>> I knew you were >> Mr. Crass. >> Yes. >> Miss Nichols. >> Yes. >> Miss Pallet? >> Yes. >> Yep. I see you on the screen. She said yes. >> Oh, she muted.
>> I saw her. Yep. Uh, Miss Pek, >> yes. >> Dr. Ross, >> yes. >> Miss Varella, >> yes. >> Mr. Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Mr. Simaglia, >> yes. >> Motion carries. And, uh, additional attendance. Miss O'Donnell, >> here. >> Miss Mendes,
>> here. and I am here. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. SL. Would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance, please? >> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. And Mr. Would you read the meeting notice, please? >> The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to advance notice of and attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business effect no interest is
discussed or acted upon. In accordance to the provisions of the act, Vernon Township Board of Education has caused notice this meeting to be published and notice adequate notice has been provided and notice this meeting has been properly posted in accordance with New Jersey open public meeting law. Uh just a quick note, the next public meeting will be Thursday, March 19th.
>> Thank you. Um, next we have the approval of the minutes from the public session meeting from January 22nd, the closed meeting and the public session meeting, open meeting 226, uh, January 8th public session, and the
reorg meeting from January 5th, and minutes of the public session meeting from November 6, 2025. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes? >> So move. >> Thank you, Mr. Zimmer. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Somalia. Um, can I have a a vote, please? Are
there any questions or discussion before we have a vote? >> Okay, I'm new. >> Mr. Krauss. >> Uh, yes. Saying we're noted on uh the minutes from November 6th.
>> Thank you, Miss Nichols. >> Yes. Abstain where noted. >> Thank you, Miss Pallet. >> Yes. Miss Pek, >> yes. Abstain. We're noted. >> Dr. Ross,
>> yes. >> Miss Varela, >> yes. Abstain. We're noted. >> Mr. Zimmerman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Smacleia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> I ex uh abstain when noted.
>> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Okay, next with the president's report. That's me tonight. Um, good evening. Let me start out by saying that our president, Jennifer Pellet, could not be here in person this evening, but she is in attendance
through the magic of technology on Zoom right over there. So, say hi, Jen. Um, she will be an active participant in a meeting, but since she is participating remotely, she cannot run the meeting. So, that's why you got me. Okay. All right. Next, I would like to congratulate our superintendent and the
entire strategic planning committee on another very successful strategic planning meeting. The meeting, which was held on February 5th, was well attended by the public, and together with their input, we gained some excellent insights for the strategic plan moving forward. The next and culminating meeting will be
held here at Lansbury Hollow on March 12th at 7 p.m. Okay. I'm sure these next two items will be mentioned again, but I'd like to congratulate Vernon High School and Glenn Meadow Middle School for achieving top honors at the Stan Governor Awards.
Stan is the state theater achievement New Jersey awards. Congratulations to Miss Christina Moro and her students. And kudos to Mr. Jason Thompson whose eighth grade students Caleb Burns and Geiani Gonzalez placed first and second in the solo division.
Last, but certainly not least, in what is being described as the greatest goalie performance in high school hockey, Vernon's Klouse Hourthouse set a record by making 104 saves in one game. What an incredible performance. Great job. And that's my president meeting
notes, whatever, whatever you're calling them. President's report for tonight. Thank you. >> Game 104 saves in one game. He said it's it's ins. It's insane. >> Wow. >> Yeah. Yeah. 104 on 108 shots.
>> Wow. >> So, >> yeah. Right. Right. >> Did they win? >> No, >> unfortunately. No, >> they did not. >> Okay. So, next we're going to have presentations um from we're going to have restorative
practices by Dr. Van Orton and Dr. Caseek and B special education audit will be presented by Miss Ebony Deendes and Mr. Russell Fay. So, >> thank you. >> Um, good evening. Uh, this evening, uh, Dr. Van Orton and Dr. Cosk are going to
present an update to the board on the impact of the restorative practices and the student initiatives uh, at Glen Meadow Middle School. Um, they're going to highlight some comparative data for us demonstrating a measurable decrease in inclus in in school suspensions and
out of school suspensions, uh, reported HIV incidents. um and they're really going to talk to us about all of the positive outcomes of their school's proactive and restorative approach to discipline. So, Dr. Van Orton and Dr. Kos, thank you for joining us this evening. >> Thank you for having us.
>> Good evening, Miss De Mendes, Mr. Slam, and the members of the board of education. Um we're proud to be here this evening and we'll be calling up three of our amazing students as well to deliver a portion of this presentation in a moment. Um but we wanted to present this evening um after Dr. Kosak and I
had uncovered what we found some pretty profound data um in regards to uh where we see positive impact in Glen Meadow Middle School. So this evening we're going to talk about our culture at Glen Meadow that we see a positive trend in regards to the implementation of
restorative practices as well as our kindness ambassadors and um what they're promoting at Glen Meadow. So, just to recap regarding restorative practices, it's been a couple of years since I've talked about this here. Um, but it is
really an opportunity for staff and students to repair and rebuild relationships um perhaps after harm has been done. And when I say harm, it could be a disruption in the classroom. It could be peer conflict. um anything that upsets
the balance of the students learning opportunity in any given moment. And really the the emphasis is put on having a conversation, getting to the root cause and coming up with proactive solutions so that there's a lesson learned rather than a consequence that's
just delivered. Um and what we found is through this students are taking responsibility. It's restoring trust amongst peers as well as uh teachers to students and it's strengthening the overall Glen Meadow community. And we believe the data that you'll see tonight will show that. Um through this we've
seen our students are improving in monitoring uh and and and regulating their uh their emotions, their ability to resolve conflict. And it's these these are skills that we know they will carry on with them for the rest of their lives. um they're they're becoming
natural problem solvers and they're growing from their mistakes rather than simply perhaps um being responsible for an infraction or a code of conduct violation and receiving discipline. There is a restorative component and a
conversation that is had as well. So how do we put these practices into action? Um, first and foremost, we enforce not only with our students, but we talk about this with our staff as well. It's so important to deliver your feelings
and your thoughts through IME messages using those effective statements so that it is being delivered as to how that individual feels in the moment. Teachers are facilitating proactive community circles in the classroom as well as what you see here is our restorative room.
One of the things that came out of the last couple of years with implementing restorative practices is teachers would say to us," I'd love to be able to implement a proactive circle. Whether that's we're talking about the next upcoming assessment, we're talking about, you know, what we plan to do a
week from now in regards to what we're learning in the classroom or perhaps restorative where there's been some disruption and we all need to be heard as to how that's impacting our learning. But they said, "We don't have the space. we've got desks and tables and chairs and bookshelves and how do we do this?
So we transformed uh this this space this this classroom into a restorative space uh which accommodates up to 32 students um and they're able to come in I say come in with nothing but yourself and your voice and they will come in and
there are topics that if teachers have a specific area that they wish to uh discuss with their students be that stress in the middle school age or uh resolving conflict we do have lessons that teachers have created um or they
have actually they have come to me and said we have this situation I was wondering if you would be able to uh assist us with facilitating that and in fact Mrs. Brady who's here this evening who's also um a very important part of the kindness ambassadors it was she and
her co-teer um I I had sent out a survey how can I help you restoratively they gave me such important feedback and data that it was so wellreceived by the students and the staff so we are using this space on a routine basis uh small impromptu conferences you may think that
well that that's perhaps what the counselor does um but not always those small conversations can be had with the classroom teachers as as well mentorships. So, what used to be a couple of years ago, we had about 12 to 14 students who struggled perhaps with
emotion regulation or behavioral challenges um regulating their their behaviors. We're over 40 students now uh that our teachers are volunteering their time to one-on-one mentor these students and and that in and of itself is
restorative. I have students coming to me asking for a mentor. uh teachers who say I will absolutely mentor that student and the students are expressing that this is helping them not only behaviorally but academically as well. Classroom agreements just in the
beginning of the year establishing those expectations and norms making sure that the students have a say into what those expectations are. And then ultimately something new for this year is the uh implementation or um you know kind of
like a groundup approach with what we have called our kindness ambassadors. What started out at about 26 students seventh and eighth grade at the beginning of the year. We're now at 41. And I would say weekly I have students knocking on my door saying how do I get
to be one of those kindness ambassadors? And just this week I had another student join. So, I am going to proudly call up three of our kindness ambassador leadership team members. Come on up, ladies. We're going to introduce you.
So, we have on the far left, this is Lindsay Suo Martinez. She is our president of the kindness ambassadors. This is Ava Thomas. She is the vice president of the kindness ambassadors. Christina Trapot is the secretary of the kindness ambassadors and unfortunately
Mace Phillips we see his picture on the screen is our treasurer very actively involved in this club but he wasn't feeling well so he was unable to make it but he was disappointed we said we we missed him but we would certainly give him acknowledgement at this meeting so I am going to turn it over to these three
fine ladies who are going to speak on behalf of the kindness ambassadors Um, so many people ask, "Who are the Glen Meadow Kindness Ambassadors?" We're students who are in grades seven and eight. We are kind, respectful, and care
about our teachers and peers. We enjoy helping others. We also want to make Glen Meadow a great place to learn. We welcome all new Glen Meadow students, and we try to make a positive impact on the school every day. Excellent job.
Good job. And I have to give Ava a shout out because Ava has taken on this role as like social media. When I say social media, schooly schooly ambassador when it comes to the kindness ambassadors, right? She's got
all of these amazing ideas. She's always first to post, "Don't forget we're wearing our shirts on Thursday." or just a reminder, we're doing this fundraiser today without even having to be asked or reminded. She has just taken on that leadership role and I'm really proud of
her. So, good job, Eva. Lindsay Sugo Martinez. Some people have asked how kindness ambassadors do in action. What do they what would what we do in action? Um what we do, we welcome breakfast and welcome
bags for all new students. Sold kindness grams and donated money to Harvest House. Kindness notes on lockers, tokens handed out for acts of kindness. We've also done building tours and schedule assistance for new students. Invited
alone students or new students to their table in the cafeteria. We do weekly kindness announcements. And what we have upcoming is a Sparta food pantry collection in March. Morristown Children's Hospital collection in April and we're planning to invite sixth grade
students to join in May and a Vernon Senior Center activity which is to be deter determined. Thank you. Now I've got to brag on Lindsay a little bit because she made this amazing bulletin board on her own accord outside
of the counseling office and it was about all about a positive mindset. It's beautiful. She did a wonderful job and as president she said I just I want to do more and she took that upon herself. So that was beautiful Lindsay. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Up next, Christina Trapot.
>> How kindness and accountability make a difference. >> All students, we want all students to feel better about themselves as kindness ambassadors provide a safe environment for all of them to learn and to feel hopeful. All students at Glen Meadow
feel seen, heard, accepted, respected, and loved from all the kindness ambassadors that join. And we see a chain reaction. If I am kind to you, you will be kind to others. All new students also immediately have a group of friends that trust and support
them. And then we have a quote. When students feel like they belong and are supported at school, they are more engaged and less disruptive. attend they attend school more regularly and achieve higher academically.
>> And Christina as well, I am so proud of her leadership every meeting that we have. She is diligently taking the notes, making sure that we have everything that we need for the upcoming meeting. Um, her two younger brothers are also a part of our club. We have one
honorary sixth grade member, Joey. um he tends to join us quite a bit and is very helpful and also her seventh grade brother Al. And if there was ever a group of siblings and I tell Miss Trapot this all the time that parents are to be incredibly proud of it's those three
children because the way that they come together for each other and all of the students in Glen Meadow is absolutely amazing. So I just wanted to give a shout out. You know how wonderful um I've seen the Trapot family step up when it comes to this club. ladies, thank you so so much. I'm very proud of you and
thank you for your leadership. You're welcome. So, where are some of the areas that we have seen an improvement in data? We have measured at this point the beginning of year to midyear I ready
benchmarks and we have seen growth when it comes to students at or above grade level in every grade across both subject areas. So, for example, when you see sixth grade ELA has increased from 34 to
46%. That means at this point in the school year, 46% of our sixth grade students are at or above language arts, their grade level for language arts. Thank you. 29% are approaching.
So, that's a promising number. Seventh grade we went we we jumped from 37 to 43% with 24% approaching and in eighth grade we went from 43 to 47% with 25% approaching.
Looking over in the right hand side with math sixth grade from 22 to 33 with 35% approaching. 7th grade 23 to 33 with 37% approaching. and eighth grade math
jumped 10% from 32 to 42% with 36% approaching. So these are promising results. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Kosak who's going to talk a little bit about the positive impact we see regarding discipline data. >> Jack, if you could just flip back two
slots. >> Yep. >> You need feel like they belong. They're supported in school. They're more engaged, less direct, less and attend school more regular. And you just saw grades ready.
>> I don't need >> Oh, I apologize. I'll repeat. It's that important. When students feel like they belong and are supported at school, they are more engaged and less disruptive and attend school more regularly and achieve
higher academically. So, Dr. Vorton, click that one slide that you just went over. >> This one here. >> Yep. That's demonstrated that was over the course of not just a year but kind of a year but Dr. Van Orton have been and I have been doing and we have been
doing this initiative. We're on year what? >> Five. >> Five. >> School culture takes time. We're starting to see the benefits and reap the rewards of the time and of the program. Next slide, please. Discipline.
This is a lot of my day. But you can see, let's say I'm going to start from the bottom. Confirmed harassment, intimidation, bullying cases. Last year this time, this is year to year. Last year to this year, first marking period,
second mark period, we had four. This year we had one. 75% reduction. Total incidents 599. This year 365 down almost 40%. I don't want to say that's close to half, but I will. Out of
school suspension. Okay. Was 20, now it's seven. down 65%. Inschool suspension 111 down to 23 down 79%.
In school half day 53-2 down 96%. and after after school detention that's increased and the reason why is there's a concerted effort besides okay what we
see with the restorative practice to keep the kids in the class so restorative combined with the concerted effort for that keep the students in class kids hate after school that is
probably in the book it doesn't seem to be as I don't know large of a consequence, but it is to the student. And if we're in that student's best interest academically, socially, emotionally, um that is the one thing
that did increase, but that's to the benefit of keeping the student in class and also with the increased grades. This is a long concerted effort that the kids are buying into. And I do want you to flip back to that one slide with the picture in the room where all the little
chairs are there. Go back. When we first did this, I was like, that's a little hokey, right? We're all around colored chairs. But opinions and thoughts are validated and children's thoughts are validated. Dr. Vanord and I have been in
this room countless times. It doesn't have to be a consequence, but the students voice is heard. And if they feel heard and validated, guess what? They feel like they belong. And it all kind of sinks back into place with what Dr. Van Nord and I are trying to do
along with the fantastic work of kindness ambassadors, which we now have 41. >> 41. >> Uh we promoted and had a school climate survey about bullying, HIV. That was
again a concerted effort to raise awareness and the numbers again speak to themselves. 98% of students know what bullying is and the harm that it does. We have presentations.
Dr. Vanord and I speak to it. 97% know where to go. Whether it's the teacher, whether it's the counselor, whether it's anyone who they trust, which you can see 90% of on the bottom have one trusted
adult at Glen Meadow in which whom they can talk to. If they're comfortable, they will tell us. If they tell us, we can help. 94% would report cyber bullying to an adult or seek help. And 88% would be an upstander where if they
see something, they say something. So this tracking positive change whether it's academically whether it's through discipline whether it's through attendance reports
all that tracks positive change language arts and math we see that increasing trending upward discipline referrals in my time it's probably the knock on wood it is probably one of the best years I have seen seen in my 10 years at Glen
Meadow. And that's again a concerted effort through the staff, through the students, and they're buying into the program. And that took time, and now we're slowly reaping the rewards. More importantly, the students are >> overall school climate indicators reflect measurable improvement. That's
what our data shows. So it is our hope that at the end of the year the numbers will continue to improve and show that restorative discipline, restorative practices. And don't get me wrong, the kids still get discipline, but it's not the end all beall. Repairing the
relationships and having that validation is probably more important now than it's ever been. >> And I have to give a shout out and kudos to the faculty and staff. Uh we all know they're phenomenal educators. Um but but they have been such an integral part of
this. There are monthly restorative focus group meetings that I've been facilitating now for five years and the number grows every year. The number grows every month. Um and this is faculty and staff. We will have we have
done book clubs talking about um one trusted adult and and students needing that person and you know how we can use restorative practices to meet the students where they're at and offer our support. But um make no mistake, it's certainly been a joint effort. The
faculty and staff are second to none. The kids are amazing. What these three young ladies have done along with 38 others. Um, you have to stop in one day on a Thursday and just look at the sea of turquoise blue shirts uh walking through the hallways. Um, that has been
our day to wear our kindness ambassador shirts. And it's it's a feeling of pride, but it's also a feeling of comfort for our students knowing that there are over 40 students in the building that they can call a friend. And on those first days of school when
we had probably 30 plus new students and our counselors arranged for a welcome breakfast and all of the kindness ambassadors, there was probably about 25 or 30 of them at the time came together and made welcome bags with water bottles
and what else was in there? I'm trying to remember. Snacks. >> Huh? Notebooks, pens, highlighters, >> postit. >> Postits. and they delivered those that day and sat next to a brand new student and introduced themselves as their
immediate friend and that in and of itself was incredible and that's just the momentum we've kept going this year. So I'm very proud of them. I'm very proud of the staff. I thank Miss Brady for all of your help. Of course, Dr. Kosak, you know, as the issuer of discipline, I appreciate how, you know,
you have taken this so seriously and have we've met where we need to meet in order to make this work. Um, so we're we're very proud to share this with all of you. Thank you. >> Thank you. You're welcome. Just to to to thank everybody uh let's
see, Ava for uh just reaching out to your peers, right, and to being a source of encouragement. Thank you uh for posting and for reminding them uh about their role. and uh Lindsay, when you're thinking about service and a positive
mindset, that's powerful. Um and Christina, just that area of belonging. I love the leadership that you're bringing uh to your school, to your peers, uh and to our Vernon community. Mapody, uh for reminding us that this is a family responsibility. It's not just
about uh one student. It's all of our students all in, right? Miss Brady for supporting them as a staff member and as a mentor and as a model and to uh Dr. Van Nordon and Dr. Cosk. Uh I I'm so grateful uh for all of your work and
your leadership. I had to the pleasure of sitting in Glen Meadow today as a part of uh just an opportunity to listen and learn again uh midyear and I have to say with all honesty the number one comment that I heard repeated over and over again was I love Glenn Meadow. I
love Glen Meadow. I love Glen Meadow. I love Glen Meadow, right? I could have probably said it before people walked in. Um, but they love your school. So, that's a testament to your leadership. Um, as you're thinking about restorative practices for students, I think you're embedding renewal practices for staff.
>> Thank you. >> So, I just um I'm grateful. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh and then just to some of that data I know when we think about uh to our board and our public 46% or 36% proficient uh this is I ready data and it's growth data and the data that was
represented was from fall to winter. Correct. >> Correct. >> So that means within 3 to four months you saw that type of growth. So if we can grow, if our students can grow in three to four months, then we have promise on how they can grow by the end
of the year and how that growth could be sustained. Um and I do um encourage and believe that keeping them in the classroom and these restorative practices are certainly contributing to that. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Uh so I think um I just want to pass this out if I can to the board on the side just as a reminder to our board that um one of the board's goals and one of our district goals is student
achievement and well-being. Um, and part of that goal says that we are promoting academic success and student well-being, which includes strategies that foster inclusive, safe, and supporting learning environments. And I think that's what we heard tonight. Um, just the evidence of
where we are with really being intentional and explicit about student well-being and moving from just pedagogy and ideas into action. what are the action steps that are actively being put
in place to um achieve that goal. Uh and another part of that goal was that we would really think about how we are supporting our students um especially in the most intensive areas and needs of support. At the beginning of this year,
uh we uh really took a good look at uh special education services and what type of supports are we putting in place for those students through our listening and learning conversations. It did come up over and over again that uh we needed to
reimagine, rethink about uh how we are aligning our services to our most neediest students in ways that um really place them in least restrictive environments. and that move them toward greater levels of independence. There
was um uh some thoughts around uh how are we doing that through our special services. We uh asked for a special education audit to be conducted so that we could really measure and get a pulse on our strategies on our uh programs and
services to date. That audit began at the beginning of the year. It has concluded. we have our report and our findings and this evening um Mr. Russell Fay is going to uh present those findings to the board. Uh so I invite
him up to the podium to present that to us. It will be a highle overview uh of that audit. It was conducted by allin. Uh you will hear uh not only the findings from the report but you will also hear the district's response. Um
and you can uh also expect to hear our next steps. Good. Mr. Fay. >> Okay. Thank you. Good evening everyone. >> Let me just make sure this is >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Or I could use this one too. >> Okay.
>> Hey, good evening. So, I wanted to go over the special education audit. So, thank you for the introduction there. So, um like Mr. Tendo said, we we did a commission audit and it was performed by NJ All-In um who we've worked with in the past. They're an agency that works
through districts throughout New Jersey and and they're even becoming nationwide and they're really seen as trendsetters in um you know continuing and evolving the conversation of allowing students to thrive in the least restrictive
environment uh in an inclusive setting. >> This right here. Oh, there you go. Okay, try now. >> Oh, there we go. Okay. Um, so this audit really is serving as our road map, our game plan on what we are strong in in
special education and some of the areas that we need to strengthen. So, it really looked into the full gamut of what we do and and some areas of where we can improve. And the goal is really for students to succeed in school, but also to prepare them for life, to
continue lifelong success. So, this slide really shows some of the why why we wanted to look into our special education practices. And you can see right there um our classification trend. So, you can see we're we're at
nearly 25% classification rate. So that means nearly 25% of our students in the district have an IEP. And you could see there our the state average is 17% and then the national average is even lower at about 15%.
Um so what that really shows and what the audit unpacks for us is that we have some areas of improvement in the general education setting um with our intervention uh that is offered for students. Um, another note here that we
have is 90% 96% of our students that are that are referred end up being classified. So those students that are referred for special education are being classified. And what this audit uncovered is that without the tier 2,
the tier three supports that we'll talk about with with the multi-tered system of support, um, our students are struggling and they're falling behind and they might be getting classified for special services due to that fact that they're falling behind.
And that leads really to this slide here um, that we shared with the board during the board retreat back in November. Um, so you'll see the pyramid on the left. That's the multi-tered system of support where you have 80 to 90% of the students. They're in the general
education classroom setting. They're receiving tiered one instruction. It's really good teaching practice that meets the needs of a diverse set of learners in the general education classroom. We have the tier 2 support. 10 to 15% of
the students getting a more targeted approach. It could be um pulling into the back of the room do doing more intensive instruction. And then we have the tier three which is 1 to 5% of the students. So it might be pulled out of the class for more
intensive services. In contrast, you see in Vernon here we have about 25% of our students it just goes right to special education. So we're we're lacking that tier 2 tier three support. Um so so that's a cause
for our high classification rate. So this is really some of the work that that the audit dug into. So we w we really wanted to conduct this audit to to look into that fact to look into offering students the right support
giving them a path to independence um supporting them today to build the skills for tomorrow to prepare them for life and to create a game plan and a proactive system for for our students and for our families.
So these were the big buckets that the audit looked into. What are our practices um that that I just talked about? What are our intervention systems? Our referral practices, what systems do we have? Our inclusion uh models, our IEPs, which is our
individual education plans that we have for our students that are classified and the service delivery. So NJ all-allin took a look at all of those things and in particular they looked at redacted IEPs, evaluation
reports. They looked at our our statewide data that was available on the Department of Ed website um and some other data that we were able to provide. They went around into every school building throughout the district. They looked at a variety of classroom
settings and they interviewed teachers. They interviewed case managers, related service providers. They interviewed every member of the administration. Um, and they really got a well-rounded overview of of our practice.
So, there are a lot of strengths that we have. So, we have a lot that we could build on in the department. Some of the notable ones are we have an amazing staff. They're very committed to our students. They work together very collaboratively. So, we really want to build on that strength. um that that's
really our strongest asset that we have. Um and that was highlighted time and time again in in our communications with allin just how amazing the staff that we have are. Some other strengths include um we have some really great co-eing partnerships
and we have some amazing inclusive opportunities for our students. Our unified programs are a real highlight of the district. Um, so, so those are some things that we could really expand upon and and continue to grow throughout the district. So now we have some key system findings.
These are some some gaps and opportunities to grow that that they found. Um, so these are some of the the findings that we'll go into deeper in some of the other slides. Um but really to sum summarize um we we have some in
inconsistent supports and and perhaps some increased pullout practices that could be better uh we could better serve our students in a more inclusive setting. So the first finding our multi-tered system of support uh supports aren't
consistent. Um it might vary by building. Um some students are are referred as we spoke about um because they need some instructional supports and evaluation traditionally has become uh it's the main doorway to services the
main the main access point for a struggling student to receive the support that they need to to get back to grade level to get back to where they need to be. um we have some inconsistent inclusion practices throughout the district and um a need to strengthen co-eing and
inclusive instruction. So we have some some good models throughout the district but to be more consistent throughout each building and and to be more consistent and aligned among the buildings. So this is our response. We're we're
doing a lot of work already. Um we've partnered with AIR. We're we're providing professional development to administration um to to our MTSS or our VTSS teams throughout the district. Um committees have been formed and we want to build
consistent supports throughout the district and provide a lot of professional development to staff. Um and and really the ultimate goal is is the highlight at the bottom is that stu so students can learn with their peers with the right support in their general
education classroom. So finding number two was the IEP. Um so one commendation that we got that we have compliant IEPs. Um we're meeting the timelines. All the components are there. But what we really need to strengthen is the alignment between
student needs, their goals, and the services. Um so what that means in practice is um we have a student that has a goal in the IEP, something that they're working on. So when the teacher reports out on that, we want that report to highlight what that goal is and what
the data is to support how they they are meeting that goal. Um everything should really be aligned. Um you know uh we have some cases of IEPs where where um you know the teacher might say that the student does great in class. They're
very kind. They participate a lot. That's great information, but we want to dive deeper and we want to show that um you know where the data speaks to where where they are currently, what goals are in place that will help them even strengthen where they are now and and
then what services we can put in place to help them meet that need. So, we already had a really productive team meeting with the child study team. Um and I must say that they're all really aligned with where we need to go with this. Um so it's a really really
positive meeting. Um and the expectation moving forward um that we want to work on is having the data as I spoke about in the present levels have that really inform everything what the goals are where the students educated and what
that support looks like. Um so we're already working with NJ all-allin to pro provide professional development for our staff um for our study team for our teachers administration etc. um in particular for this goal is to
align the IEP um in all the reasons um you know that I just explained. So everything is all aligned. Um and then just reviewing the expectations with building and district administration to ensure consistency.
Okay. The next finding is the least restrictive environment. So really what that means is um students being educated in the general education setting. So what the auditors found is that at an early age we're the the consistent
practice that we see is we're pulling students into more restrictive settings that um and we're really you know we need to follow the the code and the law which is general education being the the first placement that we need to look at
and not assessing um whether or not students are ready for general education but how we can educate students in that setting. how we can meet their needs in that general education classroom environment. So really it's a mindset. Um and one thing that they found with uh
some of the interviews with staff and administrators is is there are some that believe that that some of those pullout settings uh might be better for certain students. Um and some of those structures and procedures contribute to some inconsistent inclusion. And just
like everything that we're doing this year and we really want everything to be aligned not just by the building but by throughout the whole district and in this case al aligning our practice of serving the students in the general education setting.
Um some of the concerns of um of programming quality um the audit notes that that sometimes the goals are a little bit more lean toward toward readiness or behavior. um you know the goal of identifying their name rather than something that's
aligned to a curriculum content standard. So um it really goes back to providing them with general education curriculum content standard goals and aligning the goals of the IEP to those goals. So, our response um to the LRE is, you
know, we've already talked about this with the study team and we're going to going to continue to reinforce that general education being the first placement considered for all students. How can we educate our students in the general education classroom? What
supports, what specialized instruction do they need there? So, we want to really have a close eye and that starts with administrators, looking at the IEPs, um looking at how we can meet the students needs. Um looking at all the placement decisions. Um and a lot of
that goes back to professional development again and drawing on uh what professional development can we offer to focus on those inclusive practices. Okay. So the next finding is inclusive teaching. So as I mentioned there there
were some really nice models of co-eing um inclusive classroom instruction throughout the district. Um but it goes back to consistency and finding consistent practice. Um there was also um some missed opportunities. Um you know what that really means is when you
have two teachers in the classroom there's really a lot you could do. You could do station teaching um parallel teaching. There's a lot of different models you could use rather than one teaching teacher taking the lead while the other walks around the classroom monitoring, helping the students as
needed. So, we really want to leverage those partnerships and allow those teams to really work together to maximize the the potential that there is with two teachers in that classroom. Um, and that really benefits every single student in that classroom.
uh we really want to look at the the patterns of pulling out students um into more restrictive settings. Um it also highlighted that there are some programs that um may be too heavily reliant on trial teaching um and some of the
resource rooms um might limit interaction with their peers. So that's something we really want to take a close look at. So our response um we really want to strengthen the co-eing models provide professional development um on all those
models um what we can do to differentiate instruction provide the specialized instruction um and giving students the access to grade level instruction. Okay. So our next bucket our our next finding are par profofessionals or aids.
Um, so they did find that we have a aid determination process that evaluates whether or not a student does need aid support. So we were commended for having that process in place. But what they saw in practice is that sometimes uh unintentionally
um uh the aid support creates a little bit of dependency. So sometimes the students are are becoming over reliant on the aid support um and it really um kind of becomes uh you know a a little bit against of of what we want. And what
we want is student independence. Um, so what we're working on this year is is having every student that has a an aid to have an independence goal in the IEP so they could really target what the purpose of the aid is and how the
student can work towards greater independence and really have that data driven and supported um always with an eye on student independence. Okay. So, as I mentioned, um, we are working on including those goals in the
IEPs, and we have had some progress. So, we've had about 30 students so far where the level of aid support has been reduced in their IEPs. Uh, meaning if they had a one-toone aid, maybe now they have a shared aid. Um, if they had a shared aid, maybe now it's a classroom
aid. So, the goal is always for student independence. And we want that this always to be data driven and to be when the student is ready and only when they're ready for that independence. Okay. So the next finding that they looked at is our related services. So
that's speech services, occupational therapy, physical therapy. Um and what we have now is we have a lot of students that are being pulled out. So they're being pulled out of the classroom. say they have speech three times a week, for example, then they're getting pulled out of the classroom three times a week for
that service. Um, one of the concerns that the audit brought to light is this delivery model. It really reduces the time that they have in the classroom. And we really want to maximize that. There's only so many hours in the day that the students are there with their peers. And this really limits um that
access. And it really also limits their ability to um to generalize what they're learning in speech and to apply that into a real life setting whether it's their classroom um you know or just anything that they're doing with their peers.
So what we're doing with that is um we're going to work with the related services teams on increasing time of providing services within the classroom allowing the students to generalize what they're learning and apply it to to the
classroom environment. um focus on f functional skills that they could work um whether it's in the classroom or even as they get older in the high school, applying that to when they're going out to work or when they're they're doing some some work within the school. Um so that will really protect the
instructional time and allow them to maximize their time in the classroom learning alongside with their peers. Okay, so some of this I've already touched on, but there's a lot of work underway that we've started with September. So, some highlights, um, the
multi-tered systems of support, as I mentioned, there's a lot of training that's already underway. Um, so we're really moving forward, uh, really nicely with that. Um, we've already met with the child study team. We're working on strengthening the IEP quality and as I
mentioned aligning the goals with how the teachers write about those goals and how we're delivering the services in the least restrictive environment for each student and allowing them to reach those goals and reinforcing
um inclusion and co-eing expectations building student independence and using this audit as a as a road map as an action action plan to implement a plan um to to allow for student success.
And here's just some action plans that we're doing as a district and as administrators. Um we're working in all these buckets and we will be throughout this year um into next year and and into the well into the future. this audit will will really speak to the work that
we're doing and some of the big long-term goals that that we're looking at um in Vernon. So, some of the next steps um as I mentioned, we have our action plan. We're going to continue to look at um what we're measuring um how we're
reporting out on all of these things. We're already working with allin on setting up um some professional development in March um and using our professional development days next year to to really target our professional development to align with the goals in
this report based on student independence and student growth. Okay. And this is our commitment to families. And these are the things that really guides all of the work we're that we're doing. We're we're not ending support. We're evolving the ways that support is is provided. We're optimizing
it. Um we're doing everything through data. So data is going to guide guide our pathway is just as much as this audit report. It's going to inform everything that we do and we're going to continue to look at the data and how we and that will really inform how we
continue to follow this audit. Um and then we're going to have open dialogue with families, with administrators, teachers, etc. just so we could build a more inclusive district together. >> Okay. And that's my report. >> I also have some
>> Thank you. >> If Mr. Fay could stay, I uh know that we've shared the uh report with the board uh the specific um audit. Um perhaps this is a good opportunity to hear if you have any questions um that
Mr. Fay or myself could respond to. >> I have more probably more of a comment. Well, first of all, I I just want to make clear so the way we we're doing it now, right? And if we continue this way, there's a potential that we're putting somebody at
the extreme, right? They come in with a small problem and then we put them in the extreme, taking them out of classroom, which then builds a huge gap, right? If it goes on for years, that gap gets bigger and bigger. So those those kids were potentially were putting at a
very big disadvantage, right? So this tier system you're saying now is like let's it's a small problem. Let's look at it as a smaller on a smaller scale first, right? in it and see if we can adjust and then move them back to it instead of instead of causing it. But so the
children out there who still may need the extreme, >> we'll still get it. But the hope is that >> we'll find less of those people because we'll be able to adjust them their their problems earlier, right? And get them back. >> Sure. Yeah. And intervent intervention
is key to that. And if you go back to the beginning, I said we have 96% of the students that are referred end up getting an IEP. Some of those students, they're they're you know, as I mentioned, they're not getting that intervention. So, you know, that special education is looked at as a way to to
meet those needs, but without that intervention, the students in the general education setting, they might continue to struggle. It might snowball a little um where where they're not getting that support. and and you know what the intervention would do was give
them that support. Um, and then it would also show I if they're not responding to that support, you know, they go to the tier 2, they go to tier three, they're still not responding, then we go to special education, and then when they're referred, the the IEP team will have all
of that data right in front of them and it'll show how they are or how they may not be responding to the intervention and that will better inform them. And then hopefully we continue to have that 96% but we're we're meeting the then we're serving the students through IEPs
that that truly need that support that truly need that more intensive support >> and and I I just want to say I also appreciate the data that you're looking like you're trying to collect for and this is for the IEPs, right? So the goal is now when we get into those IEP when
they have an IEP meeting is we have some data to support where we're going so we can adjust those instead of like going on and on with the same IEP and maybe nothing's happening and we're waiting too too long to fix something >> or we can um roll back a little bit and
get the kid back back to where they into a g more general. Right. >> Yeah. Without that data, it's very easy to just roll over goals and to continue to do what you're doing. When you have that data, that's very powerful that that could show like, okay, this is the goal they're working on. This is the
data that supports h how they're doing. Are they achieving their goal? Are they reaching this or or do they need more to get to that goal? So, so without that data, we we don't know, you know, it's very much um user-based or, you know, it
becomes an opinion, you know, let um without that data. So, so that's why the data really needs to drive this. So, we we could see, you know, and maybe they need a new goal um you know, something um something different that they need to work on, but but data will need to speak to that and and really inform that part
of the process. The last thing is I know we started you said I forgot how many calls you started with the with the uh kids with aids and stuff. um how how how long are we projecting this it will take to to I I don't want to say fully implement
because you guys are constantly evolving right so you know we may get somewhere and still change course and go some somewhere else but how long are we looking a year or >> yeah so as far as aid support the goal we have as a child study team is to have every student that h has aid support
within their IEP to have a goal that speaks to that the the why is that there you know why is the aid support necessary and another thing where data will support that and they'll have specific goals that that the teacher can track and and that will speak to to how
they're doing with their independence because that's what it's really all about. Um, you know, there might be certain situations where a student might might have an aid and there might be a very good reason and they might ha have it throughout, but for a lot of other cases there there might be a student that that will need it at a particular
time for a particular reason and the data can speak to when that aid is no longer needed or maybe less support is needed. Um, but it will never be that that it will just get pulled away. It will be strategic. It'll be mindful and
it will be gradual. Um, and the data will always lead that process. >> I'm sorry, maybe I misspoke. I I meant uh the tier the tier level of support. How long will it take to to get uh not just AIDS? How how long? >> Oh, for the intervention. >> Yeah. Every where what is our projected
goal of when when we're going to do it? I know this is a district goal and it lines with everything. Are we are we looking is this something few years or >> Well, I I would say that yes, it's going to take time. Uh what are we doing right now? So, at the beginning of this year,
um, we met with all of our schools. Um, each of our principles has established a school-based committee. On that committee is the principal, school counselors, uh, social workers, members of the CST team, and teachers and interventionists. Um those committees
have um evaluated their multi-tered systems of support like what levels of support do we actually provide in our school to what depth is it effective is it working what are the needs and maybe what's the culture so they conducted a
needs assessment over a few months after they conducted the needs assessment they shared out those results those results said to us and Mr. Gaglaststro who is really going to continue to oversee that process along with our air consultant
who is working with us to provide specific guidance. Um they brought those results to the consultant we met. Um they went through the needs based off of our needs assessment, our survey where we are in our specific building with our
supports. These are our needs. So now that consultant is working with us and I hope that's not me. >> Okay. Um working with us uh designing professional development helping us identify what data we need.
So I think that was the last meeting. There was one this morning with the elementary the secondary principles already met with uh Mr. Prader um and so did the intervention teams. Uh our next meeting is going to say
VTSS teams come with your data. Let's take a look at that data. Let's start to identify the students that have needs. Um and let's start to identify the specific interventions that we're going to put in place and where are you going to put it in place? Where in your
schedule? What are the structures? How are you going to make this practical? And I think that's probably maybe the plum line that we're hearing from uh Glenn Meadow's presentation moving from the idea of restorative into practical application. What does it look like
actively to here? Um I don't think this audit these findings were surprised, right, Mr. Fay? >> No, >> we we had our thumb on that. We needed to have it confirmed, right? Go in, get us the data. Is this actually what we're seeing? Are we accurately seeing this?
And yes, we're accurately seeing it. So now we need to put this in place. So with these teams, I think by the end of this year, they're going to have clear action plans and training that's already in place. And
you will see uh later on, maybe I'm pre-stating this, right? There's going to be some scheduling changes at the high school to include include intervention. There's going to be some scheduling um um adjustments at the middle school to include intervention
and there are going to be scheduling adjustments done at Lounsbury to include intervention. Um those are actionable steps that will be in place next year. Right? So that will be a year one step. Remember we're developing a strategic plan. How long the strategic plan?
>> Five years. >> Five years. Right? So these are our year one steps and I would say our year zero steps because we're already in play. Um so next year we will see those adjustments to schedules and in a few minutes Mr. Slam and I are going to just
provide a brief update on our budget. uh these have budget implications, but you will see that we are being very thoughtful, very methodical and strategic with our budget and we're going to say to the board and present um
at our next board meeting. Um these are the things that we have that are great, wonderful, but we need to convert them. We need to convert them and move them into this bucket over here because we need intervention without doubt. We need intervention. We don't have intervention
at Lounsbury, which is our school that needs the greatest support academically. We need periods of intervention that are explicit for ELA and math at Glen Meadow and in 9th grade in our algebra classes. So, we're going to move around some resources. This is a non-negotiable for
us because right now our strategy as a district K through 12 is in the absence of intervention classify. >> Right. >> Right. So
that's a strong statement. I recognize what Right. This is what our findings are saying. This is what our audit findings are saying. I think our leadership team were all in agreement that this is a priority. We met with our CST teams. They went
through the findings with us line by line. Line by line. I don't think there was any surprise. They agreed, right? >> They there was a lot of head nodding there. This is who we are. This is what we we're doing. Uh I think I think um in my experience uh that uh that's the
battle half already won that we are acknowledging that we know that this is an area that we're in um that we need to uh put the proper interventions in place have that as a system of tiered supports
so that we go there first. We give the students the supports that they need in the classroom. That's tier one. Maybe with some very selective pull out, that's tier two. Or push in when there
are a lot of students that need the support. And only when the student is showing no growth or very limited growth after we've done all that we needed to do, after that we've put in all of the interventions, then we say, let's
assess, let's evaluate, could this be a disability? But we can't jump from difficulty to disability. We can't do that. We have to go through difficulty intervention tier one, intervention tier 2, intervention
tier three, sustained over a period of time, frequent monitoring, making sure that what we're seeing is what we're seeing. And if there is a disability, then we give the student all of the support that they need. All of it. All
of it. And when it's not, give the student all of the support that they need. Right? But it cannot be it cannot be that we jump to the most restrictive first, right? Um I love the philosophy that we're adopting and
that's moving our students toward independence. We need to move them toward independence. Um and so then um intervention is not a place that we live, it's a place that we visit. >> Right? So when we go to intervention,
we're being um we're receiving the the the strategies, the treatment that's necessary and we gradually release. We don't make the student dependent on the adult or dependent on the intervention.
We must have our eye toward independence, right? Um and so um I think that applies to all of our our little ones, our older ones, right, as a community. So five-year plan is what we will put in writing.
>> Um we will have year one things, year two things. Uh what can the board expect? Uh the CST teams have already started to write an action plan in direct response to the findings. Uh we will continue to work on that action
plan over the next month and then we will provide that to the board so that you could see what our five-year plan is. We will fold that into our strategic plan and we will fold that into district goal number one, student well-being, promote academic success um and student
support services so that all students succeed. Right? That's our goal. It will take time but we will be proactive and active and moving. Okay? And we will report out. >> Are there any other questions?
>> Thank you. I think it's this is going to be a game changer for our district. So you guys have >> making good progress. Thank you. >> Miss Pellet, >> uh, you you already spoke to my question, so I'm good. Thank you. >> Yes.
>> Okay. Are there any other questions? >> I just want to um Well, this is really important stuff. Thank you so much for the pursuing the audit, the report, your attention to it. And I just wanted to underscore your attention to professional development for teachers too.
>> Um, if you can imagine this shift like taking place in our schools, like what it'll look like daytoday, it's going to mean that the makeup of the classes is going to start to shift. that the, you know, diversity of needs in in any given classroom is going to be wider and that
the as you get these co-eing models that they're talking about, there's going to have to be an increased, you know, it's like on the job training for different strategies for co-eing more effectively and for meeting the needs this this more student centered instruction. you know,
these ways to meet the needs of this like a group of students that has a wider range of specific needs and abilities and strengths. And so that's a lot, you know, that's a that's a big shift for teachers
>> and uh I I appreciate your attention to professional development along the road for teachers to feel empowered rather than overwhelmed. And I think too you're like the it's so nicely aligned our attention to curricular alignment because
you're putting like new learning for some teachers on but maybe there's less maybe as the curriculum is more established then there's a little bit less that they have to do in terms of preparation for the lessons or designing of the lessons right there might be more
supports there or for the assessment piece of the how they're going to gather the data maybe we're giving giving them some more supports there so that they can open up to learn these new strategies for instruction or co-eing or something. So I think they're going to
like dovetail nicely with each other. And I just want to name that that's it's a going to be a shift for the teacher. For some teachers depending on different things, your different training that you've had previously, what classes you teach, your experience, like it there's going to be a variety. They'll be
teacher leaders who who are like, "Yes, I learned all about this two years ago in school and I'm ready to implement it." Um, and other people who have experience with different models from different districts. So, you know, capitalizing on all of that uh knowledge and experience that we have and the
instructional coaching that we put in place and I think all of that should be helpful. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Agreed. Thank you. >> Thank you for that. Um >> Yes. And yes, a a lot of this is going to be dependent on professional
development and so this is another area, right? What is the statement? Our budget is a fiscal representation of our priorities. our priorities and our needs. >> Yeah. Our budget is a fiscal representation of our priorities and our needs. And what percentage of our budget
is for curriculum and instruction and programs? >> About 6%. >> I'll say that again. >> What percentage? We should all be able to answer this, right? What percentage of our budget? >> Four to 6%. So that's not the area we
can cut board. It's not in curriculum and instruction. We can't. We did that a few years ago. We're feeling it, right? And so then we're we're going to have to really think about how will this budget represent our priorities and our needs for our
students in our classrooms. And so then we again are uh thoughtfully taking a look at how are we going to move some things around so that the priorities are what the priorities are and that's our students.
professional development goes without say if we don't teach into our gaps and our needs, we won't see progress. Um, our district in service on March 16th, uh, we already have, we've already just
changed the right, Mr. Gad, we've already changed it, right? We go with our need. What is our need? So, um, a lot of the teachers, uh, one of the strengths that you heard in the audit findings were that our teachers are collaborative and they want to do right
by our students. That's just, uh, it's clear, right? It's clear. Um, and so then what tools and strategies do we put in their hands? I think one of the fears that we're hearing is if I let up on this intense support, are they going to be okay?
Really, it's it's it's honest. It's authentic. It's genuine. It's saying if if we don't give them all of it, are they going to be okay? So, how do we address that? The professional development. Well, let's give you the tools and the resources. Let's intensify the tools and the resources for the
adults, the strategies for the instruction, the resources for the students in the classroom so that the teachers feel a little better and families saying, "Okay, let's let's gradually release. Let's let up a little bit and let's see and watch the student
demonstrate the independence so that we can breathe easy. Right? It's like the child who's learning how to walk and you have to let them fall down a few times. Right? So, we have to and I don't mean to be trit. It's just an example. Right? We have to gradually release on some of these more intensive supports so that the students can move toward
independence. And when we see that they're okay, they're going to be okay. We're not going to do anything that's going to to hurt them, right? But we need to move them toward independence. So the professional development is going to be key. We're starting uh March 16th,
we have u someone coming in from allin to address behavior. Why? Because in the IEPs, we're saying, well, it's because of behavior. It's because of the behavior. Well, then that's not a disability, right? That's behavior. So let's address the behavior, right? Um we're having to learn how to
weave data, better data into the IP. So we have someone coming in for that. We'll start there. two goals. We can start now. We'll work our way there, right? Um, no one silver bullet and no instant magic.
It's not. It's time. It's learning. But I think what we have here unique in Vernon is willingness, is commitment, is collaboration, is I'm all in. Teach me, help me. We'll do it. We'll do it together. So, I think we have that.
Yeah. Any other questions? >> Um, so just for clarification, the goals presented in this looks like greater emphasis on like the inclusion model and reducing dependency on pullout
services, right? So in the case that in the case of like collab services for something like speech or OT, if we're trying to shift that to more push in, how would that I mean as far as
classroom organization goes, how would that work? >> You want to speak to that? >> Yeah, that that's a good question. Um, so so how it would work in the class, it would really vary by by age level. It could vary by the class. Um, but you know, in in some of the younger grades,
for example, if we're we're looking at speech, we we might have a a handful of students in a particular class that that do get speech support. So rather than pulling them out into a group, the group can be within the class and it could be within the natural learning environment. If they're working on, let's say, the L
sound, they could work on that with whatever lesson the teacher is working on. We already have um shared time that that our staff can collaborate. We want to continue to build on that. So the speech team can work with the teacher. What goals are you working on? The speech therapist can, you know, have
their goals and they could blend them together. How can I carry out my lesson um while, you know, the speech therapist is in there um carrying out those goals? And that's actually really good for the teacher, too. I I was a teacher um where
I had related service providers using this model in my classroom. I would learn a lot and then I would be able to carry out a lot of those goals when the speech therapist isn't even there um because I would be learning some of that practice and then be able to continue to emphasize those things with my student.
So that's really one example of how you can you know it's not only benefiting the kids, it's keeping them in the classroom, keeping keeping it um you know practical with what they're already doing during the day and then the teacher learns too and they could also collaborate naturally with the provider.
um you know and then the the skill can be carried out throughout the week and not just during that 30 minute period >> and I would uh add to that this is a mixed delivery model correct so it's not saying no pull out it's saying where we need pull out we provide pull pull out
and where we're able to push in because the student can receive that level of intervention then that's appropriate right so it's a mixed delivery model versus a pullout model only And I think right now we're in a pullout model only
and we're in a heavily dependent pullout model as the uh as Mr. Fay said as our um I keep pointing up here as our audit said um the the mindset right now is the only way we could provide this service
is in pull out. And so then we're just going to really think about well is that the only way we could provide the service? Are there other ways? Can we mix the model depending on the need of the student? Um, and I think the answer to that is yes. We will be careful. We will be caut cautious. We will look at
our data. It will be um a non-subjective response and a nonquick reactive response. Um, but we will look to mix the delivery model so that we can begin to move students toward greater levels of independence. And one thing we're already doing is we we we've implemented
a threetoone model, which means if a student gets a service four times in a month, three of those times would be a pull out, but the fourth time would be in the classroom. So that's something we're already doing and something we want to lean more into um into that practice. So So for a lot of students,
that might be a good combination, you know, targeted outside, but then generalize within the classroom, within their natural setting as well. Thank you. >> Questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Fay.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I think we're done with the presentation. >> Yeah. I'm sorry. No, we're going to speak through it. >> Um Are you going to >> We'll do the superintendent report after
>> Oh, that's going to be in the super. I get it. All right. I got it. >> Okay. All right. Moving on. Uh board report summary. We have a community relations, a strategic plan ad hoc, Mr. Fisher, and also technology. Mr. The floor is yours, sir. Okay. So, we
start with um community relations. So, we haven't had a community relations meeting since our last board meeting. Uh, and uh, Ebony, I guess you're going to talk about strategic planning, but
one thing I did want to address was the, uh, stipen position that we have for, um, uh, social media. So, uh, what I wanted to say was, uh, we all know Stephanie and I ran, uh, on a ticket
together, and one of the the main planks in our platform was a need for transparency, uh, and and the thought that the board needed to communicate with the public uh, more. So, when Stephanie A and I got
elected, we requested to be on the community relations committee. And one of the things that we addressed almost immediately uh was how to communicate more with the public and and we uh stressed the need for social media. Uh so this was
something that was discussed in committee. Um we found out that we did have a faculty member who was uh doing social media but it was on a voluntary basis and it wasn't very regular. Um so
we thought there was a need for a stipen position for uh social media. We discussed uh the possibility of of using uh a Vernon faculty member uh as a a
stipen position but we also felt that um any faculty member would be uh maybe participating in the events that they're supposed to cover. So, we just didn't think maybe they had the time. We did discuss a high school student and uh we
also thought that that probably wasn't going to work out. So, uh we ended up hiring a college student for the the position. Um I always forget if she goes to Montlair or or Ramapo, but it's one
of So, we have a a college student uh who's doing this position and I I feel it's important. Uh we've got a a much more increased social media presence since Melanie came on board and um you know if you if you ask me I think we're
getting good value for our money. I think she's doing a really good job. Uh she covers all the events on her own. She does all the editing on her own. She's contributed to our website. Uh so this is a position that that now as
chair of community relations I support. Uh, but I also want to stress that this is something that you can see right here was one of the board goals to increase our social media presence. Uh, this is something that was framed out in
committee before Ebony was even hired. Uh, and something I believe we actually voted on in September or October. So, um it it's nothing new and this was uh a board decision originated in committee
uh probably with myself and Stephanie and something I continue to support. So, that's something that I wanted to say about that stipen position. That's all I have for community relations uh technology. We had our uh last
meeting on February 3rd uh 2026. Uh the meeting was at Walnut Ridge and virtual. Uh in attendance, Vinnie Gagloststro, Evony De Mendez, Jennifer Pellet, Alice Nichols. I see somebody
corrected. Was that Vinnie? Corrected my spelling of Alice Nichols. Spelled it wrong. Uh Charlie Smaglia, Nick Glasso, and myself. The meeting began at 4:05. Uh the project to coordinate with other
districts on technology uh did get stolled over the holidays. That was on me, but we will be picking that up again and it remains a committee goal. Uh Ebony addressed the policies regarding volunteers in the buildings.
Uh and keeping track of who is in the buildings has become a very complicated process. Uh, Share 911, an app that was originally designed for uh, active shooter situations, is now on
the phone of faculty members. Uh, it sends alerts to staff in case of emergencies and notifies them of the nature of the emergency. Anyone who's on the app can send uh, out an emergency. However, it does track users and it's
more than a one-step process to actually send an alert uh which prevents accidental alarms or malicious use. Uh Alice asked if all staff members have the app and Evan said they did not. >> Not yet. We're rolling it out. It's
>> okay. >> But it was also a question of whether you can actually ask >> a staff member to put a district app on a personal phone. what Ebony spoke to the union who was receptive. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Um we had our first paperless board
meeting last month. Everyone thought it went well. Uh Alice asked if we could have pass key access for our notebooks and Nick's going to look into that. Uh Nick made a recommendation to replace staff laptops across the district, which
he predicts will save the district $9,300 annually. He believes we're going to get a better device at less cost. I believe that's on our itinerary tonight. And we discussed redoing our copier and
printer leases. Our large format printer had an end of life of 2022 and XM fax needs to be HIPPA compliant for all the nurs's office. We also discussed cyber security uh but
obviously those discussions have to remain private. Thank you. Anybody have any questions for Mr. Fischer? Okay, let's move on to our student liaison report. Mr. McDonald, you have the floor. Um, first I would just like to say that
kindness ambassadors program that you guys implemented in the middle school. I wish that we had that when I was in middle school because that would have absolutely been like the highlight of my day. And I know we had Dr. K's helpful hints of the day. I don't know if you still do that,
>> but um it that's truly and that's such a a beautiful thing for the eighth graders to bring on to high school. So, I I hope that we can implement something along those lines in the next couple years like that, too. So, thank you for that. >> Um, first things first, on Monday the
2nd, our students were encouraged to wear pink in honor of Adrienne Kovac as it was her favorite color. Um, we had around I want to say 200 kids in the color pink all day. Uh, we gathered in the auditorium. We took a moment of
silence. Um, and we took a It was just it was a great bonding moment for kids all across the school. There was not a singular person out there that um wasn't in support of what she had gone through.
And it was a wonderful uh just gathering to have for all of us. I think >> um our winter sports. So, ice hockey is currently 312 and one and their season has come to an end. Um, as uh Mr. Krauss
mentioned earlier, Klaus Harding hit um 104 saves in one game out of 108 shots. Incredible. That is so I wasn't there, but I have spoken to uh our coaches and
the game that I had done stats for a couple months ago. I also spoke to his travel coach and he constantly compliments him on how great of a player he is, how great of a teammate he is. So, true shout out to him for really pulling through in that game. Um, our
boys basketball is 11 and 10. Girls basketball is 8 and 14. Um, with a highlight of Monica Curry. She just became the second girl in school history to reach a thousand career points. That happened on January 23rd. Um, girls swim. They are four and six
and they had a very successful day at the Sussex County Champs. Um, Elizabeth, no that does not say Elizabeth. Isabella Kaziki um, a freshman swimmer set a new county record in both the 50 and 100 meter freestyles.
Moren Love it, Julie Evanick, Gabriella Sephilone, Juliet Schwarz, and Carly Emmerce won second for their freestyle re relays. Um, and they also had a 99 over 70
victory against uh, Pquanic in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament. Um, TBD, if they won, I'm not sure yet. >> Boy swim is three and four. Bowling is 15 and5. That is a humongous win for
them. Girls wrestling is currently 13 and six and they had a very successful NJACK tournament. Uh the highlights were Melody Guzik of Church. She won first in her weight class. Violet Henderson placed third, Elizabeth, why do I keep saying
Elizabeth? It says Isabella. Um Isabella Elder in fourth. Uh Katie Tianella who if you remember Tina last year. That is her younger sister. She placed fourth. Kaylin Hay who earned her 75th win. Um and they went undefeated in their quad
which was a huge win over Ramsay the number seven team in the state from 36-35. Um boys wrestling is currently 1 and4 and unified basketball just started playing their games and they're currently 2 and 0. Um they have a very
exciting tournament tomorrow night. I will be there. A bunch of the basketball players from both sides will be there. It is so exciting to watch them and it is like so we have cheerleaders and everything. So please come on out. Um we
currently have a spring sports meeting scheduled for next Monday for the upcoming season. Our clubs are doing just dandy mock trial one. It's a I don't simulation over High Point. Um
that was led by Axel Bourne and Lauren Boseby. DECA is continuing to prepare for states in Atlantic City. Um we have our spring SAT team that just
went out and our teen mental health first aid is starting their sessions this week. Our Junior prom committee just started meeting and their prom is going to be held at Blue Arrow Farms in May. Uh, our performing arts next. The
theater department continues to do rehearsals for the spring musical. Tickets are on sale, by the way. So, I implore you all to buy tickets because it's truly I think it's going to be one of our best musicals in a long time. Um, our poster competition had its
results with Juliet Jalar. Indoor Guard placed first on 124 at their competition in Rest Orange, second at Hillsboro, and first at Lakeland. And those are all three consecutive weekends they won. Um, choir had a very
successful Broadway night. They performed drag time and they had singing Valentine's on February 13th. They sold over 50 singing Valentines to students and and teachers. Uh honor society, our thespian honor
society uh was happened this past last week, not this past Wednesday but last Wednesday. Um we inducted 10 10 new members and five of our seniors reached the international level and one standing seed senior had already reached that
level last year. I'd like to point out this international level means that you have put in over 1,800 hours of work into the theater department anywhere. Um, our standing senior Joey, uh, Joseph
Delaney, who has already reached this level, has a total of 288 points recognizing 2,880 hours of theater work. >> Wow. So, I feel like that is a very
snaps all over the place going out. Yes. Um, math honor society is picking out officers and preparing for the induction ceremony. Um, the senior class, hi. Uh, we really need money, so please go to Franklin on
February 24th and 20% of all of our proceeds go to the class. Um, the junior class is having a uh it's it's called needs your support. I would assume it's like snap raise. Um that is running from February 11th, so
this past Wednesday until the 25th. So if you were interested, um I have a group code to register if anyone would like it. Um the junior class, I already said they are picking their classes for the next school year. Their prom is
blur. I already said that. Um the senior class scholarships and opportunities are coming in crazy. their uh opportunities from local businesses and nonprofits are pouring in. I think we have like 17 scholarship opportunities that are out
right now. So, that is incredible. Um, our senior trip got announced and our senior prom will be will be held at the barn at Habanasia, um, which is in Middletown, New York. It's very, very pretty. And that is all
I have. >> Thank you, John. What was the date on that Franklin fundraiser? >> February 24th. >> And in the Franklin Dino. >> Um, no. In Wendy's. >> Oh, Wendy's. Okay. >> We're very classy. >> I like Wendy's, too.
>> February 24th at Wendy's. >> Okay. >> So, I had two comments about your comments. So, just did a quick calculation. 2,280 hours is 120 straight days.
>> Just to put that into context. >> Yes. >> And Ray, you can verify this for me. 104 saves, 108 shots. I mean, that's I'm still stuck on that. I mean, 30 or 40 shots in a game is a lot. Yeah,
>> most I see that we had 80 something. We actually lost to one. But think about it's only a 45minute game. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> That never caught >> anything, you know.
I think it was a state record. >> Yeah, I think so. Yeah. >> Unbelievable game just to stay and big only gave up four goals. So, >> yeah. relatively close game even though >> Yeah. I believe the end score was like two to four. >> Yeah.
>> It is not. >> It is an unbelievable performance. >> Yeah. That's crazy. >> Can you pronounce his last name again? I think I pronounced it wrong. I called it hard house because I took it out of the newspaper. Is it Harding? >> Um I believe it's Harding. It's >> I apologize because I pronounced his
name wrong. Okay. All right. >> I just know him as Claus. Clouse. >> There you go. Clouse. >> I' I've known as Krauss my whole life. >> Be best friends. >> I'm thinking so. >> All right. Well, thank you. Um Okay.
It's time for public comment for agenda items only or student matters. Um is there anybody from the the audience that would like to make a comment? >> And I need to read the uh statement. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> That's go for that. >> We can skip
I'll read it. Uh during the course of the public meeting of the Vernon 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 the operations of
the school district. Issues that are raised by the members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board or administration at the time of the meeting or at any time. All comments will be considered and response be forthcoming if and when appropriate. Board requests that members of the public keep their comments to limit to five minutes, be courteous, respectful,
and mindful 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 and may or may not be responded to by the board or administration. Be advised that students and employee and employees have rights, confidentiality,
and other productions under the law. Student name should never be used. The board bears no responsibility nor will be liable for any comments made by the public during this public portion of the board meeting. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those rights of those affected or identified in their comments
and be aware they are person legally responsible with potential liability for the comments that they made to the board. >> Thank you, Mr. SL. Okay. Is there anyone from the public inside here that wants to come up and make any comments?
Okay, seeing none. Is there anyone online? Do we have anybody? >> There's nobody online. >> Then I guess we're closing public comment for now. Thank you very much, >> Ray. That was just for fun. You just like to read that. >> Sure.
>> Okay, we're up to the superintendence report. Ms. De Mendes, you have the floor. >> Yeah. Um, prior to the superintendent report, uh, I would like to to ask for a moment of silence uh in memory of Adrienne Kovac. Um Adrienne is one of
our own. Uh she was a Vernon Township High School student who passed away on January 22nd, 2026 after a courageous 9-month battle with DIPG, which is an aggressive form of brain cancer. So, if we could take a
moment of silence in honor of her. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, we will move on to our superintendent report uh for this evening. Um, and that we'll begin with a
budget update. Uh, tonight's update on our budget is a highle snapshot of where we are in the process um and the key priorities that are guiding our work. Uh, this is in alignment with uh our district goals
number two and four. Number two uh is our communication goal around being transparent with our community um around having coordinated uh communications so that we can update our public regularly
on where we are with key um initiatives um and drivers that affect our community. And then um district goal number four which uh thinks about finance um and making sure that these longterm
budget goals are in alignment with our educational priorities. Uh so therefore uh tonight uh we're going to present that highle snapshot. Mr. Slam and I co-chared by or facilitated right by our
administrator Mr. administrative liaison Mr. Slam. Uh that committee does meet monthly. Um uh the board does provide ongoing budget oversight. uh where the budget is reviewed, the assumptions, the
emerging needs, the planning considerations. The committee does report out at each board meeting. Um and I would like to encourage or continue to encourage our public um if you're not able to attend the board meetings so that you are aware of those uh budget
updates um from those committee meetings to watch our uh board meeting on YouTube. Um, we have identified the different spots in the YouTube video where you can scroll through and go right to the budget section if you're
unable to watch the entire meeting. Uh, that way you can get an update. Um, also um, if you're unable to receive the updates, um, Mr. Slam has uh developed um a budget update on the website. Um
and we are posting it here. Um sorry, I'm I'm jumping around here. Uh so this is where we will be posting all of the updates to our budget. Um again, this is to strengthen transparency, to make
budget information easier to access. Um, we have expanded the budget resources that are posted here on the district business office web page and they include the budget calendar, the budget FAQs, common budget terms, current and
past budget information, and we will begin to post our 2026 and 27 budget updates here. So, to our community and to our families, you can go to our district website. You can click on the link in the center of the page called
business department and then you will have all of our information. Mr. Slam, can you just walk us through the highlights here? >> Uh so this this is just our uh landing page here providing you know overview of this year's budget, some of the uh
challenges we face. Um you know talks a little bit about the percentage of where our costs go. for example, 74% of the budget in 2526 uh went to essentially salaries and health benefits, right? Uh so it has some information like that that which I
find useful and things useful for uh the public to to know and understand. Uh we also have um if you if you can click over to the uh budget calendar, we'll we'll show the budget calendar uh which will be updating as we move through the process. I'm going to have to click through the
links. We're a bit slow to just crash back up, but not >> it's loading very slowly. So, essentially uh what you'll see uh if we're not able to bring it up tonight is a uh list of the dates and timelines for
the creation of our budget. It'll have a nice little arrow to the side showing you at what point of that timeline we are currently at. And then it'll also list future and upcoming uh dates. Oh, there we go. Uh so right there you see we're in February 26 down there with the red arrow. And you scroll down it'll
show the current dates. Uh there is a chance uh that law may pass that'll change some of those dates towards the end based off of delay and state. Uh however at this point these are the current dates as of today. Um if we go back to the uh main uh page that we were
just on uh we can click on budget FAQs. Um, these are just uh some questions that over the years I've uh seen come up uh pretty often. Uh, so I think there's probably around 13 or 14 questions and answers there. You can click on each one, it'll give you uh the answer to
each question. Um, and then um under uh the common budget terms, uh these are just some terms that uh I find are important uh to understand when going about the school budget process. As we know, school budget process is kind of
it's its own animal, its own thing. It's it's quite different than, you know, other budget process that you might see. Um, so these are some terms that are very important and a good starting place uh when you're getting involved uh and following our budget process this year. Uh and then when you go into current and past budget information, uh that'll
basically give you if you you click on one of those tabs, it'll give you our past uh budget presentations and then it'll also give you the userfriendly budget uh for each year. uh user friendly budget is a good uh resource because every uh district in the state
is required to post that. Um and it has the same information on every user friendly budget. It is a consistent format though by the state. >> And then you're going to add one more page which is our 2627 projected budget. Correct. >> Uh it'll be 2627 budget updates. Uh and
that'll be a place where we'll be providing um it'll be kind of a centralized location uh where people can have the updates that we're reporting out at board meetings. They'll be posted there as well. Uh if you miss the board meeting, you can go on there, you can click uh depending on the length of that update, it'll either be a PDF or if it
or if it's a shorter update in between, uh it may just be text that's added there. We'll see. Uh we don't want to get too crazy there. So, we're still working on the format of it, but >> Great. Thank you. Thank you for developing this. Um, again, our goal is to be transparent with our community about our progress uh toward our budget
and not wait until March's presentation. Understanding that um our community uh does not attend all of our uh board meetings, we will send out a letter to our community this week um to let them know uh here's where we are with our
budget update. Um here is our website. These are the items that you can find and this is what you can expect to find in the upcoming weeks. All right. Um, so where are we in this mid-year budget review? On November 24th, my birthday, we submitted the midyear budget review
uh to the county as part of the annual fiscal oversight process. So, that's already been accomplished. On January 26th, our district leaders met with the county superintendent to review the district's overall budget outlook and key planning areas. Um, the topics that
were reviewed included the employee benefit cost trends, our preschool implementation, um, this is not on this site here, so we can take this down now. I'm just reading from my report. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, our instructional priorities in curriculum. We talked to the county
about our special education programming trends. Uh, they asked us about our facilities planning and major initiatives. up. We did discuss that our health benefits increased uh by 25%. Um we talked to them about our um uh
capital projects and our major initiatives. Uh they gave us great commendation and positive feedback uh specifically on our collaborative planning on the clarity of our documentation. They gave us con um commendation on the systems that we're strengthening to support our students um
on the collaboration across our department and schools um and um I think they were really pleased with where we are at this point um in our budget process. Would you like to talk to us about our position control roster and our budget meetings?
>> Uh absolutely. So uh one of the most important things we saw 74% of the budget uh for 2526 I u is salaries and benefits uh based off of that health benefit increase I anticipate that percentage will be higher this year uh 25% increased health benefits is quite
high uh so it's very important that when we're going through uh and developing a budget control roster and we we started initially in December uh probably actually prior to probably November and we're tweaking as we go along to make sure it's accurate because as things we go through the year some things change. You know, there may be some people that
retire, individuals that retire, there may be some changes. We want to make sure we're have it accurate as possible. Um because that is a majority of our budget. Um so it's just essentially the one of the most important building blocks of the budget is making sure that PCR is
correct because if you're not accurate there, uh you're already starting off behind uh in your next budget year. Uh in terms of budget meetings, uh we did have meetings with uh administration across the district, our different budget managers. Uh we went through the school and department budgets. Uh we
went over prior year spending patterns. And this is something I continue to do as we're tweaking the budget and finalizing the budget and usually looking back at least two years. Uh so I'm looking to see what our final spend was last year, looking to see what our spend is uh this year, and then using that information plus the request to try
to project where we'll be next year. Um, so the other thing I like to say a lot and it's actually one of my definitions uh up there on the common budget terms is that the budget is a living document. Um, so just remember this is a projection for what we think things are going to cost a year from now. So that's
why it's a living document. We also uh look for operational efficiencies wherever we can. It is going to be as Mr. Mendes says a very difficult budget. Um there's uncertainty around where state aid numbers will be. uh that state aid is delayed till March
12th, which is going to add uncertainty to that and also shorten our timeline. Uh so let's talk about some of the positive things, right? Uh because everyone's used to be saying, "Hey, it's going to be tough." So uh but here are some of the positive things. So some of the highlights were um and this
has come up already tonight in some of the conversations we've had earlier with the presentations. uh curriculum coherence uh program alignment uh student support systems including multi-tered uh uh system of supports uh service uh continued continuity um special education and programming
special delivery consider service delivery considerations which we spoke about earlier with Mr. Fay um and then also supplies instructional resources uh and facilities and operation planning items. >> Yeah. So I'm going to lean into some of
those a little bit. Uh as you know uh we have entered into our strategic planning um and we heard from our community, from our staff, from our parents and our families. Um at both of our sessions now
in and uh January 8th, I believe it was. And in February, we heard um in our surveys, we had maybe 80 responses to our first one. We released a second one. We've received an additional about 40 responses to that one so far. Um, and
our community is speaking to us about our priorities. What do they believe our priorities are? The number one priority right now that has risen to the top. >> What do we think? Do we know >> that was number one? Communication was
number one. It's now taken second seat to >> special ed curriculum and instruction >> alignment >> with the schools. Yeah. All the changes. Right. So the changes we're here for K1,
we're here for 23. We're here for 45. We're here for 68. Where's the congruence, the coherence in our programs and in our continuity? So that is our priority. curriculum coherence K8
um and algebra 1 is our right now year one priority. Um so this year we're focused on strengthening that coherence. We have already started meeting with committee in our curriculum coherence
committee. We have two teachers per grade level plus a special education teacher per grad span and an ESL teacher and our interventionist. So we are a group of about 38.
We are in the room together K through 8 and algebra 1 to evaluate our ELA curriculum K through 8 and our math curriculum 4 through 8 in algebra 1 in grade 9. We've already met once for a
full day. We have six days that we're meeting full days through June. We've met day one for a full day to begin evaluating our programs. What does coherence look like? Where do we need to better align?
Are there any adjustments that need to be made entering into September? And how are we looking at that against research, against best practices, against data? We've had some really good conversations around what
that curriculum coherence may look like. We're coming back together on March 4th. After that meeting, we had our ELA consultant from Ruckers. If you recall, the board approved that to help us because we don't have a content area supervisor in that area. After that
meeting took place, she pushed into all of the schools. She met with the curriculum coherence committee members in small group to find out what is your need, what is your need right now? How are we going to move forward and
what is it going to require instructionally from professional development to resources to support that work in ELA? Um, so we are moving, we are making gains. We have five meetings on the books through June so that we can
come back to the board and make recommendations um and so that we can start revising our curriculum to align to our instructional goals where we're going to embed those tier one supports we heard about so that
the teachers are not wondering how do I support the students that they have it directly in the curriculum. >> Ebony, is that going to cost money? Yes, this is a budget update. Okay. However, at this time in reviewing
the budget, we believe we can make the progress that we need with curriculum coherence with most of the resources that we already have reallocating. There's probably some additional supports that we need such as classroom libraries and things like that, but I
think we have some strategies in place for how we're going to achieve that without increasing our budget. greatly. Um so I am confident that we will be able to meet our curriculum coherence needs um with the budget that we have
and maybe a little bit of additional support but nothing that should strain us. Okay, that was a big question that was asked. How are you going to do that? I think we're going to be okay. All right, the second big initiative is multi-tiered systems of support. We
talked about our committees. We talked about needing interventions and we talked about the fact that Lounsbury doesn't have interventionists. So we are going to in this budget recommend for interventionists but again we believe that we have already identified a way to
repurpose some of our roles so that we can accomplish that. Again no additional um demand on our budget. Um but we do believe that this is an integral part of the work. you will see it as a priority and again we will accomplish that by realigning roles.
Uh our special education audit we heard the findings today. Um it will create needs around professional development specifically. We believe that we can accomplish that through some of our grant funding. We believe that we can accomplish that through some concrete in
district professional development days that are aligned to those goals. So we are going to certainly place that in our budget. But again, it's realigning so that we are um sitting in our priorities because they have been defined as a system in a way that they're all working
together. Right? You said, I don't remember the term that you used, but this is intentional. So, we're saying that our needs around special education, our needs around multi-tered systems of support, and our needs around curriculum coherence is one need.
We're just attacking the problem from all ends. It's a systems approach. Okay. So, um I believe that um really taking a look at how we're using our resources, how we're using our human resources, and how we may be realigning those to meet
those specific three big buckets that we're going to be focusing in on um in our strategic plan over the next 5 years in a very concentrated way. I I feel confident that we're going to meet those needs. Yeah. Would you agree? >> Yeah. Got to find the money. Yeah,
>> find the money. Find the money. >> I give him Ajida. >> Disclaimer, seed has not been released yet. >> We're working on it though. Um, why am I sharing this now? Um, we are taking a very hard look at this budget. We are
going line by line. We are saying what are the things that um we absolutely must have as a non-negotiable. Um, it will be a tough budget. We know that that's not new to Vernon. It's not new to our county, our state, our nation. Um
these are things that um really press up against our um ability to provide quality instructional programs for our students. Uh however um we will do that responsibly. Um where are we today? Our central
office team is going to continue to review the requests that we have um around staffing uh around our class sizes around our um intervention needs. Uh we are looking to reconcile our
expenditures and project our revenue and all of those u things that are critical for a fiscally responsible budget. Um as Mr. Slam mentioned uh we are expecting our state aid notification. This is probably what you should be talking about and I jumped in so I'm going to
give it back to him. >> Uh yeah. So right now it looks like it's going to be March 12th. That's about a twoe delay. We usually get it at the very end of February. Um and that's that two week delay is uh based off of a new governor. Uh usually there's a delay. We
got a twoe delay based off the transition to a new governor. Uh that is uh quite difficult because the budget is due to the county on March 19th. Uh so it'll be a very quick uh turnaround. Um you know once data aid is released uh we'll have to make adjustments. It'll be
like I said a compressed timeline the county by 319. There is a chance that 319D may be moved back but um nothing is certain about that. So we are working to 319. Right. Uh that's where we are now. If there's a change we'll update
everybody. Um again difficult budget so numbers are gonna be they're very important every year. It's it's about like 24 25% of our overall revenue. Um, so it's it's going to be important and any changes there are going to have big impacts on where
what this final budget ends up looking like uh based off of current expenses that we know are already increasing like health benefits and projected uh expenses uh for so couple important dates uh March 19th right now is the preliminary budget uh
presentation uh you know after that presentation um and that vote afterwards either afterwards or in that that very next morning I'll sending it to the county. So assuming things don't change and then uh April 30th is the public hearing on the final budget.
>> Yeah. So in some I think an important budget reality uh is that the 2% levy cap doesn't keep pace with the cost um that the district can't control, right? Um in Vernon 2% represents approximately $1 million
uh in additional revenue. our health benefits alone um represent uh 25% which is $1.3 million. So just with the health benefits we're already saying that the 2% is not enough. Um it will all be already
be an increase that will be absorbed by those health insurance costs before we can even account for other budget pressures like inflation and the salary increases um our transportation contracts, our utilities, and that's just a few, right? Things that we really
just can't control. Um we're stating this because we've committed ourselves to presenting a transparent and an honest um reflection on where our budget is. Um but we are grounding that in strong stewardship. Um we will and are
continuing uh to conduct a thorough and efficient review of our spending. Um a clear focus on what's necessary to maintain a strong in instructional program for our students. Um and at the same time again we want to be transparent that um that 2% won't be
enough to fully offset um those rising costs. Um that's where we are today. Uh we will continue our work with our teams. Uh we will continue to work through our finance committee uh to uh report out and to um really answer the
questions and go through all of the um things that we need to as you provide us with oversight and guidance as as the board's priority is is that um and we can expect on March I don't know the date our March board meeting. What's the
date? March 19th's board meeting. We will start with a um overview of our strategic plan. By then you will have it. Why? Because that ties directly into the budget and then you will uh receive a presentation on our preliminary
budget. So that's what you can expect at the March meeting. As a reminder, we'll send out a letter to our community to let them know that these resources, this report will be on our website so that the community is aware. Um, and we will
uh publish all of the presentations and the information on that website so that the community has the information that they need. Any question? >> I have a question. Um, when it comes to the increases in
medical insurance, um, I was told that you're allowed to, uh, use that not towards the cap. So, if like you're saying, a million
dollars is 2%. But because it's a medical increase, you don't have to use that towards your cap. You still have 2% over the medical spending. >> Yeah. So there, so with the 2% tax levy cap, there are allowable adjustments.
One of those is the health uh benefit cost adjustment. Um that's benchmarked to the state plan, which had a 31.9% increase this year. Uh so we will have a health benefit uh cost adjustment available. uh that will just be a would be a separate resolution that the board
would need to pass along with the prelim as part of the preliminary budget uh about how much of uh that um adjustment uh the board would want to use. >> So it won't necessarily eat up the whole 2%. >> Uh no, if an adjust healthcare cost
adjustment is passed then no. Um financially I would say that financially responsible thing to do would be to utilize that adjustment based off the large increase in healthcare costs. Um that's because that 25% is actually this January's renewal. So that means that
next January there will be another renewal. So half of next year will be the 25% increase from this year plus whatever next January's increases. So that's a pretty significant increase in costs. Um so the 25% is 1.3. So, could
end up being closer to 2 million uh depending on uh what the health benefit brokers uh project that increase will be next January. >> Okay. I have one other question. When it comes to I know that there's a a time crunch for when we get the state numbers
versus when you have to have the preliminary budget done. Do you use any sort of metric with the with the planning whereby you're sort of saying, you know, if it's cut by X, then
we do Y. If it's what we expect, then we do this. If we get a bonus, we apply it here. I mean, is there any or you know, can you walk us through the process of how you adjust for that variable when
the state number comes in? Yeah. So the plan with so right so what I start out with is budgeting stated flat U. So we budget stated flat um which usually there's there's always still a gap anyway. Uh we that's part of that what's
happening this month. Uh and then early next month we'll be working to address that gap. Um, so then as we get closer, we'll have items kind of kind of essentially what you said, items that we will know and we'll have listed of things that will be say less of a
priority. Doesn't mean they're not going to be hard things to cut out. Uh, but when you're in that sort of situation, you have to prioritize. Um, again, so it'll be difficult conversations, but there'll be things that we would have have to cut out. Uh, but then also things that didn't make it if for some reason we have an increase in S, which
would be amazing. last year, right? >> Uh it did. Um there was uh you know there's been a history of cuts as the state aid, but then they changed uh I think the year before they fully funded state aid for the first time. Um so that
resulted in a uh increase for us and then there was a change last year uh not in the law but how it was related to how stated was looked at in the governor's budget. uh which uh one of those changes that positively affected us was that they looked at the actual number of
special education students in your district. Uh when they calculated special education uh categorical aid um which in the past they did not do that which does not make any sense. Uh you would think the aid would be based off of number special education students in your actual district. Uh but since that
was in the budget there's no guarantee that that's how it'll be looked at this year. Um, so there's uncertainty this year based off of some of those tweaks in the past had to do with a it it being fully funded, which there's concern this year that it may not be fully funded, just rumors, right? Um, based off of the
state's overall budget and the impact that some federal dollars not coming to New Jersey may have on that budget. Um, and then the second thing, which is the change in how they looked at some of the categorical aids, like special education, how they calculated it, that wasn't actually in um the law. that was
just in the governor's budget at that time. So depending on how the state budget goes, that may have impacts on how the state aid budget for the school districts uh gets calculated. >> But there's prep. >> Yes, absolutely. Sorry, I went on a little tangent. Probably too much
information, but uh I never do that, but uh uh but yes, there'll be prep. So, there'll be a list of things um that again I I don't think there's really any easy cuts left at this point, right, for the district. Um that we'd have to look hard at and decide what would get
removed. Um and then there would be things that if for some reason state a went up and there were some priorities weren't able to meet, especially with the initiatives that we're looking at, um that we would then have conversations about adding in. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah.
>> Any other questions? >> Just I just want to say thank you. I think that was um you guys gave a lot of information prior to we we seen the preliminary budget. I think that's what they the community's been looking for. So I I think you guys um and with the
website and everything I think you guys um are doing a good job of getting us there and it's nice to see what the priorities are and I think that's where a lot of people uh tend to wonder, right? You come up with this budget like far you plan and you make this, right? And we all know you plan, right? we we
know you you put something together, but sometimes that doesn't get conveyed to to the whole community. So, knowing your priorities out there and and explaining that to the community, I think that's you'll see the appreciation. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um I just want to jump in. I don't think
anybody can see my hand raised. Can you guys hear me? >> Yes. Yes, we can hear you. >> Great. Just just a question about the health um benefit cost adjustment. Uh Brian put that as the 2% like we we
don't have to use it for the 2% but but the cost adjustment allows us to do a separate increase like it would be it would still fall on the taxpayers. It would be in addition to the 2%. Is that correct? Right. I just want to clarify that because of the way it was worded.
>> Uh yes that's correct. And you would have to use your full uh 2% before you could actually use that adjustment. Um, and then any of that adjustment, uh, if there's any adjustment that was not used, that would roll forward into bank cap that could hypothetically be used in future years, uh, with a separate
resolution if needed. >> Can you repeat that or can you clarify that so that we would have to use our 2% before we could use the adjustment? >> Uh, yes, that's correct. So, we would use the 2% and then if we wanted to, we could take what? The full amount of the
co of the health insurance increase or a percentage of it or what's the >> I uh you don't necessarily need to take the full amount. um you could decide on an amount to take and then any amount that was not taken would in the next budget cycle uh roll into bank cap which
is basically spending authority from a prior year that wasn't utilized that can then therefore be utilized in a future year. Uh it's not tied to a percentage but it's tied to the exact dollar amount of authority that wasn't used in that prior year. >> Thank you.
Jen, you may be muted. >> Um, wasn't muted, but >> Oh, we hear you now. >> Okay. I just said thank you. >> Sorry. >> And I just quick uh just want to take a quick second uh to shout out the ID
department. Um they did a lot of great work and a lot of support uh updating the budget uh website and I just want to say we really appreciate it. Yeah, >> I need to I need to follow up. >> All right. So,
you have to use your 2% cap, right? >> Y. So just using round numbers, if the if the increase in medical is say a million dollars and we've allocated our 2% cap, then you need a separate
resolution for that million dollar, right? So the 2% will be part of your So it's a separate resolution within the overall preliminary budget resolution >> for the million >> specifically for
>> but then what you're saying is if we don't use that whole million dollars then the dollar amount can be utilized in the following year >> for up to three years. So bank cap uh will roll forward for three years and after the three year that bank cap that
spending authority will go away. So if we authorize a million and only use 600,000, that means there's 400,000 that can be added to the budget above the 2% for the next three years. >> So if the healthcare cost adjustment was
a million, we utilize 600,000 this year, then there would be $400,000 that would go to bank cap in the future >> above the 2%. >> Yeah. So So normally we 2% of the tax levy, but that authority would be that exact $400,000 that could be utilized in
a future year. Yep. Yeah. Thank you. >> Quickly, would we have $400,000 from somewhere else or would that be have to be raised by tax dollars? >> Tax dollars. >> Uh yeah, the healthcare cost adjustment is just an allowable adjustment over the 2% tax levy cap. So we basically tax to do that.
>> Yes. So any of the healthare adjustment uses is tax authority >> and our health benefits are 1.3 million, >> right? >> And the 2% would give us 1 million. So we're already just with health benefits alone. >> Yeah. Yeah, the 1.3 is just with a 25%
increase. So then whatever January's increase, so for half a year would be on top of that. >> And that's not including yet our salary increases, our utility increases, our transportation contract increases. >> Yeah. So just kind of like I think a good example, the 2% tax levy is not a
2% increase in your budget. It's a 2% increase in your tax levy. Our tax levy is about 68% of our budget. I believe 68% of our revenue. So it's a 2% increase on 68% of your budget. But then everything else in your budget is going up by way more than 2%. So for example,
transportation the CPI which is consumer price index which is the allowable am is the amount that essentially vendor could say hey you can automatically renew with me is 3.58% this year. So that's the best case scenario for transportation. They say hey we'll renew 3.58%. They say they're not going to renew. The only
reason they say they're not going to renew is because they're going to increase it more than that. Right? So 3.58% for transportation is our best case scenario. But that's a problem when your tax levy increase is capped at 2% unless you have an allowable adjustment. That adjustment uh like we said though was only for health benefits.
>> Okay. So I'm sorry. >> If so your 2% cap is on 68% right. That's what you just said. >> Yeah. 68% of our revenue, >> right? >> Cuz the rest is state >> aid. If they if the medical increase is
1.3 million >> and we do that after the 2% that's actually going to come out to like a 3% tax increase not 2% right. >> So we're starting with a base of 5%. >> It would it would likely be higher than
3% cuz 2% would be about a million. Uh so if it did another million that probably closer to 4%. >> Right. So if the tax levy is only 68% but we're fully funding that medical >> then it's not 2% it's it's bigger
>> yeah the increase on the tax levy would be uh the 2% and then whatever the healthcare cost adjustment whether it's a percent to four >> um right it depends >> it depends on how much we use because we're talking hypothetical >> depend but I mean assuming do the whole
thing it would be so we're looking at a five to 6% % tax levy increase to start. >> Um we would have to see what the healthcare cost adjustment is because the data uh still being loaded and it'll
um as we're looking at some of the staff changes and things like that that'll affect it. >> Um so I don't know what that overall percent would be quite yet. Uh but the the general fundamentals of it would be that the 2% is a regular 2% is about 1 million. So then anything over that
would add to that percentage. >> And while >> you have my point though, right, >> I think while we're um today is is meant to really um start a conversation around where we are, um I I would want to just
be careful not to assume what that might be, just not yet. I think as soon as we get that information, as soon as we get those adjustments, we'll report right back out. >> Um but I I just want to be careful. I think we may be moving into a detail that we're not aware of yet.
>> Yeah. I think what you might you're basically saying that we have tools available at our disposal to avoid cuts. Is that kind of what you're saying? >> No. Okay. Okay. Sure. Um I just so forget about the health
insurance for now and and since we don't know the what's the state aid's going to do which it's funny you say they're going to be late by two weeks because there's a new every year is another reason right that they last year was la it was last year's term so we had to wait a couple extra weeks right so um
are we are we looking at a deficit deficits right now like are we looking with the other expenses if we left everything the next year's budget, we rolled right into it. And because of the increase of salaries, because of the
increase of transportation, are we are we looking that that $1 million if rounded off is not going to cover that? Currently, >> yeah. So just with health benefits by itself u that's >> well we took out health benefits just
for >> so let's just think about one we're in a negotiations year so we don't know what that is but this year what's the increase on salaries just the increase on salaries in our >> uh for the current year it's 3.25%. >> Just the increase on salaries what's the increase on transportation contracts
>> uh 3 point uh well minimally 3.58% it would be more if it has to be rebid because they would generally rebid if they wanted an increase higher than the CPI. What's the increase on inflation right now? >> Oh, I don't know. The latest inflation numbers is >> I don't know. I'd have to check. I don't want to say. It's three or four percent
maybe. I don't We'd have to look. >> Okay. Just >> I Let me Google it. >> What does that equal in dollars though? Like the the What' you say? 3.2% increase in salaries. What does that equal in dollars?
>> Uh I don't have it off the top of my head. I think um >> 3% >> on you to have these other >> and today we weren't supposed to discuss dollars. However, however, I I want to
engage in this conversation. I just want to be fair to Mr. Slam. I don't want him to give any misinformation because he's not we didn't plan on it. >> I'd say three 3% is approximately $900,000 to a million dollars. >> So that's the whole 2% right there. And that's if we again we're in a
negotiations year. >> Yeah, that's off of three. Yep. Just off%. >> I'm just following up on your point >> cuz then there's also um horizontal >> sure. I appreciate it. I appreciate you. >> There's also horizontal movement too,
right? If someone um obtains additional credits and things like that. So we have to account for that. So >> and our electric went up a lot this year, right? utilities >> thanks to uh you know I always praise AI but that's one of our reasons right AI is sucking up our electricity and now
we're >> losing it in our budgets too >> so we did do um a lot of um we're proactive with energy uh there's a large increase last year uh we got on we were on ACES but the contract uh lapsed
with ACES because they go out to bid for all the school districts we kind of get together we purchase energy together um but last year the market was so turbulent that they waited to see how that large increase at the uh energy auction was going to flow through to um essentially customers. They had to wait
and and see how that was going to work. Um so anyway, so we got back on the ACES which is good. So that'll that'll help us a little bit. And then also we had um we have that solar project at the high school um that on the 25th uh they'll be
going in front of the uh land use form uh board for uh permits. So uh we're still looking at when that timeline of that will be put in place, right? Cuz you they still have to build the structures, get their permits, get everything in place. Uh but that will help um somewhat this upcoming year. Uh
but it will definitely help a lot in future years. Uh because right now we're covered by the ACES contract only up at the high school though. The rest of the district is not covered by ACES because it's under a Sussex U electric co-op. So it's different. >> Um so we'll see an increase with uh with Sussex. Uh we'll see a less of an
increase with uh the high school under JCP now because we have that ASUS contract where we're able to buy energy with the rest of the school districts. Um so but we did a lot of planning to try to head that off based off the large increases we've been saying, but you can't head it off completely.
Can we move on? >> Yeah. I can I make one more statement? >> No, you go right ahead. >> Yeah, just to say uh and this doesn't account for our facilities needs um which is a separate conversation, right? And so then uh we've been discussing
this as a part of strategic plan that there's a likelihood that we would have to go out or consider a referendum to address our facilities needs um which is separate from the budget because there's no way our operational budget would be able to cover all of that. Again um our
goal, our aim is to be upfront, clear, honest, and give a true picture of our budget and our needs as we move through uh through the process. Thank you, Mr. Fox. >> You keep on going. >> I keep on going. All right. Yeah.
Today's a big update uh day. Um but I think it speaks to all of the work that we've been doing. Um so here our strategic plan update on the 5th of February. We held our second strategic planning community session. It was around vision and values. We had 72
participants. the input uh we gathered um is now serving as the core qualitative data set for our strategic planning work. So what we did was we had vision boards and we talked about values um and we collected all of that. We have a draft vision and value statement um
that we um uh collated based off of all of the feedback of our community. We sent that out in a letter to our community members uh to um further give us input in a survey. So, we're
waiting for those survey results to come back. Um and we will meet again on March 12th where we're having our final community session. It's called Pulling It All Together. March 12th, everyone, 700 p.m. at Lounsbury. Uh and during
that session, we're going to review our Q key findings and themes from our community input. We're going to finalize um our strategic plan goals. Uh and we're going to begin identifying the primary objectives that will drive that work forward. Uh we are very encouraged
by the progress that we've made to date, the collaborative spirit that has shaped the process so far. We're grateful for the leadership in our community relations committee that has really guided this work. I think this was uh your goal, right? Uh for that committee when we when I came in, that was the
first thing um that was shared. Um and I think we are making excellent progress toward that toward um having our community join the conversation um and hearing the voices around our priorities for Vernon's future. Um I've talked to
you about our curriculum coherence update and what we've done so far. Um so um I think I've already discussed that uh with our communication goal update. Um Mr. Fiser uh spoke about our
community relations our uh public relations person. Uh I think we've made some a really good uh growth measure in this area as well. We have significantly expanded our public outreach this year through um multiple channels of
communication. Um Mr. Mr. Fischer talked about our social media presence which has allowed us to provide real-time updates um on the strategic plan which was the primary goal of that role. Um also on district achievement right in athletics and the arts and student
learning departmental milestones um um they're being published through our social media on our district website. Um while our primary focus of the engagement has been dedicated to strategic planning where we are seeing some great outcomes just as a reminder
our first session we had 121 participants that was a very nice outcome our second one we thought we wouldn't have a lot but we did we had 72 participants right they came out and I'm hearing um the excitement about um our
anticipating our anticipated meeting that's coming up in March so we're excited excited about that. Um the next focus for that role after strategic plan um Melanie is already working with our principles because another priority that surfaced
um around communication was that we have too many different platforms and parents are getting too many different rightformational points or not the rightformational points. Where do I go? um do I have to have information coming from all of the multiple schools that my
children attend? So that's her next focus. So she'll be working with our principles. She's already started meeting with them to say, you know, what platforms are you using? How are you communicating out with families? What are you communicating out to the families? What uh parts of these
communication are district so we can communicate at this level in one platform versus school? And so then that's her next priority to start streamlining that. So, I feel like we're healthfully in our goals um and um we're improving clarity. We're looking to
reduce the duplication and and to ensure more predictable user-friendly messaging for our families. Um and then lastly, in the schools, um our students are all participating in kindness week. We heard about that from Glen Meadow February 9th
to the 13th. They did that. Each day had a theme to encourage our students to be kind to one another. Uh, our Walnut Ridge preschool open house took place on February 25th. Parents and their children had the opportunity to tour the school. They asked questions about the program and registration for the 26 27
school year opens on March 2nd, which is around the corner. Can you believe we're finishing the year? It went so fast. Um, our Cedar Mountain kindergarten registration also opened. It opened on February 2nd. Um and then just congratulations to the Glen Meadow
second marking period student upstander and student citizenship recipients. Uh these students were nominated by teachers based on their actions supporting their peers and going above and beyond to benefit the school community. And that is it.
>> Did we talk about the enrollment report HIV? >> We have an enrollment report in number two. It is attachment S1. We have our HIB um report for January 26 with this which is attachment S2. Um and we are always pleased to announce that our
district's artist of the month for February um the high school students artwork is being displayed at the board office and our Lounsbury Hollow students artwork is at the municipal building. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> You're doing a great job.
>> Well, we're getting there. I'm new. Okay. reports, discussions, and recommendations. Uh the board committee report for policy and governance. Uh Mr. >> I'm sorry. I just have one question about the enrollment. >> Go back. >> Yep.
>> And and then uh I'll take it out of my other time that I'm doing the next report, so I'll take it out of there. But >> you you're the enrollment has gone up, which looks good for, you know, across the board and and it looks like most of this coming from uh the u preschool. Uh
but how does that because we're talking about the budget, right? How does that affect because it looks like it we enrollment in the beginning of the year was 294 and uh for just for preschool and it's 309 now. So we gain 15 students the state, right? We're not getting any
more money after September 1st, right? So we added more students and 15 students seems like almost a class, right? So is that affecting our budget this year? Are we lo because that preschool is mostly funded from the
state grant? Right. But for some some things we have to still cover, right? >> Uh yeah. So uh right regular education uh preschool students are covered through the grant. Um we're funded for I believe it was up to 245
inclusion students. Uh we have uh to fund through our general fund budget. and also PSD students. So, those would be students um that are in um self-contained classrooms. >> So, even though it's good that we're having a higher enrollment since September, it is act is it it's hurting
us as far as budget wise or are we covered? >> I wouldn't say that it's hurting us uh because we would have those inclusion students uh and uh PSD students either way um because we would be required to
provide preschool to those students. Um so it really is helping us by increasing the resources in the overall program by having the PA funding. >> Okay. >> So like in for example in the past um transportation wasn't available for all students. It was tuition based. It was
half day. Uh so now it's a full day program. Uh transportation is available uh through for regular education students as well. The the buses have bus aids on them now which is great. uh which has actually helped um some students that were on special transportation previously uh go to a
less restrictive environment because now there's a bus aid on on the regular vehicle so they can be with their peers which is which is a great thing to say. So >> okay >> and you know just greatly expanded the resources we have available for pres for our preschool program >> and now we have a completely full building.
>> Yeah, there's no more space. >> And so how does that help us? Um, I think what that does is it gives our students two more years, full years of education prior to entering kindergarten. So, we're strengthening
our students. We're getting them into classrooms early. Um, and I think uh that alone is our greatest intervention. >> Yes. >> And and I think it's a great resource for families, too. >> Yep. I think all around it's great. Right.
>> Well, since we were talking about Ry being so uh having all the answers, I had have to admit in the in inside when I come up with that number for that for the for the policy, Ray Ray actually told me. So, I didn't know it off the top of my head. >> Oh, I looked it up by the way. Inflation
called the 2.4%. Still over two. >> But, >> all right. So, um that's me right now, John. Right. >> I'll say you now. >> Okay. >> Keep going. >> All right. So, we have a we had our policy meeting last week on the uh 12th.
Uh it was Evony, Brian, and myself. Um and we we discussed a couple of uh number of policies that you see on for first reading. Uh for second reading, we have the the um uh opioid uh antidote um
that we discussed last time. We don't feel there's any changes needed for that. Um so we're we're recommending it to u to vote yes for the second reading of it. On the first reading we have a number of them which all related to and
I I had this thing up because it was uh I can't remember yeah the freedom to read act I believe right and um that's changed and went in effect by the state. So this uh in uh changed some of the policies that we currently have um
mostly if you look at um 2530 2535 and 9130 and what what it's doing is replacing the taking out the library um materials and it has its own policy now which is
um most these are these recommendations came from Strauss which is um for the new people that's our uh um policy auditor >> auditor thank you so so they um Strauss has me and uh so these are recommendations we looked through them
we all felt as as a group that it we're okay with them and I think we should push uh we should uh approve them two policies though I do want to u point out was 40 uh 0142.1 about nepotism this has to relate it
relates to relates to having relatives in your uh school district. So this is for board members and for superintendent. It's basically stating now that you cannot you cannot be on have a board member have a someone the
superintendent cannot propose some to hire someone who is a relative of a board member or of themselves. Um some little bit wording change on that policy. Um that's the um that's the the biggest part of it. Um this there are
protections for people 2009 um who are hired before 2009. It wouldn't affect them. They're kind of grandfathered in. Uh the other one that I also want to point out is 511. Um so as we know a lot of our policy our
policies are tell us what to do and how to get through. But a lot of times the policies are protect um to protect people, right? Our students, our faculty, our community. And we do have these policies that I guess cross a couple um a couple sectors here. And
it's funny as I was thinking about this one, I thought about how we're looking at the the town, right? The town passed that the building they're putting up, right? Projecting seven students or whatever the number was. and and how we we were talking about that a few weeks
ago, how that could have really affected the school district. Obviously, we don't know the number, right? It could be more than seven, could be 20 or whatever. Or they could all be in the same grade. And that's where we kind of look at this policy, too, is because it's a great opport Oh, sorry. I should tell you what
it's for, right? 51 511 is is a policy for our um our teachers teaching staff to allow the to bring their their children into our district and enroll in our district. So this is a great benefit for our staff which we love to extend to
them but also we this is also we have to look at the other side of this this policy is to protect our our community right that we had to put we have to make sure we have some safeguards in place and just imagine if we had an enrollment you know we have so many teachers and they all decided to bring their kids
here and we put them all in one grade this would this would really hurt us right because if we spread them across this the district it sometimes is a little easier But when we get into one spot, we might not have we might have the room, we might not have the teaching. So, how do we say no or whatever? So, this is why we're kind of
looking at um there's wording changed in there. Um a big part is it's got to meet our needs, right? Basically, if we don't have the money, if if it's going to put a cost to the district, which is help our our community, we're, you know, we
have the right to look at it and say, you know, deny it. The other thing what we're looking at is removing uh making it from first grade to 12th grade. And the reason for this is kindergarten is a little bit of un we don't we're unsure of right people register if you remember
the first time you registered kids you probably just drove to school in September and said hey where do I put my child right and they're like well did you I didn't even know you lived here. So we have people who would register all year long for kindergarten. This is the first time for a lot of parents, so they don't really know and it's we don't know
where we're going. As we're doing the preschool here, I think we'll have a better op know in the future because we'll we'll see what our preschool kids are going to be graduating and be coming into that kindergarten class. But it's still very unknown for us. And um so what we're
proposing is to change the the the uh allow allowment for the for the uh for our staff that they can only bring a child into our district from uh grades 1 to uh 12. So that was a a little bit a
lot. So uh let's if anybody has any questions, we can go over that. >> Okay. Sure. Um, and I'm on this committee and I'm I've missed the meeting, so I'm sorry to have questions, but thank you for filling me in. Um, I'm
wondering about I'll start with the eligibility of resident non-resident students. Um, the idea, as I understand it, is that we will have we have a better idea of our enrollment for first grade. So we
have a better idea of how many teachers we need and resources, you know, for our budget. Correct. >> And so a bit of flux with the we don't know exactly how many teachers might ask for their children to come to the school
and we can better like absorb that in first grade because we have a better sense of our enrollment. Whereas in kindergarten, we don't have a good sense of our enrollment. And then if there's a lot of teachers bringing their children, it could mean a whole new teacher or something.
>> Yeah. Plus the community could be a lot more community members >> participated or new. Okay. >> Yeah. >> And one thing that made me think of is does our policy include any date that teachers need to request um by for their
kid for their their child to come to our school? because I wonder if that could also help a little with our, you know, knowledge of >> So, I mean, I'll let the administrators take a little bit piece of that, but but
for me, I would say, um, you know, people, what if we hired a teacher in the middle of the year? So, you started this year, so your your benefits are you can you can you can be a teacher, but you can't have your child here, right? because some people might be looking for
that when they're moving and maybe some of the teachers would be like a lot of times right I think January is a big month for teachers to retire and new ones to come in right that's usually big hiring and then June right so at that time it's it's a little uneven so I
don't think you make you wouldn't make it fair for everyone if you put a date to it would help us obviously I think u but I don't think it would be fair to the staff uh another thing is What if you said, you know, you waited to you
had that date till, let's say, July, >> which is very late if you're trying to make accommodations somewhere else. You know, look at Vernon with the preschool programs, not the preschool program after the daycare programs. So, if you couldn't get into um into kindergarten here, and I'm
saying in their own town, they may have a half a day kindergarten. So, they need to go to a preschool because they're working here full-time. So if we waited too long to tell them yes, >> it's it's not fair to them as well. So I mean it's something we could look at if that's what the rest of the board wants.
I mean >> no I mean and I guess I'm wondering if I'm sort of on the opposite end and this could be like a stupid question. the later it gets, the loopier I get. But the So, yes, I see your I take your point that if we hired someone, maybe then in
that case when you're a new hireer, the date doesn't apply to you perhaps. But um could we even ask current hires that by you know February or by by budget season they've let us know if they'd like to
take advantage of that um benefit to have their child come the next year. Like I'm wondering if that would be helpful or no. >> Yep. >> Uh that's a possible benefit. Okay. I'm sorry >> cuz I you were speaking in Ray next.
I'll yield to you. >> Okay. Um I think that date could um benefit us. I think the more important date for us is um what date would we need to make that decision by
um because I'll give you just a concrete example for this year. Um this year um our kindergarten enrollment over the past three years has been around 204
to 221 in 2023, 203 and 23 24 198 and 24 25 and 204 now. All right. So we're in the mid 200s for enrollment. >> Um our class size is 23 >> kindergarten.
>> Mhm. That's high. >> We would want to be around 18. We're already struggling with high class sizes. In our budget for this year, we received a request for an additional kindergarten teacher. Just after the
policy meeting, I already had three requests for kindergarten. So, the date uh while they could apply by a certain date, I wouldn't be able to judge enrollment by that date. I would need until July 15th
>> in kindergarten specifically. >> In kindergarten specifically. Got it. And by then, >> what situation does that put the community member in who may need to register in their own district? Right. Yes. >> I don't know that it's it's practical. Yes. >> For us to think about kindergarten right
now when over the past three years our class size has hovered around 23. >> We're already needing to think about how do we decrease that for our students. Um so I think that grade in particular is a wondering for us. Um, if we were to put
in some type of parameters, I think which is what the policy committee is attempting to do is to say, um, right now the way it reads is if you have a child in you that you want to bring because you're an employee, you can automatically bring them. But it doesn't
give us parameters for after we check enrollment, after we see if it doesn't increase our class size, after we see if we don't have to have to add another teacher. >> And I think that's that's the wondering that we will need only because our class
sizes are so high and we're now getting requests for additional staff to decrease the class size just with the students that we have. >> Yeah, >> Mr. Zimmer. So my concern is a little different but so with the younger kids I believe it to allow the younger kids in
because recruiting of teachers teachers who are here you know that third and fourth grade teacher they have another child now we say they can't come maybe they leave to go to the district where both their kids can go to the same school we tend to want to hire younger
teachers because they're usually younger out of school they're cheaper I'm not going to lie that's part of the But we might turn them away because they're the younger teachers most likely going to have the younger kids in theory. So I'd be concerned it would
hurt us in that sense and I know we get a few every year. I don't know how many we have total in the district but on the surface I would be concerned about a policy that restricted that at the younger grades for those reasons.
Well, I I think it's I mean, if and and I always look at it here is is we're here this district is here for our community first, right? And if we look at community first, it's not it's it's it's not fair that we
would have to, you know, go over our what we want a a class size to be, what we want, how much money we're we're we're going to spend because we want to, you know, attract some
people, right? And yeah, you you're right. you maybe you turn people away, but I think the community needs we need to put safeguards in and protect ourselves. This is the same thing when when we're down at the town hall looking at, right? The town is telling us, hey,
you're going to have this this, oh, don't worry. Don't worry, you're going to have this many kids, you'll be fine, right? But we all know that that may not be true. And one of part of a lot of the reasons that the town was there was because they were fearful that this is going to what what was happening in the town was going to affect the school
district. We're going to lose money because of this. We're not you know the school doesn't get money. A little bit different situation. But if you look at why what what we're try all trying to do is we're trying to protect our our district and we we attract we attract
young new teachers because we want to do what's right for the community and what's right for the school district. So I would argue though that a teacher whether they live here or not as part of the community is they're dealing with 20 or 30 kids in the community every day more than almost anybody else except for
their parents >> interact with the kids. So they're all part of the community. I think all the teachers whether they live in town or not are part of the committee the structure of the whole town and they have the most influence like I said after the parents who's with these kids
more than a teacher in general. So, I'm just sorry I disagree with that. I think, you know, we have that policy. I understand there's some numbers issues with that, but I don't think we should be strict in that policy for kindergarten or prek, >> which is my opinion.
>> You're right. But we have we have a lot of we have a lot of other we have the mailman, right? The male male male people that that work here that are part of the community. They may not live in town, but we don't we don't want to change everything for them, right? We we we look at this and these teachers are
coming here to yes there's a job they want money obviously they want to support their family but people I believe a lot of teachers become teachers because they want to do best for the students right and if you put this in their in their eyes and say do
you think it's best to have huge class sizes just to bring in here like it's almost going opposite of why they they most of them I believe are our teachers right They're they're here to do the best for the students and they do the teachers don't like large class sizes
themselves, right? They they know they're not being as effective probably as they could be with a smaller class size. And so we're putting them we're making their their job harder. We're making, you know, we're putting strain on the on the budget. We're we're putting strain on the whole system just
to Yeah, you're right. We might lose we might lose somebody. Somebody might not apply to Vernon because of that, but I think in the long run, we'll we'll get people we'll still get the the quality
candidates that we've been getting. I don't think it's going to hurt us that much. >> Dr. us. >> I said to Charlie earlier when we were talking in the committee structure that I do think this is one of those decisions where there's you're trying to just weigh the cost and benefits and and
trying to get a better lean toward benefits and it's not a perfect either way. It's not perfect. I I thought about what you were saying, Rey, about I I think not only is what you're saying true about young teachers, but also kindergarten. It's also a it's
particularly hard to kind of get your young kindergarten student off to school and then make it over to work, you know. So, it's a place where it's I think attractive to pe to people in particular to be able to have your young student with you at school. But I really take
your point about the realities of our overenrollment and our large class size. I think that our large class size has to be like our priority on this. Um, and I also I I think this question of recruitment is my concern too. So I'm
wondering what um I know in for certain positions in Vernon we struggle to fill them um sometimes and so we are looking for leverage points like these where we can um you know recruit people. Um, so I
definitely think it's an important piece of this puzzle and I kind of do defer to you Ebony in your in your scope because you're you're obviously very concerned with recruitment too. You want the best teachers that we can get. So, I think as
you're evaluating how much this comes up and weighing, you know, the the costs and the benefits, I would defer to to you in terms of and I wonder what neighboring districts offer. You know, if we if we were in a position where everybody else in the
county offered this and we didn't offer that, I could see that >> starting to hurt us with recruitment. >> Yeah. So, we looked at all of the neighboring districts with our policy committee. Um, and the majority of them charge tuition. >> Okay. >> We don't. >> Okay.
>> Um, so we are a community that values our staff and we value the benefits that we could provide to our staff and we get that. Um, we did go through all of the communities in Sussex County and again the majority of them charge tuition. Um, for the those who didn't charge full
tuition, there was a pr-rated amount. Um, the Vernon public schools is very generous to the staff and we don't charge any tuition. Um uh a possible way to consider it is to um if it's immutable to the committee to say we
will leave the policy as K through 12 with the parameters around enrollment when enrollment bene you know when enrollment is feasible when we're not adding a staff member. So I think maybe that's a way to think about it. So we
would potentially could leave it K12. However, um when enrollment doesn't exceed and I would hate to lock us into a number, but when enrollment is doesn't require an additional teacher, we could think about some language. And a second
caveat might be and we'll inform um the parents of the or the staff member by July 15th. So if if those were the two things that we would consider adding then that would be helpful to just making a good decision without limiting the grade level.
>> Well, I was just going to can we not tonight but by next meeting I don't even know how to get this information but know how many teacher children are in each grade right now. >> We have that >> but I'm saying can you give that to us?
I know not always can be >> I'm sorry >> I know not everything can be dispersed in public so I don't know question >> no well we have we have that um and so we know >> um just give me one second >> we have um 15 current students um two in
grade 1, two in grade K, one in grade three, one in grade 5, one in grade 8, three in grade nine, one in grade 10, three in grade 11, one in grade 12, 12 and we have uh four requests for kindergarten. >> Thank you. >> That that's a sounds like a lot. We have
we had that many >> 15 >> I mean sorry sorry sorry the four requests in comparison to 15 total four new requests for >> four new requests for kindergarten to me >> is um something that may not happen every year >> and again to be able to broaden the
policy to continue to include K through 12 if that's the board's desire very uh reasonable uh I would ask then for us to at least give the administration some um ability to make decisions based on
enrollment and then have a date by when we can measure that enrollment for kindergarten in particular because that enrollment is ongoing. It's not like the other ones where you're already in the school and you're moving up a grade and maybe the unique new student, right? In
kindergarten, we we don't know that enrollment. It's ongoing and it expands. And just again, our class size is at 23 >> and we already have a request for a new teacher and that's hitting our budget. Um, it's just a consideration and it's
data for you to have to make an informed decision on this policy. >> Sorry, Eony is the downside to that option is that it's less um like clean like you >> No, I think it's fine. I think I think again I'll yield to the committee but if
it's K12 with the parameters of based on enrollment based on the need to add staff and by July 15th date that would allow us to make good decisions. Right now it's everybody know parameters. >> Okay.
>> Yeah. If I would say I mean if you're if you're putting a date that far and to go back to uh what Ray was saying that recruitment well again what if you hire that teacher in January and you and and
their whole thing premise was so I could send my child here in in next September. if they don't know how what how are they going to feel when they think they're going to be allowed and we have a July date and we're saying oh by the way it this didn't work out
>> you know and when they they maybe they moved maybe you know maybe they made adjustments so I I think that it's you know we are not taking it all away right we're not we're basically preserving most of it we're basically preserving all of it it's just one grade
level and I think for the unknown Because there is we had this we had this change this year, right? >> You're right. It may not happen again. It may never happen again, but it's unknown. We don't we don't plan for that in our budget. We don't always say what
about the you know Ray doesn't say well in you know insurance rates have been 5% for three years because we he would have been way off this year right but you have to plan for what can happen. And the same thing that we like and a good example I keep on bringing up is the town is we not we don't want to accept
that from what the town's saying with what they're building right that hey your prediction may be off we know it may be off >> so why would we do it here you know so >> can I'll stop one last I have
>> is that we approve them all so if the administration came and said the kindergartens overloaded we could not approve them We already have that abil. Every one we do that we approve because since I've been here the administration has never objected. So it never really
was an issue. But if they said to us we have to hire a brand new teacher for kindergarten. We don't have to approve it. So you know we normally do. You're right. But we don't have to because it comes to us because we have to approve it. We could always say yes or no. You know if there was a problem
>> to the teacher or the >> to whatever the policy is. Now, we always get asked, is it okay to approve that? >> If the administration said, "Well, if we approved these two or four, >> we'd have to hire a new teacher and we don't have the money, then we could just not approve it." >> You're right. But
>> just one question. We seem to be getting into committee area right now. I was just wondering if we could table this particular policy, send it back to committee to have all these discussions and then bring it back to you for the first meeting. >> Yes. >> Well, we can't table it yet, right? Because we have to wait till it's not
even put on. I understand. But I mean, you know what I mean? We pull this out and discuss that in committee and fix it in committee, then bring it back. >> Um, if if if I I guess we we can vote, you know, there would be a vote, right, to table it. I I would I would say I would
like to see it go through, but I I don't have a I don't have a I I don't have a >> Yeah, today was the first read. That's what I mean. It would go through for the first reading today. I would like it, but if if the rest of the board agrees that, you know, we want to table it, I would I I can table it and we and we can
go back and we have a meeting next week. It'll be another month then. Um I think it's important part it's important policy to have on there. I think that safeguards our district and protects our district. Um but you know, I'm a committee. I'm I'm one person in in a
board of nine, right? So >> yeah, but I mean it's not going to we're not getting rid of the policy. the poly still going to exist and then you can amend it in in in committee to bring it back to vote. >> If we have poor teachers waiting on the response for next year already, it's going to delay. >> Well, we can approve for a first
reading, right? >> That's just a first then go back to committee. >> Sure. >> I'm just trying to avoid the the committee half. >> I think you're right. I think you're right. Absolutely. I have two more questions though about not about this about the different policies.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. I think simpler um public complaints the last policy. Um how is this communicated to parents because it seems like a policy that's primarily aimed at community members, right? >> Staff members. >> Oh, that you're talking about 511.
>> No, no, no, no. Sorry. Switch to 9130 public complaints. >> Oh, >> it's all about how people should lodge complaints. >> So, but no one's reading our no community members are reading our policies. So what how are we communicating that? >> I thought we were going to we were going
to ask Ray to design another website for the whole policy committee as well. >> Um actually that is something we we we talked briefly talked about about two two meetings ago about uh getting the word out because that we uh me and Eie
were in a class down in uh school boards and that was one of the things like same thing you said people don't know right. So, um, we'll definitely have to talk about that next next meeting and and come up with a solution to spread the word. >> Okay, great. And the last one is the
nepotism one, which is I I'm up all through this. Um, okay. So, I just want to be really clear on my reading of this um
what's it called? Policy. Thank you. Uh because I am a member of the of New Jersey Education Association. This policy has to do with as it's stated right now. It says a board member who has an immediate family member who's
a member of the same statewide union in another school district. So it doesn't say but probably should say or is a member of a statewide union in another school district unless that's captured somewhere else. um
shall not participate in any way in negotiations and then it goes on and on and on. So I think that I just want to clarify um obviously being a member of NJA means that you shouldn't serve on
the negotiations committee. It also says here that you um shouldn't be present in closed sessions when negotiation strategies are being discussed. So that's maybe some a finer point than just not being on the communication, not
being on the negotiations committee. And so that's something maybe we should pay close attention to. >> I'm going to look it up and NJSBA has the specifics on all of this and and I'll just find it tomorrow and and email it to you. >> Okay. >> All right. Because for me, for the years when I was still a teacher, I I couldn't
be on negotiations, but what they talked about it inside and I was there was never a problem with that and I could vote on it. You can vote on the contract. You just can't be on the negotiations team. >> Okay. >> As far as I'm as far as I know, if there's more language that at NJSBA, I'll I'll let you know.
>> Okay. Yeah. I think it would be good for us to be super clear on that um piece. I don't want to overstep >> Sure. Sure. >> at all. Um >> and and most of this policy has been the same. The search was a new part and there's a couple there's a new rag that
it referenced in there. Most of it has been remove, you know, removing wording. So it it hasn't changed much though. >> Okay. Okay. Great. That's it. >> So we're going to keep the first reading and then Yes, sir. >> I I would >> I have a procedural question on that.
>> Sure. >> All right. So if we do the first reading and then we go back to committee to discuss it more. Mhm. >> How much of a change can be done
in order to proceed to a second reading >> or would we have to >> I resubmit it? >> As far as I know, the first reading is the point that you're going to go now take it and go work on it and change it because that's when the changes happen, right? After the first reading.
>> Yeah, we we make changes after the first reading. >> Yeah, >> that's the purpose of the first reading. So the conversation that just took place with the board, that is the purpose of that conversation. So now the committee can take back those recommendations, what they've heard, make whatever edits
there are, come back to second reading, and then if the board agrees with the edits that have been made, and if they suffice, then you would second. We we've done it a couple time. Most of the time when we were coming back saying everything's just that nobody wants
changes, but we've made a couple right at the table >> and and um we we've made and then the second reading would have it, not the first reading. >> All right. Thank you. >> Are we all complete? All right. Then let
us I need a motion to approve um board policies D number one and number two. Have a motion. Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. Um, can I have a voice, please?
>> Miss Nichols? >> Yes. >> Miss Pallet? >> Yes. >> Miss Pac? >> Yes. >> Dr. Ross? >> Yes. >> Miss Sarella? >> Yes. >> Mr. Zimmerman?
>> Yes. To everything but 511? No. Thank you, Mr. Smeagglia. >> Yes, >> Mr. Fischer. >> I, >> Mr. Krauss. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Thank you. Now we're up to C
personnel, which I believe is you. >> Okay. Um so um I'm recommending uh the approval um of C1 resignations, retirements, and terminations of the following non-certificating staff resignations and retirements in
letter A. Um in letter B, uh certificated staff resignations and retirements. Um number two, appointments, certificated staff appointments in letter A. In letter B, non-certificated
staff appointments. In letter C, substitute appointments at the appropriate substitute rates for the 2526 school year. In letter D, uh, mentor fee deductions for the 2526 school year.
Letter E, uh, CCLC program recommendations. Number three, compensation and adjustments. Letter A, hourly stipen adjustments. Letter B, certificated staff sixth period teaching assignments.
Letter C, staff salary adjustments for the 2526 school year. Number four, leaves of absence. A, the leaves of absence for certificated staff. B, leaves of absence for non-certificated
staff. Number five, um the approval of the 2627 uh paid holidays in attachment P1. >> Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the
personnel sections number one A through I guess it's five >> C5 >> 4.5. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> All right. Any comments or discussion on it? Did the holidays didn't change, right? I
thought we talked about it last week. Last time >> draft last week. >> Oh, okay. Which is a draft. Okay. >> Okay. We have a voice, please. >> Miss Pallet. >> Yes. >> Miss Pac. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ross. >> Yes.
>> Miss Follow. >> Yes. >> Mr. Zer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Smaglia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> Hi. >> Mr. Krauss. >> Yes. Miss Nichols. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. We are off to curriculum and
instruction or board committee report. Dr. Ross, you're on. >> Um the curriculum committee met early. We added a meeting to um review the special education audit that was presented today conducted by Allin for
Inclusive Education. We met on February 11th. It was myself and Charlie. and then um Russ Vincent Gaglystro Evony De Mendes and His Chef um 4:30 to 5:30 and
uh in advance of the meeting we had the report to read and shared questions with the administrative team and at the meeting the administrative team provided a one-page overview of the findings and answered our questions. Um, the only other thing to note is the proactive approach that district leadership is taking in requesting and responding to
this audit. Findings support district priorities emerging related to Evan's 90 days of listening and learning along with community priorities voiced through our strategic planning process. Chief among these is the need to strengthen our multi-ter systems system of supports
to better meet the needs of all students within the general education classroom environment. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh number two, I guess. >> Yeah. So, it's D, curriculum instruction number two, and it's the approval of the
following travel uh which is an attachment C1. >> We have a motion to approve curriculum instruction D number two. >> So, move. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Second. Thank you. Um any questions, comments?
I have a voice, please. Miss Pac, >> yes. >> Dr. Ross, >> yes. >> Miss Sarella, >> yes. >> Mr. Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Mr. Smaglia, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> I abstain with noted.
>> Thank you. >> Letter E is requ. >> Yes. >> Miss Nichols, >> yes. >> Miss Plet, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you. Letter E reports.
>> Letter E reports. Um, number one is the HIB report reviewed at the January 22nd, 2026 meeting, which is attachment R1. Number two is the random drug testing and school safety report for January
2026, which is attachment R2. And number three is the 2526 student safety data system report for period 1, which is attachment R3. >> We have a motion to accept those
reports. >> Thank you, M. Meello. Second. Anybody? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Pekk. Uh, any questions, discussions? >> I know. >> Did you have a hand up? >> I do. >> Mr. Do I need to abstain on one
>> cuz I wasn't at the January 22nd meeting? >> As long as you uh read the report and feel comfortable, you don't need to abstain. >> I did. >> Any other questions? >> Have a voice, please.
>> Dr. Ross, >> yes. >> Uh, Miss Varello, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Zimmerman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Smaglia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> Abstain on one. I on two and three. >> Thank you. Mr. Krauss.
>> Yes. >> Miss Nichols. >> Yes. >> Miss Pellet. >> Yes. >> Miss Pac. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Next. Finance board committee report. All right. I'll try to be brief,
but And a lot of what I have to say in the board committee report was already stated by um Mr. De Mendes and Mr. Slam. Um before I read the current one, there was a meeting on January 26th
where we were explained in detail about how the u referendum process would work and and the uh what's it called? The >> process >> improvement authority. >> Improvement authority, which is a new law. Um, we're going to bring that all
up in March, but I would suggest you please go over and read those meeting minutes. It explains a lot about what went on in that meeting. So, we're prepared and we'll discuss it again in March, right? That's when we discussed a Okay. So, then we also had a finance committee on February 17th, just the
other day. Meeting was conducted online through Google meet. The meeting meeting began at 11:00 a.m. and ended at 12:15 p.m. In attendance, Ray Slam, Ebony Demz, Joe Van Kirk, myself, and Jennifer Pellet. Um, just going down, we you I don't have
to go through the board agenda items because we've already we're going to go through these right now. The resolution to turn the cooperative, they're all going to be voted on coming up in a couple of minutes. the elevator resolution to award Otis elevator company based uh with direct negotiation
with the vendor 365K. There's multiple resolutions there for getting furniture and flooring for the GM scent science labs. We spoke about that earlier. Application for a PA budget modification request to purchase security film for Walnut Ridge and a
lease with Atlantic Tomorrow's office for district copers and digital fax machines. I think we spoke about that earlier. And there's kitchen upgrades. There's a minor chain or change orders and credit. All right. So, there's a budget status update. I'm going to read it, but you've already gone through most
of this. The business office web page, as you know, we'll be going through a redesign, a budget information page, WCM FAQs put up, common budget terms, a copy of the budget calendar and updates. Okay, I'm not going to rehash all of that. There'll also be a link to our board meetings. is a concerted effort to
keep the public and the board informed where we are in the process as they presented earlier. Um I have also Mr. Mendes will report out on some high level budget items which she did already so um I don't have to really redo that. Then the issue of classroom libraries
came up and the possibility of crowdsourcing to get the specific books into the classrooms that we need. Possibly asking the SCA to help in this effort. This will support use of physical books instead of digital online material. Okay. It was brought up that our healthcare costs are increasing
significantly. There will be a cost adjustment that will be available to us as Mr. Slam talked about earlier. We're just not sure how much that will be yet. Transportation costs will rise approximately $400,000 by it's based off the consumer price index this year is 3.58%.
Most district costs are projected to increase by more than 2% we can raise through a tax levy and this could be seen in transportation CPI which is the minimum that transportation will go up and also the costs of out of district tuition salaries dependent on negate uh negotiations liability insurance
currently estimated at 15% but we'll update as more information is available and health benefit insurance as we know 25% plus potential for another 8 to 10% increase in January renewal Our energy courses will increase, but we are not sure how the governor's executive order
will impact that. This is something that Mr. Slam has reached out to the county BA on for additional information. In short, everything is increasing in costs that are significantly higher than 2%. For example, a 2% increase in school tax we talked about earlier levy is about a million dollars and the district's
health benefits increase by itself without including the January renewal increase is approximately $1.3 million. And then the race slam code to end with. The budget is the financial expression of our district's needs and priorities. >> Okay. >> Yes. Yes, it is.
>> Then we have some uh things in uh least maintenance vehicle update. Um we got them all the new trucks were delivered this morning. We're waiting on more vehicle. One more vehicle is being fitted with a plow and when that's complete, we'll have all from from the lease. Um, I talked to you about the
discussion on the referendum or the potential final that we're going to have that dialogue in March. I just mentioned that. All right. Buildings and grounds. Couple of things. Uh, we had a meeting with Elizabeth Town Natural Gas and Town. Current plan is for lines and meters to be installed by September. One
line per building. Um, district maintenance building located here at Lansbury Hollow had a roof leak. When inspecting the leak, the maintenance found significant roof truss damage. Architect and engineer are assessing damage for potential repair solutions and that's going to be costly. Um the
PTHs cafeteria the architect is exploring course of opening up a wall to expand space for student lunches. Apparently there's not enough food and kids are eating lunch over the building. Is that correct? >> So knock down a wall and see if we have more space for them to eat in. Um Lbury
Hollow boiler repair. Um approximately 109,000 to replace the boiler and a fuel burner. But if we just repair the two sections instead, it's approximately 26K. Mr. Van Kirk is meeting with the architects and engineers probably having today to assess what we need to do to
get ready to transition to natural gas in all of our buildings except the high school. And that's it for today. Anybody else? Any questions on any of that? >> Mr. Smith, >> the roof leak, was that before the snow melted or
>> I think it happened during the snowstorm, right? That's when we when we when we found out. >> Yeah. Based off of the damage um we think that it's been something that's been occurring, but it wasn't discovered because there was insulating foam sprayed um that was covering the wood.
So, when they went up there to uh look at the the leak and it looked like there's a bit of a bend to the truss. Um they went behind the foam. They saw the wood was deteriorating. >> Okay. >> So, that's the problem. Uh, and we want to make sure that we're just not replacing, see that one area and then
finding out that other areas of the roof also need repairs. So that's why we're getting the engineer and architect involved. Make sure that we're not, you know, putting a small band-aid on a potentially much bigger problem. Right. >> Might collapse. >> John, the uh security film, is this what
goes on the windows? >> Yes, it's a film that goes on the windows. It's the bulletproof glass stuff, right? Or is it something a see-through thing? >> Uh, so there isn't. So, it's not bulletproof, but it's resistant, right? >> Um, it's meant to, uh, in two things. One, obstruct the view into the
classrooms, right? >> Um, and then also, uh, increase the amount of time it would take for someone to get into a classroom. Um, this is something I've been working on with the state since November. Um, and there's I have literally like an email chain like 40 emails long where I'm asking for
updates. I got a hold of the one person once on the phone. Um then they said they wanted to come out and then they never got back to me and then they eventually just wrote me an email saying that they felt that it was a valid security item uh if we want to be forward that was the security related
person from the state and then the pea preschool person from the state said okay now you need to submit a budget modification request so there's a budget modification request on tonight um the pea would fund the pea portion of the of ridge and the rest of the building we would have to fund the central office
side we'd have to fun out for an operating budget. >> I thought we had we did this before. >> Remember >> the high school maybe >> uh some of the um the uh what are they called? The uh security uh vestibules
they have felt on them. I'm not sure if any of our full buildings, but I know the security do. >> Yeah. Okay. That's that's I remember cuz Yeah. All right. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um It's your finance. >> Yep. It's me.
>> Uh so uh going to go through the uh list of recommendations. Uh we have our uh checks uh for the month of January. Uh we have our purchase order report for the uh also for the month of January. There's attachment F1, F2, F3, and F4.
It also includes our transfers for the month of January. We have our board secretaries and treasures reports uh for the month of January. Attachment F5 F6. We have our transportation for the month of February. Attachment F7. We have a
donation from the Rolling Hills SCA um for the diversity circus assembly uh by Doug Shear for second and third grade students and other $1695. Uh thank you very much. Uh we appreciate the SCA support and all our school buildings.
Uh we have letter E uh which is the recommendation uh to change the venue for the 2026 senior prom from Blue Arrow Farm to the barn at Villa Vanessa attachment F8. We have letter F which is in a resolution approving this joining a
uh the B county uh pricing cooperative that is there's no cost to that for us. It's just a resolution for us to join. We have letter G uh which is a resolution um as Mr. House noted earlier uh and you've seen on prior um
agendas uh we went we were approved to go to direct negotiations after not receiving bids. So this is a result of those negotiations and approval of award uh to Otis elevator at a price of $365,000 uh which is significantly lower than the
$798,000 price that we got through the bidding process. Uh letter H uh is uh well H, I and J are prop uh proposals for furniture uh seating upgrades and flooring uh from three different vendors for the science
lab at Glen Meadow. Um that's attachment F9, F10, F11. They're all under cooperatives. Uh letter K is a our annual resolution um approving the agreement with Sussex County Regional Cooperative. We use them for transportation for uh some athletic
trips and field trips, some non-public routes, public routes and some special education routes. Generally, we try to go to bid uh first and then if we don't get any uh competitive bids, we go to them. Letter L uh that is the approval for the modification for the pea uh once it uh which will is required to move the
money within the PA. Uh letter N is uh approval for uh disposition of obsolete and uh items that are obsolete or in disrepair. Letter N is a approval for uh the Atlantic tomorrow lease for copers
that was previously discussed. Letter O is a approval uh for Hunter County Ed Services Commission to complete a competitive process for financing um which we will then utilize to purchase teacher laptops. The idea is to get a more competitive interest rate than what
was proposed to us already. Uh letter P is an approval to uh withdraw uh funds from one of the uh benefactors for one of our scholarships. Uh they uh would like to uh donate those funds um to the
Kovac family. Uh and letter Q uh is the approval of uh three change orders uh which is a credit and two electrical change orders uh related to the food service uh kitchen
upgrade uh that is out of fun 16. >> Okay. Can I please get a motion to to approve >> all of those from finance 2 >> A through
>> I guess two right Q >> it should be so we check one second make sure it's right uh >> yeah it's 3 A >> 3 A through 3 Q >> moved >> second >> second thank
Um any questions or discussion? >> Yeah, Mr. Smack >> on the contract for the for the lab equipment. >> Well, uh one of them cuz there was a couple, right? >> Uh three. >> There was three >> equipment, one's flooring, and one's >> uh one's furniture, one's seating, and
one is for >> Is that what What What is LVT? Is that what LVT is? It has uh we're buying a quantity of 1,386. Are those tiles? >> Let me sorry.
>> It's interior solutions. It's the F11. >> Pulling it up. >> Uh which section of the quote are you looking at? >> At the bottom. that is listed or the top, I'm sorry. It has a the quantity the first line. >> Yep.
>> LVT. >> Uh so I see 1386 and then SF so square feet. >> Uh LBT is tile. Yes. >> Yeah, it's tile. Okay. >> Yep. >> Okay. And then the the contract for the copers. Um I don't know if this makes would make
a difference anyway. It might be just bundled but uh it has a description of how many faxes we have for the duration. Uh last page.
>> Yeah, let me pull it up. >> Um where is it? It was like 20 and it's 240,000 faxes. That seemed pretty pretty high for 5 years.
>> Um I believe that that's a limit. I think it's set up as a limit. >> Okay. So it's it wouldn't make a difference. >> I think it's like thresholds. >> That's what they give. Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Do you have a voice?
>> Dr. Ross? >> Yes. >> Miss Aarella? >> Yes. >> Mr. Zimmerman? >> Yes. Mr. Saglia, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> hi. >> Mr. Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Nichols, >> yes. >> Miss Plet, >> yes. >> Miss Pac, >> yes.
>> Motion carries. >> Okay, we're up to number four, special services. >> Um, >> that's correct. So, >> is that you? Okay. I'm sorry. >> Letter A. uh out of district placement.
Uh there is one for the 2526 school year. Letter B are receiving placement for the 2526 school year. Letter C U contract between the Vernon Township Board of Ed and Kelly L Higgins Nelson National Certified Sign Language
Interpreter to provide services at the rate of $55 per session. We have a motion to accept 4 A through C. >> Okay. Dr. Ross second.
>> Mr. Smack. >> Any questions? Discussion. Okay. Can I have a voice, please? >> Miss Varela? >> Yes. >> Mr. Zimmerman? >> Yes. >> Mr. Smagalia? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer? >> Hi. >> Mr. Krauss. >> Hi. >> Miss Nichols.
>> Yes. >> Miss Plet. Yes, >> Miss Pac. >> Yes, >> Dr. Ross. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Next, we have public comment. Prior public statement reply to all public comment. Does anybody in the audience want to
have come up and make a comment? >> Seeing none. Is there anybody online? >> Is nobody online? >> Oh boy. Okay. I somehow closing public comments. Next open board member forum. >> Anybody? I like
>> go right ahead. I just want to make it very clear that I am 100% all for Melanie public relations website and all all of the work that she's doing to
communicate with the public because in the past I and even very recently before I my when I was my kids were in school I know what was going on and you know we we divorced household told things going two
different places and I think all the work she's done so far is fantastic and I just want to make that put that on the record. >> Hernandez, I will say my mother came home to me the other night and said this is the only time that she has ever
gotten a call of a strategic planning session ever and she probably wouldn't have known about it otherwise at least not through me. So she was very grateful for that. Not that she went, but >> thank you, >> Mr. Zimmer.
>> I would like to cong compliment John on a wonderful meeting. >> Thank you. >> I don't envy you, Jen. >> You're doing great. >> I just wanted to talk about Glenn
Meadow. Um, Glame Meadow has and and this comes because I I used to go to Lounsberry and that used to be a little rivalry, right? We because we had they were two separate schools. Kids went four to eight. So, we never liked Glen Meadow, but I have to say that uh Glenn
Meadow is it's it's always been talked about in in a negative way and I want to or within the last decade, I would say. And I think the the improvement that I've seen over the course of my my time
as a board member, even my prior year, um has been has been amazing. I I think they're this the from from the top down, everyone is doing a great job and Glenn Meadow and it's and I believe at the end of last year, the hibs were lower than
the previous year. So we we have years of of improvement over there. And I I just wanted to point that out. Um and the other thing I would like if maybe we can look at since they're doing a good job there is the transition period. Is are we lessening are we seeing that the
the the negative impact of transition from one school to the other is lessening now with what they're doing in place because maybe that's something we can use at the other school since we transmit transition every two or three years. So >> that's a great question. Thank you. I'll ask
And thank you. I'll let Dr. Van Orton and Dr. >> Anybody else? >> I do. Mr. Fischer. >> So, first I I just wanted to uh mention strategic planning. Again, we do have this uh third and final meeting coming
up. And uh one of the things that came out of the first meeting in particular, there were a lot of suggestions as you mentioned before about communications. So I just want to say that you know if if people have ideas where we want to
hear them and that's certainly a forum where we you could bring those ideas forward. Um second thing I wanted to mention I don't know about any other board members here but I am in some of my discussions with people you know
talking about the possibility of a referendum. I think, you know, that's something that, you know, we I feel I should be discussing with my constituents to let them know that that's something that's
on the horizon. And the uh the third and final thing here, I I I'd like to to propose that we start a log of, you know, comments from Charlie. You know, I I think you know, you know, the ELA
comment from, you know, a couple of months ago and now nobody likes, you know, Glenn Meadow. >> So, we just thought a lot. >> If you if you were up if you were here in the 90s, you would know what I'm talking about. Everyone knows.
>> Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I >> Take care, Jen. Bye.