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and it's continued since my own daughter moved away from Wilson part of the reason because it doesn't have a stable School because of all the newspaper articles the reprints so if you wonder why enrollment stand might want to look in the mirror five children to Russell wanted to come to Wilson and did not that represents over a hundred and twenty thousand dollars worth of income per year my uncle was an attorney for him Wichita foreign once gave me a speech I was about ready to do a business deal that involved franchising and he said sit down Mike and listen to me and he began to Freaks Like Only in the Eternal King he said now I'm going to tell you about the goose and the gander and you're going to be negotiating agreements with people from companies and when you're negotiating agreement the way you know if it's a good agreement because when you can pick yourself up from your chair and go to the other side of the table and the other side of the agreement and accept it you haven't been a dream it's called good things that's good for the game so as we move forward together I would suggest we become transparent and we use the good for the good good for the ganders if you want to close the school be willing to go to the other side of the table and be closed so don't vote [Music] because it's not a good deal Joe said my uncle he still goes downtown Wichita these 90s I'm here for so let's be conscious of what we're doing let's look at the past Google population classroom population growth be known shut down the school that is in the growth movement such a decision would certainly be unreasonable and I would say you're right here without Authority [Applause] so young okay okay Anna do you want to speak now okay great hi I'm Anna thielen I'm a junior here at Wilson I wrote a letter to the board members and sent it to all seven on December 20th 2022.
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some of you may have read in Florida in my letter I hit a major point of not understanding why closing Wilson 7-12 is the best option for 7-12 I invited any school board member to sit down with me Senator Roger Robinson thank you Roger Roger explained to me that he has never seen these numbers himself as a board member so he wouldn't be able to help me the next female came also on December 21st from Mr Dalton work I appreciate his response he only thank me for my letter and said if I had any more information would let him know I responded and explained that I had thought he misunderstood however I never heard back again as for the rest of the board members I guess you didn't respect me enough to acknowledge my concerns I feel blatantly dismissed especially from our at large position board member who is supposed to represent not just one part of the district but the whole District foreign so let's get to my suggestions I have heard it is going to save money however I haven't seen any official numbers until today I hope that the board members know that very few students will be going to school at Central Plains which I know will reduce state aid through USD 112.
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on top of that there will be an added expense of building a busing for the small number of Doris Wilson students who will attend school in Copa savings will be minimal if you're only closing capability the district will be still will still be paying the same amount of money to run our school there's no way to cut off half of it the only money being saved will be in teachers salaries how about we we can reconsider sharing staff this will keep the most amount of students in our district yet cut the district's salary expenses according to the information I read that was put out today and the reduction in salaries would allow the custodian salaries to come from the general fund I understand that this is one of the goals of the board of education is trying to achieve so now I'm asking the five board members who seem to be in favor of closing Wilson 7-12 to reconsider and take time to explore these other options remember USB 102's model is every student every chance every day are you really giving your Wilson students a chance thank you [Applause] David Criswell hello my name is David Criswell probably before 18 26th Street there's been several people who have spoken about due diligence and transparency and I think also thoroughness and I think a decision-making process that is as complicated and as important as this it needs to have a great amount of due diligence a lot of transparency and a lot of thoroughs and without that I don't think anyone can say that the process is honest thank you without honesty you really don't have democracy where there is no honesty there is no democracy this is a democratic conference four years ago when this issue came up we did a survey here in town and I I get members of the time from superintendent Clark and even though these numbers are different than what they are now of course they're more now as far as the costs and the anticipated savings but I think you can extrapolate from lands and as and I put together this survey and to all of the parents and Guardians students here in Wilson and they were asked to identify whether or not their students would would continue to go to school here or would be agreeable to being the best seller I'm not going to go into the exact numbers that I got from superintendent Clark but I will just say that based on the state aid for students the amount that existed then which is eight thousand six hundred pounds and the costs uh the anticipated savings on teacher salaries and benefits and On Athletics and extracurricular activities there was anticipated to be at 397 000 annual savings but based on the state for student aid the loss of over 30 percent of Wilson's K-12 students would erase more than that could say is that anticipated sales only 30 percent the loss of only 30 percent are raised all of those savings and the people that signed this petition a lot of those a lot of these students have graduated since then but they they represented 127 students and we all know that if you close our 7th through 12th our elementary is the point of the client as well that's just common sense because parents that send their kids their older kids to another school they're going to send their younger kids down in the school also maybe not all of them but a lot of them I would I would just encourage you that unless you have done the due diligence transparency and the democracy that a decision for this magnitude requires it's not an honest process and no one in this community has been accepted we demand you to be honest and demand you to be thorough and do the debiliters thank you [Applause] foreign Lexi McCarter [Music] hello can it really hear me I am Lexington Carter 705 24th Street Wilson Kansas I'm a sophomore at Wilson Park I grew up in Wilson Kansas it has been my home horizontally when I first found out that our school was possibly closed I bawled my eyes out it may seem stupid to some people but I love little something there's so many Traditions that are awesome like the pep rally games and the door decorating it's simple but it's lovely I love homecoming where we're always able to decorate our trailer we all have fun sitting and dancing on the trailers it's wonderful I also love the tradition of the seniors whitewashing their names on the street without our school I'll never be able to become a senior in this town that I loved I dreamed of that day but now it might not happen everyone's a family I grew up with everyone here I know every road every alloy every business because it's home and it would not be the same without the school all of us here love this place but if you close it down it will destroy the sound destroy every holiness if the school closes then everything else will follow the business holder's income possibly even closed we have a community to help our community will crumble if they close the school you're not only affecting the students of Wilson but also the businesses businesses that have been here even before at school yet the community always comes together the community has so much school spirit when it comes to sports our community shows up like at this event right now [Applause] my favorite sports moments are when the boys are singing in the crowd singing come on girls you can do this this is your game you can play even if we don't win that round or that thing anyway that's fine because our school shows that they believed in us the whole time they believed that we were even able to shoot a basket hit the volleyball over to our port they knew that we could do it they believed in US Everyone is always there for a turn although there are some times where we disagree we always come back over it shows the power of the community our community our control I would also like to talk for my friend Evelyn Reichel who was not able to come today she has only been here for one and a half years even though that time may seem short she loved her school she has moved from school to school yet they've never written yet here at wilsonburg she finally feels at home she has had friends at other schools but here in Wilson it's family and I know that you are probably tired of hearing me and everyone else say it's a community I don't believe that it's just a community I believe that we here in Wilson and everyone else who comes to the school We Are Family we are all so beautiful together like the concerts that we say we all work so hard and it sounds wonderful the band when it plays the sports teams it's lovely and as you saw when you probably walked in if you walked in that way uh you would see the trophies the names on the walls of people who have done great things as you can see under the walls you can see all of the things that we have done all of the beautiful great amazing things that Wilson has done we couldn't have done this if we didn't have a school we couldn't have done this if we didn't have a place to do it and that's why I believe that Wilson time I should stay open because without it family is not a family it's not a home [Applause] thank you I have Wayne Cody Caleb and Colton yes the seventh grader at Wilson Junior Senior High School and these are my friends and also Santa craves I'm going to talk about some disadvantages of closing Wilson Schools and some advantages of keeping the school you're going to your new school that's 30 miles away and you realize when you're halfway to school you've forgotten your computer and you had a huge math test that day you have to go all the way home and now you are late this morning because you have to go is waiting foreign and everybody's a round trip in just 10 minutes for school clothes your kid is sick and you have to drive 50 plus miles to pick them up a 50 mile round trip is a long time instead of just five minutes you fill out the monkey bars you broke a bone you got on the wrong bus then you have to drive all the way to your infested roads or dealing with road crew delays or a husband could be with Justified [Applause] I can't read this book today okay [Music] you can't read the right I could be wrong it may not be that if somebody wrong list okay Carrie Criswell my name is Kara Criswell and I am a senior at Wilson High School growing up I was taught to always be kind and respectful especially to adults right now but I know I'm not alone when I say I am frustrated and exhausted from providing videos and presentations full of facts and statistics about this issue when the board members can't even bother to acknowledge us there are countless reasons why why this is a terrible decision it will ultimately lead to the destruction of the two remaining schools but instead of reminding you I will just ask you to think about something else how are these decisions affecting students staff and community members Mental Health are you positive you are making this decision without being biased if you were put in the same position as a Wilson Junior Senior High School student you make the 30 plus mile journey to Central Plains High School and lastly I ask you to truly think about why you are doing this because the facts aren't adding up and it's not too late to change your mind thank you [Applause] Sean Peterson foreign and we'll soon be moving there um I really thought a lot uh listening to everybody speaking hopefully you can hear me all right one day I don't need a mic what do I have to offer I'm kind of the the viewer from afar uh much like others I don't have a dog get you out of school but looking from a distance reading articles in the paper seeing different things on social media I didn't know whether to to title what I wanted to say things that make you go huh where leadership is hard so I'll stick stick with a lot I don't know many of you who recognized one most of the people behind me I don't know why you may know me first I want to say wow great speakers you've heard from a lot of folks people that are passionate people that are engaged people that are smarter kids that are brave I'm glad my mom made me pick speech because I would have never got up and and spoke like this I think people have been respectful probably more respectful than than I would be if I were as engaged in Passions asking questions great questions that appeared not to have been answered so I will tell you leadership is hard I know come talk to me we'll discuss it these are hard decisions maybe you thought you would never have to make a decision like this when you ran for this position or Worse maybe that's exactly why you ran for the position I hope not leadership is hard I will tell you from looking that far the map doesn't add up it's slamming and to hear that it just came out today if I took this report to a bank they would lock me out the front door true common courtesy and respect that most people teach their children not to to reply to an email is embarrassing you should be embarrassed if that was you 've been given more than enough options ideas data facts and figures tonight then it's been released by the sport leadership is hard if you can't explain yourself thoroughly honestly transparently and with humility that you don't have a good enough argument if the roles were reversed and you were sitting in here what would you expect what would you demand I think most people and I've I've dealt with a lot of people in a lot of areas I think most people when given data facts figures they understand they may not like it they may be passionate about it let me be worried about what they understand the data doesn't support it leadership is hard you should have forecasts you should have budgets you should have projections you should have details that clarifies a lot of this this doesn't pass the smell test and I'm looking from afars I've waited eight nine ten months this has been going on the spot off my mouth this doesn't pass the smell test you know what you're doing there's been plenty of facts and figures and a lot of smart people with a lot of ideas that can help you don't let it go to waste foreign ER [Music] foreign here at the school I have spent 17 and a half years of my life working with children I was going to bring up a couple points that I have to say those of you have already spoken out well done very good points made um I have no animosity but I'm deeply upset I chose to go ahead and speak although I was going to bow out and I made my time because like I said my points are already made but then as I'm listening it occurred to me that I have a big big thing to me not about academics not about finances by happy accidents I have a quote that I wrote on our chalkboard right before Christmas break so that when we came back it would be up there I started writing an inspirational quote and I change it once a week happy accident my quote that we came back to school today on my board waiting for these kids there were two kinds of Education in life the kind that are new money and the kind that teach you why I don't like the education my children are getting when you are educating our Wilson kids on is they're not worth fighting for you're educating them we're going to take the easy way out because you're not worth it that's not an education I've got my kids or any of these other children together those of you who have kids grandkids is that the message that you want them to receive we're going to cut ties whether you sink or swim we're going to save ourselves because you're not worth it they can go to another school yeah they'll adjust should they have to because we won't try to find another way years ago I lived in Arizona I grew up in Wilson graduated and moved away I came back because I didn't like how so many of those kids weren't being taken care of in their schools the idea was fine No Child Left Behind the kids were getting left behind kids were forced to get online to figure out how to do their homework because teachers were busy working with children who didn't even speak English so they didn't fall behind I have no problem with those kids getting an education I had a problem with the other children getting shoved to the side that's what's happening with our kids look at those faces they care to show up they care to speak aren't they worth fighting for they can care tonight to fight please take your examples from them they chose to fight be brave like they were [Music] Olivia Casper good evening everyone I will tell you 48 years ago today I never dreamed that I would be defending keeping a school open but when you marry in to the community of Wilson no matter where you went to high school or where you graduated from you become a dragon there's people back here that if they think back 48 years I look at the clock they know exactly what they were doing 48 years at this time we need to stay together we need to keep USD 112.
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I agree with everything that's been said here tonight but I think something that is missing just a little bit is sinking back 10 years 10 years ago we voted to take class 1 in at that time I was employed at Clara Barton Hospital in Hoisington I wish that I had a quarter so every time I heard a staff member at that hospital say our kids can't go to go to Hoisington they'll have to try out the football our kids can't do this but if we get Wilson to take us in we've got it made with bushnet now because I was a consultant and not there full time they were not aware of where my home territory was I went to a high school that had a four day week I taught three years in a high school with a four day week I taught 11 years here at Wilson before changing careers have anybody actually put the figures together for a four day week we were saving Oodles of money and I will let you know that was back in the 60s and 70s so if it was brand new back then they'd probably refined it all I'm gonna take something away from Michelle L brookish she had the kids stand up what I want to know is is there anybody here that will stand up and say they want to speak for the closing of Wilson High School that scares me to death and I'll tell you why if they can't make the drive from the Claflin area up here and speak why they should stay open and we should be closed do you have the support in the Cleveland area or in three years is it going to be going back to well if nobody takes us in we're going to have to go to poisington thank you [Applause] thank you foreign questions okay thank you priority to speak my voice terrorism you all believe in transparency simple yes or no question do you yes or no you sir going down the road everybody believes in transparency yes or no all right how much money school is supposed to save and close down if I forget that you're not a problem six hundred thousand all right through the newspaper down here available newspapers Arabic receipt how much money goes down to school is going to say the school district I've seen no numbers for 10 newspaper you can all see you will only do that yes or no are you going to do that but anybody said yes the board is not going to address your questions at this time so if you want to speak you can go ahead and speak but don't ask them questions so that means you know there's no transparency that's not what they say if there is no the next week and a half or two weeks no Arc of elbow paper for the six hundred thousand dollars coming from and this is all bull crap let's be honest but what's the real reason why I called it out of school I have no idea I am Donald Trump has anything if I want to know what the real reason is I won't put in the paper a few more show the savings what's the reason also don't be transparent about that until the savings you all be in the lawsuit honor I think that made me state law you have to show you have an attorney here for you guys I think maybe stay long you have to show the savings through all of us you may welcome to attorney about that they're talking to me about that you have to show the reason why you're closing a school number two don't forget about that so those glorified students are gonna go to clapping I can get them there timeline who's gone are you gonna get away these are facts no alarms it's gonna be Ellsworth diagonal and if I was a parent try to take my kid down a County Road or dirt road to make a shortcut I'm gonna drop the locks on you so fast I'm gonna get your head spinning these are just bags we're talking to your name out so before you close the school down one you have to have it opened reason why to close the school down show us another question your prize to Bridge I mean the kids there that concludes the individuals who have signed up to speak would you like to thank everyone for their time and attention this evening Mr Ford president at this time I believe it is recommended that the board take the information and turn tonight under consideration with possible action to be taken at the next regularly scheduled board meeting on Monday not January 9 2023 at the Holiday room gym or at a board member or a board meeting at a later date there are no other further questions the hearing is concluded how many of you know my name is Wilson in 1976.
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so much . the best way here thank you [Applause] [Music] and so with that I would encourage everyone to present attention against you at the board meeting on Monday as well if somebody did not get a chance to say what they wanted to say uh and with that I will in general Thanksgiving ideas [Applause] [Music]
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foreign good evening everyone I call the order of the regularly scheduled January 5th organization meeting of the Clifton Board of Education may I ask everyone to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance at a brief moment of silence foreign thank you next on the agenda we'll be administering the oath of office for our newly elected board members and we're going to go on alphabetical order first is Mr Mark brunsiak and I will be administering the oath foreign oh yeah all right wherever you want foreign come here hold on to this hold on to this okay hold on to this okay both of you Mel put your hand over there you raise your right hand or depend on the Bible hi Mark brunsiak aye mark brunsiak do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the Constitution constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and I will that and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I'm Mark Brunswick I'm Mark Brunswick solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications described by law for the office of member of a Board of Education the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified and that I am not disqualified pursuant to and not and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS 194-1 RS 19-4 -1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime nor disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 njs 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you very much [Applause] right Sarge Linda everybody materials everybody thank you everybody [Applause] and then okay this the second uh board member to be sworn in uh tonight is Mr Richard Mejia and he'll be having mayor Grabowski swear him in foreign the whole family there's your right hand please hi Richie Mejia hi Richard Mejia do solemnly swear I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith the same governments established in the United States and this state and so the government's established in the United States and this state the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God hi Richard Mia do solemnly swear possess the qualifications prescribed by law now I possess the qualifications described by law a member of the board of education for the office of member of a Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a voter of 194-1 pursuant to 19 4-1 more disqualified crime or offense Laura disclaw if I do to a Convention of a crime or offense listed njs 18a 12-1 listed in njs 18a 12-1 the guy will Faithfully and that I will Faithfully impartially and just ice perform all duties of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me God [Applause] can I have my friends and family come up please all right thank you so much thank you so much I am your prosecutor where's your mom a wall of it thank you foreign thank you and lastly we will have Mr Anthony Santiago sworn in and Mr Franklin Montero will be administering his oath it's the honorable Franklin yes sir ready okay all right Anthony Santiago I Anthony Santiago do solemnly swear to solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I Anthony Santiago aye Anthony Santiago do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualification prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter and I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS 19 colon 4-1 pursuant to RS 19 colon 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs listed in njs 18a 18a colon colon 12-12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially impartially and just and justly perform all the duties of the office perform all the duties of the office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help we got so helpful God [Applause] all right okay Mr sharada may I have a roll call please yes uh Mr abujrabo here Mr Awad here miss basford here Mr Brunswick here Dr Danny here Mr Mejia here Mr Paris here Mr Santiago here Mr Smith here we have a quorum thank you a reading of the mission statement the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and restrict reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an ever-changing world next the reading of the open public meeting statement the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have the advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of parent-teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 foreign agenda is the nomination and election of president of the Board of Education can I please have a nomination for the president of Board of Education I'd like to nominate Jim Smith are there any other nominations I see none so I will close uh the nomination for president uh per bylaw zero one five two every board member will write their vote on a paper ballot which I provided in front of you if you could uh write who you're voting for and uh sign it and I will read them aloud foreign order [Music] Mr Mejia voted for Mr Smith Mr Paris Mr Smith voted for Mr Smith Mr Smith voted for Mr Smith Mr Santiago voted for Mr Smith Mr abedravo voted for Mr Smith Mr Awad voted for Mr Smith Miss basford voted for Mr Smith Mr brunsiak voted for Mr Smith and Miss uh Dr Danny voted for Mr Smith by majority United vote Mr Smith was elected president of the board of ed [Applause] ucation you know don't don't worry I'll go over there okay uh to my uh fellow colleagues I thank you for entrusting me with the gavel and the responsibility of being you know the president of this board um as always I will work diligently and with each and every one of you so that we can provide the very best for Clifton kids and I'm confident that with this board that we will do that so I thank you all for the uh for your confidence in me thank you very much [Music] okay next we'll move on to the um election of Vice President we'll open nominations are there any nominations for vice president Mr chair yes I nominate Lucy Danny okay nomination for Lucy Danny president Smith yes are there any denominations I nominate Miss Bessler okay nomination for uh Miss basford okay nomination has been declined are there any other nominations any other I nominated okay nomination for fahima travel while I respect that I also respect for the decline okay nomination's been declined are there any other nominations third and last time are there any other nominations seeing none will move to uh vote again in the same manner you'll fill out your slip and pass it down to be read foreign so for vice president the board of education for the next year and in no particular order again Mr Mejia Dr Danny Mr Santiago Dr Danny Dr Danny Dr Danny Mr abadrabo abstain Mr Paris Dr Danny Mr Awad Dr Danny Mr Smith Dr Danny Mr bronziak Dr Danny and Miss basford Dr Danny the majority [Applause] I'll just keep it brief as I do um thank you very much for your support um you know when I look to work forward to working with all of you and you know creating um equity and and you know respecting everyone's opinions thank you [Applause] [Music] yeah I go [Music] okay so uh the next we're doing is the reading of the school board member code of ethics by law zero one four two if everyone could pull it up uh I don't know everyone has their Chromebooks not everyone has their Chromebooks though they don't have one for sharing no those two don't have one yeah you have copies thank you thank you again thank you look at this thank you in color and everything okay so um board members uh attest to and have to abide by these code of ethics um from the New Jersey school boards Association so it's the code of ethics for school board members njsa 18a colon 12-24.1 if we start with Mr abadrabo and everyone would take a letter please number one excuse me so pulling Force old laws rules and regulations the State Board of Education in court orders between schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures letter B I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of the children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that they meet the individual needs for All Children's regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standings see I will confine my board action to policy making planning and appraisal and it will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will affect be affected by them D I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well run gee I will recognize the authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises in order to take any private action that may compromise the board F I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends G I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclose would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its School h i will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties Amy want to take the last one I will I will refer all compliance to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at the public meetings only after failure of the administrative solution okay thank you all for uh reading it and I'm gonna miss the Llama thank you for the copies okay next is um uh designation of meetings so um yeah so the meetings are listed here um starting with uh Thursday um January 19th um I would like to make a proposal to amend this to have our meeting time start at 6 30 P.M instead of seven if the rest of the board is in agreement with that so we can open discussion on that um in doing that you know it just gives us an extra half hour so we may not have to be here until midnight and and after um so discussion anyone like to agree disagree I disagree I can't make 6 30.
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foreign [Music] Township Board of Education reorganization meeting pursuant to the open public meetings act I could public notice that's been given by the secretary of the Evesham Township Board of Education in the following line are posting written notice on the official bulletin board of the Board of Education Office emailing written notice to the Burlington County Times And The Courier Post and filing written notice with the municipal clerk of the Evesham Township at this point I will read the election results we had three uh three-year terms available uh Tracy Fox received 8138 votes Dave block received 7963 votes William Thompson received 7 520 votes to ring Carlton received 6984 votes our sperazza received 6908 votes and personal choice was 223 votes Miss Fox Mr Bach and Mr Thompson what are the three top boat Governors and were elected to the Board of Education um at this time we're going to administer the oath of office Miss Gifford our solicitor will be doing that and uh first she will administer the oath of office to uh David Bach Mr Bach do you want to meet me in the middle oh United States for the office and I am not this fault person with the wall nor does qualified student conviction of the primer effects and partially and just so they perform all the duties of the office according to the best of my ability congratulations [Applause] thank you okay next um we'll be at Tracy Fox all right so we're gonna do miss Fox sitting down um can you raise your right hand please okay I see your name do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution and the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance to same and to the governments established in the United States and the state and under the authority of the people so help me God I see your name do solemnly swear that I will possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to law nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in statute and that I will Faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations [Applause] and last is William Tom Thompson you need to sign me foreign qualified foreign [Applause] at this time we'll take a roll call Mr Bach Mrs Capello here Mr physicaro here Mrs Fox Mr Katherine here Mrs null here Miss Lee here Miss Ryan yeah Mr Thompson here we have a quorum would everybody please stand and join me with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and the liberty and justice for all at this time I will I will accept nominations for the election of the board president this like to nominate Leah Ryan okay not hearing any other nominations I'm going to close nominations for board president um since there are no other nominations on behalf of the Brewer I will catch John do a roll call okay all right yes Mr chriscaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Canton yes Mrs Noel yes Miss Lee yes this is Ryan Mr Thompson yes motion carries congratulations okay okay okay [Applause] I would just like to thank the board for their faith in my leadership I hope it's going to be a great year I will now open the floor to the now Nations for the office of board vice president Mr physicaro I'm Madam president I'd like to nominate Anish Canton as board vice president any other nominations seeing none roll call please Mr Ashanti Mrs Capello yes Mr physicaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Canton yes Mrs Knoll Miss Lee yes this is Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes motion passes congratulations Mr Hampton [Applause] thanks everyone this meeting will now be open to the public when I'm first seeing agenda items only however if your question or comments pertain to litigations students or Personnel items or negotiations we ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public please limit your comments to three minutes per person anyone for a public comment okay seeing none we will close public comment at this time I just wanted to point out to the board and the public that there is an additional item under reorganization items items 3.8 is an adoption of the code of ethics for school board members so at this time I need a motion to approve items 3.1 through 3.8 Mr physicaro seconded by Miss Capello any questions or comments from the board okay I have a question this includes the meeting dates correct I'm looking at my calendar I need to look at my calendar for March that is my son's birthday there's absolutely no way I can come and I know a lot of budget stuff happens so can we talk about that uh what do you what do we typically discuss at this March meeting isn't it voting on the draft budget so last year we were able to combine the approval of the tentative budget with the regular March meeting the state had uh given basically like a wider time window for that but usually there's a separate tentative budget approval that happens earlier in March so um likely that March 23rd meeting which by the way is also my daughter's birthday so that's really really cool by the way yeah a great day great day so uh that meeting will is very likely to end up being just a regular meeting not tentative budget approval yeah thank you Mr Noel any other questions from the board okay all right so now's the boring part in the meeting I'm sorry everyone I have to run through the code of ethics with everyone um just really quickly so um the first item is I will hold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the state of State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures what this means essentially is what we've been dealing with for the last couple years that we have to uphold every law directive whatever the case may be that comes down from the state that has to do with the schools and if we want any of that changed we have to do that through the proper channels um much like this board has been very active in dealing with the state funding um and you know that's why we always say that we do have to file these laws because it's our ethical obligation and if we don't do that then the state can cut funding and other things um second I will make decisions in terms of educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools and meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing essentially making decisions without discriminating against those children that are different um I think that speaks for itself I will confine my board action of policy making planning and appraisal and will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them your role as board members is to put in place the policies that your staff and administrators and students follow but you're supposed to do that with the best interest and the input of the community around you in mind and then the superintendent's job is to see that those policies are properly followed I will carry out my responsibility now to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well run again your biggest responsibility as a board member is to put the policies in place and to hire the superintendent the superintendent then hires everyone else and oversees the day-to-day operations of the school it's very important for school board members not to really become involved with the day-to-day operations of the school as that could pre-determine their positions on issues that may become may come before the board um I will recognize that The Authority arrests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board um this one's pretty self-explanatory but it's important to remember when you're talking to people such as friends or family or posting on social media you don't want to take any action that could compromise your position on the board or compromise the board as a whole especially with something that could come before the board later I will surrender my independent judgment as I'm sorry I will not surrender my independent judgment a special interest or partisan political groups or to use the school's personal gain or for the gain of friends again pretty self-explanatory goes with the one before it that you won't um do things just for your own benefit or the benefit of friends or some special interest group or partisan political group that you're involved with and you need to always look at things um you know through the lines of a board member and what the board as a whole would do I would hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community at four at schools so this basically means obviously school board members get a lot of confidential net confidential information both an executive and in emails and documents that they get for students staff different things that are coming up in the school district those absolutely need to be remain confidential and if you are if you are talking on a matter that is a school matter you need to make sure that you're spreading accurate information and that your views align with the goals of the board I will vote to appoint the best qualified personal Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer again you hire one he hires everyone else so um if Dr Smith is making a recommendation your role as a school board member is to take that recommendation um as you know being a good one and to appoint the best qualified personnel and then not withhold your approval for arbitrary and capricious reasons um I will support and protect School personnel and proper performance of their duties this one kind of goes with the other the one above it um you are a school board member therefore you should be positive about your interactions with the community when talking about staff and administrators um and you want to not be out there on social media or in the public bashing any particular staff member or or administrator if there is an issue you want to take that to the chief School administrator and let him deal with it and the last one I will refer all complaints to the Chiefs will administrator won't act on complaints at public meetings only after a failure of an administrative solution so we are constantly saying at the meetings that we can't discuss Personnel matters or student matters and a lot of times when board members get emails their only responses I will refer your complaint to Dr Smith that is because they ethically cannot respond to these emails and participate in a conversation about the issue because it is not before the board and it is not their role to do so so um when they get complaints they can certainly refer them to the chief School administrator or to you know the other appropriate person if it's a if it's a building level issue um and they can tell resources but they really can't get involved unless it is something specifically before the board so that's everything any questions or comments from the board pertaining to 3.1 to 3.8 okay saying none roll call please Mr vishinty Mr Bach yes Mrs capella yes Mr physicaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Catherine yes Mrs null yes Miss Lee Yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes Mission carries under old new business items 4.1 and 4.2 I need a motion to approve items 4.1 which is appointments and 4.2 which is fundraisers can I have a motion Mr physacaro Ms snow oh thank you any questions or comments from the board pertaining to those two items okay seeing none roll call please Mr vishinty Mr Bach yes Mrs Capello yes Mr physicaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Canton yes Mrs Knoll yes Miss Lee Yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes commission carries okay item 5.1 any items of Interest this meeting will now be open to the public pertaining to any items of Interest however if your questions or comments pertain to litigation students or Personnel items or negotiations we would ask you to see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public please limit your comments to three minutes per person anyone for public comment okay seeing none we'll close the public comment Dr Smith do you have anything to say before I join the meeting just um welcome and congratulations to our three new board members very exciting and uh congratulations to our returning uh board President and Vice President congratulations to the whole board for the year we have ahead 2023 it's going to be great so thank you questions or comments from the board Mr Canton thanks Mrs Ryan um just uh I wanted to share some Reflections in December but I didn't want to take the the spotlight away from our departing board members so um I think I know I speak for for Mrs Ryan as well when I say it's with great humility that the two of us stay here um in the last year we asked a ton out of our board members we've literally doubled the time you guys spend in executive session we asked more from our committee members and our committee chairs we even came in on weekends which is unheard of previously right just like we asked a lot of you guys I think uh you guys should continue to ask a lot out of us as your leaders um like Leah's job is not to run the meeting right our job is to make you all successful um so just like we ask a lot of you continue to ask a lot out of us and that goes double for for our new board members especially up until now till May you will see and hear things that you've never heard of things you don't know how to deal with new ideas every single day lean on us call us we're here for you we're all one team and we need to be successful so anytime there's a question especially for our new board members please do reach out to us thanks guys and I concur with everything you said he's the most eloquent Personnel of the two of us so any other questions or comments from the board okay seeing none I need a motion to return Mr physacaro Mr clanson roll call please Mr Bach yes Mrs Capello yes Mr physicaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Captain yes Mrs Noel yes Miss Lee Yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes motion passes thank you welcome back to uh 2023 and we hope for a very productive and successful year for everyone thank you [Music]
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foreign each um I asked to all the standings as you said the dryer with liberty and justice for all right um officers questions and do I have a lotion for this president the next question for Stephanie recipes do I have a second five seconds any discussion Carol yes sticky yes and uh yes yeah okay motion carries do I have a motion for secretary slash treasurer for the um Board of Finance I make a motion to nominate that is a second yes any discussion yeah Carol yes Vicky yes yes motion carries thank you um next we have the uh these babies school like fiscal update that is the do-ab well I didn't want to say it wrong oh it's one of those afternoons that we hear you have no idea what it means so good evening welcome Doug thank you you'll be seeing me every now and again um so this evening we have our um our finance board meeting this is something that legislatively we have to do one time a year we have to do it our very first meeting in January every year and I promise to not make this boring it'll be a little bit boring because it's money but it's okay we'll go through it we'll go through it so I made a PowerPoint um everyone has it in front of them and so what we're going to do is we're just going to go through and hit the highlights the things that we need to um discuss to uh review our finances of how we sit at the end of 2022.
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started on the Tonight organization this evening [Music] after the oath of office evening. So with that we will startled the To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. All right. Next up is the agenda. I first want to thank the school board and administration for allowing us this opportunity to uh celebrate some great achievements not only by Tai, our Mr. cross country, but our cross country team as a whole finished third in the state and got up on the podium, which definitely deserves recognition. Um, Coach Harrell is their cross country head coach. He could not make it, so I get the opportunity and I'm very grateful to have this opportunity to present. Ty. Coach Harrell always has these two quotes and if Ty will probably be able to recite them for me as well.
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it just it's it's hard with work and we've always been seven o'clock everybody sets their clock by us at seven o'clock and just commuting lately it's very difficult to get here on time okay anyone anyone else Tony here your commuter too 6 30 would be a problem 6 30 or 7 but either it's fine anyone else right I I don't want to change something if all board members are not in the approval of it so yeah right exactly okay so we'll just leave it at seven um they're uh there could come times when we we have to uh to start it earlier but uh we'll keep it preliminary at the seven o'clock um next meeting we have a important uh hearing uh it that it will be an executive session um we'd like to hold that hearing um before our regular meeting only because there's uh numerous employees that are involved in it and instead of having them wait around all night we just like to to try and do it ahead of time so um would that be okay for next meeting just okay so uh what did we say it's six I expect the hearings it's already about an hour an hour so we want to do 5 45 if to be easier to be safe if if the board members could make 5 30.
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so our first item here we have our our fund balances um first I forgot to remind you so um the do-ab as we were speaking of distressed unit appeal board so the state of Indiana has a department within the state that um deals with government entities who are in distress they financially um cannot handle things on their own and that that department um will help and come in and kind of restructure and help things along so part of their duties is they actually look at the physical health of every entity in the whole within the whole state of Indiana so what we have done is since they have already done all this life work and done all the reporting on our fiscal Health we are going to be reviewing what they have put out um for Brown County Schools and where they get this information is from the various reports that we have to do we as a school have an annual financial report that we do annually it is due after our school calendar year so it is due um after June 30th annually and then there's another fiscal report that I have to do and that is every six months that's called a form nine so on all of these reports that we do we just basically give them all of our finances and they look and they decipher everything and this is kind of the outcome annually that comes from that okay so what we're looking at is at the end of 2021 so when we say that it's after calendar year 21.
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See you at the top and aim high. Every time I've talked to Coach Harold, somehow he works those into our phrases and he probably does that in all your speeches and every email. Uh, but Coach Harold has those expectations for his runners and that's exactly where they went. They aimed high and as you see, one of them with his teammates saw them at the top. U, he gave me this to read to talk about his team and Tai. Ty and his Trojan teammates finished third at state cross country meet in November. Tai finished that race fourth and received all state honors. Three weeks later, Ty ran in the Mid East Cross country meet of champions representing Indiana. And at that meet, he won the race and was named Mr. Cross Country for the state of Indiana. Two weeks later, Tai and his teammate ran also in the Running Lane National Cross Country Championship.
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for this particular night um just so we're not rushing in a way we can make sure our meeting starts it's on time okay so it's estimated to uh we're hoping to be just an hour um so if we just amend um next meeting we will start our general meeting at seven o'clock as as listed but the board will meet an executive so we will actually open the meeting up at 5 30 and then the board will go into executive session for this for this matter advertise it that way okay is there any objection to that okay um otherwise for the public I'll just read them real quick but these were our dates are posted will be posted on our website um so next meeting is the 19th uh in February we only have one meeting uh on the ninth March we have the second and the 23rd which will be our preliminary budget hearing uh April 6th uh Thursday May 4th and that will be uh our public hearing on the final budget May 25th June 22nd July 27th August 24th September 21st October 5th October 19th November 16th December 7th and uh the 4th of January 2024 at 6 PM for our reorganizational meeting again these dates will be posted on our website uh for all to uh to have foreign next we have our uh selection of delegates um it's password which one is it the year that you I don't know if anybody else anybody else wants to step up but I I usually do the state and Allen does the county but maybe the new members may I don't know if they want to get involved [Music] uh-oh uh okay so uh so we'll put uh this basford as a delegate on the state and um Mr Paris on the county is there anyone would like to be the alternates otherwise they can yes on the state um and Alan you'll be on the well uh so you're going to be ultimate on the state and now we need an alternate on the county anybody miss Pastor would you be asking okay yep okay um member of the board of directors to the Northern Regional Education Services Commission um superintendent robitosi will handle that one um and committee uh assignments um I will work on those and get those to the board as soon as possible um okay that does it yes okay no okay is there any objection to the to what we just did okay okay constitute a vote yeah okay uh Mr President yes I'm sorry can we move the we have a yes I guess in the audience can we move that above before a public comment because that may be too I am obvious because we have make a motion to move the agenda no objection um do you want to hold yours off till we do it I don't have any reports tonight Mr President other than to congratulate our new board members look forward to working with uh with all of you and what I would say to any board member is as long as we keep the best interests of children at the heart of our decision making will always do the right thing and so uh I wish you all the best I look forward to working with all of you okay uh we'll move our uh public portion uh after we do these uh presentations um the first one is um be a resolve that the Board of Education recognizes James insoldi former mayor of the city of Clifton on his retirement the honorable James and zoldi has been the longest serving mayor of the city of Clifton for the last 32 years we applaud your dedication to our great city of Clifton and for the countless years of support to the community and students of Clifton um former mayron zaldi has always supported education has supported the school system has attended so many events especially in June to give his remarks at graduation um we are so indebted and so thankful to your dedication to uh the children of the city of Clifton and um we just wanted to uh say thank you and we truly appreciate uh all you have done for not only this great City but for the Clifton Board of Education so Marin's Aldi if you step up I'm sorry [Applause] thank you [Applause] it says presented to Mayor James thank you for your dedication to our great City uh how this years of support for the students of the Clinton School District as you reflect upon your years of dedication to this city always know how thankful we were for your care and support with thanks and gratitude the Clifton Public School District January 5th 2023.
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okay because obviously they don't have calendar year 22 information yet it just ended [Music] up so what we're looking at on this very first slide is slide these are our major funds that we use for all of our money um so our education fund is in the orange operations in the yellow and rainy day is in that teal color the big difference between the first half of the graph and the second half is um this state actually mandated changing kind of the fund structure of how things were to be kept in the school system and they only did it to schools we were lucky so that break is where you see that's why we don't have the education on the left hand side we only have it from 19 moving forward um so they basically kind of took the bigger bucket that they had and broke it up into other into other uses and they also took some smaller buckets that we had and combined those in as well into operations so that's why you only see certain things on here it's not that our balances went like a roller coaster it was the structure of the funds and how the state had things designated um so the one thing I wanted to point out on this if you do see the rainy day the rainy day was smaller years ago and my guess is maybe it wasn't as important for them to keep that balance um what the State Board of accounts recommends and I'll go through this in the next slide is they recommend that every entity every single not just schools every entity keep um sort of in our layman's term is kind of a Reserves um so instances for rainy day you never know when things are going to happen you never know when an emergency comes up you never know when you have an unexpected expense that either forces itself on you or you want to do so the reason that you saw this dip from 2020 to 2021 do you remember when um they had the retirement to buy out there was rainy day money that was used on that that's why the fund amount went down okay so that's about that um anyway these are just our major funds that we do have a lot of other small ones that we deal with but these are a major funds that we deal with so when I spoke about that the state um their guidance is that we keep a minimum of 30 percent of what we will have to spend and like a reserves an extra this graph here with all of these with the green bars this is basically kind of the reserves that they have had throughout the years going all the way back to 2014.
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Once again, Tai and his Trojan teammates finished third. Ty finished eighth and received all-American honors. So, I'd like to take this moment to uh present Ty Garrett, Mr. for 2022 cross country. And to prove his dedication, as I was leaving the office yesterday, I saw him out running. I thought it was raining, but it was just he was running too many miles. It was just ridiculous. But congratulations, Ty. If you want to come up, um yeah, thank you to my parents and um thank you guys for having me tonight. Um, you know, this is my first school we're meeting, so it's it's a fun one. Yeah. So, so hang on, Ty. I You wouldn't know by looking at me now, but I ran cross country 100 pounds ago. So, this is what happens when you stop running. So, just out of curiosity, what's what's your personal best?
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[Applause] foreign [Applause] ER um next um we have a recognition of uh former board member Mr Joe Canova Miss basford yes it is an honor for me to read this tonight Joe with a with a full heart most of it's very heavy let me take a breath ea1523 recognize recognition of Joe Canova resolved that the Clifton Board of Education recognizes Joe Canova and expresses its gratitude for his dedication and service to the community and the students of Clifton serving as a board member for three years including service on the diversity education special education Finance HSA liaison Municipal Alliance policy residency security and Technology committees the plaque says presented to Joe Canova in appreciation for your years of service to the children of Clifton for your leadership dedication and commitment to Excellence as a Clifton Board of Education member from 2019 through 2022.
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um it has gone you can see that drastic drop down I know it doesn't look very big on the graph but when you look at the amount of where they went and that percentage that's huge so since 2017 they've been trying to struggle to come back up to hit the minimum that we are asked to have which is at least 30 percent so we are heading in the right direction now the one thing I want to say on this we all know what just failed in November to referendum that referendum has helped this move in the right direction so if we end up to where we do not have a referendum after 2023 is closed if we go for another referendum and it fails again that balance is going to start dropping right back down so we have the reserves right now to keep us fiscally sound for this year if we do not have that referendum to keep things sustained we will start going down so that's kind of a big consideration on that okay um the next item I have on here so we have two Banks if you will where our money sips the majority of it is a 50 local local Brands uh Representatives that we deal with every day so that is where the majority of our money sits we also have um some other funds that part of that reserve the extra that's helping us keep along we actually have that in an institution called trust Indiana so there is an organization that the state of Indiana actually helped to develop it is used specifically by governmental units if you have some extra reserves it's a way to help kind of grow a little bit through reserves kind of like if you think about like an interest varying accounts things like that um so the income that we earned in 2022 was about six to two thousand seven hundred because we have that um that the some of it split up and over at trust Indiana so the reason we go with trust Indiana is because it is uh the money is available at a fingertips it's not like having like a bond where you have a certain timeline that you can't touch it for and you have to wait for it to return things like that trust Indiana actually is a very good organization the school has been with it since 2015 I believe it's done very well for us to help us to be able to grow our money a little bit more um and we also if we need it if something comes up we can grab it right away just as if it's sitting down the PNC okay so the next two slides are actually copies of our current uh investment policy if you guys would like to go ahead and just review that and see if you see anything that needs changed I didn't see anything on here but this is currently what we have in Enola Florida yeah and we wouldn't make changes tonight this is just something for them so you can take your time to look at it yeah no yeah no timeline yeah all right I know there's kind of a lot of information in a short amount of time nice little overview do you guys have any questions for me thank you very much thank you any discussion care yes yes thank you all right at this time at 6 45 I call it a regular meeting to honor um yeah there are a few modifications to the agenda I apologize up front um we added a presentation um about from Centerstone for the basis Grant you want me to read through all of them individually or do you want to leave we have the reorganization of the board we have a change in a board committee Representatives that Carol Bowden will be on the Brown County Planning Commission Becky hardened to be on the Brown County schools for the five committee we also have the consent agenda items for the separations the dates change from Van Buren Elementary School teacher Tina Robinson effective January 20th at Brown County High School teacher Sarah Cochran effective January 19th and then we have a transfer Van Buren Elementary School Preschool Terra professional Leah Hyatt to the Early Childhood Center of paraprofessional affected January 9 2023.
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Um, in what event? The 5K. The 5K. Um, 1447 was I ran last year. 1447. Yep. Did you Did you break 20? I could break 20. I could break 18. That was about it. Well, congratulations. Are you a senior this year? Yes. Where you going? Are you going to school next year? I'm going to Wake Forest next year. Wake Forest. You going to run? Yep. Cross country and track. And track. What you running in track? Um, anything from the 800 up? Really? Probably. It'll probably in college will probably be the mile and you know, anything above that. So, very cool. Super proud of you. Further back than him, I also ran. just freshman and sophomore year and we made sure during practice that the course went by what was then called Don's garage. It's now Carol's and we stopped to get he put it on our tab.
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the Clifton School District applaud you for your unselfish devotion and loyalty signed the Clifton Board of Education December 2022 congratulations Joe [Applause] um Mr Canova uh couldn't be at the uh our last board meeting uh Chris's uh brother uh got married so we uh we invited him to come tonight and uh Joe the uh the the countless hours that you put in um almost on every committee that you served on um the um the last two years I had an opportunity to work with you uh you were dedicated and hard-working board member and uh we appreciate all that you have done for uh for helping our school system and the kids of Clifton so Joe thank you so much for all you've done thank you okay we will move on uh I'm sorry we need emotions on those right any those last two though is that the last mayor in him okay okay so we're going to uh ea uh you have a motion for ea1 through ea3 right moved by Mr Robot second by uh Miss basford any discussion okay so uh ea1 is the designation for the positive School Monies ea2 is placement of legal ads and ea3 is a no am I looking at the wrong one oh the last one I got I don't want my cabinet Services no I just want to tell them what it is so so ea1 was the recognition of uh Marin's oldie ea2 was a recognition of Joe Canova and ea3 is Professional Services okay seeing no other discussion roll call please Mr abadrabo yes Mr Awad yes Miss basketball yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes Dr Danny yes vice president Danny president Smith yes motion Kerry all right next we have so they're all done right yeah you want to do yep okay next we have our public recognition okay let me just read it first let me know here it is okay this portion of the meeting is open to Residents or non-residents of the city of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and or direct directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested if they're in person to sign the register provided for this purpose all speakers are asked to State their names municipality in which they live and subject matter before they speak comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and are response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate your questions may or may not be answered by board members the board asked the members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged it will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments okay we'll start with uh virtual calling is there anyone yep I'm here yeah we could hear you um Dana okay perfect look on board members especially Jim and Lucy on your uh new and New Again positions and I just wanted to say that I hope that everyone takes the ethics um policies that were read uh to heart this year and the last few years have been a rough go with violations and false accurate accusations of violations and I hope that this year with all the new members and a new chapter that we can have a new start here in Clifton the ethics filings aren't free uh there's a cost to the taxpayers lost as a cost to the morale of the board as well as the cost of the morale of the district and it isn't fair to have elected officials you know using them either as threats or using them inappropriately or using them appropriately if others are committing ethics violations I just hope that everyone reads those politics and really takes in the heart this year and hopefully we can start the year on a better foot um I also want to say I really like this calling option it was very easy to be both in the call-in room and listening on my phone not having two devices and it's like say Happy New Year and have a great night thank you okay thank you is there anyone Nielsen no that's it okay motion to close the colon motion motion by Minister uh wad second by Mr Paris okay now we'll go to in person anyone wishes to address the board please come up to the podium state your name municipality and subject matter good evening my name is Lori lalama and I'm the president of the Clifton Education Association first I want to thank Dr Robert tozzi for putting my award on the front page of the school website that meant a lot thank you as you begin your journey as the Board of Ed Commissioners you must have an even stronger sense of purpose and unity for Clifton's educational community the selected office should not be taken lightly it is not easy it is fraught with different agendas beliefs Temptations and you must rise above the cacophony and be United in the mission to expand the horizons of our students to include diversity equity and inclusion in the policies curriculums bylaws and regulations you are bound by a code of ethics which guides everything you do for the students staff and the community if you aren't sure I gave you a copy today so please have that at hand if you ever have any questions I would also recommend that New Jersey school boards has set up training for commissioners I have taken 54 classes with NJEA and I would like to advise and give my opinion to take as many workshops as possible as commissioners the more knowledge you have as a commissioner the better the board will be knowledge eclipses emotions Passaic County School boards Association has a virtual meeting which is entitled How to Be an Effective board member on January 24 2023 from 7 to 8 30 and it's virtual please check it out Boards of Education are tasked with educating kids providing for the safety and Welfare of the students and employees employing the superintendent you picked a good one developing and adopting School District policies curriculum and budget adopting collective bargaining agreements determining matters related to the school employees and contractors and controlling the expenditure and receipt of school funds I want to let you know that the cea is willing to work with everybody here we are proud of what we have accomplished over the years and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out thank you very much [Applause] good evening Greg Grabowski it is I'd just like to congratulate all the new electives and hope you have a good year I'm just here to congratulate Richie and Richie asked me to swear him in tonight and it's a great honor and I was really privileged to do this because it's my first official act in the city and uh I'm really honored to do that and I I wish Richie the best in his family God bless you Richie hope you have a good time [Applause] uh first Elias Ragsdale uh congratulations first of all to Mr Santiago Mr Mejia and Mr brinsiak um congratulations to president Smith vice president Danny um just continue to you know keep the citizens and the students at the Forefront of uh your work here um and I the Clinton Student Union uh can hopes to continue let me start that over the Clifton Student Union uh hopes to continue to work with all of you uh for a better future for students and the citizens of this town thank you [Applause] good evening Keith Bashford Clifton New Jersey first of all I want to congratulate all the new members here up at the board and Dan and beltron said before and Miss lamado said you got to follow the rules Jersey school boards and hopefully you guys take that seriously I've been around these means a long time and watching things go on be your own person be on Judge don't listen to everybody else what they have to say because if that is the path you're going to follow it's not going to be good for you another thing is joking over I it's funny how I met y'all back in I think 2019 I would say Joe was my green horn he came into this meeting here one night and he says to me at the end of me he says listen how do we get on this board he thought you fill out application get on the sport because he was determined things were going on and his daughter's schooling that so I said to him I didn't know his name he told me I'm joking over I introduced myself said Joe if you're really serious Joe you got to come to these meetings and keep on coming to these means voice your opinion but listen and learn so Joe used to come to every meeting here you never stopped coming and he said you know Keith I'm gonna run for the Board of Education and I said Joe good but one thing Joe was to me he was my as I say in the Karate Kid the grasshopper Joe's my grasshopper of course Joe used to speak to me and ask you what do I do now what do I do next and everything but Joe got on his board and he did a great job he brought money in from the state and everything I'll go through the whole thing but Joe really put a hundred percent into his job here and he took it seriously so for the new board members listen to what I'm saying Mr kenoba made an impact here and I was glad to see Joe on this board for the last three years and do what he had to do to move this District ahead and that's what it's about you know tonight I was going to copy somebody with a song that they played at the council meeting but um I'm going to leave that to Henry kojewski he's the one that played the song if anybody listening to the council meeting okay and I'm sure among these you be told what the song was listen to that song take it seriously new board New Horizons move ahead let's move this District ahead let's make Clifton one of the top school systems in the district here you could do it learn go to your meetings go to your county meetings go to your state meetings that's how you're going to learn that's how you're going to be professional put Clifton Clifton's on a map already with a lot of things but let's put Clifton on top of the charts now thank you [Applause] Clifton good evening and congratulations it was not possible for me to see this one now I'm here to congratulate all the newly elected members but especially our very own richer media Mejia I think there are about 89 to 90 000 residents in the city of Clifton in about 33 to 39 000 Latinos and tonight is a reason for joy to see someone so young so educated and so involved and so caring for persons like me who are seniors already that have mentored so many young people through our lives is always a reason for joy to see the new generation not only empowering themselves but to show in the adult community that they matter so Richie you made me so proud because you symbolize everything that a young person should have to give to a community we move forward we learn we go through the process then the time comes where we become instead of younger people senior people but we acquire the knowledge and when we go we try to help the one thing that I can tell you because all the other elected newly electors are older than you is listen to the wise people whether they are on the school board or outside in the community always use your good judgment and so the younger generation will be so proud of you regardless of any ethnic background this is something so moving especially to me to see this generation coming up as God bless you God bless everyone wisdom and empowerment to the younger generation is what keeps Community is strong and growing thank you foreign motion by uh Mr abidrabo second by Mr Awad to close public session okay I think that's it right okay so for the agenda tonight a motion to adjourn motion Pedro second by Mr wad any objection uh we are adjourned thank you all [Applause] Mr Mr uh USI you're signed people got to do their hair thank you so much um
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motion to accept the modifications to the agenda as presented foreign Elementary School um few people here yes we do we have four of our fifth grade students and Mrs kernsville our fifth grade teacher and they are going to help um of course when they said they were going to do this I was like you're going to wear [Music] um and we were trying to do something that would be a little bit different um and plus we wouldn't have to travel very far I went to a Twist thumb I went to escape rooms of Fort my family and I thought you know this would be really cool I thought it was a great opportunity for students to um work as a team to also do some analytical and critical thinking as they were there and it was very as as via um chaperones that we had went with the kids we realized that um they needed a little help when they first got into the rooms they were a little confused and what to do because I don't think any of them really went to an escape room before plus it was difficult to find an escape room where fifth graders had appropriate stuff in there when you went to a few Escape we called several Escape rooms and some of them were a little iffy but this one the Twisted room escapes was really really cool um and actually we had a list of some of the rooms the kids were divided into six groups there was one called the Christmas caper one was Alice's White Rabbit rescue another another room was the Sweet Shop another was the cabin and the missing Maestro and the collection and each room they had an adult with them in the room as they were working they had to go through all different kinds of locks and and Go in different rooms and think things out but I think the best way for you to really experience it is for you to hear what the kids felt when they were in there um Miss Higgins and I were very pleased at the you know we are again we're looking at the analytical thinking and the critical thinking and all that um but I mean the kids really got a lot out of it so we had a few pictures that we took in the Escape rooms um you'll notice that they are working together at the team at the beginning not everybody wanted to work as a team um and again you'll see that that as time went on um they definitely their their strength started showing okay you know you always had somebody guiding them or or saying no no not that we gotta go here I mean it was really really fun to watch them come across Clues as they came so afterwards once we got out of each room the place took pictures of each group and they marked the time that it took us to escape we did tell the kids that you are not locked in the room you know you can leave anytime you want um usually they do it for about an hour and they write the time but here you know because we had a younger kids they actually let us stay in until we actually figured our way out so these are just some of the groups that we had um you know and the things that they were kind of dealing with when they were in there um I think there's a couple more pictures afterwards afterwards we took a trip that was just maybe about six minutes away to Pizza Hut this is a couple more oh is that the time yes that's the time that they they had to get it they took to get out of the room and again this is what one of them they had to fight a rabbit and in the room I was in a light had to go on and what happened in your guy's room uh we were at Pizza Hut we had the buffet there they had a wonderful uh set up for us um very cheap too you know for as much as the kids wanted to eat um it was like five five bucks and that included um drinks endless drinks and and and the entire bar that they had there um and then these are some of the things we did ask the students these four students to tell us what they they got from this experience and so Sloane wanted to go ahead and tell us what you so when you were in there you guys had to all work together so no one got left out and so you could like make a good team and um when you solved something you kind of felt proud of yourself because you like did something and um there were a bunch of jump scares in ours like one time like the chandelier like fell down and so it kind of made me go get over like some beers because yeah sometimes I get scared and then there were multiple Clues set up like when you got to London you have to find something in the second room and you had to go back to the first room to get it and so that was hey it hated um the rooms weren't like hard but they weren't easy like not like little kids like second when you get out in time um and then like there was this guy paper and they're like yeah exact spot to make this thing fall down and it fell and like none of us are built because we were all putting these bottles on this thing and um um the girl that was um giving us the hints and stuff um there was just one thing we had to put these wooden things on this table and um we didn't get it at all so so she came in there and helped us go and figure out how to get it out yeah the people each room had somebody that watched over what we were doing and if they saw us struggling as long as we agreed they would give us a clue um and help us along so we needed some foods along the way there were a few things that we had to do like uh on the trade but we didn't have to because there were some owners that had like a different uh people on them and they have a certain color and like we had it didn't matter the ornament sometimes with the people on the ones at the cap when all the words out of the P equal on the colors and then you had to count how many cups or how many people there were had that that color to find somebody color combination uh and like like we had to work as a team on that one because there may even think we had to do it once because like oh she told us that there's certain things that some of us could do and like like Aiden and I believe it's usually working on that table uh yeah well me you know me to play Word uh working on the Christmas tree one uh because there was another walk there and that you know with a Christmas tree it was a Christmas tree it was the it was the uh safe yeah we're looking at that safe because uh but uh because I had to stay a grand Christmas tree that's why I like that but I just thinking and we have to find our code down three times like five minutes three times stop at 10 minutes and I just keep adding on yeah and they've got all different kinds of locks so some of them were numbers some of them were color-coded some of them were letters some of them were combination and so they had to to figure out which ones workers definitely try on the mirror on them he liked it so much what did you do oh my well my mom she paid 200 dinner The Collection was the collection room was the hardest room and that's the room that that Sloan was in and Tanner heard about it in I guess convinced mom over Christmas breaks closer and trying to work with other people that I haven't worked with before and it helps me find out how other people were solve problems and talked about things um it depends whenever we unlocked a mirror we walked through another land and that was where we escaped and um oh the White Rabbit fell and that's how you knew that you saw the practice I think it was a scream yeah when it fell um but that's how they that was their the goal of their their room was to find the white rabbit so anyway anything else you guys want to add oh we have question yes basically this sounds like a big clue yeah yeah definitely um with involving a lot more people you could get played yep definitely what I do about it is thank you parents and kids but if you want to believe now you alsoever [Music] foreign a really awesome grant that we were able to work with some other Community Partners to get and this way you have an overview of what we are hoping to bring to the community and how you can access services and education and if you have questions along the way feel free to stop being asking um so our grant is called the paces initiative and paces is positive and adverse childhood experiences and the grant came down through the department religion and it's a community Catalyst grant that we developed through the Brown family recovery and wellness Coalition and Southern stone is the manager of it so um it was a really amazing process to work with our County Partners we had Community Corrections involved and folks from the recovery community and foreign staff to develop this grant and the goal of the grant is to increase the community awareness of what cases are the closet in that first childhood experiences and how that affects a person from childhood well into adulthood and so we're going to do that by providing training and workshops to engage at least 500 Grand Country citizens um this is not one of those workshops this is just a introduction um so we're hoping to do more and more presentations I'll talk to you about that in just a minute so one of the other really great things that we're already seeing the benefit of those this grant allows us to provide services at no charge to people who are in need of life skills or mentoring it's it doesn't cover um their counselor or therapist but if they don't have the resources for any Mental Health it at least helps us get in touch with them and get them connected to this so um to qualify for the grant panel I'll talk about a little more later basically just had to have had adversely in your life and at first becomes in many shapes and sizes um so with that we're going to provide 5 000 Direct Services two members from Brown County who are in need of services that don't have the finances for it whether that's no insurance or insurance that just doesn't have a mental health pretty common so the grant is a total of five hundred thousand dollars and we have 30 months to meet our goals we also kind of in conjunction with this grant received another grant that allowed us to put a full-time mental health person in the jail she is trained as a community corrections officer but her entire focus is meeting up inmates and connecting resources so a little bit about the grant team our grant managers she's the also the manager of the Centerstone office here at Grove County so I'm sure some of you have seen her but she's just going to keep us on track for goals make sure that we're making meaningful connections within the community and that we're using the money responsibly um Dr Sandy Washburn is an awesome part of this Grant and which is also the sbl coordinator I think for the schools um so some of you may know her already but she brings a lot of the science with her to her presentations and helping us understand kind of the inner workings of how trauma and adversity affect us and also how we can come back better increase it in our community so she's the one that will do most of our of those 500 contact presentations I'm part of the child and family team as this case is silver and we are providing the brand services to children and their families and we are doing that for mentoring through connecting them to other resources life skills we're hoping to eventually start up some support groups peer support groups and um other learning opportunities big parents as well just how to handle the stress and parenting in a way that's healthy for parent engagement and then our adults who is currently supported by the other Grant but she will this grant will pick up her position after that Grant collapses um so she is currently working every day in the jail and she meets with inmates does an intake with them to find out what their needs are and um what their story is how they got here what's missing what can make things to really be more productive so she has already been able to connect a few people with Recovery Services with the acting services and patient treatment and she's working with a larger criminal justice system as well to see what options are out there and she also is connecting them to Services have been released and we're making more and more connections with her help and the child and family team to meet up with kids of parents who are incarcerated trying to start breaking some of those cycles that happen sometimes um so part of that also is Melanie tub now and she is not housed in the jail but she meets with inmates frequently and does the services with them Mental Health Services life skills connections and resources and she's also doing a lot of work to understand how our community approaches um those that are involved in crime in some way and just seeing how we can coordinate better and have it so that people are not returning to jail frequently and they're giving the support that they need to become the productivity we all want something so Dr Allison Halland is also an IU professor and she's going to be doing our evaluation of data management so she is going to just help us make sure that we're tracking in a good way what we're doing and the impact it's having on the community because we're hoping to continue this beyond the 30 minutes we're already having a lot of success with this we started in September and just the amount of people we've been able to see and serve that we weren't able to because of their financial barriers and amazing so and then we had some interns right now we have Evan and he just kind of helps us with meetings and clients so to put that all and I need that inch what are we who are we serving different children we're focusing on children that have had it at first and again at first he was very very their parents have divorced or their parents are addicted it's just a wide range diversity runs the game and for adults we're focusing on those that are either incarcerated at this kind of incarceration or frustrated and again there is to help try to try to reduce recidivism and break some of the cycles that when there's um so the flexibility of the grant allows us to address gaps in accounting and then we don't have to bill an insurance company or where they have kind of stipulations on how often where do you consider them and all those things so with this grant we're able to move about more in the community and of people um and everything is assessed by an individual basis which is great so there was a study in the late 90s um it actually kind of started with someone looking at obesity and it grew into a study where they really get this picture of like a shift of thinking about what causes a lot of the mental and societal health and well-being issues that prevent us from being productive or good Learners or um citizens and they found that the roots had occurred that the roots could be traced back to Childhood in many cases when kids are exposed to stress a lot that actually changes the brain development of the brain chemistry and that carries through without intervention without understanding without support that can carry through to problems happens so this just shows kind of the realm of the thirsty in the tree branches up here we have things that happen more so thank addiction mental health issues in the community you know if we have lack of affordable housing or substandard scarcity and things like that and then there's also environmental factors that bring about adversity through natural disasters and foreign experiences are common um most people experience some adversity um and there is a difference I'll just touch on real quick there is a difference between Shadow and adversity and adult adversity because of that brain development that's happening education know very well how important that is so we know that it increased risks of multiple health and societal problems it can be intergenerational can be passed down there's been a lot of good studies coming out lately that show you know even changes so and you know if parents are scared of dogs you might be scared of dogs it's not all in the Bible in those things and they're finding more and more connections between the childhood adversity and public Health experience all right so again Sandy Washburn is the contact for if you want a larger presentation on this topic for understanding of what bases are and how that applies we are hoping to touch every sector of the community um because it just what we hope to do is change the frame of looking at people as you know what's wrong with you and instead ask what happened to you or what's your story what preceded this event for these behavior issues so the p is just as important and that's the positive and that's what those of us working on the grant are really trying to build in the individuals to work with and with the community so things like their their abilities belonging you know you don't feel like they belong here are they supportive do they have an adult or a peer group that they feel like it really belongs to um we know in our community that spirituality and church is a huge factor in a lot of people's lives and a huge support in any way and so that's why we just want to touch so much of the community so there's a better and to leave you with a couple of things that like you can think about and how you can interact with others um is just making sure somebody feels that's important hope you see someone who doesn't seem connected or whatever you know you might reach out of hand um because one thing that helps with the protection even with adversity and they will help you um Community reciprocity so you know kind of like the old can I borrow a couple sugar thing but in a more Modern Way and then social riches so reaching out out of your comfort zone and bringing others in our ways now because the adversity versus the positive is kind of like a scale you can have a lot of adversity as a kid but if you also have a lot of supports then you're on a better trajectory that if you have more adversity than so forth so we're hoping to see an increase in community understand root causes of many of the struggles that I could the kids and the adults you know in our community and also what we can do as a community to support families and support individuals and Recovery support individuals who are coming out of jail for whatever um increasing Community Care and capital we're trying to build that now with connections between partners and thinking of ways that we can still catch the SE elaboration on the systems increased belonging so we're hoping that all of that will reduce the effects of that experiences and in a couple Generations Maybe reduce adversity as a whole you know foreign each other um so again for workshops you can contact Sandy and then if you have a kid or a family that you think could benefit from some services understanding then you can send that through our um manager Amanda Canard I will also leave some business cards and you can contact me as well so um I did delete a slide because I saw some kids in here some things that the original Ace of study looked at was like like physical view of sexual abuse addiction separation from parents things of that nature mental health struggles within the family so any questions again sorry to follow up with the cute kids but congratulations yeah it's really um it's really exciting my background of course really great it's been just amazing I have one years ago just to see how much the community really just need to support the Wellness Coalition and Recovery communities like it's just amazing so Brown County's got a lot of classrooms thank you for the time thank you so much questions and rested [Music] you have a second a second and good luck yes tonight so therefore motion for vice president Carol was a nice question any discussion roll call Carol yes thank you yes yes Mr Perry thanks to his secretary uh nomination for secretary okay uh I nominate Victor Garden I'll second in the session second yes okay any discussion local Carol yes maybe yes yes Deputy Treasures Joe Ray and Kristen Pruitt yes yes yes but she carries next is a motion for a corporate um treasure our corporate attorney sorry dominate those caps it's like a second discussion yes yes recording secretaries second any discussion yes and then I just want to make a a reference that um is starting with letter D the corporation Treasurer these are not nominations they are recommendations from the superintendent so just so you know this is their position and it's not necessarily a nomination it's it's the recommendation so it's okay gotta do it all together spread them I also have the recommendation for the meeting date and time for board meetings um as listed if an executive session is needed um it will typically be at 5 00 pm and a regular session at 6 30 pm on the first and third Thursday of the month time any discussion I thought since 5 30.
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