Good evening and welcome to the West Orange Board of Education public board meeting on Thursday, March 5th, 2026. I would like to thank all of you here in person and those watching from home for joining us tonight. I'd like to welcome my fellow board members as well as Mr. Moore and Miss Flowers and our student liaison. Miss Flowers, would you please
take the roll call? >> Good evening. Roll call, please. Dr. Bryant >> here. >> Mr. Ifer >> here. >> Mr. Stevenson. >> Miss Vera >> here. >> Mr. Rock
>> here. >> Thank you. Notice of meeting. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their
interests are discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of the act, a written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board on February 25th, 2026. That said notice was sent by regular mail to the West
Orange Township clerk and the editors of the West Orange Chronicle and by email to the Star Ledger. That said notice was posted on the lobby of the administration building of the board of education and posted on the district website. Please be advised that this
meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and the district's website at a future date. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> To the flag, United States of America to
the stands one nation under Gody and justice for all. Thank you, Miss Flowers. In consideration of the closed and public meeting of February 2, 2026, do I have a motion to accept the minutes? >> Motion.
>> Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Is there a second? >> Second. Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ifer. Any comments? Hearing none. Mr. Flowers, please take the roll call. >> Dr. Bryant, >> yes. >> Mr. Ifer, >> yes. >> Vice President Vera, >> yes. >> President Rock, >> yes.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Next, good evening to our student leazison. Adam Marcat and Secretary James, would you two please share your report with us now? >> Good evening. To so to start, we're going to talk about some student accomplishments. We would like to say congratulations to Anna, Remy, and Khloe
for earning top honors in the 2026 Scholastic Art Awards. Their creativity and artistic excellence continue to represent West Orange High School. Um, additionally, West Orange High School students performed at NJSMA region choir festival showcasing outstanding musical
talent. Um, and we hosted our Black History Month scholarship dinner where both the boys and girls step team performed. Moving on, we're going to talk about some like athletic achievements. Just today, the girls basketball team wins their
sectional finals and they're moving on. Um the girls and boy step team performed at regionals. Um the boy step team absolute got third place and the girls step team got second place. Um boy additionally the girls and boy step team
had the opportunity to go on the Sherry show where they performed as well. Um the West Orange cheer team um competed at the 2026 UCA National High School cheering competition and the jazz band takes home top honors at the jazz
festival. The annual West Orange Music Education fundraising concert was held featuring performances by our award-winning music faculty. The West Orange Public School Registration Department and Superintendent's Office partnered to host a super arbold food drive, demonstrating leadership in community
service and support for local families. Kelly Elementary welcomed 100 guest readers in celebration of World Read Read Aloud Day, promoting literacy and a love for reading. While Washington in school, students participated in a heartwear heartwarming initiative
spreading love one story at a time, reinforcing community connection through literacy and kindness. There's big-time recognition for Redwood Elementary, where three students from Miss Joy Bernett's fourth grade class took part in the New Jersey Amistad Commission's 2026 African-American History Contest
and earned first runner-up honors for the standout research project on Queen Latifah. I hear somebody won a wrestling match is going to the regional tournament or something. >> That that would be you, Adam. Just
thought one of you might have said that, but we'll we'll just point that out. Congratulations and congratulations to all the other accomplishments you guys mentioned and thank you for your report. Uh next up, it is time for Mr. Moore's report. Would you please share your superintendent's report with us? >> Thank you, President Rock. Shout out to
Adam. We'll be seeing you wrestle at the regionals tomorrow. We're all rooting for you. Okay. First, I'd like to talk a little bit about the traffic pattern at Roosevelt Middle School that has changed. I'll give you a little background and then I will talk about
the collaboration that took place. Over the years, the situation along Gilbert Place in front of Roosevelt Middle School has developed into a challenging situation for our students during morning and morning and dismissal time.
Motorists increasingly failed to follow safety procedures as our students navigated the end and the start of their day. It took some time to affect change, but after careful planning,
our principal, Mr. Hush, some of his staff, our township, our board of education has now made our morning and I'm sorry, our morning and dismissal
much more safer. After implementing this change, it has Oh, I'm sorry. I just read that twice. Especially for our students that walk to school and being dropped off by cars. I didn't mention what the change was. The change is a
brief making Gilbert a brief oneway where we actually staff and block off the front of uh the entrance into Gilbert so that buses and cars can flow one way easier easily which gives it
which makes the environment for students a lot easier to navigate as and cross streets you know I'm sorry I'm blowing this, but crossing streets, it makes it easier for our buses to navigate and stop. So,
we're very uh pleased with this um new brief and because it's only in the morning, we block it off. We take it back. It the uh one way only lasts for the hour, the half hour it takes to drop students off and the half hour it takes
for students to leave. So what we do is we place cones and a stop sign which stops traffic temporarily and then when students are in classes and the arrival we put those things away and we move the signage to the side and we do the same
um for um dismissal as students part. So essentially it creates a kiss and go. If everyone knows where the kiss and go is, it's where people can drop off, say bye, go, and continue to move on, but traffic flows one way instead of two ways. Took
me a lot to get through that. I'm sorry, but I want to say a special thank you to board of ed, our board president for advoc adv for his advocacy. I want to say a special thank you to parents of Roosevelt for their advocacy. Thank you
to the township um the township police, of course, our new chief of police, Matt Fuer. Thank you. Thank you to our mayor and um and and her staff in the township for their uh work. Um and the neighborhood, the uh neighbors across
the street from Roosevelt who also contributed to helping us create this safer pattern for students to walk in, for traffic to flow. >> Okay. Thank you. That took a lot for me to get through. Sorry.
Next, I'd like to talk about our five-year strategic plan. So, tonight we present our preliminary report regarding our strategic plan. We have the results from our surveys which were which have informed our next steps moving forward.
At this time, I'd like to call our cabinet members up to the front of the room so that we can share our findings with everyone tonight. I asked the board to take a seat there and
we'll get started. So, we had a strategic plan um and we're going to talk about it a little bit. I know you've heard us mention it uh but tonight we will uh present it. There will be a slideshow. This the slideshow
will be up on the website as well um soon as we're done tonight presenting it. >> Uh sure. Do you want to stay? Maybe it's easier again. Next slide. Okay,
as mentioned um we are presenting our strategic plan. So I'll start with good evening. I'd like to provide a brief update on our strategic strategic planning work. This process has been grounded in stakeholder
input. We gathered feedback from staff, family, community members, and the board to ensure the plan reflects our shared priorities for the district. We use surveys, review data, review district
data, and examine best practices to align community voice with strategies that support student success. The work has been moved from data collection to analysis and now to the development of
strategic priorities. Our next step will be presenting a year 1 implementation plan along with regular progress updates to keep the board and the community informed. For reference, the community
forum was held on November 13th. The community survey ran from October 30th through November 30th. The staff input was collected during December. We appreciate the collaboration that has
guided this process and look forward to the next phase of this work. Okay, as you see the slide above, this slide outlines three focus areas guiding our
strategic plan. We start with finance and facilities. This ensures we responsibly manage resources while maintaining strong learning environments. The next you'll see is student achievement and wellness. This centers
on academic success alongside students social and emotional well-being. Next, we look at security and safety, which focuses on maintaining schools where students and staff feel protected, supported, and safe and prepared.
Together, these priorities create a a balanced approach that supports learning operations and overall well-being of our school community. Okay. At this time, I'd like to invite and introduce our leadership team to present
the priority areas that will guide our strategic work for our finance and facilities. Please w please welcome when she comes up. I'm going to introduce everyone first. Tanya Flowers, our business administrator, Renee Lamin,
which is our assistant business administrator, and Nick Munoz, who's our facilities manager. For our student achievement portion, student achievement and wellness, we will hear from Michelle Martino, who's our director of assessment, accountability, and intervention, Liz Veneziano, who's our
director of human resources, and Derek, Dr. Derek Resa, who's our director of special services. for safety and security. We will hear from Nick Munoz, our facilities manager,
Mike Sha, our supervisor of transportation, and unfortunately tonight, uh, Nora Aquino is not here, but we will surely miss her. She had an emergency. I'd like to thank each of them for their leadership and helping move this work
forward. I will now turn the mic over to finance and facilities. Tanya, >> thank you. Good evening everyone. In regards to finance and facilities, our priorities are to develop and implement a fiscally
thorough and efficient budget and process that allows the district to identify the financial resources required to effectively support its goals and initiatives and maintain highquality facilities that support student achievement by ensuring
comprehensive programs are well supported. This includes addressing facilities maintenance across the district to provide a conducive learning and working environment for both students and staff. Miss Lampin will now discuss the results of the
survey made available to all stakeholders to collect feedback. >> Flowers. Good evening everyone. I'm going to talk about the community survey result um from finance and facilities. This slide here shows
>> Oh, I'm sorry. >> No, you're good. >> This slide is a summary of the results of the community survey of which we received 37 responses. Overall stakeholder per excuse me, perceptions are mixed across these areas. We saw a
high number of neutral responses which which suggests that experiences may be inconsistent across the district or that some of our work may not be as visible to stakeholders as it could be. Um budget transparency and opportunities for community input emerged as areas of
concern. A majority of respondents expressed disagreement in these areas with few indicica indicating confidence signaling a need for clearer communication and engagement around financial decision-m still on the same slide.
The timeliness of facility repairs and upgrades showed the the greatest dissatisfaction. Nearly half of the respondents expressed concern here, pointing to an opportunity to strengthen systems, improve communication about time timelines, or better clarify how projects are
prioritized. On a more positive note, facilities, conditions, and access to instructional resources showed somewhat stronger confidence. While still modest, this suggests we have a foundation to build with continued investment and attention.
Confidence in our long-term facilities planning was limited. This indicates a need to more clearly communicate how current investments connect to district goals and community priorities. Overall, one key takeaway is that improving communication and visibility
are particularly um should be particular around budgeting, maintenance timelines and capital planning. Next slide. On this slide, we received 123 responses. About onethird of the respondents
indicated confidence that facilities are well-maintained and that the schools have adequate resources and materials, while a significant portion selected neutral responses, suggesting uncertainty or even experiences across the districts. Nearly half of respondents expressed
dissatisfaction and a need to strengthen systems prioritization and communication around maintenance and capital work. More than half of the respondents expressed disagreement with fewer than 10% indicating confidence.
This suggests an opportunity to improve how we communicate about financial decisions and engage stakeholders in the process. Next slide. This slide is a summary of the survey results we received from the community and the faculty.
Survey responses indicated mixed perceptions regarding the district's efficient use of financial resources with many respondents expressing disagreement or some of them being neutral. This also just suggests a need to strengthen
communication around how budget decisions are made and how financial resources are aligned to district goals and initiatives. A majority of the respondents reported concerns related to budget transparency and community input. This directly
aligns with goal one's emphasis on fiscally thorough processes and highlights an opportunity to improve stakeholder understanding and confidence in financial decision-making. for the facilities quality and learning environment. Some of these respondents
acknowledged that facilities are generally safe and well-maintained. Confidence levels remain moderate. This supported continued focus on maintaining highquality facilities that foster student achievement and staff effectiveness. In regards to the timeliness of repairs
and operational effectiveness, timely facility repairs emerged as the as the most significant area of concern with nearly half of respondents expressing dissatisfaction. This finding directly enforces the strategic priority to address repairs across the district to ensure a
conducive learning and working environment. The support for our programs and instructional resources. These responses related to resources and material suggest foundational strengths but also v variability in access and support.
This aligns with the goal of ensuring comprehensive programs are well supported through effective allocation of financial and fiscal resources. Lastly, our long-term planning and strategic alignment. This included limited confidence in
long-term facilities investments, indicated a need to more clearly communicate how capital planning and improvements align with district priorities, student needs, and long-term strategic goals outlined in goal one. Your feedback regarding the budget
planning and transparency along with the continued input we've received sometime this since this time last year has been very helpful. With that in mind, I'll now turn it over to Miss Flowers. Thank you, Miss Lamin. So, we've heard your concerns and we responded. The
district has already provided multiple opportunities for stakeholders to engage with us throughout the budget development process as reflected in the schedule shown on this slide. While attendance at these sessions were was modest, those who participated were actively engaged in the discussions. As
a result, we received very positive and constructive feedback. More importantly, these meetings allowed the administration to clearly explain the budget development process and the financial challenges the district faces year after year.
Specifically, what is known as a structural budget deficit. A structural budget deficit is not caused by a once in a decade event. It occurs when expenses consistently exceed revenues year after year. This slide
provides a snapshot of the projected revenues compared to the projected expenditures for the 2627 school year. These figures are preliminary and remain subject to change. Based on the assumptions used in this scenario, the
district is facing a projected 12.3 million budget shortfall. Simply put, budget reductions will be necessary. In prior years, previous administrations warned that a day of reckoning was approaching. That day has now arrived.
As previously mentioned, approximately approximately 80% of the district's revenue is generated through tax levy. State aid represents roughly 18% of our revenue. While we recognize that additional state aid would certainly be helpful, it will not solve our
underlying financial challenges. We cannot continue relying on state aid to expand or maintain programs and staffing level. Doing so increases our recurring operating costs and ultimately places additional long-term pressures on the
district's finances and on our taxpayers. As part of our strategic planning efforts, our goal is to allocate some, if not all, future increases in state aid toward capital improvements and facilities maintenance. You will hear more details about these
priorities later in this presentation. Next slide, please. Over the next 5 years, the current administration and board of education will work to realign our spending priorities. As we shared during last year's budget cycle, the time has come for us to reimagine the future of West Orange
Public Schools. Over five, our five-year strategic spending plan will focus on three key priorities. Improving student achievement, addressing our aging infrastructure, and strengthening safety and security across the district.
Beginning with the 2627 school year, we must begin to rightsize this budget. What does that mean in practice? It will include a district-wide reduction in force, continue implementation of shared services and outsourcing whenever and
wherever feasible and identifying operational efficiencies in scheduling and staffing. We must also maintain fiscally responsible hiring practice practices by attracting qualified talent while managing starting salary costs
reasonably. Another key component of this plan is reducing our reliance on budgeted fund balance. We must move toward a budget that is self- sustaining. By year five, our goal is to adopt a budget that no longer relies on budgeted fund balance
while simultaneously increasing the funding levels in our capital and maintenance reserve accounts. Ultimately, we must make the difficult but necessary changes that will ensure long-term sustainability. Continuing to operate as we have in the
past is no longer an option. At this time, I will turn the presentation over to our facilities manager, Mr. Nick Munos who will provide additional information regarding our long range facilities plan. >> Thank you, Miss Flowers. Uh this slide
shows the phases of our long range facility plan. Each phase of the plan builds upon the previous one, allowing them allowing us to move from stabilization to modernization and long-term sustainability. Our first year focuses on stabilizing the district's most critical infrastructure. We'll
prioritize roofing replacements and targeted building envelope repairs to address active deficiencies. At the same time, we'll conduct comprehensive facility condition evaluations across the district to allow us to better understand the current state of our buildings and identify long-term needs. The goal is to move
away from reactive repairs and towards a more proactive data-driven approach to capital planning. In the second year, we transition into addressing critical heating and cooling infrastructure across the district through phased HBAC systems system upgrades. We aim to
improve overall system reliability while also increasing energy efficiency. Energy optimization and life cycle planning will become key priorities as we work to extend the life of our infrastructure and improve operational performance. During this period, we'll
also focus on targeted enhancements to our athletic facilities, supporting both student programming and community use. In the third year of our plan, we begin advancing broader modernization initiatives across the district. This phase includes targeted re renovations
designed to improve instructional spaces and better support teaching and learning environments. We'll implement safety and security enhancements to ensure our facilities continue to meet evolving standards and best practices. We'll focus on infrastructure life cycle replacements to address aging systems
proactively and prevent the accumulation of deferred maintenance. During this period, our capital forecasting will be further refined to support long-term planning and sustainable uh facility operations. In the fourth year, we update the long range facility plan to reflect the
progress made completed progs and any emerging needs across district. During this phase, stakeholder engagement and community input will help guide the next set of facility priorities. As we reassess the plan, we will
maintain strong fiscal discipline while re-calibrating our capital planning efforts. This approach ensures that the plan remains flexible and responsive to changes in enrollment, programming, and evolving district needs. By the fifth year of the of the plan, we'll reestablish long-term capital priorities
based on updated facility data and the pro on the progress made throughout the earlier phases of the plan. At this stage, infrastructure planning becomes closely aligned with enrollment projections and the district's academic programming needs, ensuring our facilities continue to support student
learning and future growth. The long range facilities plan is is designed to transition our district from reactive maintenance to strategic asset management, ensuring safe, efficient, and sustainable learning environments while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
Next slide. Thank you. Uh, I'd like to introduce Miss Beniano, Miss Martino, Miss Beniano, Miss Martino, and Mr. Derek Reese. >> Thank you. Our student achievement and wellness go
our student achievement and wellness goal is to strengthen student achievement through continued rigorous instruction, effective curriculum implementation, a robust multi-tered system of support and meaningful family engagement while promoting student wellness and ensuring equitable access
to meet the diverse academic, cultural, linguistic and social emotional needs of all learners, which is a lofty goal. When we look at the um yeah when we look at the survey results our community
um results there were 37 responses and our faculty results there were 123 responses about 200 responses. This is one singular data point that we are using to inform where we're going to move for the next 5 years. But we find it a valuable data point because if our
community took the time to speak to us and our faculty took the time to speak to us, then we're certainly going to take what they say into consideration and use it as a data point to inform our next five years. So if you take a look at our student achievement and wellness um community results, overall our
responses were quite positive and we were looking specifically at seeing strong responses in terms of our curriculum, the delivering of our curriculum and the support that we have for our students. where we can probably
spend a little time and focus some of our efforts across the board is with communication and family engagement and strengthening those bonds in addition to also looking at our wellness, our student wellness, our social emotional learning which was a tremendous focus
when we ser when we came back from COVID and and now maybe has has fallen a little by the wayside. So something we're going to focus on again you can move >> looking spec can looking specifically at these um
takeaways we're able to say okay so what does that mean what are we going to do um so based on what the community is asking us our instructional quality and our equity and inclusion efforts are viewed as strengths so that's very positive and at the same time like I said we need to do a little bit better
in the area of communication and family engagement and um still paying very much attention to our focus on multi-tered systems of support and leveraging our wow team um which is a a excellent group that we have working now um that is
comprised of staff members. It is also inclusive of community members and their focus is specifically on um diversity, equity, access and inclusion for all of our students in the community. And that is a focus of the curriculum and
instruction department to integrate those ideals into every single lesson in every single classroom over the next five years. You can these similarly are the results that we received from our faculty and they were very much in line with the
results that we received from our community which also makes me very happy. Again, in summary, our strengths lie in um our instruction and our equity and our focus needs to be on family engagement and community as well as
SEAL. So again, those implications are are similar as well. We are going to continue to excel in the classroom and provide robust instruction to our students that challenge them every single day. We are going to continue to look at our multi-tered systems of support, but maybe not just in the academic realm. Maybe that's where we
have to look at the whole student and bring in some of the SEAL strategies that are necessary for a true multi-tered system of support. Again, bringing in our WOW um experts to help us integrate that into the lessons. And again, monitor, refine, and implement
communication with our families and our communities that works um not only in a transparent way, but in an informative way. We we just get some questions like what's happening in the classroom in social studies? what's happening in science. We see what happens in ELA and math and so we can improve in that area
and and I think that we can do that over the next five years certainly. So in addition to the um surveys with the uh participants being able to respond agreeing and disagree, we also provided uh room and space for
open-ended responses. So, the community and faculty feedback um really strongly aligned around the district's commitment to students. Uh both groups consistently identified student well-being as a major strength, citing social emotional learning,
counseling, me mental health supports, and tiered intervention that as evidence that our students here at West Orange are known, they're supported, and they're cared for. There was also broad agreement that the district provides strong instructional foundations and
family and staff recognize our rigorous curriculum, our uh differentiated instruction, and our supports, as Michelle said, to our um very diverse learners. Respondents also valued the district's comprehensive opportunities for students, including academic
resources, our vast extracurricular programs, enrichment offerings, and tools to help families monitor student progress. Building on these strong foundations, both community and feedback and faculty feedback point to areas certainly where
we can further strengthen impact. Family and staff emphasized the important of continuing to enhance curriculum and instruction, particularly in reading, writing, and math, through stronger alignment across grade levels, use of evidence-based practices, and additional
targeted supports for all of our learners, our multilingual, our students with disabilities, and those needing enrichment and acceleration. Both groups also highlight the value of expanding supports for students and teachers, including continued investment
in social, emotional, and mental health services, targeted interventions, and continued professional learning for our educators to support um and meet the needs of our diverse learners. Finally, respondents underscore the importance of
strengthening family engagement and communication. clearer information about student learning, more consistent communication across schools, and stronger partnerships with families to help extend learning beyond the classroom. Together, these insights help guide our
strategic focus in the area of student achievement and wellness. >> Thank you, Miss Feniano. So this really brings us to the point where we have five opportunities in front of us in terms of the areas that we wanted to focus on. The first is curriculum and academic excellence and as it pertains
to this families and our community really shared with us the importance of in stronger instruction and that we can provide that and continue to provide that evidence-based curricula that is aligned that's differentiated that's paced that allows students to have those opportunities for uh further growth and
development. Um, also they talked a lot about the committee shared a lot that a less reliance on screens and making sure that students have practical opportunities for learning uh and that all of this is really supported through professional development for our staff uh and for the entire community so that
we can implement this curriculum with uh with fidelity and making sure that that that everyone is feeling supported. So really curriculum and academic excellence is that first opportunity that presents itself. Next we look at targeted academic support and enrichment and the feedback from the community also
stressed the importance of tiered interventions and as shared earlier that multi-tered systems uh multi-tered systems of support allows us the opportunity to focus and provide support for all types of learners across the continuum whether we talk about our struggling at risk students English
language learners or students with disabilities. This also uh can be an opportunity for our students that have accelerated our gifted and talented students. So students that have a variety of needs could be met within this approach ensuring that again every student has an academic program that is
going to meet them where they are at. The third area of opportunity is in the area of student well-being and social emotional learning. And this is a focus where we heard from the community about the importance of increased counseling and mental health support for our students. safe spaces, unstructured play
for our little ones, and being able to have that targeted support for them to meet them again where they are at. Um the SEAL opportunities that social emotional learning, counseling services, uh and all those really help focus on providing support that foster the whole
child. And we think about that when we are supported in those ways, when our children are supported in those ways, wonderful learning experiences can happen. The fourth area of opportunity we noticed is in the area of family engagement and communication. Uh we really heard from the families in our
community a clear reporting a desire to have a real good reporting of student progress improve communication uh across whether it's through different forums in different ways may making sure that our multilingual communities have opportunities to hear what we're doing and and really partner with us. And this
really also balances that input that we have from not just the uh families but also our professionals working together uh to really support again our students and that the engagement that we have is uh is collaborative. It's consistent. It's transparent and it really helps our
students and puts them at the center. And then lastly uh school culture and consistent uh expectations and an equitable school culture. We want to make sure that there is a understanding for that that there's consistency in our discipline, in our behavioral expectations for students, but also that
we're maintaining those high expectations for ourselves as professionals, as families, uh that we're all working together and in engaging in that shared accountability uh to make uh everything that that Western Orange uh schools can be. So, um that really is our five core areas that
we've we've u we've seen as opportunities as a result of this uh feedback. Thank you. Yeah. So, with anything, it takes time and we're we're prepared to have an intentional roadmap over the next five years. So, what can we do in the
immediate in 2627? We can certainly look um to continue to focus on our curriculum, of course, enhance our MTSS structures, especially in our title one schools. I I'd like to just mention that we have been able to do amazing, beautiful work in our title one schools
um especially in Washington school which is a schoolwide school and um that has awarded us this year really beautiful opportunities for professional development for our teachers and I'm very excited to say can I say about Hazel? So, Hazel, I should probably ask
before I say it, but um Hazel actually uh this year engaged in an application to become a schoolwide school and we were notified on on Monday evening that it was accepted. So, I'm very excited to look at Hazel Avenue School. Really beautiful work that was done by uh Joe
Castillo, Lexi Scalesi, and their team over at Hazel in putting that application together. And so I'm looking forward to those opportunities for for Hazel as well as they become a schoolwide school for 2627. As we continue to move through with 2728, we will certainly expand our
professional learning based on what we see next year in the classroom with very focused intention on um including again our WOW team and our committee of um professionals who are devoted to the DEAI
um initiative, working handinand with them to make sure that the PD that they receive and that they deliver is not just a one-time drop in the bucket. that this is something that we are really committed to infusing in everything that we do that it becomes part of the fabric
of West Orange and and we are committed to that. So that's going to be a huge focus in our professional development moving forward. Then as we continue through, we will work and refine our multi-tered systems of support, expand our coaching opportunities for our teachers, increase that program
visibility, and use data all along the way to monitor our progress, monitor and adjust, which is everything that we ask our teachers to do every single day. We're going to do it as a team as well. If we're going to ask you to do it, we certainly are going to do it as well. And we will monitor and adjust as we
move through. Things that work we will run with and things that need a little tweaking we will certainly do that. Looking at the fourth year this is going to be our year to really hone into that data so we data so that we can inform our next our our fifth year and forward.
It can't just stop after five years and we recognize that. So with this continual process of evaluation, monitoring, looking at what works and making changes along the way, we can certainly keep the momentum moving forward. And with this plan as our
roadmap, that is our intention. I would now like to call up our safety and security team to complete the presentation. Yeah, I just I got to get rid of that. >> Have nice things. >> So, student Oh, sorry.
Um, safety and security. Um, our priority is to ensure safe, secure, and supportive learning environments for all students, staff, and visitors by strengthening safety protocols, enhancing emergency preparedness, and fostering a culture of care, trust, and responsibility across all schools and
district transportation services. Next, these are this is one of our uh surveys from the community. Um, one of our strengths and key takeaways. Next slide please. Key takeaways are are strong overall
confidence and safety in safety. Um a positive perception of culture. Uh we need to communicate in training. There are gaps that does do exist. Um transportation safety perceptions vary. Some of the implications are that we
have to maintain and reinforce safety preparedness um practices, enhance communication, target uh training opportunities, review and strengthen transportation safety practices. Good evening. Uh these are the um survey
results uh provided by the faculty. As you can see, generally they are all uh very high. Uh Uh the key takeaways from that are a strong overall confidence in school safety, emergency preparedness as a as a
district strength, communication effective but inconsistent transportation safety uh perceptions vary. The implications of the faculty results are to sustain a strong safety protocols and training, strengthen clarity and
consistency of communications, reinforce shared responsibility for safety, review and improve transportation safety, and use feedback to guide continuous improvements. So, how do we improve? We strengthen our
emergency protocols and drills. We conduct we conduct staff and student training refreshers. We enhance communication with families and about safety. Review and improve transportation safety procedures. Next slide.
This is our five-year plan. Um, as the district's new safety school safety specialist, my focus is in ensuring a proactive approach to safety, creating an environment where our students, staff, and uh, community feel secure, supported, and prepared. As our
district grows, our security infrastructure must grow with it. This year, we are implementing year one security assessment recommendations for our new preschool programs while advancing sight specific improvements across all K through2 schools. Equally important is training. The foundation of
any effective safety plan. We're expanding safe uh staff safety training and implementing age appropriate emergency drills designed to build preparedness. >> Safety begins the moment a student boards the bus. This year we are implementing mandatory deescalation
training for all transportation drivers and expanding advanced crisis deescalation training or CDT for our security personnel because school security is a community effort. We are also committing to a greater
transparency with parents regarding our safety protocols, drills, and security upgrades to build a stronger foundation of trust. It's all the same. >> Yes. >> Oh no. >> Oh yeah. Sorry. Apologies.
>> Uh looking ahead is 2728. Our focus shifts to sustainability. Let's start with our existing technology. As the technology ages, it becomes harder and more expensive to maintain. That's why we are executing a phase replacement schedule for our campus cameras and access control systems.
By rolling this out in phases, we ensure uninterrupted security coverage while being fiscally responsible. This initiative isn't just about getting newer gadgets. It's about sustainability. Ensures our buildings remain safe and secure for our students and staff.
>> Moving on to transportation. Safety doesn't end when the bell rings. It extends to the bus ride home. This year, we are incredibly excited to announce a pilot program for a new bus patrol AI system. This technology utilizes smart cameras on the stop paddles and stop
arms of each of our buses. If a driver illegally passes a stop school bus, the AI system captures the event automatically is a powerful deterrent designed to protect our kids as they board and exit our buses. Finally, we are looking into at the
buses themselves. Our goal is to expand and modernize our fleet. We will begin selling off our older, highmaintenance, high mileage buses and replacing them with updated, more efficient equipment. Newer buses
mean fewer breakdowns, lower emissions, reduced fuel costs, and a much more comfortable and reliable ride for our students. It is an investment that pays off both environmentally and economically. Okay. uh for the uh 2829
uh core philosophy and expert assessments. As we look ahead to the 2829 academic school year, our most fundamental fundamental priority remains the same, ensuring a secure environment for our students, staff, and community. Our first core objective is to
rigorously maintain and support our existing safety practices. We recognize that true security isn't just about implementing a policy once. It's an ongoing daily commitment throughout the 28 and 29 school years. We will uh
continue to support comprehensive staff training, uphold our strict daily security protocols, and foster a district-wide culture where vigilance and safety are everybody's responsibility. To ensure we aren't just maintaining the
status quo but actively adapting to new challenges, we will continue our engagement with the with our stonegate u advisor. This part partnership is critical. It provides us with a systematic expert evaluation of our infrastructure. Specifically, Stonegates
Health helps us rigorously assess three key areas. Building level vulnerabilities ident which will identify physical security gaps at every facility. operational procedures which will ensure our daily routines align with modern security best practices and
emergency response readiness testing our ability to react swiftly and effectively during a crisis across the entire district in the 2930 window. Our primary goal is to evaluate and implement emerging emerging security technologies. Our
approach is strictly strategic and needsbased. Every piece of technology we evaluate, whether it's advanced access control, AIdriven monitoring or upgraded cyber security protocols, it will be directly aligned with specific gaps identified in
our assessments assessment report. This ensures we are investing our resources exactly where exactly where they will have the greatest impact on safety and risk mitigation. Over the same time period, we'll be executing a comprehensive plan to expand
our transportation fleet. A major component of this initiative is life cycle management. This will be a win-win. It reduces our ongoing maintenance and fuel costs, minimizes our environmental footprint, and vastly improves reliability, giving us a fleet
that we can be proud of. Finally, looking at 2030 and 2031, our cornerstone initiative is a comprehensive reassessment of all current safety and security measures. We're not just looking at what we have in place. We're actively measuring it. Our primary goal is to evaluate our
actual progress against the original baseline we established years ago. We need to answer the tough questions. Have our investments paid off? Where have we succeeded? and most more importantly what remaining vulnerability vulnerabilities need our immediate
attention. >> However, technical assessments and data reviews only give us half the picture. Safety is a lived experience. To understand the full scope of our security posture, we will we will be launching comprehensive surveys for both
our community and our faculty. We need to hear directly from the people who walk these halls every day. Their on the ground insights will be a vital will be vital to identifying blind spots that our technical audits might miss, ensuring our policies are both
effective and supportive for our daily operations. By combining a rigorous data-driven look into our baseline with real world feedback from our community, we will build a security roadmap that is robust, transparent, and ready for the future.
Thank you all for your time and dedication to our district safety. Kind of close. I just want to highlight our priorities and kind of sum up a little bit about our
strategic plan. First, I want the community staff to understand and board to understand that you can have goals, but without plans, they're just words. We have plans. You've heard words like
monitoring, benchmark, assess, measure. Those are the This is the way we are addressing our plans. The one thing that I would like to um the one thing that I would like to make sure that you walk
away in that district group here um really take our committed to our work, but we're also committed to understanding the measurables. What are the results? Are we getting results? Where do we need to make changes? So
you'll hear progress monitoring and you did throughout and benchmarking, but we look back. Oh, that's terrible. We look back and uh I will kind of summarize uh a little bit of what you've heard. This
slide highlights our three core strategic plan priority areas. Each are designed to support a long-term district stability and student success. First, we start with finance and
facilities. Like I mentioned, we're committed to maintaining a safe environment, well functioning, operational, efficient facilities. Our focus is on aligning facilities planning with responsible financial stewardship,
implementing a long-term capital strategy and strengthen prevent and strengthening preventative maintenance to protect our aging infrastructure and any new investments.
Second, student achievement. The priority centers around centers on academic excellence and the whole child. We are strengthening curriculum. We are strengthening curriculum alignment,
expanding targeted support and enrichment, prioritizing social emotional learning and reinforcing consistent expectations and deepening our family engagement. Third, safety and security. We are
enhancing our standard stand and standardizing districtwide security practices, strengthening buildings and transportation training protocols and establishing clear structured communication systems
to ensure a safe and consistent learning environment. And together, these priorities create a balanced framework that supports sustainability, strong academic outcomes, and safe, supported, supportive schools across the
district. This slide is next steps, accountability, visions to action. You see words like refine, communicate, and implement. So let's start with the spring. In the spring, we'll re we'll do
some refining. We'll go back and we will narrowing narrowing and prioritizing our goals, develop clear success indicators, and define what measurable outcomes would look like. In August, we will communicate to the board and the
community and we'll start with the goals. What are our plans for this year one? Share district-wide messaging. engage schools and departments on and keep everyone focused on the five-year plan and goals
for the start of the 26 27th school year. We'll focus on our implementation of the plan. We'll start with what our initiatives would be. Again, monitor the progress and look at benchmarks. And
then of course we want to provide the board and the community with annual updates of our work. So before we end, I would like you to walk away understanding that we're not just
presenting. We're not just spewing words. We have a plan. We plan to work towards that plan. And we know that this plan will result in positive outcomes for our community, the community of West
Orange and its students. I want to thank everyone that presented tonight. There are an e we have some excellent teachers and we also have some excellent administrators here in West Orange. I think that the presentation,
if you listen to them carefully, you'll see their commitment. But I want to personally thank all the administrators this central office administrators tonight for their work for for coming out tonight and presenting that work to our community. You've done a fine job.
And so therefore, I want to say also thank you for all of you listening tonight. I appreciate you listening to our plan and stay tuned as we continue to refine that plan. >> Yep. That's it.
Uh the board members uh will invite you back to the DEAS and um the uh and all our department heads, our department people. Um would you be uh available to
answer questions from our board? Thank you. >> No problem. Good. Okay. Uh, thank you, Mr. Moore, and your team for that, uh, very thorough and detailed presentation. Uh, I'll open it up to questions and comments from the board at this time. Dr. Bryant, you want to go first?
>> Just have a couple comments. Um, one, I would like to just commend the leadership here. I think leaders are meant to ask for, accept, and act upon feedback. And everything that we saw here was evidence of authentic community
engagement, not just as an accessory to something you wanted to do. Um, and so I appreciate that and I applaud that. I'd also add that um, it's important that we remain data informed, data driven, but community informed. And I think that
those are two different things. And what we see here is a little bit of both. And I I I appreciate your thoughtful um execution of this. And the final thing, I think that this is a beautiful model
of what it means to be responsive to community and responsive to taxpayers. Um in every in like these ever evolving circumstances where everything's changing every day, all the time. It's
hard to keep track, but you have done a great job of being responsive to the budgetary questions, um the social questions, and the operational um ideas that folks have put forward. So, kudos to you. Your leadership is um
appreciated. >> Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Anything from Mr. >> Yeah, I think this would be to Mr. Is it Sha Sha? Uh yeah, I wanted to tell you that I'm so happy to hear that the school buses are going to be in the AI
business because I've been reading about that for years. I think we spoke about that. Um the question I have is you said that it would be good as a deterrent. Uh how is it how is it how is that information going to be used? Does that
go to the police department or or what happens with that >> uh with the uh new uh school cameras? Yes. It would be going to the um the police department. the pictures will be taken automatically and um it'd be like
on a Wi-Fi that it would go directly to the police department and they issue uh the citation along with the picture of the driver doing you know uh doing that. So and where those funds go um is still
not a question but it's either going to us or to back into the system. So, means that you've been work means that you've been working with the police department. They they're they're aware of all this and that they know it's it's coming. >> They're aware.
>> Yeah. The the the finer points aren't >> detailed out, but the general thing is that it it will be going to them that that it'll be a >> When do you think this is going to start? >> As far as I'm concerned, not soon enough. But
uh it's we we're still working on the the paperwork for for them I believe. So it's it's still uh I I think I should answer that actually. Um even though we're all eager to start, I did send a lot of the paperwork uh to
the attorneys to review. So it's in attorney review right now. uh just to make sure that um we're all in compliance and there's nothing that we have to worry about in terms of that. >> So, we're really looking at maybe
September. Is that right? >> Might might be sooner, but I I might be sooner than that. I I I don't want to give you an answer to that yet. September for sure, but maybe perhaps sooner. Um we have about five buses uh
already identified for it. um and the equipment is not the issue. I we just want to make sure that the attorney review goes through and that all things legal are taken care of. And then of course obviously a full meeting with our
police department to understand what we're engaging in so that they're able to um prepare themselves for any influx that may uh come in. So, I don't know if I said too much there before and the
attorney will call me tomorrow, but but I'm just saying for now it's in attorney review, so we couldn't give you an exact start, but it's already on in motion, so we will have it. >> Great. >> Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Anything from vice president? >> Good evening everyone. um you know after the presentation I would like to congratulate um Kelly Elementary School. I'm a god my
grandmother of uh six years old and uh during the week I see a program that reinforce what you are you present today you know the program engagement the parenting engagement what is very important in you know students education
our kids they really need to have somebody behind them who help them and I really like the idea of uh a program that they present they are going to present is that you family literacy and you know it support the curriculum
because what they learn in classroom they bring it to the extra you know extracurricular activity and um you know I think that's a very good idea they keep working on that bring the parents to the community bring the parents to
the classroom participation will be very it. Uh I'm excited and I think once they present something like that, I will be part of that, you know, trying to see how the kids and the teachers move. My congratulations to all of them. The
teacher is not only Kelly, but you know, it's like uh right now is Kelly who's doing that and then as well as um um Edison. you know my do my granddaughter has the my email and my
phone so I really receive a lot of communication from the teachers you know sending what do they have to do what do they have to present is you know parents are aware of what's going on in classroom and what do they have to do once you know when is the deadline and
everything she's taking advanced courses and I think that's the best way to communicate so we both you know my daughter and and myself we learned what they what she's doing so two different schools you know that basically I'm happy to see that and the kind of work
teachers are doing thank you so much and I you know we are going to keep working with these programs and the parents engagement excellent >> thank you vice president um following up on what Mr. If was asking about just
want to point out that that program to put uh cameras on the school buses to catch people that are passing them when they shouldn't be. It's a direct product of work by community members here in West Orange, the Bad Lani Foundation, also some of our students and some of our other uh community members that have continued to advocate for pedestrian
safety, but specifically this bill that that went through the legislature. So, uh we're eager to see that happen once once we get it moving and then thank you to them for their work on that. um to the the the full report here. Uh thank you again for your work, Mr. Moore and your fault. Did you want to
>> No, I had some other comments unless you wanted to talk just about that the school bus thing. >> No, no, but I feel like I should at this moment. Um I just uh I No, it is a result of the bad lanes and and so
forth, but it's also again and I we're and I think Dr. Brian pointed it out. We want to be responsive to our community and uh so it's just another way for us to hear our community and to respond to it as well.
>> Thank you and agree. Um but to the to the larger report uh again thank you for all the work. I'm pleased that the second two areas all had largely good feedback back. The first area uh business and facilities had some negative feedback. Um which is not actually all that surprising. Uh you
start with facilities. Um I think one of the areas of of opportunity that we identified is communications and I agree that's a place that we can and should put a lot more focus right we we have we face aging infrastructure these are problems that are you know we we have an ongoing war with keeping the boilers
working keeping the roofs from leaking and things inevitably break down and we pay attention to the things that break down but we've also made some amazing investments over the last few years between new facilities that we've renovated new buildings that'll be coming online between the air conditioning that's coming online and all kinds of other work big and small,
but those things get overshadowed when someone says, "Oh, the boiler broke down in this building and my kids were cold at lunch today." And they go home and tell their parents. The parents call us and now we're scrambling to fix this problem and we've forgotten about all the good things that happened. Uh, so I do hope that we will improve that
communication moving forward. I mean, and I'm also glad to see that we have a a structured plan to address some of those other deficiencies, but I do think it's really important to highlight the winds that we've had in terms of facilities because again, it's easy to look at the problems and not realize what we've been able to accomplish.
Also, the state is supposed to be uh bonding out a significant amount of money to to make available to school districts for facilities upgrades. So, hopefully once that is done in the next year, two, three, as we implement this plan, there will be a significant amount of state funding available. Uh, and as always, it's great to spend someone
else's money when we have to do these expensive projects. So, I'm sure that Mr. Munos and and Miss Flowers and their teams will be looking for that funding when it becomes available. Um, then the other area obviously is the budget. Uh, one of our big takeaways from last year was that transparency is important. Um,
to to Miss Flowers's point, we did have a series of budget workshops. I think anybody that attended those walked away with a much richer understanding of the budget process, a much clearer understanding of both the opportunities and challenges that we face as a school district and and what Miss Flower said about a a
deficit for this upcoming budget should not come as a surprise. Um, I'd also point out that if we did this feedback three years ago, I think it would have been very different because three years ago, the headwinds that we're facing today were non-existent. Three years ago, we had two years of successive
multi-million dollar increases in state aid. We had minimal increases to costs and we were able to make significant investments throughout the district and everybody walked away pretty happy. Unfortunately, that time is now in the past. We've had two years where state aid is retrenched and we've lost money
and not gained that significant amount of money that we deserve. But we also saw huge increases in other costs. This isn't just a West Orange thing. This is a statewide thing. This is a national thing, but healthc care especially has gone through the roof. Now, we'll hear from our healthcare broker I think in
April. They'll be coming to visit. But we did um Mr. Miss Flowers, Mr. Moore and I meet with Brown and Brown this week to get a kind of lay of the land of what healthcare looks like. And the bad news is that our costs are going up. The good news is that our costs are going up a lot less than everyone else. And
that's because of a decision that we made two years ago to move into the school's health insurance fund. Um, so we we're reaping the benefit of that decision, but at the end of the day, those costs still go up. Those costs are vastly outpacing any increase in revenue that we can get and that's the crux of
the budget deficit that Miss Flowers pointed out. It's not that we have a a deficit caused by spending too much last year. So if we take everything we did last year, project out the increases to things like healthcare, now that exceeds the amount of revenue that we'll have
available. So, some of that we we can tighten up as we get better projections. Some of that maybe will tighten up as we get state funding, which we'll learn about next week. That may or may not happen. Uh but in either case, there there will be a significant shortfall. We will have to
close that. And to Miss Flowers's point, we will have to make some tough decisions moving forward. Uh but that will come at our next meeting where we'll present a preliminary budget. Um so again, this should not surprise anybody who's heard us speak for the last couple months. should not surprise anybody who's been to those budget
workshops. Um I wish we had more money and we had better news, but at the end of the day, we have a strategic plan and a team in place that will make those tough decisions and hopefully continue to do the the good work that we're doing here. So that concludes my comments and question comments. No questions, sorry.
Uh on that. Anything else from you, Mr. Moore? >> Yeah, just to conclude my report. Um there were three incidents throughout the district of uh HIV investigated. One incident has been founded uh to meet the
criteria. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you very much. Uh do we have any uh committee reports or other comments from board members? >> No. You have something else? >> Just two very non-controversial uh shoutouts. The first is that we we
all lived through a few uh snowstorms recently and uh the Department of Public Works, I don't know where you find these people, but they're so kind and so help. I saw them helping people. I saw someone get out of his truck just to help somebody
across the street. Really, um it's a rough job and we all appreciate him, but I think we don't say it enough. And the second thing I wanted to say is that there's a real uh gem in our town which is underutilized which is the public
library. Um it's beautiful. It's bright. It's it's a pleasure to go there. The people are very helpful even to people who are still looking for the Dewey decimal system and um not quite used to using the computer system. But I really
recommend it to everyone. Um, and I just want to say that the people working there were have always been um, very helpful and kind and a real uh, treasure that we have in this town. That's it.
Thank you, Mr. Anything else for Miss Beer? All right. Thank you for that. I'll move into my board president's report. Um, so first I'll just start by uh, thanking Mr. Moore and his team for that work around Roosevelt with the traffic safety plan. Our parents have been asking for this for a while. So, I'm pleased to see
that we could finally implement something. Uh, you know, with the cooperation of everybody involved, the the staff, the parents, the the police, and the town. Uh, you and I visited there Tuesday morning. Everything is working much more smoothly. Everyone understand the parents are happy with the way things have played out. So, kudos on that that good work.
Uh, next, I'll share a few things about Mount Pleasant Elementary School. Mount Pleasant recently installed a new sensory pathway in the hallways designed to help students regulate energy and focus while moving throughout the building. pathway encourages movement and supports students sensory needs in a
fun and engaging way. School is also in the early stages of developing a dedicated sensory room. This space will include interactive wall panels and other sensory tools designed to support students who benefit from calming and regulating environments during the school day. This year, 20 Mount Pleasant students will participate in the Math
Kangaroo competition, an international mathematics contest that promotes problem solving, logical thinking, and confidence in math. Math Kangaroo encourages students to develop creative strategies for solving challenging word and logic problems while building enthusiasm for mathematics. We are proud
to share that two Mount Pleasant students ranked nationally in last year's competition. An incredible accomplishment that reflects the strong academic culture within our school. U next just want to take a moment to congratulate Kyle Kuznooki. Uh he's one of our students here in West Nor that just earned his Eagle Scout award. I
think it was last Saturday or the Saturday before. I got to attend and give him a commendation on behalf of the district. Mr. Moore, myself. Um, Eagle Scouts are rare, but somehow we make many of them here in West Orange. So, congratulations to Kyle, to his parents, to his troop, and to to all the scouts in West Orange that have achieved um
that. Uh, and then lastly, our we referenced the the budget address coming from the governor. Uh, that's when we find out how much state aid we will be getting. Typically, that will have happened by the end of February because Governor Cheryl was just sworn in.
They typically give the governor in the first year a little extra time to do that. So the state passed a law that pushed that deadline or that date for that budget address back to next Tuesday, March 10th. So that's when Governor Cheryl will say, "Here's what we're doing with state aid." Typically 2 days later on Thursday, everybody around the state will get their actual aid
allocations. Uh originally, we were supposed to present our preliminary budget the following Monday, and now that would only give us about one day of work to put together a preliminary budget where there's a big question mark about how much aid we'd get. But the law that changed the budget address date also changed the deadline for presenting
a preliminary budget. Uh that's why our next board meeting, which would have been uh I guess a week from Monday, has now been pushed back to Thursday, March 27th. That gives us another week and a half or so to take that data, continue to work on the budget. Um and that'll allow us to present that budget and
approve a preliminary budget before the new deadline, which is a little bit later in March than it typically is. So that's why you'll see uh we had this meeting was rescheduled because of snow. I think the previous meeting was rescheduled because of snow. Uh the next meeting will be rescheduled because of that, but hopefully we'll be back on our regularly scheduled programming on
Monday nights after that next meeting. Uh next item on the agenda is the first reading of policy number 2460, special education. This policy has been reviewed and revised by administration and presented this evening for first reading. Is there any discussion?
Hearing none, this spousey will appear on the next agenda for a second reading and adoption. Next item on the agenda is the second reading and adoption of the revised mandated policies and regulations listed on the agenda. These policies and regulations have been reviewed and revised by administration and presented
this evening for a second reading and adoption. Uh may I have a motion to approve the list of revised mandated policies and regulations found in section 9B board policies on the March 5, 2026 agenda. >> Motion. >> Thank you, Dr. Brian. Is there a second?
>> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Uh since Mr. Stevenson's not here as the policy share, I'll just point out these are some uh routine updates that we get from Strauss Esme, who's our company that we work with to maintain our policy book due to changes in laws and and other things that happen. Uh, so these are just kind of
routine updates that affect a lot of policies in minor ways. Um, is there any other discussion from the board? All right, seeing none, Miss Flowers, would you please take the role? >> Dr. Bryant, >> yes. >> Mr. Ifer, >> yes. >> Vice President Vera, >> yes.
>> President Rock, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, we will have questions from the public on agenda items only. Any community member who would like to make comments or ask questions, please come to the podium at this time. Please state your name and home address for the record. Then begin your comments. Please limit your comments to three minutes. Do
we have any members of the public here in the audience tonight who wish to make a public comment >> Larry Winro 76 main Terrace. Um I'm here representing the West Orange Parents for Education. Over the past several months, our community has been organizing to
bring attention to the structural funding crisis facing our schools. We drafted a petition that now carries 631 signatures, including those of President Rock and Vice President Vera and we delivered it directly to our legislators. As a
result, Assemblywoman Begoli has reached out to schedule both a phone call and an inerson meeting with us and her staff. We have also published a report on the problems with the SFRA funding formula and spoken with a reporter at nj.com leading to a quote in an article
regarding the education funding crisis that our new governor is facing. As caregivers and community members, we have done our part. We have organized, documented, and advocated. But we are realistic. It is unlikely that the
legislature and governor will appropriate enough funding to eliminate the structural deficit West Orange is facing in the coming fiscal year. In a few short weeks, the preliminary budget will be presented here. And based on the estimates we have developed using the information from the budget sessions
with Miss Flowers and her staff, we believe the structural deficit is likely to be $14 million or more. That is a number that will require real choices, painful ones, and those choices belong to this entire community.
Tonight, we are asking Mr. Moore and the board to commit to transparency as we await the state funding announcement. Politics is the public negotiation of community values. A budget is the expression of those values. To make that
process work, the community must be able to see the options before decisions are made, not after. We were all present last year when uncertainty and limited information created an atmosphere of high emotion, distrust, and accusation.
It does not have to happen again. Districts across New Jersey have gone on record via emails and surveys, at workshops, town halls, and through the press with the programs and options under consideration. West Orange should do the same. Please allow the community
the opportunity to discuss the choices and to share our feelings before the budget is in front of us. That is all we are asking. and we know our superintendent and this administration and this board are very capable of
making that happen. Thank you. >> Hi, I didn't come to comment on this, but I have a question about the strategic plan that just got presented. I just wanted to make sure I heard Oh, wait. Sorry, Katie Witzigg, 49 Manganger Road. Um, so the strategic plan that
just got presented, I just wanted clarification on something I think was said. Is it true that only 16 people participated in part of the survey and then in another section like only 146 people? I just wanted to see if that was true that the strategic plan is based on
that much feedback from the town and from the community and from parents. or maybe I heard it wrong, but I just wanted a little clarification on that. Especially if now we're looking for feedback or we're asking for feedback for when the budget comes in and maybe we're going to get feedback from the
community when you guys ask for community feedback for the strategic plan. So, I just wanted a little clarification on that. So, thank you, >> Katie. There were 37 people from the That's okay. But
it I also, you know, we took emails from people, we took the surveys there, we took staff members. We what we wanted to do was make sure we took a look at what people cared about and have that inform
a lot of what the strategic plan's based on. But the strategic plan, that's a data point. That's one. The others are the people that actually do the intrical granular work that have data that understand enrollment that understands
where uh our district needs to move and prioritizing those things through their expertise whether it's just education experience or whatever may be the case because they work in education and they work here. So, yes, we did take some
information from our community members, especially those that were willing to put up um some suggestions. That's fine. I think that's important. But we also really got into the granular work of
evaluating, looking at uh different data points, seeing what's going on in our buildings, uh evaluating emails, looking at what students experience. There are all different um there are all different
data points that we used to come up with a strategic plan that would work. And then we included um our thoughts on trying to be uh budget proof. We didn't just want to, you know, put out there ah we're going to do this, we're going to
do that, we're going to be able to do this. Um and that's one of the reasons we use the words monitor, adjust, benchmarks, measurables, because all those things matter. No, even though there's a map in life, it
does take turns and detours and things of that nature. So, we're preparing to deal with that, but we think the map we put forth is reasonable and is and we're able to do it regardless of the budget in a lot of ways, regardless of the
budget. So, you know, capital projects, for instance, you know, we have to prioritize what capital projects we can do and what we can't do. That the budget will speak to, but we're committed to doing the capital projects
and when in years past, we might have put off one or two capital projects to try to, you know, do something else in the immediate. So, with this plan, we actually have it written down. We know what we're going to look at. We know what we're going to prioritize. We know what we're going to message out to
people on what we're doing and how we're going about it. And with the budget, it's such a quick turnaround. And uh I know that um our parents are concerned about, well, what are you going to do? Where are you
going to make your choices? What you Well, we will communicate out where we're going to make our choices. What are we going to do? Why we're choosing to do these things? But they're not just going to be willy-nilly and we just pick this and pick that. We look at enrollment. We look at data. We look at
what's going on in that school. We're looking at population. We're we'll look at what's important to the community. And of course, feedback from our parents like we did last year. uh through that feedback we try to find um data points
from that feedback whether it's one two 35 100 to see what where we can come to common ground and see where we can you know where that can inform some of our decision- making. So yeah, we did use some of those but it's not the only
thing that uh informed our strategic plan. All right, thanks Kathy. >> Thank you Mr. Moore. Uh, was there anybody else for public comment? Seeing none, and thank you, Mr. Winrap, for and
and all of you advocating for state funding. Uh, we appreciate that. Uh, if you want something else to learn about, I'd suggest healthcare. It's the next hot topic. Uh, it's the other side of the ledger. Uh, right, state funding is important, but as I'm learning more and more each year, uh, healthcare costs are increasing at an astronomical rate. Um,
it's not a question of dividing the the pie about who pays for what. there there has to be something at a state and federal level that cuts the cost of it all across the board. Uh so if you have any suggestions um I give you that as homework for next year.
Moving on to our resolutions. May I have a motion to approve the personnel items A1 through A4 along with walk-on motion A5? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Vera. Uh I want to congratulate the following retirees. Nancy Mullen, supervisor of career
education and library science at West Orange High School for her 32 years of service. Maline Wernern, a speech therapist to West Orange High School Roosevelt and Liberty Middle Schools for her 32 years of service. And Joyce Reynolds, a pair professional at Washington Elementary School for her 10 years of service. Thank you all for your service to the West Orange students and
our school community. Best wishes to you on behalf of the board of education and welcome to the club where every day is Saturday. Is there any other discussion? Seeing none. Miss Flowers, please take the role. >> Dr. Bryant, >> yes. >> Mr. Ifer,
>> yes. >> Vice President Barrow, >> yes. >> President Rock, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up, may I have a motion to approve the curriculum and instruction items B1 through B5? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Is there a second? >> Second.
>> Thank you, Vice President Vera. Uh, any discussion? >> Seeing none, Miss Flowers, please take the role. >> Dr. Bryant. >> Yes. Mr. Ifer. >> Yes. >> Vice President Vera. >> Yes. President Rock. >> Yes. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Next. May I have a motion to approve the finance items? C. Special services items A 1 through 3 and business office items B 1-2. >> Motion. >> Thank you, Dr. Brian. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ifer. Any discussion?
Right. Seeing none, Miss Flowers, please take the role. >> Dr. Bryant. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. Vice President Barah. >> Yes. >> President Rock. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. And finally, may I have a motion to approve reports items D1 through two? >> Motion.
>> Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Vice President Vera. Any discussion? Seeing none, Miss Flowers, please take the role. >> Dr. Bryant, >> yes. >> Mr. If? >> Yes. >> Vice President Vera? >> Yes. >> President Rock, >> yes. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you to my board colleagues for that. Uh, next up we will have petitions and hearings of citizens for any agenda or non-aggenda item that you wish to discuss. You will have three minutes to speak. Please approach the podium at this time and state your name and address for the record. Hi again, Katie Witig still at 49
Manganger Road. This is actually I just had a question which is why I came tonight. Is there plans for the district to do re-registration anytime in the near future? Um, I feel like I don't know when the last time we did it and I know we're worried about budgets and people I mean I can think personally of
lots of people who don't live in district that go to the district schools. So I'm just wondering if there's a plan for um that to happen anytime soon. I know it's a nightmare. I know parents hate it. I know it's a ton of work but um I'm just wondering what the plan is going forward. Thank you.
My name is Josh Goldfarb. I live at Tendance Road. I'm a teacher at Roosevelt Middle School, West Orange taxpayer, West Orange voter, and the president of the West Orange Education Association. I'm here to talk about the weather. Last week, we had a small snowstorm that dumped upwards of 1 and
1/2 ft of snow in West Orange. I want to thank first of all, buildings and grounds. Uh they did a phenomenal job clearing the parking lots and sidewalks. It was a huge undertaking and they did a great job and they deserve accolades for that. As a result of the snow and to give
buildings and ground time to make the school safe to attend, we use a third snow day. I am not here to critique the decision to call that snow day at all. I know that Superintendent Moore is acutely aware of the ripple effects of calling that day and the resulting change to spring break. That must have been a tough call to make. I do not envy
having to make that call. uh but he made the decision because he deemed it necessary for the safety of of the staff and students and I support that decision. As a result of that third day being used, our spring break is now one day shorter. Rather than spring break beginning on the end of the day on March
27th, Friday, it will now begin on March 31st, the following Tuesday. Everyone involved in the schools who have made plans have found themselves having to alter or cancel their family vacations. teachers, power professionals, administrative assistants, supervisors, superintendents.
Many of these trips were planned months in advance and are non-refundable or cannot be altered. Employees who cannot change their plans will be docked days pay if they catch a flight or get on that Disney cruise. We cannot change the past, but we need to learn from it. So,
let's look forward. The reality is that we live in a 12 square mile town in North New Jersey, which includes two different mountains. We should expect snow every year and prepare for it. Climate change is real and weather is getting more extreme. In light of that
fact, I encourage the district to amend next year's calendar to include a third snow day. This would put us on par with our neighbors in Verona, Livingston, South Orange, Maplewood, and Rosland. They recognize that two snow days like we have is insufficient. Adding a third day would allow for future storms and
will decrease the chance that the families and employees of our district will find themselves in a position of having to change or cancel spring break plans. Um, and as far as I can tell, and you may correct me, but I think this is free, which is a good thing right now.
Um, thank you, and that's all I got. Thank you guys very much. Anyone else for public comment? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. Uh, on the topic of re-registration, we did just do that. I believe it was about a year, a year year and a half ago. Um, so I don't, we're not plan on doing it in
the immediate near future because we only do that every so often. Um, but we do have our, you know, truency officers go out and investigate anything that's out of the ordinary. Um, but yeah, we're we're pretty confident that the kids that go to West Orange public schools live in West Orange or have some legal right, you know, live with in the town
and and you know, we can't pick and choose our students. They live here and they come to school here. So, and we serve them all just the same. >> Anything you want to add on that? >> But we do, if you know something and you send it to us, we investigate. Uh, it's
what I will lobby to the community. Um but uh we did do re-registr not last year was the like a year before like my third the 23 23 was the yeah something like that. So it was a couple years ago.
>> Um I did not have plans to try a re-registration at this point. Um but it's something that we would be thinking I guess we can put on the table and look at but I don't have an immediate plan for that tonight.
All right. Uh, thank you all very much. Oh, um, just for the good of the order, since the girls won their basketball game tonight, I believe they go on to the state group semi-finals on Tuesday. So, applaud them. Uh, if you didn't catch tonight's game, you should go see Tuesday's game. I heard it may be in
Elizabeth, but you should check the news just to make sure when it's actually officially scheduled and promoted. Um, thank you all very much. Our next board meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 26th, 2026. This meeting will be held in the West Orange High School Library Media Center. We will not be going into executive session after the close of this meeting. There will be
no further business discussed and no additional action will be taken. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Yes, with a correction. 6:30. I'm sorry. >> Sorry about that typo. >> 6:30 p.m. Uh, let me rewind. Thank you very much. Our next boarding will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March
26th here at the library media center. Uh, yada yada yada. May I have a motion to adjourn? >> Motion. >> Thank you very much. All in favor? I suppose. >> Thank you all for joining us tonight. Our meeting is now adjourned. We wish you a good night.