##VIDEO ID:20cHwJNVnbM## e e e e or Board of Education meeting we are calling the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. and if everyone could please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance a reading of me meeting notice the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provision of the act the Verona board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the Star Ledger posted with the township of Verona and the ver Vera Education Association hostings of this meeting setting forth the time location and agenda were posted at the Verona Board of Education Office and on the Verona Public Schools district website copies of tonight's agenda and resolutions have been made available to the public via the Board of Education website Mr Cruz if you could please call attendance yes Mr Walker Mrs brazel yes Mrs barar Mrs prisco yes Mr Boom yes we have Corum thank great thank you moving on to our agenda I need a motion please to approve our minutes from our November 26 20 2024 Board of Education meeting motion by motion by Mrs Vera yeah I'll second seconded by Mr Waka are there any discussions Mr Cruz if you could please call roll Mr Waka yes Mrs Vel yes Mrs Ferrar I was not here so I'm gonna okay and I was absent as well sorry and Miss Boon yes motion passed thank you moving on to our superintendent report from Miss Diane DJ zeppi good evening um so we couple of board meetings ago I mentioned that I was going to be attending um a workshop uh looking at teacher shortage and uh and some uh opportunity unities to try to mitigate that in our district and what I really found out is while we are experiencing the teacher shortage here we are not experiencing anywhere near some of the other schools in the area and mors County as well um really there are many schools out there that are actually um providing instruction with a substitute in the classroom and kids on the compu on the um on webinars or like um dual lingo or Babble for uh a lot of like Lang World language classes so while it's it's hit us it's not hit us as hard as it's hit some others um but having said that um M Dr Miller and I uh met with u the um graduate school and undergraduate school at monair State and formed a partnership that will be taking on cohorts of interns um into our schools so we will in September take on 14 uh first year interns which means they're not really teaching interns they are observers they do 40 hours of observation across the year with our teachers uh there might be some little teaching assignments um you know toward the end of the second um semester and then the following year those uh those students come back as clinical interns and do student teaching with our teachers here in a way when uh it's it's a nice partnership when a student spends two years in your district and then if a job opens up and they're qualified in their quality we know them because we we've done a ful year you know interview uh so it should open up some opportunities for us um we have tomorrow and Thursday administrative uh professional development with our professional developer from instructional empowerment Gwen Bryant um this is for our administrators to strengthen our inter relator interrater reliability which means um when you're when you're observing teachers you want everybody to um be as close as they can with each other in terms of their understanding of how to roll the model out so um this will be I believe our fifth Workshop um sessions with um Mrs Bryant uh and she's amazing and our and our principales really like working with her so and supervisors Mrs acrian our director of School counseling had a really interesting opportunity um this past week last the end of last week um she attended the Naval Academy Workshop Center of influence and what that is each year the Naval Academy hosts Educators Community leaders counselors and other people in positions of responsibility to interact with um um um and the I'm sorry um the naval the people who do admissions at the Naval Academy in Annapolis um what they're looking for is to bring our best and brightest to the Naval Academy and to other military acmy um as as um enrollment in those schools drop off they're very hard to get into first of all you need sponsorship but this U gives Educators an Insight on the admissions process aspects of um exceptional undergraduate education opportunities uh academic athletic and residential facilities meeting midshipman uh faculty and staff and uh those career options that are available um as an officer in the Navy or Marine Corp um she said it was an amazing two days um it was paid for by the Naval Academy um it's a selection process an application process so we are very pleased that she was able to go and um had a a very great learning experience additionally Mrs palmeri and Mr merkler as our school safety specialist attended um a School bomb threat um processes and procedures um uh workshop and will be turning turn keying that information with our principles and administrative assistants it I can't believe we're into December and we're about to embark on the holidays um we have obviously Christmas and hanuka coming up we have the holiday shop or shops are opening at all four of our elementary schools holiday concerts are also taking place there this week um uh the chamber the Verona High School chamber is going to um uh I'm sorry choir is going to be carolling at all four elementary schools hbw the town the public library Clara Moss Hospital on December 19th the high school Hol concert is on the 18th on the 12th the uh chamber group from um hbw is going to Hillwood uh to do caroling there on the 12th thank you on the 12th um of December there is a program for um the free application for federal student aid AKA FASA at the high school and that's at 6:30 right here in this room in the learning Commons uh and we that's my report for tonight thank you thank you does anyone have any questions or comments thank you moving on to our student report by Mr Ryan go thank you Ryan uh good a oh good evening uh you know uh as Mrs DPI mentioned December is now upon us and this we're now in the final stretch of the calendar year before the holiday break which is quite insane but uh since the last few weeks VHS has accomplished and sponsored many great things with of course more to come into the winter uh Athletics wise we do have our first taste of our wonderful winter sports programs with uh this week uh yesterday there was a victory for ice hockey against Nutley and today there were uh scrimmages both for basketball and winter track and there is an upcoming swim meet uh in New York this Thursday December 12th and this year the student council is running our annual VHS toy drive up to the 16th of December uh for the Hawkins Street School in New York toys for kids grades K through fourth will be collected in the VHS main lobby and these toys should be wrapped with the intendent gender with the toy age group and exactly what it is with a range from 10 to15 and they will not be accepting things like used toys toy weapons video games and clothing and I just think that this is honestly such a great thing to contribute to it's a great program and I do of course shout out um Mrs NY and hem for doing this every year I just think it's fantastic that we uh as BHS can compassionately provide joy to others during such a festive time per se but uh our VHS winter week is going to run from the week of December 16th which will feature a bunch of festive themes for our students to dress up as and i' just like to bring attention to the the VHS class of 2025 decisions page on Instagram which is uh sponsored by the VHS yearbook I believe and it does feature the college commitments of our wonderful seniors and it does definitely serve as a great way to see their accomplishments and congratulate them on an exciting future After High School uh the newspaper has debuted the November edition of the fair viewer and like all other editions it's definitely worth a read and features a lot of interesting things about events at the high school people and student created writings uh December 7th Saturday was uh brona's annual fair in the square and this the fair this year featured a performance from both our VHS cheerleaders and choirs last Saturday also also featured a Model United Nations conference at the master School in DOS fairy New York where uh 14 where four out of our 11 VHS delegates were accommodated with Awards and in the world of Performing Arts last Tuesday the VHS chamber choir had the honor to perform at Radio City before the rockets and just to reiterate what Mrs DJI had already mentioned uh next Wednesday December 17th is our VHS Winter concert featuring our bands choirs and assorted ensembles that is all thank you I do I was remiss in not mentioning the Rockets um Mrs prisco was there I was there Mrs palmeri was there Mrs arrian was there it was just spectacular it was Dr Miller was also there Mr clug showed up um really just an amazing opportunity for our students and they performed I think the best I've ever seen them perform really great yeah thank you that was wonderful thank you anyone have any questions or comments moving on to um our presentations we have our Athletics director our Athletics director Miss Laura Pommery to give our fall recap always so exciting thank you Miss pomy starting with the girls varsity soccer team the team had an overall record of 137 and one and finished third in the SEC Liberty division the team amassed 54 goals 39 assists for 147 points the team's leading scorer was Victoria niic who had 24 goals nine assists and a total of 57 Points Victoria will be continuing her academic and soccer career at Sacred Heart University All Conference recognition first team went to to Victoria Nik and Molly dags Emerson Garrett Hayden Garrett and Alexa Palanka were second Team all conference Noella Newman and Sophia hippie were honorable mention the team made it to the semifinals of the Essex County tournament and the state sectional finals the boys cross country team showed phenomenal personal improvements throughout the season the boys completed in 11 meets this season and there were season bests for at least one of the runners in every one of those meets the boys plays first place overall in the SEC batch meet number three by one point Nick fet received honorable mention in the American Division on to football in his first season as head coach at Verona High School coach mange and his staff LED their team to a great season building culture and a program that the Verona Community is very proud of the boys were in the weit room in January training many days before school where the team learned to rely on each other push one another and turn challenges into growth opportunities they came together as a family with a lifon for one of our own Daria to help raise funds to support her journey this summer the team organized and ran a seven on seven hillbilly shootout tournament that brought 16 teams and eight strongman competitors to Verona showcasing not just our team but our amazing amazing fa facilities and Community Support on the field the hillbillies finished the season with a seven and4 record and had their first playoff win since 2019 a milestone made even more memorable by winning at home football national Red Division first team offense Joel Gonzalez first team defense bod maano Jaden Nigro John Luca chetto and Logan NOK second team offense Conor damasi second team defense Michael gergus South Santos tatron Dean algeri Jesse Wagner an honorable mention went to Gavin Palmer Michael gergus was the recipient of the super Football Conference 2024 Steve D Gregorio young man of the year award where he was recognized at our last regular home season game as well as the Jets versus Seahawks game our girls volleyball team finished with a record of 19 and six ranked in the top 20 in the state multiple times throughout the season and finished as Conference champions in the SEC American Division the team were Essex County runner-ups and reached the state sectional finals for the sixth year in a row this is the first year we had a freshman volleyball team it was amazing seeing the pure joy on the girls faces especially after their first win it was a very successful season with the 12 freshman girls first team allc conference American division went to senior Captain Riley Kenrick and freshman Brin Mack second team Junior Jessica Theobald and freshman Ellie Garcia honorable mention went to Juniors Julie magori and Abby romanishan tennis had an overall record of eight and 10 they Advanced to the north two group one state sectional semifinals they Advanced to the ECT quarterfinals they were the number six ranked team in group one in New Jersey Evelyn kogan and Margot dasta were First Team all SEC Liberty division Briel Mary and Isabella Bop were second team Mari DeAndre and Lily Farrell were honorable mention cheer the VHS cheerleading program had a very successful season with a team of 52 varsity and JV cheerleaders we heard at the board meeting earlier this fall season all their accomplishments attending for the second time a UCA Sleepaway Camp in gly Pennsylvania where 16 girls were selected as UCA All-American cheerleaders and were offered the opportunity to cheer in Disney which five of our girls participated in this month uh kamani McMillan Taylor Gabel Adriana fanella Abby Caruso and Cassidy Simpson our cheerleaders also performed at a devil's hockey game during the season the girls wowed the crowd weekly with their sideline cheers Advanced stunts and showstopping halftime routine a highlight of the season was at the Foley field breast cancer showcase the girls walked away winning for the third year in a row with the best stunts award the VHS cheerleaders were also proud of the long-standing breast cancer showcase that featured all of our Verona cheerleaders raising $5,200 for manette's Angels recently the VHS cheer program was awarded team of the week by the njcdca cheer Association girls cross country were the SEC Liberty division Champions the 11th graders were the champions at the Essex County coaches Invitational and they had a dual meet record of eight and three first team Liberty division went to Sienna Griffin and Ellen Waldren second team went to Francesca Gan Michelle munai Ellen atal Kylie Hagerty and honorable mention went to Violet Palmer our boys soccer team had 63 boys in the program a program high up from 58 fundraisers included a car wash Where The Boys raised money for bike Town Africa and food drive for Tony's kitchen the varsity team started the season with two independent games against group one opponents and were 3 and 0 10 days into the season after the Essex County tournament they had a draw with group three monville at Monclair State University and a road win against group four Livingston which set the team on their way into the state tournament as the number 11 seed the boys had victories at number six Woodridge at number three North Arlington and at number two seated New Providence all Road winds and put the hillbillies into the group one sectional two finals where they fell to Glenridge the boys soccer team finished their season with a record of 11 s and two six players were named to the SEC Colonial division team first team Patrick man and Joey farmer second team Kyle Moore Luke sers and Dean Rizzy an honorable mention went to Joey Hal field hockey this year our field hockey team moved up a division in the Essex Union conference even with a more challenging schedule of games they improved their season record from 108 in1 last year to 13 and seven this season some highlights were defeating Al Johnson in overtime a team who went on to be group one Champions also beating Summit 3 to2 a team which is a division above us and hold in mka to one Z and Montclair to a 3-1 they also finished as SEC Liberty division Champions with multiple Awards to our players SEC Liberty All Conference first team was Danny and briano Aubrey Paul Bella Magle fiori Caitlyn skelo Jane serer second team went to Taylor mlan Gwen Neil and Lucia Grant honorable mention Ellie gingo and Sam veneer the S6 Union White division All Conference first team was Danny andriano Caitlyn skelo Taylor McLean SE second team was Ellie gingo Sam veneer and Lara Schwarz honorable mention was Lauren skelo overall a great great fall for our student athletes thank you thank you so much thanks Laura and um looked like we had a great season all around um but the boy soccer program story was awesome so congrats to the boys and the coach anyone else thank you Lura for being here and for the positive updates and congratulations to all our student athletes moving on to our committee reports um we had an Athletics committee meeting but Mrs pomy I think took care of everything um there was one signing that did happen uh Frank ay he's uh signed for Quinn act to play baseball right but I think you covered everything else that is on our agenda so we're going to go on to our next thank you um onto facilities yes um the facilities we had met a couple weeks ago we uh postponed this discussion from our last meeting uh to ensure that we had a full board um couple of issues have come up uh that are worthy of note um one follow follow up uh The Landing Avenue uh fencing program is uh or the fencing project I should say excuse me is underway um and everything's under control there um we have a couple of issues that I think we need to look at and and um Mr Cruz please correct me where I get get this wrong um but looming is the office Bas uh project at the hbw middle school and the question is uh in terms of timeline uh this would require a capital reserve transfer um that's something that we're going to have to approve the question uh or the decision tree for us is going to have to be pretty soon on that correct so yeah so so in in order uh to address uh the need in uh the Middle School um HB white home Horn uh we would have to probably um make a decision before February in order to uh get that project on the way over the summer uh if not then it it's basically the timeline is kind of like holding off and making do with the space they have until the the following 20 uh 25 26 school year we haven't put any project out the bid or or Price the project have we so so we did get preliminary numbers from the architect and I believe the remodeling I think um it was about uh close to 300,000 that's correct for the remodeling of of the the middle school and then that that will give um the school believe it's a three additional office bace uh three additional office spaces and and also a new layout of the uh I guess a more functional uh main office for the middle school yeah I mean if if we're talking about just I don't want to say just three new offices but three new offices $300,000 seems like an awful large chunk of money um for that and I know it is more I would like to maybe see kind of I'm looking at the document and yeah there's no kind of layout that I and maybe I missed it um that I could see what what what exactly we're looking to do I think the cost because the way the room is laid out they have to do a lot of hbac um upgrade and change so that they could create the offices there and give them um airf flow okay so when we a couple months ago when we were kind of touched upon this and then we had went to see the library I I thought and and forgive me if I'm wrong but I thought that there was larger projects that were kind of coming down the pike at HB now I don't know if it was if it was just the HVAC or if there were other things and what there was a conversation about possibly holding off on doing the office until we know so it but but is it was it just because of the eback or wasn't there another spacing issue that possibly had to be addressed um I think what what it was what it I don't think what it was was that um spending the money to make a temporary office in the library media center um while we knew this project was on the horizon was like a dual hit double whammy where we could have used that little off off for Mr Lancaster that we're actually using for I mean it really was minimal it was carpet tiles and air conditioning unit I mean a window air conditioner so it wasn't a huge expense knowing the was the big project coming down the my qu I guess a question and a comment the first question is what's our cap reserved at right now approximately so we are at uh 2.3 okay um and the second comment is I I do think we need this but we also don't know the the full scope of what we're getting from the new developments in town and that money might need to be put somewhere that and then I could see Capital reserves playing a a role in it so I think we until we get better data it might be wise to see wait till we get the data from up there and then you know put the max so we can carry over and add to capital reserve for the next budget in there just so we have that ready my only concern on that Mr W is that if we kick this down the road does that $300,000 become 350 375 400 yeah at a year down the road that's my one open question on that and I don't know I don't know yeah we don't have a crystal ball but I mean it's there we need multiple crystal balls which we don't have you know what if students are always going to be you know the most important thing and and I think our mission statement reflects that then you know for as much as we appreciate the staff and and we don't like to have them in you know doubling up in offices or or things like that um I I think that the variable of what the students needs are going to be from the apartment complex is is going to have to take prent I think so I would I would I would recommend maybe wait until we get more information also we do have the the um on the horizon the apartments or whatever that building is going to be in the children's the the Spectrum to I say want to say the children's house or something yeah it was the ark before that yeah um which you know we we don't know what's GNA still but I I don't know I just I'm kind of with you yeah maybe and right now is Mr Lancaster in that office he in the temporary office yeah so he's in the temporary office and um Mrs miss miss m Ramirez is in his old office that was the issue she's a guidance um school counselor that didn't he had a closet not an office and I know we still have one of our child study team members that's kind of in a vestibule versus an office um I think that was another uh remedy we were seeking to fix um if you if you go into the child study team office there there's kind of like an open area and then each has a little office she's in the open area so I guess she's got to find a place when she has to speak privately to a parent or when she has to test a student um but this is not a new problem so it's been it's not like one year or is going to make a big big difference um but I I do agree we don't know what pricing is going to be but while I'm speaking update on the apartments three students at hbw one uh VHS two actually but one was already Verona resident two two at FM Brown uh and uh I know we said we were going to place them at Brookdale but U there are implications for MLL uh so they're at Brown because that's where our multilingual learner program is and there are three at Landing Avenue uh for our LSS and preschool program and then one um one sibling of one of those students that we can accommodate how many more like I think either urn e or I don't know the answer but how many more waves or how many more moving States well one more in February definitely yeah they're moving in from my understanding and the bigger the smaller apartment buildings that have the bigger units so the two and three bedroom units are the ones that are currently people moving in and you drive by I think actually I texted like on a Saturday and I'm like there's a U-Haul truck in front of there so you know when we started seeing uh people move in um and every time you go by there there's more people which is great I'm happy that the the building are being utilized um but I think and my you know my feeling and I think I've expressed it to you is that I think we're going to see more kids coming after the holidays because I'm GNA be honest if I had a kid and I was able to transport them to their Elementary School through their holidays their holiday parties their holiday concerts stuff I would do that and then start them in their new school in January um although we are seeing some already started um I requests for at least one request um for a student who is in the next wave in the February move in if they can start the student in our schools sooner than later right after the holidays to get them acclimated so they're not changing school and home and all of that at the same time and the parent did offer to pay tuition until they move in um Mr wer brings up a good point also but I I want to set that aside to get to the next project and then I want to come back to Mr Walker's Point too the other thing that we need to discuss um M Ferrara you touched on this a little bit we have the rod Grant approval uh for the h HVAC program um and that uh we have one more year to complete the project or lose the money um now my understanding is is that we we also need to do a capital reserve transfer for that that that's a much bigger project in the neighborhood of 520 to about $750,000 this project would not take place in uh 25 but we need to have a discussion relatively soon uh on approval for that so that it can start on time in 20 summer of 26 so what would we need fact that didn't get done during the referendum correct yeah so so this is basically uh the the 2019 referendum uh uh the HVAC portion of the project was over budget so the uh the decision that was made at the time was anything that had split units or the older units in we will leave in and then just address the U rooms the classrooms and and share spaces that actually didn't have any type of air conditioning or split units in them um so this this Rod GR will now provide us um and and this is almost like a 1.9 million um anywhere the the numbers that the architect actually threw out it's anywhere between 1.3 to 1.9 so it's a it's a big range I think we the decision to like hold off because I think when early on when the rock grants came out a lot of districts went out they they went out to bid it was very expensive because a lot of uh schools are doing mechanic projects I think holding off and even holding off until uh summer of 26 is might be uh effective because I think at that point um there's going to be uh less and less projects for HVAC um it's kind of like we're hitting a balloon now and then hopefully there's um it'll come down and in that sense in the bidding uh but we all know that inflation and and labor cost just goes up uh the the one thing is is about kind of like making the decision are we if we're really going to take advantage of this because it's 40% that's funded by the state um and and the and the board is only covering 60% of the entire project is it is it going to benefit the kids to have this project so it it will because uh eventually the units or even like the older models that we have there there's probably two or three sections that we will still have to go and replace it if we we didn't have this scant funding anyway and then uh the other part is that it's going to also allow us to um integrate the older units with the new system so right now we're using three different uh leg uh we actually have a new system which came out of the referendum and then we have a legacy a really old system that is not we're not able to actually access remotely uh so uh the uh assistant of uh the assistant director of facilities who's who was our HVAC uh coordinator he has to physically log in at the site um um with those units uh so so this will also allow us to have one system to be able to uh integrate them and and access them from one location or or even remotely if if he's on a on a Saturday morning and someone actually calls in and say there's an issue he's able to uh log in um from from home and and and address the issue in the system so it's fair to say this is something that even if it was no refund we'd still probably have this somewhere on our our priority list um absolutely it and and even if we wouldn't have spent let's say a million dollars we probably would be spending at least half a million and in addressing um two major needs one of the the issues that we have here at the high school the high school has a lot of the the newer uh units but they're uh the music uh room does have uh a condenser that's actually not working so uh for for for example for this one uh specifically in the winter they uh the Summers is fine but the winter is actually um they're not getting enough heat because only one unit is actually operating so the btu level of the the energy that's supposed to be generated to to heat that that room um doesn't get adequate um output from it so so that that means that for one more year they're spending a winter similar to last winter where they'll complain hey it's kind of a little chilly layer up and um it's not freezing but it's it's a little cool it's kind of like having the AC on in the winter Ryan I hate to put you on the spots are you ever in that room that music room well I I would say I don't know I just like I don't have if you don't have to but I'm gonna put you on the spot no I just I'm because I don't you know listen my my daughter complains that her social studies room is too hot or too cold or too whatever I mean that I think every child in but if there is a need that needs to be addressed that is impacting you know the ability of our students to learn and to do what they need to do I think it's I I would rather if I had a choice if you're telling me these are the two projects we can do there's one more thing we got to discuss yet too quick question before move on I want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly so right now we the this approval a potential approval for Capital reserves if we're looking for two separate approvals one would be the rod Grant and then a second would be for HB although HB also has the HVAC issue in there but that's a separate right it's two different projects uh one one thing that we could do is maybe um scale up and take advantage of actually saying let's do the two projects talk to the architect let's bid it out and kind of like overlap that's my next part is that if I know nothing about HX so I'm going to just go on record with that well not much but if we are doing that HVAC work then is that something that like if we don't do the HB office work with it we're g to kind of wind up wind up for lack of a better term shooting ourselves in the foot because then we're going to have to do it and it's going to be a higher cost because now they're repping the walls and doing all that is it fair to say that when looking at these two projects yes okay I'm just going to circle back to brazill's question no no I'm just like no it's no uh no it's like with the heating at VHS specifically I mean I think it's just like there's a lot of variation in the temperature of different rooms like you'll have a room that's directly next to it and it's like the contrast between like the temperature is like kind of crazy I feel like that's just like I don't know a lot of people do complain about it personally I don't person have any problems with it but it is it is definitely something that people mention when they walk in it's like oh this room is so hot compared to the last classroom I was in ETC so I think that's just something to consider our man on the scene um one other uh issue that we need to follow and this is uh down on the second page of the U facili agenda uh we have um continuing projects at VHS hbw Brown and then also districtwide um that we need to also start planning on on it at the high school it's uh the lower field bleachers issue which uh there's a link to the pictures of that um M prisco you're well aware of this situation uh we have the Press Box um issue as well um along with looming artificial turf replacement at the high school um there are some roof wall panel issues uh at hbw uh we have the info folder attached there the gym floor replacement at Brown um and then um uh well yeah I'll just pause it at that so at the three buildings we needed just decide which direction we're going um you know how much more do we want to kick the can down the road on the Press Box um and the artificial turf thing is going to have to happen one way or the other um in by 20 23 so we we do have a uh $9.5 million referendum that's coming off uh the the the actual bond that we just um refunded and and went out and and brought some savings to taxpayers on so that that's going to come off meaning that uh the board could go out and with the approval of uh the B and the residents we could go out and actually secure another uh bond for the 9.5 million and and actually do some projects that's the the district needs at at zero cost to the taxpayers so meaning that um the tax base stays flat um with that uh 9.5 that's effec of 2030 though that's 2030 so then that that will be in 2030 so um so that's five years um from now um and more than likely we will have to start planning like in in three years from now three to four years and and and really have that so um by 20 uh 28 that's when we'll be kind of like uh hit the books on trying to get all those things secured my concern is that when we one to referendum and how to do such a large referendum is that the boards over the years kick the down the road on some basic maintenance items um to save money um in short term and now we have I mean we all saw the facilities before uh the referendum um I think that we we should definitely look to be spending money before 2030 on some of these items because some of these items I don't think can wait like typic HB stuff um you know I would like to see maybe some sort of if maybe facilities or the faciliity whoever can put together kind of what are our top three priorities and that we or just prioritize everything we start hammering down the the list until until we run out of funds or will or whatever so we have that list it's a we have submit the long-term facility planning list if you if you could share that to all board members that might help the next you know unless we need an an answer it now Mr K no no we we could share the the long range uh facility plan uh which has um basically all the the the projects and the needs of the district uh one of the and mechanical wise which is are going to be like the largest uh um cost for the district will probably be like boilers so those are the things um so the high school has new boilers I believe Landing Avenue has new boilers but hbw will be the next one that will need um the boilers replace and and that might be something um we've been just patching uh certain things and and that might be something if if um if those boilers are not able to make it to 2030 then the other option U besides Capital reserves will be uh like an EIP uh project uh and then taking out almost like a a finan uh a lease payment where we pay it off in X number of years even if we you know people don't want to say this words but if we went to referendum right if you lived in this town the value of your home has gone up a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot over the years um and and and the school system is a big part of that at least the reputation of the school system um so it if we have to go to vote I I I think I think people in Verona would want really nice things for their for their kids in the schools and I I would be okay with putting it to the the will of the people to to get everything fixed and be could but even so if we went for a referendum would that have to be in the five years or are you referring to one prior to additional one an additional one before that yeah an additional one so Mr uh Mr Boom just commenting um about the Press Box because on the chart that is on that I have from the committee um report it says that the Press Box is critical and needs to be addressed and I know Mr Cruz you said that the architect said it could get through another but I would prefer something more substantial than just his word I would prefer that we have something in writing because um first we have people that are standing up there so we want to make sure that it's safe um and you know I don't know if what they did their Patchwork is substantial so I would want to make sure if we're going to kick that down the road that it's definitely safe for who's ever up there for sporting events or band events or whatever who's ever up there yeah so as far as functionality um the the Box itself um it's able to do what they need for the events um the issue that um with the inspection it was always really the the structure of the the staircase and then um at games when there was a multiple people on uh on the steps that that was also like a hazard uh so one of the things that uh the inspector recommended was limiting the the number of people and I think that's right now there's the signage that's on there that's the the maximum capacity and on the structure whether it's on the staircase and in the box is five so um as long as uh we don't surpass that that capacity of five people um it's it's sound the the other piece is that um even though before the I guess the staircase the the question was that there was some sections that were a little waggly it still it still sound it's almost like uh what the architect explained it's almost like um uh like like a bridge where where there is some some um some level of of uh flexibility but doesn't mean that it's it's going to collapse or it there's there's a concern that it's not not safe uh so right now that's that that was his piece um his recommendation was that if the if the school board wanted to wait until the surf field to be replaced that might be something that could be done simultaneously the issue is that even looking at the Timeline to to actually have it um have the project done with before season uh realistically is not we we will lose it for one season so we will have to have a temporary structure and not have any game a Press Box during those games it would be like um kind of like some kind of a offside box schools played football before press boxes were vented right it'll get done right for a year yeah so then so then that's the only thing is like if as long as um he wasn't sure if if um if there was going to be a need of hey we we can't we're not going to have a real game without the Press boot or but if we can then that that is an option we we will lose it um for season safety goes also these the lower field bleachers this seems to be a so so that is a that is also uh a capital project because there is um kind of like drainage issues with that um the reason why there's the those those actually are concrete bleachers there's a lot of cracks in them and it's just the way that water runs off so the the recommendation is to uh have those bleachers replaced get aluminum bleachers and then have some drainage um designed uh there with with some actual drains uh to to actually address the water that that goes down how old that structure you know so now that is is kind of I think similarly to the office in the HV H each v um if we have to replace the turf is that water impacting the turf negatively that's draining down into the field and is that going to then if we put bleaches do we know if when we redo the turf has there been any conversation about that or any so I'm I'm pretty sure that that will be something that the engineers will look at at it's it's uh because we have turf in both the upper and lower field uh so I'm I'm sure that the water is actually coming from the upper field down and through the bleachers the concrete and the concrete and yeah so so it's all it's always making it it's way down downhill not sure they they were both fix the upper with the the tur was done at the same time I think I think the turp was done at the under the same referendum though yeah but they had to go back and redo the upper one the sinkhole was during grass not was it D I thought the field turf was on okay okay to do the you know seems like five years is a long time right but five years seems like a very long time to fix these things this brings me to the kind of the more existential question that I think Mr Waco was getting at with the um you know the lack of the crystal ball on the impact from uh the new development is every financial decision that we discuss every financial decision we make I feel we are handcuffed by saying well we don't know the financial impact of you know we don't know what we don't know even um of that Financial impact so I feel that any decision we make as part of these discussions on let's break it into the the three buckets of projects that we have I think we're we're questioning ourselves second guessing ourselves because we don't know that Financial impact and I I think we also need to come to grasp with how we we handle that unknown say we did everything we just talked about like say we just said yeserday want to do everything would that be less than 2.3 million it's in our cap already yeah so we we have the ability it's just we're we're rolling the dice on the back end saying you know we we might be running low and then this board's gonna have to commit for the next up years to just reinvest the maximum allowable and build up that Reserve again and let me just correct when when you say everything I'm only talking about the HVAC project uh hbw uh the modeling of the the offices and and then also the Press Box so the the cap reserves that we have will be enough and we'll probably have still a small tiny cushion after after doing those three pieces so we could do that just I I haven't really made my mind up as to how I would want to Advocate either way um we could do that and then if if new needs come up then this board would just have to be kind of comfortable with hey the next the next step is going to be we're going to look to put a referendum out to the people and say Here's exactly what we need to why right or alternatively you know um statement AB there is the all the the field related projects do we just tie that to an extension of the current referendum and then do the other two projects giving us a larger cushion Five Years on the turf and those bleachers so so the bleachers right now what they're doing is they're they continue doing patch so it's more of a um and and some of that work is is is actually handled internally by our maintenance staff so it's more like patching cement patching the cracks uh but then every year those cracks they they continue it's just like it's just putting a Band-Aid and just reping yeah might help if you know this gonna be the same board after rework so um maybe the J meeting or whatever you could you know be prepared yeah if you can give us a visual of option a option b option C option D you know side by side and then if we could kind of just Whittle them out one by one until we get to something that we we kind have consensus with or we think is a clear or we just have to vote if we have to but nice s yeah because my My worry is really five years is to me seems very long to wait to make any of these decisions so although we know that that's that's coming we need to make these decisions and figure out how to fix this before that time and I think also we to that point Mr Wala is to have um a sense of what option a option b leaves us in our in in the in regards to the reserve so we know where we stand okay I'll definitely have that for the board for the next meeting great thank you moving on to public comments on agenda action items if there's anyone from the public that would like to come up to the podium please state your name and you have three minutes it's anything that we're voting on seeing none moving on to discussion items anyone have anything for New or Old business I just have um we've discussed it over the years that I've been on the board as having a joint meeting with the Town Council um especially given our current conversation about the new development and that's being done at uh spectrum and the new development um that's being populated right now I think that it would be it would behoove us to invite the Town Council um to a joint meeting in our lovely High School um you know to talk about not just the pilot stuff I would also I think talk about some of the um issues that have been raised um regarding regarding the memoral of understanding between uh the town and the the board about um maintenance of of the fields and and and kind of maybe piece out some pieces of that that maybe you know weren't necessarily addressed fully in the the current memoral of understanding um you know just so that we have this discussion sooner rather than later so I think maybe if if um if you feel it's appropriate president prista if you think we should issue an invitation to the entire Council and town manager um to come to a meeting and let's talk about it with the this just to be clear this would be a public meeting of course yes yes yes and we can have it here we can have it in the auditorium we can find Place definitely sounds like thank you sounds like a good idea just name V we uh Miss brazel and I went to the delegate assembly on Saturday and our resolution passed 97% um so while we know that has very little tee can you just reiterate the the resolution just yeah public so um it was so so the way that it works really is is as a as a school board member the delegate or as a school board you have an opportunity to put forth resolutions to the um delegate the njsba so the New Jersey School Board Association those resolutions then get voted on by the the Fus right um any resolutions that pass then those resolutions have the possibility to go in front of legislature and that's kind of how it works and have mandates and this all kind of get put in um so we wrote a resolution as a board requesting that pilot funds be shared with um school boards or that at least school board members or superintendent um has an opportunity to sit and be part of the um decision making for it superintendent or her his or her design KN would sit as an equal member of any pilot um board I guess or Pilot um group to discuss future pilot project projects within a municipality that could potentially impact um attendance at school population for school so this would allow miss dppy or whoever she decides to or require that she is invited to these meetings and she would have an equal say and equal vote um as to whether a pilot project should move forward to the full Town Council for a vote um we did also have a initially have a a piece in there that the school board would also have to approve any that anything but that was a bridge too far but there is something in there about a pable rate yes right that that the that any pilot funds re any pilot funds received would um be shared with the school board in a and and and these pilot funds and Community funds because it's not just the pilot funds sometimes these developers also provide Community funds for parks recreation whatever um that they would be shared with the School Board in a in the equal rate as to tax the tax levy um so in Verona that would be like 8% there um so you know it listen is it a is it GNA change a whole lot right now no but it is no but I think it's important to note especially when when looking at the other uh votes that came in it was by far the highest the the uh the military guy the military yeah I know it beat there was one resolution where um as far as like excused absences if someone was enlisted in the military right now their absences are not so like if they have to go and enlist and then they have to go and do all their testing and their you know it counts as an absent the state doesn't it counts as an absent the state doesn't recognize this pilot fund resolution passed higher than that it was it was incredible but my my point really being is that aside from um New Jersey school board I think the fact fact that it did have such a high rate I'd like to believe that this is really impacting a lot of school districts across the state and because of that I think that we may or I'm hopeful at least that we may see some movement here because this is not just this is not just talk and things that we would like to see done or be done this is really impacting budgets which really impact students and we weren't the only School Board actually to put forth a pilot a similar type of resolution hours was just chosen as the one to be voted on by the the delegates so um so we'll see what Happ keep post um uh totally unrelated and sorry uh totally unrelated much more pedantic um on the um uh paper of record are we investigating um an alternative as the print version of The Star Ledger will be no more effective I believe it's February okay actually one of the other resolutions that was discussed was great length ridiculous people were very so it's gonna pass through possibly that you're no longer gonna have to publish it in print and that digital will be it's not it's not there yet like there was there was a lot of discussion over if it was digital How would how would a school would possibly keep an accurate record of what was published right so PDF thank you I just had a couple of things I wanted to uh along those lines there's a lot that um was published on our website during the referendum that I can't find records up here so if you're going to they do have to figure out on how to help districts know how to do that do that right because if somebody's not printing it out and filing it the minute it comes down off the website unless you have a a weird cookie that allows you to access that um it it can disappear go the way back machine right I mean even if it comes off a web page it's still out there so you it's yeah so you just have to have a mechanism where that those are being archived um I just wanted to there's a couple things I just wanted to comment on I wanted to thank um Colonel uh Joe simonelli and his wife Betty uh he was a 1983 VHS graduate and also graduated in 1987 from West Point and he donated and installed the plaque over um as you walk in by the gym side door um for all the graduates from Verona High School that graduated from West Point so brona high school has six six alumni from VHS that have graduated our last graduate was Christian dionio um from he graduated from VHS in 2020 also on Wednesday two of our VHS graduates Joseph nyler class of 2019 and Marcos Tupac class of 2022 um were sworn in as Verona police officers so congratulations to those two fine gentlemen and also last night I um went to the Verona environmental commission um at the um thank you to Jessica Pearson for inviting us um and our two students I was blown away we really have just incredible Talent here between our academics our our Sports our band our Arts everything um but Nia polari and CCC Manis um did their presentations last night and I know they are up on the uh Verona environmental commission's website to see their presentations but wow um extremely impressive congratulations to them um they did a outstanding job and their Futures are definitely bright um and uh so I just wanted to comment on that but that's it anyone else have anything moving on to any correspondence no thank you moving on to our agenda I need a motion to approve our resolutions for personnel from A1 through A6 motion by Mr Boon seconded by second Mrs Ferrera are there any discussions Mr Cruz if you could please call roll Mr wer yes Mrs verzal yes Mrs um Mrs Ferrar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boon yes motion carries thank you moving on to our res resolutions for Education need a motion to approve resolutions B1 through B7 motion by Mrs bellaa seconded by I'll second Mrs Pereira are there any discussions just for um for B1 I'm gonna vote Yes tonight for this but um for next year's budget if we are going to be looking to making substantial reserves I I don't know if we need to send four people to texo I I like the fact that you know the head of technology is going to that um at least one academic specialist but three seems like a little bit much um so that's that's it and I just want to um I don't know whether you noticed but B4 five B6 um B before five and six were resolutions that or motions that changed a little bit and I just wanted to explain what was happening so with before um your original agenda that went to you had um a resend um this was an additional um this is an additional um addition of a otpt and speech for the Z of District Place child um not at first it looked like it was a new price but this is additional to what we already approved last month um and then B5 and B6 these were both just a change in the number of days that the students attended these out of District placements so um and for B4 um I'm not sure if the board knows but this is a mckin vento case um the state will charge us back the cost for educating this child um in uh at this out of District school um because this is uh you know an $80,000 price tag and uh that's all thank you Mr Cruz if you could please call roll Mr Walker yes Mrs Vella yes Mrs Ferrar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boom yes motion carries thank you on to our Athletics resolutions I need a motion to approve resolutions C1 through C3 motion byov Mr Waka seconded by Mrs brazel are there any discussions I just want to clarify one thing here as well so the uh stipend position that we're voting on tonight is listed on the agenda as January through June um but in speaking with um Mr cogil today um the uh advisor has been meeting with the students regularly since September so we'll revise this on the next well we'll add to it to give the other half of the stipend uh the advisers are now logging in and recording their meetings in uh Genesis and so um this should be the last year where we have any confusion as to what's meeting when um but this um this will be amended uh we'll actually have a second motion to pay the other half of the stip and position on next board meeting thank you Mr Cruz if you could please call roll Mr Walker yes Mrs brazel yes Mrs Farrar yes presco yes Mr Bo yes motion carries thank you moving on to facilities I need a motion to approve resolutions D1 motion by some Mrs Ferrera seconded by Mr br are there any discussions Mr Cruz if you could please call roll Mr W yes Mrs brazel yes Mrs farar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boom yes motion carries thank you moving on to resolutions for finance I need a motion to approve resolutions E1 through E3 motion by Mr Waka seconded by second Mrs Ferrera are there any discussions no mo Mr Cruz if you speak Mr Walker Mrs bzel yes Mrs Ferrar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boom yes oh and I just want to thank the landing Avenue uh SCA for their generous donation very generous yes thank you moving on to resolutions for governance and policy I need a motion to approve resolution F1 motion by Mrs Bala second seconded by Mr Boon any discussions Mr Cruz if you could please call roll Mr Walker yes Mrs Pella yes Mrs perar yes Mrs prisco yes Mr Boom yes motion carries thank you great thank you moving on to public comments anyone from the public wishing to speak please state your name and you have three minutes you could speak on anything nothing from the public um we have no confidential I just want to wish everyone a very wonderful and great holiday season healthy and happy and restful restful peaceful um our next schedule public meeting is on our reorganization meeting on January 7th 2025 beginning with confidential session at 6 pm and public session at 7 p.m in the Verona High School Learning Commons I need a motion to adjourn motion by m Vella seconded by Mrs Ferrara all in favor hi it is 8:15