##VIDEO ID:DX8M-Fa5-7I## Dr JW you have the superintendent's comments you have an ssds report yes I usually do not have comments for the first meeting of the month but uh this is our semiannual student safety data summary report uh so this is where I just give a little give the the numbers uh these represent our numbers from uh July 1st 2024 through December 31st 2024 with regard to turn um incidents of violence we have two reported incidents of violence zero reported incidents of vandalism uh one reported incident involving a weapon four incidents of substance abuse and 26 other incidents leading to removal and then with regard to our HIV uh incidents we had three alleged and two confirmed during that period of time and so that's uh that and that has always gets sent into the state um and is included with our board minutes Mr sty this evening as the uh 2025 2026 preliminary budget presentation a quick review of it looks like it's deja vu all over again but uh and it seems to come up so quickly that we constantly we're in one budget then we finalize and start up again but Tim it's all yours okay okay well welcome everybody this is our first shot at the budget it's kind of preliminary information there not a lot um um not a lot of detail but just enough you get an idea of where we are the things I'm we're all looking at and some of the issues that we see uh we always thank the board and all our committees that are involved in in the budget process go through the timeline real quick and just so everybody knows we start in October talk to our departments through J uh January in fact we're still talking um we get our guidelines on the 22nd we just got them uh not too long ago uh and tonight we have our initial discussion and the state budget address I believe is scheduled for the 25th of February two days later we typically get our state aid I kind of brief briefly talk about it later but we're looking at the same state aid it is the formula is technically fully funded right now um so and our enrollment as you'll see was kind of flat so it's probably going to be flat or close to it but you know you never know and until the governor speaks um so the budget's due to the county on March 19th so we have two March meetings I do like to have a budget here budget discussion on March 4th that gives the board extra a couple of weeks of time um but we'll just have to see how it plays out how the state aid comes out um you never know if a surprise is going to come our way but we'll kind of figure out which is the best way to go with that the budget meeting um and then between March 19th and April 28th the county reviews and approves um and then on April 29th we have the public hearing and we're ready to go uh these are the things that are the issues that we're going to have to deal with this year um Healthcare and I talked to the finance committee um we're looking at another 12% increase I think if you talk to any board any municipality you're seeing big numbers they are what they are it's industrywide a lot of the discussion is the uh weight loss drugs are are definitely pushing the market um certainly inflation has a piece of it as well um special ed costs uh for the last couple years have been tough I will tell you that the percentage of classified students has grown whereas our enrollment has either dropped or been flat so that is an issue um and just talking to the K to8 that Trend seems to be at their levels too um I put down changing demographics we we are um seeing an increase in free and reduced lunch count um and also the k8s are also telling us that as well particularly in Long Hill and Warren have both told me that so that is something to look at in terms of how we deal in the future with our lunch program because that is going to have an impact for the board financially um stubborn inflationary costs uh maintenance contract support contracts that's where we're kind of getting beat up and we need those things so that's it's tough to deal with I'm not seeing too many things that aren't 5 6% increase at least so that is a little brutal when our our budget cap is 2% Transportation costs I just put on that every year because it's been it's been tough the last couple years but it's it just continues to be tough and I mentioned flat enrollment that's what we're looking at and our send receive tuition is almost flat the rate went up as you all know um but the Greenbrook number of students in Greenbrook has gone down it used to be over 400 now it's scheduled to be at about 350 and the next couple years are actually lower uh looking at the numbers they were they have some low numbers in the next couple of classes so that that is a factor because you know it's it's tuition income that we get from them um that's our enrollment so you can see it's a it's a steady decline it's not a big decline into next year 20 some kids but um you can see it's still trending down and when I looked um at the Kade 8 enrollment I did not see any big bumps one way or the other so I did not see a heavy decrease heavy increase anywhere it looks almost kind of flat now I don't know if um the apartments and the housing uh is reflected in that yet but I can tell you just the numbers I'm seeing that they provided to me it looked it looked kind of neutral to me um um and on the revenue side I mentioned a couple things already 2% cap which is kind of tough in this inflationary period I know it's we're at the end of that inflationary period but it's still it's still hitting us and that it's still at 2% and at 2% is about $700,000 and you'll see on the next slide there's a couple things that are already eclipsing that $700,000 um we do we are we have uh Bank cap that we can use and we also uh should have a healthc care waiver it could change um because of talking to our health care broker we're not quite sure if that 12% is locked in yet um I know the shiff is still talking uh the concern is that it may actually go up a little bit I hope it doesn't I hope it goes the other way but we'll see I'll know more in a couple of weeks um and so and by the way if you use those waivers as the board knows that does increase the tax Lev the state aid we're looking uh it's 6% of our budget we believe everything we're told it's going to be flat we budget flat um and like I said before we're technically fully funded so the formula has been funded the so we're in terms of the formula there's going to be no more changes to that but our enrollment dropping may actually drop that number a little bit so we'll see um and then the send receive tuition we did the rate we agreed upon in terms of the uh General ed students is 21433 uh special ed is per formula so that'll go up a bit uh and I mentioned there's 20 fewer students in this year's number as opposed to last year's so that's $400,000 if you do the math that's quite a bit and like I said that's that's trending downward for green I'm kind of hoping you guys can get more in the future but you know we'll see um yeah I going to say it seems like that for all the schools right now um this the use of surplus um will probably end up in the same spot as last year I don't have a lot of capital projects that we put forth in the budget um but we something to help the tax burden we could use some capital reserve I think the Auditors came here last time and we still have about 5.7 million so I think we can use some of that to ease the burden a little bit uh and key key Appropriations the we settled the teachers contract at 3.4% talked about the healthcare it's at 11.2 now it could go up um technology is part of the my that's my inflationary complaint I'm we're seeing a lot of it there in the tech sector that we're getting beat up there for sure uh special ed costs are brutal I don't know what else to tell you they those numbers have gone up the actual rates for the private schools have gone up uh quite a bit well over the 2% I could tell you that um and again I I talked about maintenance support that's that also goes to our our Heating and ventilating units you know those those kind of contracts have all gone up uh and that's tough we're at the point where we kind of have to look and say okay do we need this one do we need this one it's it you know that when you have to make those decisions that's a little tough so but it's tough to fit all that stuff and at 2% uh in terms of Capital Improvements we're always looking to upgrade security uh in the school uh we have a boiler condensate tank that needs to be replaced we've been kind of patching that one up as long as possible but we're at the point where we got to replace it and that's not cheap um and then we have some science room and it closet upgrades that M mainly in the it closets it's trying to make it cooler there's many of closets throughout the school where there's um we put they like it hubs for those areas and they tend to get a little warm so we we're have to put some kind of split unit in there to kind of cool those areas down so we don't have issues with our it tape um and then the car in that seems to be there every year let's hope it stays this year we'll see so we did do the pack carpeting last year uh the main office we have not done yet then I put down Transportation energy and I think everybody in this building and this room in this world their energy costs are all going up um but the transportation is something that's it's just it is what it is it's it's a necessary thing but it's not cheap and that's pretty much uh that's the quick version any questions from the board so actually um just two comments I think related to it um one I think part of the issue with our free lunch um increases is due to the fact that the federal government has changed the the formula they used to calculate free lunch so it's not it's not so much that we have an influx of students that are eligible it's just I think we have students that because of the change in the the formula have then got caught up into that bucket um and I wouldn't be surprised to know there's been some talk of U going to um you know entire free lunch free meal programs for every student across the state um there's been some chatter about that I don't know where that stands but uh I think that's something else that we'll need to to pay attention to um the last item when you talked about security and and you know both the desire for upgrades and the costs associated with that I I do recall that uh the Warren Township committee had indicated at one point that they were interested in potentially uh sharing with us in the k8s a portion of their opio opioid settlement dollars it was coming from the state uh and that when when we met with them and this is going back you know two or three years um they had indicated that there there was a Reon reable amount of money that could be allocated uh to support that so I I will follow up with members of the township committee to see if uh if if there's any you know any there there still related to the O opioid settlement um and and where that particularly stands because certainly if there's a year where we could uh use a little gift uh this may be it that would be outstanding and we did you know we've applied for Grants through the state um and it's just you know back about a year or so ago their priorities were Heating and ventilating units obviously coming off the covid uh period they weren't and we kind of pressed and we talked to our legislators and tried to press them to you really got to still look at security and um but they just weren't there yet so I hope they do get back there and and then lastly I think the the whole issue around special education and the funding of that and the structure and how it needs to be you know restructured and looked at you know from the state standpoint I I also think is something that we need to continue um you know to to raise awareness about because I think that it's um again it has nothing to do with whether or not the students are provided with the services that they're entitled to the issue is you know what the state state has indicated that they're going to support and what they're actually reporting and the two things are just not lining up and as a result districts across the entire state are being significantly impacted by um by these special services um expenses as well as the corresponding transportation that goes along with it yep agreed I just have a couple things Tim first of all I want to thank you for all the work you do and I know Tim constantly paints a year-to-year a DI uh prognosis which is understandable we're uh given a uh limitations of boundary with respect to a 2% increase uh which is great for the taxpayers but it makes our job that much more difficult but it's a job we've chosen so we certainly uh welcome that challenge uh what Tim has done quite well and he kind of alluded to it we have certain places where we have reserves and we built up some uh money so that we can use it for certain projects as uh Tim has also alluded to most of our expenses are kind of set from year to year with respect to uh salaries and health care we have certain um items that we have some sort of Co excuse me some sort of control over or a discretion over I should say that would be co-curricular activities in certain infrastructure items uh I think we've done a great job in the past few years making sure all the co-curriculars are basically funded so all the kids have opportunities and also with respect to infrastructure whether it's the uh again this past year with the uh uh the track or the pack the work we've done there and all the other projects and we certainly will have more projects moving forward so certainly appreciate that and we're just going to have to take a hard look and see what we can do and what we can't do and where we can find some money and I just want to uh Bob Mr Morrison has already highlighted the special education just to reiterate the way it works and discussed on several occasions uh we are by law responsible for the first $40,000 with regard to a public education for special public special education and then the first 55,000 when a student goes for private special education uh we get zero reimbursement with regard to uh trans Transportation cost which is a huge dollar amount and although by law we're supposed to get that overage on the 40 and the 55 there is a fund and we don't get our full share that share although it should be 100% uh it's dropped to 90 8070 so we're footing more the bill now we also know that the state spends a lot of money on education and we don't get it so there's two things for the public if they have any control or any say down in Cong down in the legislation for New Jersey is to figure out a way to get more money back to us number one and certainly fully fund and handle the special education needs and again I know I spoke about it back in October we uh there was a panel state had several representatives and they talked about you know having needing to to address the special education and making sure the all the municipalities and districts got a fair Shake on it uh unfortunately this discussion has been going on for years and we have not seen anything we're just hoping maybe this might be the year but so if anyone has any pull down Tren this be a great time to use it but again Tim I just want to thank you for the hard work and it's not as easy as just throwing a few numbers down and also I want to thank board members the finance committee and everyone who's going to be working on this and uh all the different groups that are funneling money excuse me funneling numbers up to you so we're not funneling money funneling numbers money to our business administrator yeah numbers numbers I misspoke money demands how's that anyone have anything else all right Tim thank you very much okay excuse me let's move right into committee reports uh Lisa your education right great thanks sure good evening uh so our education committee we met on January 28th at 3M via Zoom uh Mr Morrison Miss Ober Mrs pra uh Excuse Me Miss prasa Mrs Potter Dr jet Miss Caro Mrs Fen and Mr laera and myself were all in attendance um the three are we had three policies one was new two were new uh they're all mandated the first one uh 9163 spectator code of conduct for inter Scholastic events uh Dr jitt introduced the new mandated policy it's a code of conduct for spectators at sporting events uh the intent of the policy is to Pro to provide uniform and consistent expectations of Spectators during any inter Scholastic event at any school district it would also provide guidance in the handling of unruly Spectators uh our director of Athletics is attending a conference committee meeting where they are working on this policy for continuity between the districts policy will be will be brought back to our committee after the conference uh meeting for further discussion uh the next policy was 5516 use of electronic communication and recording devices uh Dr J would explain that there's have been no additional changes than originally proposed back in December um we're looking at revising our 51 5516 to be more in line with and to support our current procedures as listed in the student handbook the current policy list devices that are no longer used out of date um uh the committee also discussed the policy and liability of teachers if a device is stolen while in the designated area of the classroom uh and we have shared the policy draft with teaching staff to ask for their feedback as well uh the last one uh is new uh acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence uh Dr jitt discussed policy 2365 regarding the use of AI the policy was shared with our director um of Technology Mr Anthony maluso the policy essentially provides an outline of what should be included in our district AI plan neither an AI policy nor plan are mandated however given the prevalence of AI having a policy and in companying plan are highly recommended Mr maluso is collaborating with his counterparts in other districts regarding recommended components of the AI plan and policy the committee discussed Ai and intellectual property misuse and asked about resources for the board um and Dr jitt suggested Gathering Publications on the subject matter and possibly having Mr maluso conduct training um for interested board members on AI and academic integrity and our meeting adjourned at 3:46 and I have to give a personal shout out because Mr Anthony maluso helped me this morning because I got a new phone and I couldn't get in my Microsoft Authenticator and check my mail to do my reading so thank you Mr maluso and on another note this at this meeting is where I learned that principal laera is an eagle and I'll leave it at that rightfully gave himt about um I don't I don't know if this has been talked about before but I did see an article um today about our collaboration with um Basking Ridge or Bernard's Township Public Schools on an AI joint initiative is so we're planning a date with Basking Ridge High School um to kind of defay the cost a little bit um we're going to house it here at wung Hills in our pack Ridge teachers and Watchung Hills teachers in for that AI training uh for a professional development session so the need is everywhere so we may as well kind of join together great thank you thank you Mr maio all right uh Bill you're on Personnel is there anything in addition that we could talk about oh well we did have a meeting uh Personnel committee met on January 27th at 3:30 via Zoom pres was Dr JT uh Mr sty Miss Caro Mr bernberg Mr mayek Miss Lei Miss Trump war and Miss Denson and what we discussed uh miss caryo explained that by contract faculty and staff must provide notice of retirement before March 1st 2025 for a June retirement in order to receive the sick leave payout benefit because of the nature of the contract more may be coming in for either the 2 February meeting or the 1 March meeting depending on when they are received apart from that only other thing we discussed is uh preview C items for this current meeting and we adjourned at 3:50 p.m. it anybody has anything to add so the finance committee meeting met on February 3rd uh at 9:00 that would have been yesterday morning uh majority things that we discussed are items that Tim discussed regarding the budget uh we reviewed uh we went through a budget review we reviewed some of the new items that were on there and some of the things that were impacting um you know increase pieces and cost we discussed the new equipment and identified the technology um you know particularly with the shelf life of technology these days where you know within five years things have to be replaced um you know we're having to do these Replacements more frequently uh we discussed Capital maintenance and security uh some of the special requests that came in um uh for some of the different groups um as well as uh how we're going to handle some of our records retention particularly as it relates to some of our historical records that are not digitized um and looked at uh you know the process and cost involved in actually taking our historical uh records and documentation and actually having that digitized and then uh being able to secure um uh outsourced uh locations for um the the uh the hard copy records that we currently have in place um we also talked a little bit about the revenue and expense uh issues uh regarding um both the decline in some of the tuition uh funds that will be coming in uh as well as talked about the increase in the healthc care benefit costs which I'm hearing is impacting you know my colleagues on other boards across the state um also discussed the specialed tuition increases um as well as uh talked about uh the opportunities that the regional ization feasibility study with shared services um can play into having you know a positive impact on not only our budget but the budgets of our sending districts as well if we're able to identify ways we can collaborate to um provide exceptional service while also uh managing costs uh we also discussed a little bit uh about the school start time and the potential impact that that would have on the budget um this process uh you know asked specifically if we could get maybe an estimate uh to understand what would cost us if we were to take on the uh Transportation uh for our own students so that we could move forward uh with changing the start time um uh Mr SC discussed the reimbursement of extraordinary Aid uh which was discussed earlier uh and the meeting adjourned at 9:58 any questions okay great uh Dan G he's the chairman of negotiations uh the only thing that I can share with the public is that we did meet with the Union a week or so ago to uh dis further discuss uh excuse me uh modifying Schedule D which basically deals with the payments of the co-curricular activities okay Janine strategic any questions on that great Janine uh strategic plan yeah we met on January 22nd at 3M in attendance were Miss obber Miss prasa myself Dr druitt and Mr SI um that's reviewed the RFP which is the request for Proposal with the committee citing the standard parts of the RFP and the specifics to the uh strategic plan consultant she reviewed the purpose of the consultant and the proposed schedule from the request for proposals to the award of the contract the committee discussed interviews with the candidates via committee and the finalist presenting to the board in public that was just our initial idea the committee also reviewed the scope of services everything indicated below which I'm going to read was included in the RFP for the last strategic plan so we're we're basing it on that the the two last components just need to be finalized by the full board regarding whether or not to include what to incl include in the RFP so the first one was to help build a detailed step-by-step Strate strategic planning process framework that is right for our community can be completed within 6 to n months and includes the following elements an effective strategic planning committee and subcommittee structure active engagement of key stakeholder groups data collection through the use of valid survey results measurable key performance-based outcomes development of strategic goals spans a 3 to 5e planning Horizon identification and development of quantitative and qualitative data to ground the planning work and create a baseline for analysis comparison and decision-making and best practices and Trends in high school um sorry High performing High School Districts number two was uh guide and support implementation of the strategic planning process framework in particular to facilitate conversations with stakeholders support the strategic planning committees and subcommittees in uh subcommittees in gathering and organizing internal and external environmental assessments develop a communication plan to report on the work and the progress of the Committees keep the process on track on time and on budget and conduct two public presentations to the board one at the beginning of the process and one at the end of the process and um lastly in collaboration with the committee develop an outcomes based dashboard to track progress against Milestones over time and we're going to hopefully Loop in it our own it to do that for us um and the meeting ended at 4:12 anybody have any questions thank you we are back to Bob with shared services can can I just ask one question on this so if everyone because we do want to get that RFP out um sooner than later ler to just start the timeline so I don't know if everyone wants to read the RFP is in the I believe it's in the board folder if everyone wants to take a look at it and maybe by the next meeting we can just finalize that it doesn't need board approval you know the RFP doesn't need board approval but obviously we want consensus from the board that it's good to issue so we can get going with the timeline does that work okay great thank you sorry to interrupt thank you all right the uh watching Hills shared service regionalization feasibility study Advisory Group met on Thursday January 30th 2025 to receive an update from the project research team from the Rowen Rowen School regionalization Institute uh the researchers shared the progress made on data collection and the next steps in scheduling interviews for superintendents business administrators curriculum directors special services transportation and faculty members they also highlighted the ongoing work in evaluating facilities uh transportation and demographic projections the group plans to communicate with the public through local media outlets and a proposed town hall is being tentatively planned for a uh early in April Thursday April the 10th that that is tentative right now while they check all of the calendars uh the study process remains on schedule to have a preliminary draft report presented to The Advisory Group by May once the draft report has been presented the next steps in the process uh will be be determined and shared um and shared with the public at that time um and if I'm not mistaken Dr ditt shared with me that one of the um inperson meetings took place today here uh with the uh all of the districts sending their personnel here for conversations with our um our research team from Rowan uh and I can uh just also say that uh we were all really very pleased with what we heard in the meeting last last week and are excited by the direction that this process has taken uh and eager to be able to share more information as this process unfolds in the next several months that's all I have questions comments okay great so this is the first opportunity for public comment the first public comment period will be limited to agenda items only for this meeting the second public comment period will be open to any topic all comments are limited to 5 minutes do we have any public comments if you do please step up state your name and where you're from okay seeing none we will close the first opportunity for public comment we have any board discussion items okay moving on Mr Mar future action any discussion on future action items I don't think there is perfect uh Mr President I'd like to move items A1 through A4 second any discussion roll call please Mr magio okay Miss Lee make sure2 is the minutes yeah um Mr Mar yes Mr Morrison abstain on A1 and A2 approve A3 and A4 Miss Potter yes Miss pra yes and Mr bber yes and motions carry Mr President I'd like to move items A5 and A6 seconded anyone have a second try not to um any discussion on those items roll call Mr maio Miss Lee Mr mayek yes Mr Morrison yes M pra yes and Mr Mr Burber yes motions Carri uh Mr President I'd like to move item B1 second any discussion roll call Mr maio Miss Lee Mr Mar yes Morrison yes Mr Potter yes proa yes and Mr bber yes motion carries Mr President I'd like to move items C1 through C6 second any discussion roll call please Mr maio um yes and just C6 congratulations Mr Richards and I'm sure he's gonna enjoy his grandbabies Miss Lee yes Mr Mar yes Morrison yes Potter yes rasa yes and Mr fber yes carry Mr President I'd like to move items D1 through D3 any disc discussion roll call please Mr maio yes Miss Lee yes may yes Morrison yes poter yes rasa yes and Mr bur yes motion Carri okay great we've made it finally to the second opportunity for public comment again this period of public comment is for any item it's open to all topics again please limit your comments to 5 minutes if you choose to speak please state your name and where you're from but any anyone like to make a comment okay see you none I'm going to close the second round of public comment all right move on to agenda item 10 do we have any other business anyone have anything they want to share Mr Morrison yeah I just I just want to make one comment for the public um you know there's there's obviously a lot of um a lot of news and information that's coming out of Washington regarding you know various changes to agencies and policies uh and certainly a lot of speculation over uh what may or may not happen with the the Department of Education it appears that we'll know more over the coming days um but I just want to you know reiterate to everyone at this point in time that anything that anything that is announced is not necessarily so um and that it's going to take some time for the information and the impact of any potential changes uh to actually work its way to us I know that we've been monitoring the potential changes we've looked at you know I've shared information with um Dr jitt and Mr sty regarding uh looking at the areas where we may potentially be impacted by any changes at the federal level you know the good news is we are very limited in funds that we receive from the federal government so would may not necessarily impact us but at the same time any change changes that they make may not necessarily have an impact on funding of Education um because of discussions about sending those funds that are title funds like Title One title two title 4 which are all formula driven uh that those formulas would still be in place they would just be block granted out to the state so before everyone starts getting all anxious about what may or may not happen down there I'm just asking people to take some time take a couple deep breaths and let's just let it play out uh before we take any action you know so it's always better to make sure we have all the facts before we start reacting to things that may or may not be happening both at the federal level and the same thing is true at the state level so uh we're aware we're paying attention it's just going to take some time for it to to work its way through to figure out exactly what is happened thank you for those thoughts anyone else okay I will entertain a motion to adjourn so moved all those in favor okay we are adjourned thank you everybody