Good evening everyone. I would like to welcome you to the April 29th, 2025 board of education meeting. We are calling the meeting to order at 7:14 p.m. Thank you for waiting. Um if everyone could please rise for the pledge of allegiance.
to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisibley for all. Thank you. A reading of 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 meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with this 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 Verona Education Association. Postings of this meeting setting forth time, location, and agenda were posted at the Verona Board of Education office and on the
Verona Public Schools District website. Copies of today's tonight's agenda and resolution have been made available to the public via the Board of Education website. Mr. Cruz, can you please call attendance? Yes. Mr. Walker? Yes.
Mrs. Ferrar? Yes. Mrs. Prrisco? Yes. Mrs. Fzelle? Yes. Mr. Boon? Yes. Here. We have quorum. Thank you. Thank you. Um, can I please get a motion to approve the minutes of the regular and
confidential session of April 8th, 2020? I'll move it, Denise. Oh, thank you. I'll second that. Second by Miss Prrisco. Uh, can we have a roll call, please? Mr. Walker, yes. Mrs. Ferrar, yes. Mrs. Prisco, yes. Mrs. Fazala? Yes.
Mr. Brun? Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you. Uh, moving on to our superintendent report. Mr. Jeppi. So, um, my report tonight is going to, uh, primarily be a joint report with Mr. Cruz as we, uh, are having our final budget hearing. But I did want to, uh,
let the board know, um, Mrs. Thomas and I are um uh getting ready to complete the trees for schools grant again where we're looking to plant 45 trees looking for uh a grant from Sustainable New
Jersey and um uh the College of New Jersey jointly to um to kind of plant some trees primar all over the district but a lot of them down by the turf uh where that isn't really a
a big heat sink because of the turf uh and the shade would go a long way in 20 years or so. Can I interrupt you? I hate to interrupt you in the middle of your report. Yeah. We've found if when we have planted trees near, you know, the the carpeted or the
the rubbery lake equipment, we found that like 10 or 15 years later, the roots have ended up hurting infiltrating infiltrating and and and causing lumps and and and a bunch of problems. Right. and and I rode by the FM Brown the other day. I was up on spring break last week and I saw there's kind of tree it looked
like a tree ceremony. I was gonna talk about that too. Um and I and I I rode by and saw that and I thought it was great. But I just want to know is there any thread or has it been discussed that like 15 years down the road we we might get headaches because of these lovely trees we put in. You know what I it it
has not been discussed. I will tell you that those trees that were planted as a result of Arbor Day, they were donated to um uh Verona High School. uh by the Verona um high school and HBW middle school environmental clubs. Um and they
chose the location and the species of tree with the cha tree commission. So um I can certainly uh have Laura reach out to the turf company and see if there's any restrictions. Yeah. In fact, I would be not I think Laura's lovely and and really good at her job. I but I'd rather
have Jorge as the BA reach out. Okay. Okay. It's all you. And it's because I I I know that we had a a $300,000 project that we didn't think we were going to have to have and it it was all because of the tree roots. Okay. Coming up. Sorry to interrupt your That's okay. Um
so I did have a conversation with um the uh the people at Trees for Schools. I I reached out to find out last year when we we were denied. We did not deny we didn't we were not awarded the grant and um the primary reason we were not awarded the grant was we we are not a a
school in need. We are still not a school in need comparatively. However, they changed the waiting uh to make that component less weight. Um she did say our application was excellent in every way um and and gave me a couple of tips on how to move some of our funding
requests around and so we have a much better chance of getting that award. Um uh we also as I I was going to say we also um had a very lovely ceremony with um town council was there um mayor um
Tamburo um the Sha Tree Commission um both sets of environmental clubs from the high school and the middle school with their uh adviserss Mrs. Thomas and um again my head doesn't work all the
time. Chris Walker driving by. Chris Walker driving by. Um he will come to me in about 30 seconds. Um no, I'm talking about the the adviser for the middle school. Um and I'm I'm drawing a blank and Nadia Dominic, Mrs.
Dominic. Um Mrs. Dominic. And uh they were there and we we took some great pictures. I don't seem to have access uh to my Facebook page anymore. I have to talk to Mr. Bell about why I can't get to it from work. Uh so as soon as I can get to the Facebook page, I will post uh the
pictures of it was a really nice event. It was a beautiful day, too. So we lucked out. Um and we are busy staffing uh for those few positions that we do have um open. Uh right now there are six
positions that we're trying to fill and uh we are getting more applicants than we got last year, which is a a positive sign. uh and keeping our fingers crossed that uh we'll be able to fill them quickly. I had two interviews today. Uh both gave me a tenative yes. So uh that
would take us down to four and um we will uh uh I'm sorry take yes down to four and uh they'll be on the agenda next on the next meeting. Um we'll go on I guess go on to uh Ryan and then we'll get back into the budget presentation.
But real quick, if if we could or if you could give us an update before the next board meeting about the the trees because we also thought like shade in the area the kids would play in was going to be a really good thing until we realized like that's exactly the reason that like we we had the damage that we did. So if you give us that update, that
would be helpful. I know it's right where like the the left field wall would would be like where right where FM Brown kind of meets the the high school field and I would hate to see that area kind of ruin the whole field if if it's the lower the lower field it wouldn't happen but I'd
like us to get some kind of professional opinion on that. Thank you. Moving on. Uh Ryan, if you want to give us the student uh report that'd be great. Good evening. Okay. All right. Okay. So, well, it's a really
lovely lovely day today, you know. No, but uh in news regarding spring sports, uh the boys tennis team had a 5-0 win today against New York Central. The golf team uh actually had a big conference win against West Essex. I think it was yesterday or um this past
weekend. And last Thursday was the the track senior night meet. And besides celebrating, of course, our wonderful senior student athletes, uh, junior Gwen Neil did achieve a a new school record for the 200 meter race for
the girls track team. So, congrats to her. And there was also today there's also a girls lacrosse victory against Columbia High School. And girls softball also scored a win against New York Academy 5 days ago. I'm not sure if you
guys have seen it, but um Miss Corvahal and National Art Honor Society here at VHS, they did a like phenomenal job of painting the dugout on the lower field. It looks absolutely amazing. So, thank you for them for doing such a great job and you know, always keeping up with
that Rona pride, of course. So, and uh this week, DECA uh the DECA club had sent off uh six students in total to compete in the DECA International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. And as of next week, May 6, uh
AP testing will be officially beginning at BHS. So that's something to quote unquote look forward to for my fellow VHS students. But uh this Thursday evening at 7 p.m. in the BHS auditorium, uh the music department will be
presenting the annual spring concert which features the concert band, concert choir, and chamber choir. So it'll be a very fun uh fun fun day and it's great programs choir and band and it's a very very good reperatory. It's a
really fun show and I do recommend everyone to see it, especially this being uh probably the last concert of the year. And I say that, but there's also a concert the day before because the concert band had been given the opportunity to perform alongside the Ruckers University Symphony Band
tomorrow night at Ruckers New Brunswick. And this joint concert will be held at the Nicholas Music Center at 7:30 p.m. And I would also uh additionally extend my congratulations to the class of 2026 National Honor Society members who had passed a rigorous assessment of
scholarship, character, and leadership to be conserved for the induction. So I mean we all know VHS is very academically rigorous school. So, just like the little round of applause for our athletes, I mean students, sorry. It's all good. And
that'll be all for tonight. Thank you very much, Ryan. Really appreciate that. Um, and then moving on to the budget presentation from Mr. Cruz. All right. Good evening everyone. Let me uh share this presentation here.
So this is our final uh public budget hearing. Uh so tonight uh the board will hear uh the final presentation um which is in fact uh hasn't changed from what we presented uh last month. Uh the
county received uh the the budget submission on uh March 19th. We received it uh the approval from the county superintendent on April 9th and pretty much um uh what was presented and everything else was uh approved. Uh
there is one change on the equalization um value of Verona. Uh at the time when the county office uh received the the budget proposal uh they only had the 20uh 24 numbers. Uh, so
they wanted it to be based off of that. Even though the township already had copies of the 2025, it wasn't posted um in the county and and if you go to the county website now, 2025 is now there, but they they wanted us to use the 2024
um valuation. Does that have any impact on the numbers or our budget? No. Okay. No. So, real quick, this is the uh uh the timeline. Um we're finally at the end of this budgetary timeline, which is uh April 29th, uh the final adoption um to
the board. Uh if if it's not adopted tonight, um the very last day that the board could actually approve the budget um will be May 11th. and and at that time since we don't have a meeting before May 11th we will have to do a
special meeting um before that. So our mission statements I'm going to jump right into uh our budget goals has not changed from the last presentation. Um and this is basically the intent and the purpose um
and and the value ad that we're bringing on the 202526 school year. on the uh protected increases. We we have a proposed uh budget with a tax levy of 3.53
uh% increase which is a additional increase of uh 1.3 million. Uh projected increase in our revenue um from other sources is 283,000. uh estimated increase in state aid or the actual state aid that's going to be
uh the that the actual increase of 6% is 163,92. Uh bringing the total uh increase in revenue of of 1.8 8 million and then we also are bringing over the excess surplus from last fiscal uh of
913,000 and bringing a total uh estimated revenue of 1.733508505. So this chart here uh is uh the same comparison chart that we had in the previous presentation. Uh here we could see the year umover-year uh
comparison and uh the difference in uh the one-year change from the current uh fiscal year which is the 25 uh 2425 school year versus the proposed budget of uh 2526. the proposed expenditures um which
is the same value of our revenue. It's 45,696,177. Um most of which is uh general ed instruction uh followed by benefits and the fringe cost. Uh special education is actually broken down into different categories. We have uh special
ed instruction, special ed um out of district tuition uh and then related services which is uh speech um occupational therapy uh physical therapy and related services and the other sections are smaller which is going to be your
custodial services uh maintenance for our schools uh school administration at 4.3% and education media at less than 1%. In this uh pie chart we have the actual dollar figures of that previous pie
chart. Uh it might be small to see it here but um this presentation will become public on our website tomorrow uh along with uh the userfriendly um budget. Again, this is another slide of a
comparison chart um of the last three fiscal years, which is the current the current fiscal year 25 in right in the center uh comparing to the previous school year of uh fiscal year 24 and the
proposed budget for uh fiscal year 26. And then same comparison chart um on the expenditure side which is the the three years and the one-year change in percentage. I'll turn it over to Superintendent Dppy who will highlight the uh instructional
initiative. So, um we are focusing our professional learning and curriculum writing uh uh for next year on uh the K4 actually K5 uh literacy uh program that we're
adopting um for that address the changes to the New Jersey student learning standards in uh English language arts. Uh we also will be continuing uh professional learning uh with our math programs, our Singapore math programs in
uh K uh 8 which are dimensions K5 and amplify in 6, seven and 8. We also adopted Amplifies uh products in um algebra 1, geometry and algebra 2. So we'll be continuing to provide professional development in that area.
Um uh we are um expanding our social studies history alive um and and we are in the third year of its implementation. Um and we are continuing to support the STC curriculum which is um the Smithsonian curriculum in science K8. Um
that is uh an area that we will have to eventually change. It is not standards aligned. Um and uh while it's a good program in terms of hands-on uh and minds on science instruction, it is uh outdated with regard to um linking up
with the next generation science standards, also known as the New Jersey student learning standards for science. Um uh year we are in year three of uh the letters training. Although we did not do letters training this year, um we
will uh be bringing letters training back next year for uh those few teachers that have not yet been trained in letters and that is a uh a reading program uh reading and spelling pro training program for teachers. Um we are uh continuing to administer
math growth assessments um in math and reading to students in grades 1 through 8 and algebra 1 at the high school. and we have to continue to update our curriculum documents with regard and according to our five-year cycle and the
um standards uh adoption by the state. Um we had uh a fullear pilot this year of the positivity project character education at HBW and smaller uh pilots at the elementary schools. So, uh, next year will be a fullear pilot, uh, at the
elementary schools of the positivity project, which is the character education program we've spoken about several times at the board level. Um, and, uh, we are continuing to dissect the standards. Uh, we are working um, in building for next year uh, more
professional learning communities. Um we will be in year two of the focused teacher evaluation model. Year two of the focused uh school leader evaluation model. Um we're bringing back some training in how to differentiate instruction to strengthen tier one uh uh
instruction. And um we'll be in year I'm going to say one and a half uh using our new uh response to intervention tier multi-tered system of support intervention program. Um and uh we will
continue to um uh have a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging program. Um we did get some news on that uh regarding um this uh the federal government's request for us to validate that we are not violating any illegal
DEI programs. The state department of education illegal DEI programs. Yeah, I know it's laughable. Um but they uh the NJ DOE did come out and say there is no reason for each district to certify that we are
following title six um uh of the administrative code because every time we fill out an entitlement grant such as IDEIDA and and uh and ESA for title one and title 4 and title two funding in order to submit that grant each district
has to certify that they're following administrative code. So uh at this point we are um saying no to individual certifications on that. But um I maintain that our diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging program never was never used to select anybody to any
specific program and was not used to discriminate in any way. It is used for the opposite. is used to make people feel included and and to make sure that um we are caring for our students with disabilities, our students of different cultures, our students of different religions, and our students that look
different than we all that that I do that you do that whatever. So, um it is something that I'm not willing to take down off our website and uh or or keep out of presentations like this.
uh special services will continue to offer all of the programs that um they they do. And this is, you know, this is one of the reasons why you look at special education um costs. special education uh in is a makes up about
little under 20% of our student population and is a much greater percentage of our uh budget cost because we offer these programs uh that our students need and and and we have a moral obligation as well as a legal
obligation to offer these programs. So, we have the LSS program which is um a a cross-section of um uh students uh I'm sorry, students with uh autism spectrum disorder, students
with emotional regulation disorders. Um uh we have learning and language programs uh ac across all of our uh grade levels, pre-K12. Um we have resource room which is replacement in math language arts um and uh across all
grade levels from grades 2 to 12. Um supplemental pullout in instruction uh at grades uh prek to four in-class instruction um and uh which is like in-class resource or in-class support um supplemental aids and services and
extended school year related services as Mr. Cruz said earlier, our speech, language, uh counseling, OTP, uh behavioral services with the district behavior, uh analysts um uh we provide professional development to support both our par
professionals and our special educators and um um related services uh to ensure that everybody is current with the law and best practice. Um, we have sensory rooms at each building that are maintained, although they I believe they
were all gifted to us from child. Uh, we do maintain them. Actually, Landing is is is increasing the size of theirs and moving it. Uh, we will continue the great work that Care Plus New Jersey does uh providing therapeutic services for our students in grades 5 through 12.
Um, and uh continuing to develop the LLD life skills program at the high school. uh that's in its second full year. Um we are continuing to incre increase um uh ICI or in class and in uh in-class
resource and uh elementary and we are not adding any additional special education staff positions for next year. We thought we might have to to increase the inclusion but we do not have to increase uh by any
special ed for next year. Uh we uh we as Mr. Cruz said earlier um and we said in the last meeting we are increasing the par professional pay rate. So their salary guide will will will change uh to
a more um acceptable level for them. Our powers work very hard and we hope uh we'll be able to encourage more power professionals uh from uh surrounding areas to come and work with us. So in this uh slide here we have our our
comp districts. Um as you uh also last month it's the same slide uh which actually compares the budgetary per pupil cost. Uh, and then these numbers are on the state's um taxpayer guides for education uh spending uh based off
of um I believe it was uh 2024 and uh just to give you uh some of the categories there. There are actually about 16 indicators on that guide. Uh these are just some um that kind of stuck out which is actually classroom supplies extracurricular and then uh the
average property taxes is not on that uh guide. Uh that's this will be in the uh in the county uh website. Um so for Verona the average uh property tax is 13407 as of uh last school year.
So the tax levy increase um and the comparison uh year-over-year uh we see that the general uh fund increase is 1,362,35. uh the debt service because we did have
a refunding of our 2025 um I'm sorry 2015 referendum bond uh it is bringing a savings. So then the interest rate has dropped uh uh in comparison to um this current school year. So uh
5,884 and and then we'll we'll probably see that actually going down in the future as well. Uh so the net uh change is 1,356,421. When it comes to the impact on the homeowners um and Verona, we're
we're using the 2024 uh township valuation of u uh 2 almost 2.4 billion. And with that we take the the budget tax levy of uh
43,776 267. The rate is uh 01824. Um and the average uh home value is 434,575.
uh making the school tax um on the average home uh $7,9285. So the year-over-year uh increase is uh $277,7.78. On a 2% uh tax levy, it would have been uh
$170. So the the change between the 2% and the 1.53% it's uh an additional uh $17. Just just one question just to clarify it's it's $277 not $277,000. No no $277. Okay. I
just want to make it the net impact that seeing. So the net impact on the average uh home is $277.78. Yeah. Yeah. No. So, so more or less looking at this number, if you know your your uh taxes, if you're paying more
than $13,000, you're you're not your basically uh impact is going to be a little higher than that. Um if you're paying under that $13,000 uh for your home, it's going to be under that um average. Uh so, this is just the average based on that $13,000
um average tax. Uh so some takeaways with this is um with this 3.53% tax levy increase um is that $277 $277.78 per household on a average um
home assessment of 434 thou,575. uh of that tax levy um or or the actual uh tax uh the school tax on the resident on last year was to uh $7,650. Uh making the tax rate for every
$100 of valuation is $182 uh for school tax. And I just want to point out um for those that didn't watch the last two budget hearings um this incl that uh extra um
1.53% is because we uh took a hard hit um in increase in health benefit costs to the point where the state allowed us to increase above the 2% um as an offset to um increased health benefit costs. I it's also important to
point out that we could have gone higher than that simply because um Verona is underfunded by state aid by about $800,000 a year. Um so uh we're not choosing to do that. Instead, we're
choosing to uh riff two administrative positions in order to get to that to make our expenditures match our revenues. one have any questions, comments? Um, I I just have uh two comments and
and maybe a question. Uh, again, uh, Jorge and Diane, uh, this is really really good work at making um, squeezing blood out of a stone. So, we I I thank you for your for your efforts there. Um
a question I have on Jorge's um uh mention of the um the surplus fund that we have been drawing from. Um what steps are we going to be able to take going forward to
um keep that fund um active and healthy uh for something that we can rely on in the probably the next uh two three years. So um in the past we've always been able to uh have about a million dollar surplus
um over the last three years. Uh it's becoming a little more challenging. I think last year it was the first year that we saw some indicators of our expenditures were really um right on the money meaning that we every every dollar
that we budgeted for on the expenditure side of the budget uh left left the door uh meaning that there was actually no savings on on the expenditure. So, we're basically um it it it got to a point where the
surplus that we gain is only on the revenue side, meaning that if we said um our budget is 40 u million, we actually ended up with 41 million instead of that 40 million. So, um, right now for this,
uh, school year, we're probably going to look at something very similar to that is, um, it's the only way we're able to generate a surplus will be on the revenue side, meaning that, um, there are additional grants or there's uh, additional revenue on the extraordinary
aid uh, for special education that um, that we we actually underproed. Uh, also uh, miscellaneous revenues. Um it it's not a um a huge uh piece but um a lot of
times even um tuition from non residential uh families coming into Verona that that's also a revenue uh that does help uh the budget and balancing it out and and help us generate the surplus. So, I think to be
fair, um if we get close to a little over uh 700,000, that's actually I think it's it's going to be a healthy and um I'm not sure if we're going to get close to a million. I I think it's going to be harder to u do that year over year, but
um uh 3/4 of a million I think will be conservative and will be fair to maintain. Thank you. And um just one other follow-up comment to um Superintendent D. Jeppe, I really appreciate your comments on uh sticking with your
commitment uh to the de andi program. We um very much appreciate uh speaking up for those um that may be on the margins and um now is more time than any that we uh continue to um support those who need our support. So, thank you for that,
Diane. You're welcome. You're welcome. I I do um the only other place that uh we looked at to see if we can help our budget for next year or at least I was looking recently um uh is if you have excess monies left over at the end of
this year that you can buy some of the items that you are budgeted for next year. We don't have a lot left. There's a it's it's amazing how close we pay our budget down to uh and I know um what's the name from the auditor?
Ray Ry said that last year our or earlier in the year at our audit presentation how how close we pay down our budget. Um it's going to be like that again. I was hoping that we had some, you know, some money that we could carry over because next year's budget is going to be hard and the budget after
that's going to be harder. I don't think we need to be apologetic about this budget at all. I think that if if you just moved to Verona and now you're seeing uh you know your tax increase go go go up more than you expected then you didn't do your
homework because you didn't understand that the Verona Board of Education is going to look to supplement its kids education to the maximum extent possible every single time. Um and and if you're someone that has lived in Verona then then you should have known that the Verona Board of Education is going to
look to supplement its kids educations every single time. um you know that that slide that shows of of our district factor group that we're we're the we're in last place as far as the amount we invest in our kids and you know that
that's not a thing maybe boards and grown in the past have I'm not saying have you been here forever but like that was a long time ago maybe they viewed this as like a a positive for their district but you know and I'm sure there were circumstances that made them feel
that But it's hard for me not to look at that as being a shortsighted decision. Um especially in light of the fact that now we're we're capped with with the amount that we can increase. Um so I'd like to see this district because let's
let's be fair, if if you live in Verona and you're a homeowner, there's a highly likely chance that by the time you sell your house, you're going to have lived here for free and then get paid on top of it. that and and I and I know the council and the mayor's office and and the things they're doing that that's a
big part of it, but a huge part of it is the perception of the success and and the of our school district. Um so this is a a a budget that I'm going to vote confidently yes for thank you question. Um thank you very much for
that too and thank you for your transparency always it's important. Um I think also just to to piggy back Chris on what you said um I agree and I also think that if you look at some of our neighboring districts you see the struggles that um many are having and I will say that I'm very proud as a Verona
resident as Verona parent as a Verona board member that um we have great leaders that have put us in a position that we are now. So again thank you but also that we've been thinking about this ahead of time and kind of planning ahead. So so I think that's great. I have a quick question going back to
curriculum. Um, so I know we're implementing the new K5 literacy program. Um, I believe that we're keeping foundations or some type of structured literacy component in that program or having foundations as well
with the letters um, training for teachers. I think it's wonderful. I'm always a fan of professional development. But my question is what is the what is the plan? How are we utilizing that? So I I understand that letters is different than say an orin program certification. Um, but how are
we leveraging the PD and the training that the teachers are getting moving forward, especially with the new literacy program in place? So, I'm going to be very honest with you. While I I did attend um the the committee that picked this literacy
program, um I am not an expert in it and and I can have Julia Peter come to our one of our meetings and discuss that. From what I understand of letters, it really is just teacher training. um with regard to better um pedigogy in reading
instruction and spelling instruction. Um the way it's it's worked in terms of um its roll out, I'm not going to say it's always consistent because not all of our teachers have been trained, right? So, but the people that train our teachers are our reading interventionists who work with our teachers. So, they're in
and out of the classroom. They're pulling kids in and out. um not that it's their job to make sure that it's implemented effectively, but when you're owning something and you're teaching something and you're supporting teachers in their journey in in doing that work, um they are invested in the fact that
that um uh the two reading interventions are invested in it and Mrs. Peter's invested in it. She um believes in letters and uh which is why I was just a little surprised that it wasn't a mandatory training right from the very beginning. It's it's a lot. It's a huge
uh so much so that um there's colleges uh two colleges that will accept their training here toward a graduate degree in reading. Yeah. I think my so thank you for that and I think my my thinking is really as we're as we're looking at
our budgetary constraints moving forward even into the next years and as we're bringing in a new literacy program and along with any new program comes professional development and an expense in that professional development. So my question really is the not not question I shouldn't say but my thinking here and
something that maybe we can follow up on is how like what that looks like for the next few years and if we'll continue with these additional PDs that we're getting like a letters or like the orin or if we're going to just kind of stick with the professional development and
the programs that we're bringing in what that kind of looks like professional development wise so I guess we can talk about that committee and and I think there's so few teachers that have not been trained on literacy. It's such a tiny group. Yeah. It's just in my mind, it's just to level out everyone's understanding so that we have more
consistency across the elementary ELA instructions. Okay. All right. Thank you. We just have a quick question and a comment. So my question first is um Mr. Cruz, what is it the tuition cost right now for per pupil for the 2025 2026
school year for so going forward? Uh the per pupil is close to 18,000. It's 17,000. It pretty much matches what's Yes. I mean what we what do we charge for high school for tuition? That's what I meant. Yeah. Oh, you mean like non-resident? Non-resident. Yeah, they
don't match what's on that chart. So, I believe we we do charge now. Um the the board last year approved uh the 17,000 rate. Uh so that's actually the new rate um that we do charge, I believe. And we we could double check that. If I recall,
there was some students that we kind of because they were already students here. We allowed them to continue to pay the lower rate. teacher any children of children teachers. But if you're brand new and you live in your town and you want to send your kids
to Verona, I believe it's 17. For students in kindergarten, it's $13,440. For students in grades 1 through 5, it's $15,422. in students for students in grades six to eight it's $15,233 and in uh at the high school
level it's 16,091 and those are those are numbers that were are given to us by the state um okay and then for the returning students that were already in the system
K47654 587654 and 91213305 five. So for those students that weren't going to get a huge 50% increase, right? Yeah. Okay. Thank you for that. Um and then my other is just a
comment. Um thank you both for for everything for all your hard work in making this budget work. But I do just want to make a comment about um I know when we had our joint meeting and then there was discussions um out there on social media about how things were
going to be cut and taken away from our students and that's the last thing that any of us on this board will ever want to do is take away a sports program or an arts or music program. So I think I can speak for everyone up here that that is not what was meant in our discussions
of cutting anything um out of our students and our children. So that is what just to make that on record. I will uh concur. I I am the one that made the statement um that that this is what schools have to do in certain times when um when money is
tight and money is clearly tight. We're not at that point yet. Uh but we are after all a school district. We're here first for education and having extracurricular is phenomenal. It's you know our athletics program are some many
of our students go to school go to college because of our athletics program because they get scholarships. The last thing we want to do is is cut that. But we have an obligation to teach kids um the curriculum and the standards of the state of New Jersey first.
and to talk about that. I mean, I had a conversation with a parent today and it was a one was a lovely conversation and I think she was um you know um genuinely happy to hear that we're thinking about class size. You know, right now our our third grade I'll give you an example in
every building the lowest there's one section that's at 22. The rest are at 25 and 26. Um, so you know, and this budget does not include splitting a third grade. And which third grade would I
split? It's like I have three schools where the third grade is at at least 24, mostly 25 or one has 26. Um, which school do I split? We certainly don't have the money to split all three. So, it's uh it's going to get tough uh until
we get uh figure out how to um do things differently to save some money. And that may what may happen first is a discussion uh publicly about uh making hybrid neighborhood schools that are
gradeband schools. So, a K1 on uh one side of town, a 24 on one side of town, a K1 on the other side of town, a 24 on the other side. So you you do have somewhat more neighborhoody feeling. Uh but with gradeband schools, I can I can
save sections and uh and be more productive with the way we we staff our schools. Uh question. So I know um I believe it was last night was the HBW. Yes. Right. How was the I wasn't able to go. I had a I teach a class, but how was the
turnout? Uh there was probably 30 or 40 parents. It was a good turnout. Okay. Yeah. And a lot of good questions. A lot of uh uh the Q&A was actually longer than the actual presentation. Great. Thank you.
And just to add to everyone's thank you so much for all your hard work on this. You know, it's not an easy budget. Um I have a feeling next year's budget's probably going to be less easy. Um so but thank you for keeping the
impact to our students as minimal as possible. Um because that really is what we are here to to to do to to educate our students. Um so that's it. Thank you. Don't I? Um so moving on to
committee reports. finance committee was the one who met this month. Yeah, I I can I can take it. Uh Chris, um that's all right. Um go ahead. Yeah. Uh can you hear me? Can you guys hear me? You got here?
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry, guys. Yeah. So, um a lot of old business was on the committee uh meeting last week and of course Jorge covered on the budget. One thing I will flag and it it it was mentioned in the budget uh what 16.8% of
our expenditures go to um benefits and uh Jorge helped negotiate a about as good of a contract as we can get uh that covers our um medical and uh dental programs. Um, again, we don't we don't
like to see some of these uh prices go up, but that's the reality that we are in. And um that's all I have to add at this point. Okay. Thank you. Uh and then so moving
on to public comments for agenda action items only. Seeing no one come up, we will move on to discussion items uh for old and new business. if anyone would like to discuss anything. Thank you. I just
want to bring up um something for I know u Mrs. Pomezi had put something out there regarding our HBW track um about when it's closed. It's obviously closed during school hours and it's also closed during the high school track practice and during their meets from 3 to 6
Monday through Friday and then on Saturdays from 8 to 12. Um there has been calls um to the police and to the district about um children riding bicycles, electric
bikes, and or dirt bikes on the track. So on some of our playgrounds, great. So if um we can I know um I think we may be getting some signs made for at least I don't know. That's what I think
um Chief Kieran had mentioned. So, I just wanted to make note that if you know of anyone that's driving riding a bicycle on the track that it can damage our track to Oh, sorry. That's okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. I I I wanted to say,
you know, it's uh the uh the the amount of um electric bikes, dirt bikes like that that are zooming around town are almost becoming well, not become almost, they are a safety hazard. I see a lot of kids uh whipping around. Um, and I know
this is not necessarily a school issue per se, but I'm just wondering if particularly in the junior high level, if there's some sort of safety program we can have um or safety presentation that we can have on this. It just seems like it's borderline I don't want to use
the word menace, but it's it's something that you really want to be watching out for when you're driving around town, particularly when they're coming out of the schools. I'll speak to um VPD and see if we can partner with them uh to provide something for our kids. And I'd rather
that be something that comes originates from VPD. Yeah. We're we're not trained to to know about this. So, if they if they could assist, I think it'd be great. And I do and and please I do believe our our policy our
our board we have a board policy about not allowing electric type of bikes you know on school grounds if I because I remember going through it last year when I was on that committee. So um be something where like we might want to
rethink that you know because if that's going to be the new norm then we we'll have to adapt. I I don't know enough about it to even outpine one way the other but I I think if if we do have maybe it is some a policy we can look at and put some regulations on how they're
used on school grounds like they you know if someone's using it to commute from one side of town to the other uh fine but you can't be riding it in I don't know is there electric mode I don't have one right um like you have to use like your pedals um when you're on
school grounds or or whatnot pedals current policy The current policy 54 5514 use of vehicles on school grounds. Um students are not permitted to bring any motorized bicycle, skateboard, scooter, roller
skates, hoverboard or any other motor motorized mode of transportation on school grounds during the school day. So we can uh we can adjust um yeah bring it before the school day and park it
right and then drive home after the school day right like right like you you found the BYI and then just speaking also about the um the use of the track last year um there was an event that was held at the track um a very large event
and it happened at the same time as the Valerie Fund Walk. It was an event that was um taking place from one of the local gyms that used our whole facility behind HBW, the track and the grass area. And I went over there because
people were calling me about people driving vehicles onto the track to get the equipment set up. So that's how it was brought to the attention that they were out there. There was hundreds of people using out there. where they had Porter John's. Um, and I believe this
event is occurring this year again on June 7th, the same day as the Valerie Fund walk. So, it's it's a crazy time in town with that walk. Um, they have not come to the district yet for approvals. However, um, I they are advertising that
they are having this event outdoors in Verona. Doesn't say where, but I'm assuming they're just few large areas large. Um, so they haven't come for approvals
or even to fill out paperwork or to add in their insurance policies. If they're not approved, then Well, I'm afraid they might just show up. Mrs. Mrs. Prisco, can we not make sure that they're not allowed in the field? If if they're not approved to be on our field now, we're and and we knowingly know that this is
something that could could occur, then then maybe Kyle's not here, but perhaps there's a liability in just being ignorant. Is there any way we could I I don't know if there's a soccer team or anything else that might use have authentic authority to use the field on on Saturday or Sunday, but we don't want
them on this field if if if they're not approved for it. No. No. So, they if they don't have permits, they just can't use it. Have to I think and Mr. Cruz probably would know better. I think to use any of our facilities, they have to fill out a a form. There has to be insurance. There
has to be. Now, are we going to if we have kids with a pickup soccer game, are we going to kick them off the field? Probably not. Unless there's something else that's we have our director facilities on standby. I wouldn't even mind paying because we don't want this field to get wrecked or this track
direct. I wouldn't mind paying an hourly rate on a whatever date this is. And if if at his judgment people are using this field in a in a manner that's going to cause us damage, let let's give him the authority to to contact the Diane and contact the police and kick people out.
Absolutely. Any anyone that's using uh board property without authorization is considered a trespassing. Um and at that point they will be forcefully removed. Um, so at this point if they are not providing uh we're going to need it's a weekend so we're going to need someone
to to be on standby to to monitor. Right. Yes. So we and we can solve this problem once and for all if we if we just pay overtime for our director facilities to be here on Saturday or suddenly whatever day this is just to make sure this doesn't happen because if it does happen the the risk of the
fields getting or the tracking damage seems like it's like my Pam said might be high and but we need someone to be the authority on site but for the for this particular event was there a permit last year there was there was a permit okay so but I don't believe I believe they exceeded their permit they exceeded
so assume that they would apply again. Yes, they applied appropriately. They had their insurance certificate. They had all their ducks in a row. They paid us for the use, but they did exceed number of people and they drove on the field and they drove on the field means
to not not the permit, right? I mean, before we do all this, is it worth asking the town if they have any uh use requests at at um uh at the at their field or the county, even if they're planning on
maybe moving to the park before we scramble everything to prepare for this, would move to the park because that's where Valerie Fund is and they have that booked out like the whole weekend. um the you know the Valerie fund during the
park. You don't want to go anywhere near every weekend this time of year in the park is gonna have something right every day that that maybe up at the the field, but that's also where like there's always lacrosse games and girls field hockeyy's up there in the spring. So
that that's pretty hard to book out on a Saturday. I could check with our recck department um to Yeah. I mean it's it's worth an ask. I think that's I just wanted to make it put out there that, you know, last year was an issue and it looks like they're planning on this
event again this year. So, I just wanted to put it on our radar. Not using palmetto. Are they? Okay. Is anything else for discussion items? Moving on. Do we have any correspondence? We do not. We do not.
Thank you. No correspondence. Thank you. Moving on to agenda action items. Yeah, we do have to do those. Have to do those. Okay. Um, can I get a motion to approve um personnel items A1 through A
13? 15. I will move that. 13. 13, please. I will move that. Move. I'll second. Frisco, second by Mr. Boon. Uh, any discussions? No. Seeing none, can we get roll call, please? Mr. I'm happy to vote first.
Yes. Mrs. Fra? Yes. Mrs. Prrisco? Yes. Mrs. Brazelle? Yes. Mr. Boon? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to section B, education. Can I get a motion to approve
items B1 through B8? So moved. Moved by Mr. Waka. Second by Miss Prrisco. Any discussions? Seeing none, can I uh please have roll call? Mr. Walker. Mrs. Ferrara? Yes. Mrs. Prriscoll? Yes. Mrs. uh Brazil?
Yes. Mr. Boom? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Move. There's nothing under athletics co-curricular and there's nothing under facilities. Moving to finance. Can I get a motion for E1 through E
11? So moved. Moved by Mr. Boon. Second. Second by Miss Prrisco. Any discussion? I do have a question about E1, um the My School Bucks online payment. That's the same payment processing
service that we use for the the food Ptonian. So, we're using it now for Chromebook insurance and fees. Yes. Do we currently use that or is this new? No, it's new. Okay. Do we know what the cost is for when someone's going to be paying this? So you pay whatever it is
for so the um the transaction fee is 3.5%. Um per per transaction on a on a card. Okay. Uh so the one so let's say a Chromebook insurance of uh $20 it'll
it'll be about $21. Okay. Um is there a way that people can continue to pay without having to pay the transaction fees? they can they could submit a a track to Verona board of ad. So that's a another uh alternative for anyone who doesn't want
who wants to avoid a transaction fee. It will be we advertise that when we if we advertise it then I think it's fair. I want to I want to advertise it heavily. I I've talked about my uncomfortableness with the mandatory Chromebook insurance.
Um I I I am further uncomfortable I guess for having now having to pay a fee to pay that mandatory in insurance. So I I really would like to heavily advertise it as check is your option A. This is
your option B. I agree with you. Um you know and and again as well as the if you feel you need you know financial assistance to please reach out as soon as possible. Um, okay. Anything else before we go on? Okay. Can we please
have roll call? Yes. Uh, Mr. Walker? Yes. Mrs. Ferrara? Yes. Mrs. Prrisco? Yes. Mrs. Fazala? Yes. Mrs. Boon? Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Moving on uh to governance and
policy F1. Uh, okay. Can I get a motion to table F1? So moved. Second. Moved by Miss Fraer. Second by Miss Prrisco. Um, any discussion? Discussion. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh, can we get roll
call for tableabling F1? Yes. Yes. You got first. Um, Mrs. Walker. Yes. Mrs. Fer. Yes. Mrs. Prrisco. Yes. Mrs. Fzella. Yes. and Mr. Boom. Yes. Uh motion carries on
tableabling uh F1. Okay. So, moving on to motion um to approve F2 and F3. So moved. So moved. Frisco. Second by Mr. Boon. Uh any discussion? Seeing none, can we please
have roll call? Mr. Waka? Yes. Mrs. Ferrar? Yes. Mrs. Prrisco? Yes. Mrs. Rossella, yes. Mr. Boon, yes. Motion carries on F2 and F3. Okay. Thank you. Um, moving on. Uh, we will open the
floor for any public comment about any item that anyone cares to address with the board. Seeing no one coming forward, um, I would like to motion or a resolution to adjourn the
meeting by Mr. by Mr. Walka. So move by second. I'll second by Miss Frisco. Um all those in favor? I Okay. Thank you very much everybody. The next scheduled public meeting will be held on Tuesday,
May 13th, beginning with confidential session at 6 PM and 7 and public session at 700 p.m. at the Verona High School Learning Commons. Have a nice week. Thank you. Thank you. adjourned