Public Meetings Act was provided by the posting, mailing, delivery, and filing of this notice on February 25th, 2026. This notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board in the township office, sent to the courier news, echoes
sentinel and tap into Warren and filed with the township clerk of the township of all in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act. Please stand for the pledge. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it
stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Right. I will now call the role. Mr. Bratz >> here. >> Mrs. Dalton >> here. >> Mrs. Granholm >> here. >> Miss Keller >> here.
>> Mr. Mr. Malfetta >> here. >> Mr. Tor >> here. >> Mr. Valentino. >> Mr. Weinstein. Mrs. >> here. >> All right. We have quorum. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Hegel. Miss Keller. >> Resolve that the board of education
approves the public session minutes of the February 2nd, 2026 board meeting. Do >> I have a second? >> Second. Right. >> I will call the role in the minutes. Mr. Brospe. Yes, >> Mrs. Dalton. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Granholm.
>> Yes, >> Miss Keller. >> Yes, >> Mr. Malfeta. >> Yes, >> Mr. Tor. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Zan. >> Yes. >> Minutes pass. >> Uh, thank you. Correspondence and information. Dr. Mingle. >> Thank you, Mrs. Zan. No correspondence
to report. On the HIB list, there were three total investigations, all at Warren Middle School, zero confirmed. On the suspension report, there is one out of school suspension at Mount Horb School and one inschool suspension at Woodland School. >> Thank you, Dr. Mingle. Good evening and
welcome to the March 9th, 2026 meeting of the board of education. This meeting was originally scheduled for February 23rd, but as you all know, we had another big snowstorm. Uh thank you to everyone for accommodating the change in schedule, especially our guest this
evening. And a special thanks uh to the buildings and ground staff that worked so hard to clear our schools and prepare them following the storm. Um I think sometimes u we maybe are a little lax in giving thanks and appreciation for uh
the uh employees that make it possible for our schools to be open and functioning. Last week, schools nationwide celebrated ReadAcross America. This is one of those opportunities for members of our community to support the schools by reading favorite books to our youngest
learners. Thank you to all who joined in reading to our students. Uh I believe that includes our guests tonight also who also read to our students. Thank you, Mayor Fine. Appearing on tonight's agenda as item C9 is the approval of two retirements. Stacy Han Muno, who has served the
district for 33 years, and Deborah Novi, who has served the district for 36 years. On behalf of the board, I want to extend our deepest gratitude for your many years of commitment and service to the Warren Township School District, and I wish you well in your retirement.
Dr. Mingle. >> Thank you, Mrs. Uh first I just want to address what's on the agenda under my remarks. The uh chronic absenteeism corrective action plans at Central and Mount Horb schools. We're required to adopt uh not adopt we
are required to have in place these plans because Central Mount Horb schools last school year exceeded 10% chronic absenteeism. The state defines chronic absenteeism as 10% or more of students missing 10% or more of the school days. for any reason. Both schools exceeded
the 10% threshold by less than 1%. They were 10 point something percent chronic absenteeism. Although we always strive to improve student attendance, in our review of our local data, we found no correlation between the students who were absent and their academic performance. That is not what the research says more broadly, but in the
case of our students in Warren, there was not a connection in in those two schools. And mostly that's because we have a lot of families who pull their students out of school to go on enriching experiences whether that be family travel to a to um see family and
relatives around the world that sort of thing as opposed to school avoidance or truency which is really why these chronic absenteeism laws exist. However, we have plans in place for central Mount Horb. We thank the parents and guardians in those schools who responded to the survey we did which is a required part of the process to develop the plan. Uh
and credit to Mr. Cook and Mrs. Tuja who put those plans together for each school. Of course, we hope that those numbers fall below 10% at the end of this year so that we can move on with our plans next year. Uh just a couple other special events to echo what Mrs. Zhan said. Thank you to the board members and other elected officials who
participated in ReadAcross America Day last week. We had several board members, all five township committee members, uh two members of the Somerset County Commissioners, our executive county superintendent, and Congressman Tom Kaine all here in Warren reading uh to our children. Board members should also
have received an invite and township committee members to a special event on Friday, March 27th. I'll put something in my update to the board to make sure you see this if you didn't already. Friday, March 27th, this is an open house uh during the school day. Our eighth grade students, as part of the
celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, have developed comprehensive projects highlighting the rich revolutionary war history here in Somerset County. So, that'll be an open house event. I'll make sure that you have that information. uh and we've invited local elected officials,
national uh throughout the region as well. And then finally, we have uh sent out in many different places signup information to participate in our annual capstone judging, which is for fifth and eighth grade students in May. As of right now, the lowest judging uh day is
for Woodland School on the afternoon of May 28th, 12:30 to 3. So, if there are any board members who haven't signed up yet that are looking for a date, uh May 28th, 12:30 to 3 is right now the greatest need. We have numerous board members, committee members, uh and guests from somewhere around 10 to 12
different school districts throughout our region who have signed up along with other elected officials and leaders of business and industry. So, it'll be a really nice event. As many are aware, last year the New Jersey School Boards Association selected our capstone experience as one of their best
practices. And I think that that attention has led to uh getting some other high-profile judges in to help support our students as they share what they've worked on throughout the year. So, we're very excited about that. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Mingle. We do have a presentation this evening. Uh tonight,
I'm pleased to welcome Mayor Sha Fine. Mayor Fine has spent the last few years intimately involved in crafting Warren Township's response to the March 2024 amended Fair Housing Act, commonly referred to as round four affordable
housing requirements. As the community knows, the Warren Schools have been experiencing an increase in enrollment for many years. The increase in enrollment has been anticipated and planned for and is the subject of an in-depth study of the district's planning for growth working group. Miss
Keller will speak to that later uh in greater depth. This planning has put us in the best possible position to make long range decisions. However, round four housing is one of the remaining factors to be considered and we are grateful for Mayor Fine's willingness to
do this presentation this evening. Mayor Fine, I turn it over to you. >> Thank you for having me. >> Can you hear me? >> Just maybe closer. Yeah. in order for the Zoom to capture. Can >> you hear me now? >> Better. >> Okay. Good. Well, thank you for having
me and to everyone here, I really appreciate what you do. It's very hard to volunteer and you're in a very sensitive area. So, I appreciate you being here and volunteering your time. I don't know the best way to go through this but I will say for the last two and
a half years we've been working through the plan and it has changed and these plans which I don't know if it's better to come up or how to talk through it. It shows the developers that wanted to build in our town. Right? So my stance from the
get-go was we're going to be strategic and we're going to put the developers where we want them. And that was the general premise. The second premise was we want the least amount of development that we can get. Right? So we were given a
mandate of 262 units which we are currently fighting in the court system. Our argument is it's 181. The basis or premise of that is the one part of the calculation that we can
challenge is the open space. I have an environmental land use background. We went through all the sites that they said was open space. A lot of them are constrained either by the slope of the site, wetlands,
um some were already developed and they just didn't have it correctly. So that was our argument. If we are successful, it's to be determined. So our number right now is 262. That is what we plan for. And if we are successful, this
could change, right? So we're not trying to build credit for round five, right? Because hopefully 10 years from now we can stop building. But that is the premise, right? So our numbers 262. That is the plan. I can walk you through. Again, it's not a great way to show it,
but I can walk you through the the sites. Where we ended up was at one point we were going to have 100% affordable development in the center of town. We're about 25% set aside which for the
state is extremely positive. The the reason that is is one the market unit rates are very expensive and so we can have a higher set aside. So the average is about 15%. So the idea was all right if we do a
100% set aside it's just that many less units. So, it was about a 60 unit um development we were going to do. That was what we called plan A when I first presented this. A and B is not really fair because I actually like plan B
better, but A was the first idea because it was lower development. What I'm what we're proposing and what we're going to vote on on Thursday is there's two sites when you come off of exit 36. It's the soil pile which
originally was going to be a hotel is no longer going to be a hotel. That is going to be uh age restricted unit age restrict age restricted development of 140 units. The hotel was not feasible. And to be
honest in making our decisions there's a few things that we really thought about and the schools was probably primary right. We understand the impacts of the schools where the developments happen. The conversation is that it seems lopsided, right? And so we were trying
to take that into consideration. There's also considerations of sewer capacity, right? And that is some of our limiting factors. I'm not going to get into traffic and all that because I want to focus on our process with the the
schools and the impacts of the schools. Um, Ryan Valentino who was on the board was present at our meetings and I will say that he was very vocal and I appreciate his presence and conversation at those meetings to so we can understand and appreciate the impacts of
the schools. With all that being said, we have age restricted. The reason there's only one is we're capped at age restricted. we cannot have 100% age restricted units or that would be great because it's a less less impact to the community.
The next one closest to exit 36 is a Toll Brothers property. So, PY Homes um trying to think of the best reference point. Broy right now it's an estate. It's it's pretty secluded. It's going towards Wagner's Farm. So, if you come
off of 36 heading towards Wagner's Farm, it's right on the right across from PY Homes. It is going to be a similar setup to what PY Homes built. It's it's just town houses. That is going to be
176 units. In the center of town, we have three sites. It is the Wood Pile, which is going to be 69 units, just open 69 units.
Barty Farms is 115 units and the Chua property which is the U-shaped commercial building across from the municipal fields. Um trying to think what's in there. Um
yeah, I can't think of a good store that's in there, but it's a U-shaped property. Those are the three sites that took up the gap from not having 100% affordable. Our premise or our idea or our strategy behind all this is
coming off exit 36 developments done. Mount Bethl corridor in my opinion was off limits, right? And so there was a lot of sites developers want to be close to the to 78. That's the value. And they don't want to be at exit 33. they'd rather be at exit 40 which you're seeing
now right so 36 is right now where people want to go we avoided Mount Bethl as much as we could so there'll be three sites five sites total and then the gap because your numbers aren't going to match what you're going to the 262
is we could extend the length of units that are expiring so we can buy into and extend the uh units that already exist so that development doesn't exist it's kind of an accounting process and it costs us money, but it's
definitely worth the value. Um, there's also some places like Mirror View that added beds that we took credit for and added to our numbers. So, we did everything we could to limit the number of developments. So all in all,
you're looking at about 400 units plus that are going to be non-agger restricted in that corridor. The fair share uh at first argued and fought us because
there was two develop one developer that wanted to come in somewhere we didn't want him to come. Our our plan passed the um the mediation. So, this is approved and as of Thursday, we're going
to vote to reszone these these five locations as high density in the center of town. We are going to have um criteria that has it look the way we want it to look, right? And we are doing
this not with no asks required. I can't get into that, but there are improvements to sewer and park systems and things like that that we are getting out of these developers. So, I guess I will leave it there and open it to questions.
>> Board members, questions to you first. Just for clarification, um, number-wise, um, 69 units at what you call the wood pile, that's Paul's, 115 at Bardy. Did you give us a number for the property across from the township fields?
>> I did it. 64. >> Thank you. >> Can Can I just ask so the along the corridor that you're talking about, where would those kids go to school? >> That's >> That is on That's on youth. >> That's up to us. >> But it was
>> um Yeah, we can't answer that. >> Which one did you have to move? the corridor that he's talking about that specific spot like where would those kids go? >> I'd have to look at the actual >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We have >> some place not yet decided.
>> Yeah. And we had our idea and when we were planning this, but that's on you to figure out. I will say that timing this isn't all tomorrow, right? So that also played into some of the decision-m is it's it's very important to understand
we are not done with phase three. So we have not flexed and if if I had my way the state would have gave us 5 years to flex develop and feel where the the strain is. They did not give us that opportunity. Some of these sites may not be developed
for a while and that's great. We have 10 years to meet our obligation. So this is where we're putting them, but there's no pressure to build. >> Do you have any idea of the 400 plus
non-age restricted units what the composition of one-bedroom, two-bedroom, threebedroom units within that 400 plus what that would look like? >> I don't have that in front of me, but I know that will be part of the planning process. Okay.
>> So as soon as we have it, I can share that. >> Thank you. board questions. >> So, we've got 400 not age restricted, 160ish. What was the uh for the >> 140 >> 140 um of the current affordable housing
development? How how um how occupied what does the vacancy rate look like right now that we have? >> So, Chase, which is on exit 36, is filling out really quickly. I will say that I hear the
both the affordable and the uh market rate are selling but it's not overnight but again that does occupancy does not play in to the obligation we're given.
Now I understand my concern is that when if I should say if market rate doesn't sell does market rate become affordable rate and that's the concern that I would have as a community member.
>> So no so we could buy a market rate to turn it into affordable if for some reason our obligation was not being met. But besides that, there is no there's no way a developer is turning a market rate unit into an affordable unit,
>> right? >> They are only doing it for the the market rate. The affordable is the what they have to carry in order to get it. >> Sure, >> Mr. Broadspace. >> So, first, thanks for coming and talking to us. Um, you mentioned satisfying the
obligations. Does satisfying the obligations require the units to actually be built or does it is the obligation satisfied simply by zoning it appropriately? >> So the obligation is set for a duration
around year five or six we will get stress test on this. So I could they'll come back and if I if we reszone something that was not a reality, they will put pressure on us to find something else. So as long as I can show
that we have an owner that is interested and willing to do it within 10 years, that's okay. If they come back and pressure test us and one of the one of the owners or someone steps away and it's no longer
viable, we have an obligation to then find a suitable replacement. >> Another question. So, you said we're challenging the 262 in court. Um, do you have any sense of
the timeline on that? >> No, it's been slow. Uh so our our appeal right now is with 181. Um best case scenario in my opinion is we get back to our negotiated rate of
two 15. Um and that does two things. It may not necessarily alleviate what we're building, but to your point, if something falls through, it allows us not to have to find another development.
And and to be very clear, if you look at exit 40, that is exactly what I was trying to avoid. So these sites are developed. The reason we pick developed sites is because we get credit for that. So we're not going one for one on if
you're working on a commercial property that is being redeveloped, it's one and a half credits for every unit we build. Right? So the the intent was to avoid open space. I will tell you a developer's desire is open space. Wooded lots, right? Not
open space, but wooded lots. So, there was a couple sites that would have looked like exit 40 does. And and that also played into the decision. So, a lot went into age restricted gives us extra credits, develop sites gives us
extra credit, um what was the other one? family extensions like extending units that have expired that we're paying that gives us extra credit. So we tried our hardest the entire intent was to reduce development
within the framework >> with the um with the expansion of the housing you know affordable and market rate. Um obviously as um a board member we're looking towards the the needs that have to be met and the demands that have to be met from an education standpoint
and a lot of the things that I think drove families to this town is class size and um and obviously the performance of it. You know I just as we start to contemplate what growth looks like um is the township thinking about
you know hey there there may be a need for another school at some point in time. We do have a the planning for growth working group is looking at that as among the options that are going to be modeled and presented as a recommendation to the board probably in June. So that's a decision or that's
going to come from us rather than from the town. >> Okay. Yeah. >> But I can tell you that the committee understands the value of this the school system. Right. And to what your point of class size that's one aspect of it is that that was heavily considered in all
of this. Now how it gets distributed between the schools is to be determined not by us but it it was we thought about it. >> Yeah that's our job. >> More questions everyone. >> Mr. Hegel
>> I just want to make sure I understand the math right since I'm the math guy on this side of things. >> I might have misspoke. Let's go. Um so using the state number it's 262 um affordable units. The total number of
units that you outlined in the five different areas was 564 which means that the um market rate number is 302. Does that does that or sound about right?
Uh I could tell I mean I >> just try that's your total number. Your >> total number is 564. >> Yes, >> that's right. Okay. >> I just took the I subtracted the 564 from the 262 uh affordable and got the 302. And and to if if you're going if
you start working back from the math of 25%. Just when I talk about the the credits that we tried to earn, we actually set aside 197. Because of the credits and the math, we get to 262. >> Yeah. I the reason
>> that that percentage will look off if you work backwards into that as well. >> Yeah. The reason I asked is this this round is yielding less houses than round three by quite a bit. >> Yes. But round three was probably 20 years long as well. So, it rolled in a
bunch of a bunch of rounds. >> Okay. Not to discredit what we did. I just to be fair for the previous uh committee, they we've been Warren has benefited from the value of our town and and that is crystal clear. It's
unfortunate the developers want it. It's also very unfortunate that we have a lot of open space. We have no industrial areas. We have no 22. We have no trains. Right? of putting development in our town. The reason people move here is
also what makes this very challenging. >> Exactly. >> Right. >> Find another town. >> So um just so that I u we understand the time frame. Um the township committee is
going to be uh voting on um zoning changes. Is that right? So >> high density and that's happening Thursday. what's happening Thursday. >> Uh in um our last meeting, we did our first round of approvals and it everyone voted
>> it through. The planning board did theirs and we will do ours on Thursday. >> After Thursday, um what is the next obligation and the time frame for that obligation that is imposed upon the township committee? What's the next
thing you guys have to do >> besides setting the zoning? I'm not I don't want to misspeak. I know we we're going to set standards on on the sites, okay? >> But I don't we're this was the time crunch. This is what we worked towards.
>> Um so hitting the the date of this week was the goal. Um I I feel like I have another six months until the next gateway or gate occurs. >> And um not that I mean you're not the planning board, but is there um after Thursday, is there something the planning board needs to do at that
point? Is there another step there? >> So, this feeds into our master plan, which is also going to fit into the hotel and Toll Brothers is a little outside the it's going to be more standard. The things that are happening in town is going to be a an a more
overarching approach on look, feel, um asks, you know, light like the if we're going to build in town, we're going to try to make it so it looks how we want to look. Mhm. >> And that is that is definitely the next step. And again, they don't they don't put a shovel in the ground tomorrow,
right? So, we do have time for some of this, but it will roll into the master plan >> from a planning perspective for the board of education and for the planning for growth working group. We're just trying to um timeframe any changes and
the magnitude of any changes. So, if after Thursday, after you've made these zoning changes and you're making the zoning changes to comply with the 262 number, um, absent some sort of change, such as winning this legal case that
you're bringing, absent some sort of change, would it be fair to say that the next big movement would be a developer coming in and saying, "I want to build." >> Yes. >> Okay. It'll be a site either most likely not a zoning it not the zoning board because we're reszoning it right. It
will probably be assuming they build within the framework of the new ordinance. It will be the the planning board. >> Okay. So at that point you will have complied with what presently is the requirement placed upon the town. You would have set aside enough for the 262. If something changes it does but if not
the two this is round four. >> This is the plan. >> Thank you. Sean, I got one more question or sorry, Mr. Mayor, I got one more question. Um, >> just so I'm clear on it. Even if we do
prevail in the in the litigation, the zoning on these properties has to happen before that would possibly happen. So even if we win on that lawsuit, we'd still be subjected to potential
potentially still the 262 just because of the timeline of everything. And we just be hoping that somebody doesn't build at all. Yes. But there there's other there's other risks involved, right? So this does two things. There's a chance
someone doesn't build. It mitigates some risks that I I can't speak about right now. It also at worst case scenario because I don't see this unfortunately going away is it it builds credit. So this was the argument we have with Greenbrook. If we have a lawsuit with
Greenbrook, they are building um across from the intersection of Old Sterling Road. They don't need that site. They are putting it in there for extra credit which it was never our intent. Right? So, some towns have put in for credit
thinking future state, which is why we are fighting this in court because they can just wait, right? That's my stance. They have their number. They can they can meet their obligation without this site that impacts our town. So, we're
going to go after it. So, potentially worst case scenario, it's credit for future future state. Do we have any more questions from anyone? This is where I do my formal thank you. Thank you, Mayor Fine. Uh, thank you,
Mayor Fine, for this presentation and for your time this evening. I just want to express again the board's appreciation for the coordination, cooperation, and communication between the township committee and the board of education. Although we have distinct responsibilities, we all serve the same
community and we serve them best when we work together. In keeping with this commitment, um I'm going to let the board know that I received from Mayor Fine um a request to appoint a member of the board of education to the mayor's wellness committee. Thank you for the
invitation, Mayor Fine. Miss Keller expressed an interest and willingness to undertake that role, and so I'm pleased to appoint her to serve in that capacity as always. Thank you, Miss Keller. Thank you, Mayor Fine. You know where to find us. Come talk anytime. >> Thank you very much. I'm going to leave
these and you can just throw them out afterwards. But if you have any questions after looking at them tonight, just please let me know. >> We can keep them. >> Yeah, you toss them afterward. I guess we'll keep them. >> This is even better. The planning for growth working group will love the
visuals. So, we will pass them on to that group. >> But look, I look forward to the collaboration this year. And you guys know how I feel about us. So, >> yeah. No, we're grateful. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor. Fine. Feel free to stay or not.
>> I think Carrie's going to want me home. >> Is that right? Okay. >> Again, thank you. >> That's why that's my question. >> Okay, we good. >> Yeah, we're good. >> Okay. Uh we do not have a discussion item on this evening. So, moving on to reports of board members appointed to external assignments. You'll note on the
agenda everyone the addition of the Warren Township Mayor's Wellness Committee on Miss Keller there. I don't believe we have any board member. >> I am wrong >> kind of you know it's been a while now because of all snow days but I have an update for the Somerset County Educational Services Commission.
>> Could you move a little closer to that? >> Sure. Sorry. Thanks. Um so an auditor presented uh highlights of the 2025 audit um and thece performed well um and corrected three findings or the recommendations already. Um the BA
presented the summary of the 2627 budget. Um they are very revenue dependent and that has been affected by a drop in enrollment. Um they had a very large uh graduating class this past year. Um and they've recently sent several students back to sending
districts. Um salaries are up 2%, benefits up 23% and special ed transportation is up 10.5%. Um good news is uh the mortgage is paid off on one of their buildings next year and that will save uh 700K a year. Um
the superintendent also gave 25 26 district goals updates. Um and just highlights with that um the student enrollment and programs. The initial goal was to increase student enrollment by 25%, but that's been reduced uh to a
15% increase. Um he also stated that the updated behavior education plans and addition of new admins have um they've seen tremendous positive effects on the student population. Um marketing goal is just to continue to increase social media presence and community outreach.
Um, and then finally with their buildings and grounds, they have a um kind of like a shop right inside the school. Um, and they're going to kind of adapt that space and change it and make it even better. So that's all I have. >> Thank you, Miss Dalton. The shop right
space is very cool. >> Yes, >> it is. >> Neat neat building. >> Neat building. Thank you, Miss Dalton. Anyone else on reports for external assignments? Okay, moving on to committee reports, curriculum and technology committee. Miss Tor, Mr.
So we last met on February the 2nd and we covered three topics. Uh role on the agenda of the curriculum committee, writing instruction at a middle school and the district's phone policy. And I'm going to go through those one by one. So we'll start with role and agenda of the curriculum committee. Given the turnover
of the committee created through reassignments, myself and primarily Mr. Kimme walk through the work of the committee, the primary of focus and the priorities for 2026. We then discuss how we might evolve the agendas to also include areas of
interest for committee members and also topics that may come in from our community. We aligned that um we aligned that execution of the strategic plan of the milestones on the critical path and non-negotiables but that said didn't want to be dogmatic and flexible and unresponsive to
community questions or or to committee members uh topics of interest. So to that end, we're targeting 7030. If I'm honest, I prefer 8020 mix moving forward, favoring the strategic plan on any given agenda. A good example of that
was actually our last meeting where we spent uh a good chunk of it uh looking through uh writing instruction at Warren Middle School and then we had a topic which was uh raised by a committee member around the phone policy. So I
will go through each of those now. Um so writing instruction at Warren Middle School Uh Mr. Kim walked us through the NJ SLA in um ELA analysis which he broke out by reading and writing which wouldn't typically happen. And what that really shows is that you
look at the test results, it flags a potential issue specifically with regard to writing. Uh my understanding is the likely cause of this is the shift in time dedicated to writing instruction once you enter the middle school. So in the um in the elementary system you get
two hours daily instruction in in ELA 58 minutes of which is writing. Once you go to the middle school that reduces to 48 minutes in total. Um all of that said uh clearly the intent of the middle school curriculum is not to lead to to this
particular issue. Uh but also that said the the curriculum the organization of it and then the execution of it across the various groups is also immensely complicated. So the administration is working with the relevant staff members uh within the middle school to come up
with a plan that could address that which will be presented I think at the next curriculum committee meeting this month with the potential tradeoffs 10 intended unintended consequences so that we can consider that and and perhaps align on what the solutions might be. Um
moving on to the phone policy. So Mr. Weinstein and Dr. Mingle ran us through the history because for many of us here we weren't members of the committee or even the board at the point in time when this was last discussed. So we got some of that history and then a discussion followed as to is the policy being
executed as was intended if not what the reasons might be can it be strengthened and if in fact that's practical and even desirable. Uh what I would say is there was a very high level conversation and no conclusions were reached of any sort. So what the follow-ups that we agreed
are curriculum committee members to survey their own parental network and uh family, friends, etc. and get kind of their opinions on on how things are. Uh Dr. Mingle to survey maybe not survey is too formal a word but to catch up with his uh K8 superintendent to compare
approaches and what's working and what's not working. And then the committee is going to reconvene to discuss this. It's on our March 18th agenda. Also attending will be principal Balar, assistant principal Meninger, so they can provide their perspectives, opinions, and insights. I think that's important because in the end, they're the ones
who've got to manage this. And that's that's it for this this update. >> Thank you, Mr. Tor. Moving on to finance, operations, and security. The finance, operations, and security committee met February 9th.
Um the primary topic of conversation, this was a long meeting. This is our annual long two and a half hour meeting regarding budget. Um tomorrow, Governor Cheryl will make her fiscal year 2027 budget address in the New Jersey Assembly Chamber. Following that
address, on Thursday, March 12th, state aid numbers will be made available to New Jersey school districts. And on Monday, March 16th, the board's finance, operations, and security committee will meet to finalize the 2627 school budget, which will be presented to the public at
our next board meet of education meeting on March 23rd. The finance committee has already talked about through the scenarios that may exist after the state aid number is announced and a complete look at the budget has been presented in small group and individual sessions with the members
of the whole board. We do not expect any surprises, but are prepared. As has been stated many times over many months, the board of education expects a very challenging budget given the unprecedented increase in health insurance alone. The finance committee, the administration, the business office,
and every member of the board of education has been working hard on this year's budget, and I encourage the public to join us on March 23rd for the public presentation. And I encourage board members to look at the minutes of this last meeting. The finance committee has also discussed
and recommended for approval as item B7 tonight. The bid for the Woodland parking lot and sidewalk and the Sterling Road crosswalk. An estimate for this work was included in the 2526 school budget and has come in under budget. Uh this work is slated to be done over the summer months. I just want
to draw attention to the Sterling Road crosswalk. As the community knows, the board of education and the township identified the Sterling Road crossing at Lindberg as being in need of a crosswalk to ensure the safety of students and pedestrians crossing at that location.
The original estimate for this work was approximately $400,000. At one point, this cost was understood to be shared with the high school district. However, the high school advised us a little more than a year ago that they would not be going forward with the share.
At this time, the high school expressed that they believed the actual cost would greatly exceed our $400,000 estimate. They also had other reasons to not proceed. The actual contract being voted on this evening has a cost of $21,000 for the crosswalk,
representing about half our estimate and about onethird the high school estimate. In light of this, we will ask again whether the high school will consider sharing in the cost of providing safe access to our respective schools for students of all ages.
Also appearing on tonight's agenda for approval with the committee's support and recommendation is item B8, approval of the Woodland restroom addition and item B9, playground equipment replacement purchase approval. Please note that B9 is a referendum item. The
ALT flooring project was carried to the next committee meeting. Finally, the committee reviewed a request by a land owner adjacent to the middle school. The land owner was seeking a grant of a sewer easement across the middle school property. The committee declined to
support or move that request forward. That's it for finance. Um, moving on to the planning for growth working group, Miss Keller. So the planning for growth working group met on February 2nd and March 3rd. Uh I
thought it made sense to use this time to give a bit more of the background into what the group has been doing and go back a couple years and sort of remind the community of how we've been planning for growth for some time. I
think it's also timely that Mayor Fine came and shared his presentation on um uh the housing obligation as well. Uh so the planning for working group uh was created nine months ago to address the significant increases in enrollment the
district antic anticipates over the next 5 to 10 years. This growth is attributed to natural turnover of existing housing as well as new developments being built. Addressing enrollment growth however didn't just begin nine months ago. We really started the process five years
ago when we explored realignment and reszoning to address existing enrollment inequities at the time among the four elementary schools. We ultimately voted to reszone in 2023 and doing so did alleviate those enrollment differences
between the schools. However, we always knew that resoning was not the long-term solution and that it would only address enrollment growth for about five years. That is why the planning for growth working group became one of the focus areas in our strategic plan for 2030 and
why it was created. As a reminder, the working group is comprised of about 20 community members, staff members, local leaders, and board members. The group has met 10 times since June, and during these sessions, we've learned details about the preschool program, the special
education program, enrollment trends, and facility and space usage. We had our demographer do an updated demographic study. For those of you who may recall, we had done one in 2022 to inform the reasonzoning that happened already. So,
we wanted to work with more current projections for Warren and for the anticipated enrollment for each of the schools. Members of the working group have generously given a significant amount of their time to have an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of all the factors that go into planning for
growth. so that when we started talking about solutions we would feel comfortable, knowledgeable and prepared. We are now in the process of piv pivoting from that sort of information gathering work to modeling concepts of solutions. In order to do that, we had
to first align on the criteria for evaluation and that was the purpose of the February 2nd meeting. During that time, the working group discussed how the criteria covering areas such as student experience, equity across schools, feasibility, and financial
implications will be used to guide analysis. The conversation emphasized that no single criterion stands alone and that trade-offs are expected and will be explored as planning continues. In addition to reviewing the evaluation framework, the meeting included a
presentation from the special services department outlining expectations and projected growth within the district over the coming years. The transportation coordinator also provided an overview of district transportation logistics, including key considerations and a breakdown of associated costs. On
Tuesday, March 3rd, the next me meeting, the working group discussed several categories of potential what we're calling kind of solution concepts, including one, grade configuration and student assignment, which involves changes to how students are organized
across buildings. Two, scheduling and instructional model adjustments, which focus on increasing space utilization without altering building structures. Three, program footprint and service delivery, which considers how the
location of programs and services such as preschool, special education, support services, and enrichment may impact space. Four, repurposing and temporary/bridge space, which explores short to midterm strategies to create
additional capacity within or near existing buildings. and five, capital and system level expansion, which involves long-term solutions such as construction or major structural redesign. The group also discussed the difference
between more structural approaches such as grade reconfiguration or new construction and more tactical adjustments such as rotating specials or implementing push-in services. Some of these structural approaches we are currently exploring such as the
different grade banding were part of those options that we reviewed in 2021 2022 when we ultimately decided to reszone instead of realign. We have the benefit of having insights and data from those earlier workshops to help inform
the decisions we make now. Our proactive approach and strategic foresight that began several years ago means we can be smart, deliberate, and take our time to make the best decision to address enrollment growth long term. The discussion on March 3rd was exploratory
and no recommendations were made or options advanced at that time. We have said from the beginning of this process, the final recommended solution, whatever it winds up being, will be driven by the hard work of this working group. I'd like to thank all the members for their participation and engagement so far and
look forward to the continued work we need to do to get to a recommendation for the board and the community and materials from all of this all of these 10 meetings have been available on the website and will continue to be added to.
Thank you, Ms. Keller. Okay, we're going to move on to the first opportunity for public commentary. This is the first of two opportunities for public commentary. I ask that anyone interested in addressing the board please raise their hand or use the raise your hand feature on Zoom. Each speaker
is asked to limit their comments to three minutes. Please begin your comments by stating your name and address and by directing your comments to the presiding officer. Please know that the board of education welcomes and encourages input from the public. Public commentary is intended as an opportunity
for the board to receive such input, but is not intended as a Q&A session. Following public commentary, if appropriate, the presiding officer or the superintendent may provide some response. For this first opportunity, we ask that your comments be limited to
items that appear on tonight's agenda. There will be a second comment opportunity for all other comments later in the meeting. We do not have a live audience, so moving directly to Zoom. Does any of our audience on Zoom wish to
address the board on an agenda item? Going once. >> I do. Sorry. Ashley Freighus. I don't know how to raise my hand. I tried to figure it out. I couldn't. >> That's fine. Just would you please give your name and address? >> Sure. Ashley Freighus, 32 Red Hill Road.
Obviously, Warren, thank you so much for all of your time. I really value that you put so much time and effort into our school district. It's very important. Um, I just have a few comments about um all the redist all the um zoning things that were brought up. I know when these new developments come in and I know when
it happened last time, they all didn't pay taxes initially to the schools. So, I just want to bring that up now that when this when you're talking to the town, if you can just make sure that there are it was later on negotiated, but if you
could just try to keep that in mind, I think that's really important. Um, the other comment I have is when we went through this last time, I've lived in town for over 20 years. Um, I know that Sean was saying that we have 10 years to
do all of this and I agree that we don't want this development as much as we can. However, I do think that because we pushed it off so much last time, it all came in very fast, which is why it's our schools are having such a hard time now
because all the development kind of came to us at the same time. And I think the schools, the police, and everyone is kind of suffering from it. So, I just wanted to bring up those two points and um just put that out there.
>> Okay. Thank you, Miss Freighus. Do we have any other public commentary? Seeing none, do I have a motion to close the first opportunity for public commentary? >> Motion. >> Second. Anyone? >> All in favor? Opposed?
Abstain. The first opportunity for public commentary is now closed. Uh Dr. Mingle, do you have anything on that? No. Okay. Uh Dr. Dr. Mingle, do you have any comments on items for board consideration? >> Okay, then does any board member wish to
pull any item for board consideration apart or separate discussion or vote? Miss Keller. >> Motion to approve items for board consideration A1 through A4, B1 through B10,
C1 through C12, and D1 through D3. >> Do we have a second? Second. All right, I will call the role on the consent agenda. Mr. Bratzby's, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dalton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Granholm, >> yes. >> Miss Keller, >> yes.
>> Mr. Malfetta, >> yes. >> Mr. Tor, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Zan, >> yes. >> Motions pass 70. >> Thank you, Mr. Hegel. We do not have any unfinished or new business for this evening. So that leads us into our second opportunity for public
commentary. Uh this opportunity is open to any topic you wish to raise to the board's attention. Again, I ask that you raise your hand or use the raise your hand feature on Zoom. Remember, comments are limited to 3 minutes. Please state your name and address before beginning.
Once again, still no live audience. So moving directly to Zoom. Is there anyone on Zoom that would like to address the board on any topic? going once. Seeing none, do I have a motion to close public commentary? >> Second. Anyone?
>> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. The second opportunity for public comment is now closed. Miss Kella. >> Whereas the Open Public Meetings Act NJSA 104-11 permits the board of education to meet in close session to
discuss certain matters. Now therefore be it resolved the board of education journs to close session to discuss anticipated litigation or contract negotiation and/or matters of attorney client privilege, protection of public safety and property and/or investigations of possible violations or
violations of law and specific prospective or current employees unless all who could be adversely affected request an open session. Action will not be taken upon return to public session. The length of the meeting is anticipated to be approximately 30 minutes and be it further resolved the minutes of
disclosed session be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? Opposed? Abstain. The board is now in executive session.
>> Thank you. Miss Kelly. >> Motion to return to public session. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. We are in open session. Miss Keller. >> Motion to adjurnn. Do >> have a second. Second. >> All in favor?
>> Opposed? Abstain. The board is done for the night. Thanks guys. >> Yep.