Summit BOE’s Year-End Agenda: $5M Bills List, Reserve Transfers and Summer Hiring Authority

The meeting starts with recognizing ’25-’26 retirees along with a presentation on the Rutgers Waksman Student Scholars Program.

The superintendent’s report includes a large slate of new hires for ’26-’27, including elementary and special ed teachers, school psychologists, student assistance counselor, art teacher, orchestra/strings teacher, a theater teacher and a learning disabilities teacher consultant. You might want to take these in with a later item that gives the superintendent the ability to hire staff over the summer with retroactive Board approval. While this might lead to a quicker hiring process, it also means some hiring decisions could be made before the public sees them on a Board agenda.

Curriculum includes the 2026-2027 Comprehensive Equity Plan, annual Emergency Virtual or Remote Instruction Program and acceptance of a $9,816 state FOCUS grant for universal screeners.

Finance

Bills list @ ~$5.2M

May payroll @ ~$5,6M

The size of the capital project bill list is worth public attention; ~ $2.85M are tied to this area so residents should be able to see which projects are driving those payments, whether they match prior approvals, budgets and change orders.

Another major year-end item is up to $1.5M transfer into Capital Reserve and up to $500K into Maintenance Reserve – if the district has left over cash at the end of the fiscal year, it can move it into reserve accounts for future building projects or maintenance.

Residents can ask where the money came from and what specific projects the district is planning to use it for.

There’s also a list of donations- PTO, Novartis (artwork), Summit Conservancy, up to $5,000, for equipment and supplies to revitalize the Summit High School science courtyard garden as an accessible food pantry learning garden. The agenda says food grown in the garden will be donated to GRACE.

Contracts and vendors include field maintenance with the City for ~$72K, athletic trainer at $77.50 per hour, policy services for ~$5K, substitute nursing vendors ranging from $67 to $85 per hour, psychiatric evaluations at $805 each, back-to-school evals at $250 each and several tutoring, home instruction and professional service providers.

Several out-of-district special education placements run from about $95K to more than $163K, with some contracts including 1:1 aides.

Technology

The district is seeking approval for a 36-month agreement with Lightpath Fiber Infrastructure to increase dedicated internet access from 3Gb to 10Gb at $5,715 per month. The agenda says that is $800 per month lower than the current contract.

Operations

Another big ticket involves scope expansion on roof replacement (Arco Construction) for Jefferson Elementary roof section “F” at $498,225.

There are change order items tied to Summit High School and Tatlock Field House, utility scanning, gas pipe leak repairs, AV work, window reorders and a contract closeout reducing the Summit High School contract allowance by ~$180K.

Change orders are the map on how costs move after the initial vote – in this agenda, there’s one large added roof scope item along with smaller additions and a significant allowance decrease.

Another big ticket item involves access control and surveillance at Tatlock for $43,835.83 (Minuteman Security & Life Safety).

Personnel

There’s a lot here so we’ll focus on the stand-out items. The Board is being asked to approve salaries for District Central Office Administration reflecting a 2.95% increase and non-represented staff reflecting a 3.0% increase for the 2026-2027 school year.

Two business office contracts stand out.

Dora E. Zeno as Interim School Business Administrator/Board Secretary from July 1 through August 11 at $800 per diem, pending county approval.

David Pawlowski as School Business Administrator/Board Secretary from August 12 through June 30, 2027 at $221,000 prorated, also pending county approval.

The personnel section also includes approval of a $27,000 stipend for the Hispanic Community Liaison, with $14,000 funded by the Gottesman Foundation and $13,000 funded by the district.

The Board is also being asked to approve co-curricular stipends, Gottesman Fund programs and staff, I&RS/MTSS coordinator stipends, translation work at $50 per hour and payroll support services at $70 per hour for up to 10 hours.

The policy section includes first readings of three policies: Notice of Board Meetings, Legal Notices and Use of Physical Restraint and Seclusion Techniques for Students with Disabilities.

The restraint and seclusion policy is especially important for parents to review because it involves students with disabilities and the circumstances under which physical restraint or seclusion techniques may be used.

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