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whereas on June 29th 2023 the committee noted with sorrow the passing of Mr Thomas Stoll and whereas Mr Stahl has served the Board of Education and the children of Clifton faithfully and condition consistently in a as a value member of the maintenance team during his 20 plus years of dedicated service Tommy insured our school facilities were safe functional and conductive to learning Tommy Tommy will be remembered for his warm and appreciate approachable nature his kind and helpful demeanor made him a beloved figure in our school community now for it be resolved that the resolution be forwarded to his breathed family to serve as an expression of great Regard in which Mr snow was held by the board and and to the Board of Education the Administration Employees and pupils of the city of Clifton and be it further resolved that the contents of this resolution be noted in their entirety in the official minutes of the Clifton Board of Education to Future generations to pursue can I have a motion on a second on that please motion by Mr rajabo second by Mr Mejia roll call please Mr abidrabo yes Miss Miss bassford yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motion carries uh Tommy truly was a a hard-working and dedicated employee um Tommy did most of the painting for the district he was our head painter and our schools looked tremendous after uh Tommy painted those the classrooms or the exterior or any other areas so uh we send our condolences to his family and thank thank his family for Tommy's hard work over the years okay we'll move on to uh administration of Education Administration we have uh ea1 through ea10 move to move it hi Mr Rob javo second by Miss basford is there any discussion seeing it on roll call please Mr abadrabo yes Miss bass yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motion carries all right next we have uh C Personnel we have p we have P1 through P36 move it I miss Mr Robert Javas I can buy Miss basford any discussion seeing none roll call please Mr abadrabo yes Miss basper yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes philipstein on myself and I am 33.
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you may use your internet social media to answer questions provide information to the public to solicit information uh within the board's jurisdiction you should not use digital icons thumbs up uh care emojis any of that when responding or reacting to a board member's post and you should never respond directly to a board member's post on social media okay so um I'd like to go to slide number 20 now what is not a meeting okay um so the brown act tells us uh that whenever um a majority of the members are doing certain things that could constitute a meeting under the brown act and um that could lead to problems the brown act also tells us what is not a meeting under some circumstances so individual or contacts or com conversations between a board member and any other private individual that are not part of a serial spoken Hub or permitted or prohibited Social Media communication that's not a meeting so you can still talk out talk to reach out to your constituents there's nothing in the brown act that prevents you from doing that it's when that when a board member involves that constituent or that third party in a Serial communication or as a hub or spoke in a communication that becomes a problem okay um what about individual Communications between board members and staff um the brown act actually carves out an exception for that and it says an employee or official of a local agency May engage in separate conversations or Communications outside of a meeting with members of the board in order to answer questions or provide information regarding District business if that person does not communicate to members of the legis to other members of the body what a what the first member's position is may be on an issue so let's say if you have a question regarding the district's budget and you know it's going to be discussed at the at the next board meeting there's nothing in the brown act that prohibits any or all of you from talking to Mr Chang about your questions uh together information about that item but none of you should share that information that you receive for the conversations that you have with Mr Chang with each other you shouldn't put it on social media for sure uh and Mr Chang likewise should not be discussing his conversations with any of you um with the other board members okay what else isn't a board meeting and this is slide 21.
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Mr Santiago yes but abstain on C30 vice president Danny yes but abstain on my name only on um 33p gotcha president Smith yes motion scary and I uh specifically would just like to [Music] um point out uh p12 um a near and dear good friend of mine um and a dedicated and hard-working paraprofessional in our district for a few years um I'm so happy uh and congratulate you uh Linda White is in the Room Linda congratulations on your uh your change in status it is so well deserved and we say congratulations to you [Applause] now don't think I'm rude for not asking Linda to come up to the microphone but she would take my head off if I asked her to come to the microphone so um we'll just leave it at that but congratulations all right we'll next move on to uh finance and Facilities we have a F1 through F16 moved move it Mr Robert Java second by Miss basford is there any discussion um yeah I just would like to um thank the donors that have made a donation to our music Angels uh program um Mr Paris could probably talk more about it than I can but um um members of the public uh donate um an item of an instrument that can be used by our students and it helps tremendously because these these instruments are so expensive and to put that burden on families is is rough so uh anyone that makes a a donation to this um that's what it's used for correct Mr Paris so we thank the donors that have made Their donation to uh to the music Angels program um I think we have a two violins coming in I think of this donation so we thank them roll call please Mr abajabo yes Miss basketball yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes and president Smith yes motions carry okay we're gonna move into board member comments okay what month are we in July so it is um Mr abajava thank you president Smith uh even the summer students are still doing phenomenal things congratulations to Jamison and Renzo um it's great to see that we're still honoring students doing even during the summer time for their great things um led by Mr goza we're always doing an amazing job every month day in and day out with shining stars every single month it's a great thing to see great thing to do some facility upgrades I know there was some chatter uh I saw on I'm actually meant to call you earlier um by over by School 17 some people are illegal dumping um if we could talk about just the garbage dumpsters that out there and what are we doing to prohibit that yeah um it was brought to my attention I guess there was a social media post yeah and that was brought to my attention by Mrs basford and Mr Paris um Sunday night approximately 10 13 p.m a pickup truck it was actually School 16.
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attendance by a majority of the members of a legislative body attendance by uh members of this board at a conference or similar Gathering open to the public that involves uh discussion of issues of general interest to the public an open and publicized meeting organized to address a topic of local community concern an open and noticed meeting of another body of the district an open and notice meeting of a legislative body of another local agency so for example this board could attend all five of you could attend a meeting of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors or the city council an open and notice meeting of a standing committee of the board provided that the members of the legislative provided that the members of the board who are not members of the standing committee attend only as observers or you can all attend a purely social or ceremonial occasion in all of these exceptions to the definition of meeting um it is a requirement that if three of you or more are present that you did not take that opportunity at this other event other occasion to discuss programs or business or of specific nature relating to the district so just because you're elected as a member of this board doesn't mean your Civic engagement and involvement for other agencies um has to be terminated you can still attend you just can't talk about things going on in the district okay so um going on to slide 22.
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said school 17. okay but at school 16. pulled up um took three four minutes dumped a whole bunch of stuff out into our garbage cans and left we have it on video we've made a police report and hopefully that person will be dealt with appropriately so I would discourage anybody from trying to do that it's not not very wise they're going to get caught they're going to get fined and and if we have the opportunity we'll be pressing charges and that's why we have a great leader at the helm um which leads us to my next thing so you know Dr Robert Ozzy um is a phenomenal phenomenal leader he's a caring individual who I think not only brings that into his from his personal life into his professional life but you know gives each board members in digital attention when needed is great with parents phenomenal with our students great with our staff and I think nobody can ever argue with that he has led us through some um rough times I'm just going to say with coven with other opportunities in the past couple years and I think he's done a great job and you know this district is great to have him lucky to have them um I think only three of us on this board were here when actually you were hired at the time and I'm glad that the rest of the board all nine of us um support you in any way we can you are a great CEO of the district um and you know like I said for the next five years hopefully more we get to have you um I don't know you're still young I don't think you're going anywhere no of course and everybody's gonna have their time to talk about you so so Danny Robert Toady show we're just little characters in it uh other than that yeah this district with Dr arbitozi it's Administration uh it's staff it's a great District to be in you know somebody who's growing up in this District who has been in this District um seen from what it was to what it is and I think as Dr barbatosi said there's still a lot more growth and as Miss Salama said there's so much more to do and the person looking forward to it hopefully um the next couple years and and beyond that so congratulations Danny and uh just lucky to have you brother thank you Miss password yes uh good evening everyone happy summer uh thank you to all the speakers that came up here tonight um I'd like to just highlight the two pbsis showcase students that were awarded uh Jay Mission and Renzo and um so full disclosure Renzo is a part of the praise group and uh he's come a long way so kudos to praise and what they do and um just the just the Accolade that those two students Got Tonight coming from that you know the world of helping other people you may have changed lives for the far into the future that you've touched these children because their Outreach is going to be continual okay so as commissioner abadrabo said that there was three Commissioners on the board when we did the interviews for our superintendent search it wasn't easy it was long nights we had many meetings there was a lot of personalities in that room but we came together for the betterment of the group um we to say that there was dysfunction prior to Danny getting here is an understatement and I can tell you because um my oldest is 33 I started getting involved with Board of Education meetings I think when she was five or six we started coming because that was what HSA did they would assign somebody and tag I was it so it would come in the back of the room and watch the meetings and there were some really questionable things that used to go on and um I have to tell you that leadership has changed the communication is unbelievable you know some days when I get those pings on my phone it's from you or one of your staff members I kind of cringed to open it up because I don't want want to know what it is but then I go to it but it's the constant knowing and being reassured that it's going to work out and things are being handled which is makes me as a 12-year board member relax because I know prior to that we didn't get anything and we would either hear it at Stop and Shop or ShopRite or we would be at the bank trying to you know do our Banking and somebody would stop us and it was really awful because you would hear these stories and you wouldn't even know what was going on and you're an elected official on this board so thank you for that when when we interviewed Danny there was a whole cast of characters that we interviewed it was it was just and the characters in the room were equally as as we we did our job though and Danny stood out above above everybody he came with a presentation he blew us away he was organized but the thing that got to me he kept on talking and he looked straight at me about communication and when you made eye contact because the other ones the one lady couldn't get after off the first question I don't even know what happened to her but it was awful hours we spent hours and we came up to a good decision and that is probably in the 12 years that I've been here and the things that we've accomplished and the faux pas that we've gone through I think it was one of the best decisions that we made it was hands down it was unanimous but we came together and that board did not get along at that point and we all agreed so we made the best decision so I thank all the previous board members for making the decision I thank my fellow colleagues for making the right decision Danny you are attentive to us you listen to us even though we have wacky things that we come up with sometimes but sometimes you say to you'll say to me when I come up with an idea you'll look at me and say wait a minute I'll get back to you and you you tweak it and you get back and and it grows and I'm I'm proud to say it's good you have 17 months to work with me I have a lot of ideas I I have to hit a couple things over the summer with you um because they've come to my attention especially in the special ed World um but I know that if I if I give you that seed when I turn around and you put the cellophane over the little seed bucket and you let those seeds just mature and they start to they start to germinate and then they sprout and then sell the things off and when I turn around there is this great big thing that's the proud that I am because I know that we all talk to you and we all give you little things here and there and then you take that little thing and you make it what it is everything that you've touched has turned in to something Grand but to watch you talk to those two young boys tonight I've never seen that come from a superintendent while I sat in this seat you make that connection where you change their lives and that's what I'm proud of for making the decision for putting you in that seat it was a no-brainer so thank you for being here thank you we have a lot more work to do it's only the beginning remember the seed has been planted I got the cellophane over it because that's what makes them grow faster but we're going to do good things and I thank all my fellow commissions good luck to you and tell your kids to relax it's all good all right good night thank you everyone have a good rest of your summer thank you to everybody that came good night thank you uh Mr brunsiak thank you president Smith I want to give a shout out to all the kids enrolled in our summer programs and all the parents that helped me and to the administration for help making that happen I believe tomorrow is the last day uh it's it's tough for some of the kids they don't want to do it it's it's about three and a half hours a day a lot of these kids need it whether it's PSI or just extra summer programs at one of the Silas um it's it's so fantastic to keep your mind moving there are a lot of distractions out there and a lot of poison out there and and they have an opportunity to stay away from it as well for these programs so congrats all the kids are going to wrap it up tomorrow and I hope all of you enjoy the rest of the time you have for this summer also uh congrats Dr Robert tozzi well deserved um not many people with your caliber Talent Stacks so I had no problem with that whatsoever and I just want to thank everybody else I I stopped by School 17 a couple of weeks ago because I used to play baseball there back in the day probably about 35 years ago and now School 17 is there so time is uh things have changed in Clifton I'll say that but it's got air conditioning over there and as far as I'm aware of some of the rocks that are in the actual weasel Brook they're still there from 35 years ago so I showed my kids well the other kids went up there go take a look at the same rocks that were over there and uh these miniature boulders they're still there I mean decades later so it's a testament to the growth of this city and uh I mean we needed it there's 11 000 we got presentations tonight ten percent of our district uh is ell so we need these extra programs and thank goodness uh the business administrator's office much of it is covered by title one which the feds pay for which thank goodness that's the least they could do based on the 42 cents that they give back to the entire state of New Jersey for all the receipts that they get from the income taxes that that the citizens pay uh so so we're thankful for that as well so thank you to everybody in the Ba's office keep up the good job over there and anybody else if you don't come to the next meeting I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody thank you Mr Mejia um I first like to give my control my condolences to the family of Tommy you know I didn't um get to meet him but from what I hear it was a great person to work with and even a better employee um congratulations to the two students from PBIS and I also like to say you know I'm lucky enough to inherit Danny you know like you guys were saying before you guys all voted him I wasn't fortunate enough to be here when he was there but working with him this past half year has been tremendous you know I kind of look out up to him as like a mentor and all that and sometimes you know I text him about little things here and there and he's always you know willing to give an answer right away whether it's you know in five minutes five hours so it'll always get me an answer um I'm looking forward to you know 10 years 30 years and 40 years you know when we're the number one ranked Public School in New Jersey you know telling stories about oh back in the day you know so I'm just waiting for that day you know I'm not waiting to get old but you know when the time does come I'm willing to tell those stories saying all back in the day you know Danny it was a great superintendent and all that but thank you and have a great night to everyone I hope you guys have um a tremendous summer and hope to see you guys back in school in about two months thank you thank you um Mr Paris thank you Mr Smith uh thank you to the public uh we heard from a taxpayer heard from a teacher we heard from a great student uh we heard from a lot of the board and uh this is to uh your kids Dr Robertos um this commissioner is very happy that we have you here in Clifton not only are you a great communicator even more important you're a great listener and you're approachable you're accessible and care first and foremost about the students in this district and and our staff as well and we really appreciate that and we hope we have you for a lot longer than five more years everybody else have a great summer thank you Mr Santiago thank you president Smith um congratulations Dr robertozzi hopefully the junior robertosies you can explain the difference between abstain and know but I look forward to continued success um I just hope everybody's having a great summer uh I want to say um to miss Ray golsa thanks so much for your pbsis your efforts with that program we see it time and time and again with the students that come up and the teachers and everybody that uh we present um and it's awesome to see Jameson and Renzo being that example we know that has like a ripple effect on the other students so um I just look forward to continued success with the pbsis program and thanks to those students um yeah I want to keep it short just hopefully everybody's having a great safe summer oh my first graduation it was awesome um and I hope all the students are off and running um but yeah thanks so much have a great evening thank you Dr Danny so yes I'd like to say condolences to the stole family to the to pbsis students congratulations and again it's always just nice to see students who are really excelling just you know at um being involved in trying you know trying to help out to do something good I think that's always you know nice it's nice that we are recognizing that um Dr Robert Ozzy so in my time in my district I have seen five superintendents and um I have to say that the ones that were really really liked they it was just something about their personality that I see that you have it's just um you know when to be firm and then you know when to be a little soft and I do know that board members I mean we could be a sea of egos and you do know and you have that Talent on you know and it does I think take a certain amount of talent from what I hear you know again other superintendents say to make your way on that boat in this sea of egos without getting overturned sometimes um so you know because you do work very closely with the board members and you know that that is difficult so I I do have to you know commend you on that um and I do remember when we were in our search and um well I liked you right from the minute that you brought in that little piece of chocolate you know that was that was great um that was that was key I was waiting for it on your second interview but it did not but it was okay I mean I Let It Go um and you know I I think that um there were so many issues before you came along and the one thing that you did was that you just like grabbed a hold of all the complaints um and one by one you just tackled them especially when we were you know working on our mission statement and you really were looking at you know what is the community saying you know what are we saying like what what is what is really that Clifton is looking for in a school district um and I think you know you really got everyone up to par on I mean even before covid with technology and trying to move that forward and so you know I I always say that you just kind of remind me of like your uh say counties your Passaic County but you're like a Bergen County Superintendent you know from all the ones that I've seen and the ones that have been really really great um you just you do you do a really fabulous job and I think it's a testament even to see that you know you have um the president of the teachers union you know and you have you know coming up and saying that that she has you know this relationship with you and I think that that is very key and is very important and that you had you know again a student and I'm sure that there's many students I mean just hearing that you know you like to be involved and work with the students and I think that oftentimes a superintendent that's the part that they lose touch with as you get higher and higher up and the fact that you know you are keeping in touch with the students um and you know the I think that that's really key it's important it gives you a pulse on what's going on in your District so I hope that you stay um longer than that um you know I am glad that I was part of that search you know and and seeing you you know being here and getting you know your additional years five years and I hope like I said that you um you know in in good health and everything that you continue you know to serve this District past that time because you truly are an asset to the district and you're welcome and everyone else just um enjoy the rest of your summer students staff faculty Administration everybody just you know as much as you can rest and you know in September just hit it hard because that's what it always feels like that's it good night so yes Dr Danny you mentioned um the president of the Teachers Association uh any superintendent that can uh that got her elevator uh at Columbus is gonna be a winner in her book so uh so again I don't want to um continue to say the the same things over and over again um but there's just two things that I I have to uh to comment on so when I was thinking about coming on back on the board I served on the board of education from 92 to 2006.
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so uh you know the brown act tells us a lot about or it gives us the rules about how the district has to conduct its meetings and the role and responsibilities of individual uh board members in that but so who then is really responsible for making sure this all happens and um it's the board president of course um you become the primary uh uh um police officer of the board uh of conducting the meetings in a way that is compliant with the brown act and that's in your board bylaw 9121 and it says that the board President is responsible for calling the meeting to order announcing the business to come before the board in its proper order enforcing the board's policies relating to the conduct of meetings and to help ensure compliance with the brown Act uh by uh being the traffic officer in directing the flow of conversation uh ruling on issues of parliamentary procedure uh putting motions to a vote and being responsible for the orderly conduct of all board meetings that's in your board by law 91-21 all of those items those nine items responsibilities fall in one way or another with uh you know within the brown act uh in terms of conducting an open and transparent meeting your ball your board bylaws put that uh put that responsibility on your board president your board bylaw also says that if the board president is not present then that responsibility falls to the vice president um and if the vice president is not president then it falls to the clerk interestingly uh your board bylaws provide for both a president and a clerk it doesn't provide for a vice president's position but historically and as a matter of practice this board has elected a board vice president at every uh organizational meeting in every December for as long as far back as I can remember so but there is a reference to the board vice president in board bylaw 9121 so that's the role of the board president you're bored bylaws and this is 9005 which is the governance standards also impose some of you know these Brown act obligations on each of you as as board members so under your board bylaw um all every individual board member shall keep uh confidential matters confidential um that relates not just to District business but it relates to anything and everything that happens in closed session closed session is absolutely confidential and it is on a rare occasion when closed session Communications um can be released or can be disclosed in public one of which relates to the commission of a crime if they're if a person has a good faith belief that a crime is being committed but by and large I would say that closed session Communications are considered sacrosync sacrosanct under the law they just almost impenetrable to get those and so I would just uh encourage you all to be mindful and to avoid any discussion whatsoever about what may or may not have happened in closed session and what may or may not have been said or what one person's reaction may or may not have been on a closed Set uh session item also as I mentioned um only you know uh post session deliberations could be made up like only a vote and we just said a good thing accusation yes please under the law as it stands well it portion of the district attorney it would have to be a report to law law enforcement whether it's a district attorney or or a police or a sheriff's office but there would have to be some reasonable basis for believing that um within the context or within the confines of the closed session that a law was being broken and so you it could not be sheer speculation it would have to be based on real evidence of what people said or did or shared out of closed session no um so if there is a law that is being broken um let's assume that there's an agency where a board in closed session is deciding to uh spend dollars District public monies in a way that is clearly not authorized a board member could take that report um could make a report with law enforcement that they believe that uh public funds are being misappropriated in that way law enforcement would take the report and then would conduct its own investigation but that portion of the law is meant to protect the person who has a true good faith uh uh belief that a law is being broken now if it's if it's based on just rank speculation no evidence whatsoever then there and at the very end of this uh this PowerPoint um you know violations of the brown act can constitute a criminal defense they're misdemeanors but they could be charged as a criminal offense so and we have recent examples yes yes Santa Clara City to be more specific I was trying to avoid that but um yeah the thing is that it's always hypothetical until it's not that's right individual spaces of series issues and that's one of that's uh you know that it's a great point but yeah it is it's absolutely absolutely worth mentioning that um these prosecutions do happen they're very rare but they do happen so what is it about balancing the public to HML yes right with the decision that the information is moving from a confidential to the open setting anyway I think that point about react to the board and not as individuals yes is so important because power can be well right and and that really goes goes to the point of you know how does uh how does the board Act um really under your bylaws it says that the board acts by a majority and then through the board president to the extent necessary to implement or to communicate that action um but it never rests with any individual member of the board outside of the board president unless the board takes an action delegating that specific responsibility or standing to another board member and even if the board were to take that action that would have to be agendized it would have to be part subsumed within an agenda item to do that so um okay so those are the governance standards on on slide 23 you know the board shall operate openly Brown act issue with trust and integrity and govern within adopted policies and procedures and your your policies and procedures actually incorporate in a very detailed way all of these Brown act requirements okay um so I'm going to go on to slide 24.
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uh so when I was thinking about coming back onto the board um of course people said that I should have my head examined and all those things but one of the reasons that I wanted to be back on this board was because of this man and I had only met him a few times but I heard his vision I heard his enthusiasm and this is a true story Dr robitosi can confirm it I I said to him you know I'm going to run for the board and the reason I'm running is because of you um I think that I can work with you and I could give my my uh my experience and my knowledge and uh to the district and um I'm so happy that um that I did run um and that were seated here together and um I know I know Miss basford didn't go into it in in detail but she could tell you that districts around the state are superintendent now they call it hopping jumping um so they hop around until they can find the the best district with the most money and um and why we think that Dr robitosi is worth a lot more we wanted to at least be fair to him and keep them here in Clifton not hopping somewhere else not wanting to go somewhere else and again I'm sure initially he didn't come to Clifton because of the money because he could have gone to many other districts and made more including his old District but he saw something in Clifton he saw what our town is like that people come out and support education they're behind education they want our town to have excellent education and many people have different reasons why they want that a taxpayer will come to me and say I want good education in this town because when I'm another 20 years when I'm selling my home I want to have a big price tag on that and people won't come to a town that doesn't have good education I don't think anyone would argue that but when Dr robitosi took over we weren't there some people will say we're actually in a deplorable condition and the people that were here at the time that searched for superintendents and let me tell you it's not an easy not easy task I remember when I was on the board and we were we did a superintendent search and we had this if you had a second I'll just tell you this little story we had this nice little lady that applied to be superintendent of Clifton and she was superintendent in I think East Stroudsburg or somewhere like that and um she said to the board well in my current District I make a pie for each staff member for their birthdays so I want to continue to do that here in Clifton we said to Our Lady you be making pies from the minute you walk up to the meal you went to sleep okay my point being Dr robitussi Clifton not only chose Dr robitosi Dr robitosi chose Clifton and we are so thankful and grateful to him and he came on roughly just before the pandemic he had talked about increasing communication but in no way did he Envision that he'd be hit with a pandemic that required him to come up with a plan to make sure the communication was met during the pandemic and what was his plan to make sure every kid in our district had a Chromebook every kid in the district to have a Chromebook so that and every kid who can't get internet we enabled them to get internet so that every kid in our district could communicate with their teachers throughout the pandemic that happened because of Dr robitosi Dr robitosi not only took us into a pandemic he came up with plans with his administration on ways to get us back out and get back into school then he came to the board and said I have a great idea there are so many things in this District that need to be upgraded and one of the things is the the bathrooms the bathrooms in our schools are deplorable some of them over 100 years old he came up with a plan to have those bathrooms upgraded and by the time this project is done every bathroom in every school will be upgraded and brand new because of his vision he also came to the board and said well for me to do all this stuff I'm gonna need 168 million dollars so we went to Mr russi's office and he shut the door hmm he came to the board and said guys you know can you I just need to check tomorrow for 168 million are you good and we said no we don't have that we don't have those funds the only way we can make this work is if we get the community involved and show the need for the items we had in the referendum and the town came out and supported his vision the town came out and saved Mr Russi by writing the 168 million check by approving the referendum and Dr robitosi is now going to stay here and be here as our superintendent to see these projects finished at the time of our 168 million dollar reference approval we were the highest one in the state I think now Toms River has a 380 million or something like that Cherry Hill anyhow his slogan of one Clifton truly resonates in this town today we have a board that works together for the betterment of the kids we have the public active in the education we have home in school Association presidents and members so involved in the process so involved in the process that we put a committee together for it that Dr robitosi envisioned and came up with this idea and I could spend here all night talking about the accolades and the accomplishments that Dr robitosi brought to Clifton but he will tell you as anyone else he couldn't do this alone and he needed all of us to stand behind that logo to stand behind what that means and I got to tell you to this day when I go to the high school specifically at night and I see that sign over the gym I can't different just throw a blank of what it says home of the Mustangs that makes me so proud makes me so proud that we are part of the District of Mustangs we should all be proud of that be proud of our education or process here in Clifton be proud of our staff our teachers are Paras everybody working as one to make it work and I'm so glad that this board saw that and agrees that we need to keep him around so Dr robitosi I thank you not only as superintendent but as a friend thank you for all you have done for Clifton's kids absolutely thank you so much okay we'll move on uh and everyone enjoy the rest of the summer I say the rest of the summer it's uh it's just uh college kids are getting ready to go back to college already um the Midwest schools are already well they're back to school uh commercials already happening um I don't know if ours have started yet um but it'll be here before you know it so enjoy whatever you have left and prepare okay let's uh sorry gotta go back to my all right do we have any uh new business any new business before the board okay uh the board will be uh going into executive session we have a contract matter we have Personnel matters and uh is that it uh no yeah so uh no action will be taken so the board will adjourn the meeting from executive session um so we thank you all for coming tonight and a motion to go into executive session I'm Mr Paris second by Mr Mejia Mr Smith can we stay in here if we shut the door I think it's more comfortable they've all set up in there don't they yeah okay damage in there we're gonna go in there right because all of the food isn't there yet roll call please Mr abadrabo yes Miss basford yes Mr Brunswick yes yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motion carries um [Music] um exactly
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and this is going to be a little bit more of the nitty-gritty but um you know I started thinking about uh you know regular meetings versus special meetings study sessions because I think I've seen this issue coming up more and more recently um in other districts that I work with as well so there are different requirements for regular meetings versus special meetings versus study sessions which is what this part of this meeting is today you know and as an example uh if you look at the meeting agenda for today it says special board meeting agenda slash special board study session so we're treating these as two different things and there's a there are important reasons for this and the reasons really relate to the notice that you're communicating to your public what may or may not happen at these board meets okay so let's start with the regular meeting there on slide 24.
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a regular meeting by law this body this board is required to set a schedule of meetings for the next coming year and I believe you do it in either December or January but you set a schedule of meetings you may adjust those meeting dates as the year goes on but you do set a schedule of meetings for the year those are your regular meetings um there's a lot of different import to that uh to that title I mean there are some things under the Education Code actions that the board has to take or hearings that you have to hold that can only occur at regular meetings uh Mr Chang has a list of those we you know we've had to talk about it in the past um but and again the idea there is if if the public is following this board it sees that it's a regular meeting schedule then it's communicating that only certain things or certain things have to happen within the context of a regular meeting so the public can stay more informed and look at Agenda as as they're getting placed um a regular meeting agenda has to be posted uh at least 72 hours in advance of the meeting if it's not posted within 72 hours in advance of the meeting then it's not a regular meeting agenda item it might be a special meeting or it might be a study session like we're talking about here to uh like we're doing right now okay so let's talk about the regular meeting you have to have the agenda the agenda has to contain a brief General description of each item to be transacted or discussed at the meeting including closed session but the law also says that the description doesn't have to exceed 20 words um every agenda for a regular meeting has to provide has to include an opportunity for members of the public to directly address this board on any item of interest to the public that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board okay so um you you always have a public comment section on your agendas and um the on your regular meeting agendas and [Music] um anybody anybody can is allowed to come up at that time and to make any comments about anything of interest to the public they're not confined uh to what's on the agenda no action can be except in certain exceptions no actions could be taken on any item not appearing not appearing on the agenda okay uh slide 26 ever since um for every school district that has had a website uh you have had to post your agenda on the district's website and more specifically it has to be um uh it has to the the district has to provide a direct link to the agenda from the home page and you have done that as well so that's why at the top of your website I think you see there's a button that says current agenda that takes you to the agenda right there all public agencies are having to do that now so um slide 27 what is a special meeting so a special meeting is anything that's not a a regular meeting or a study session like we're having right now um special meetings of the board can be called at any time by either the presiding officer the president or a majority of the board members except that you can never hold a special meeting regarding in either open or closed session regarding the salary salary schedule or other compensation of the superintendent assistant superintendent or other management employees of the district it's a relatively recent I would say 10 years ago change to the brown act because there was a many districts would agendize uh employment contracts for special meetings and the legislature decided to get rid of that and again it was the idea of the public knows when a regular meeting schedule where it is and what it is and you can find these types of agreements to regular meetings that's that's uh that promotes transparency so the special meeting can be called by the board president or by a majority of the board the fact that a majority of the board members get together to decide whether or not they want to have a special meeting isn't itself a violation of the brown Act if three members get together and say I want to call a special meeting because I want to approve this vendor for this project and that person gets two other board members on board that is a violation of the brown act because you're developing a concurrence to hold a special meeting to approve something in the decisions being made out of the public eye the way it would have to happen is the three board members or a board members says I think we should hold a special meeting to consider the award of this contract period that's it so you have to be very circumspect if you're anticipating or are you thinking that you might want to uh that you think that a special meeting might be necessary you just have to be careful in how you approach your fellow board members in setting that meeting um for a special meeting at least 24 hours notice is required and that means that the agenda has to be posted at least 24 hours before the board meeting once you have the special meeting you can only discuss information I'm sorry items that are included on the agenda no other action can take place and again as I said you cannot call a special meeting to discuss or even consider the salaries or salary schedules or compensation to Executive Management in your District doesn't matter if it's closed session or if it's open session okay next slide is 28.
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um study sessions Retreats public forums and discussion meetings so this is your board bylaw 9320. and this says that the board can occasionally convene a study session or public forum to study an issue in detail or to receive information from staff or feedback from members of the public I've seen this more most frequently in the last few years in relation to the preparation and approval of the lcap districts hold additional meetings to discuss the lcap but in a study session or public forum context in other words the board and staff want to get more information from the public before the uh official hearing and approval of the lcap and or budget the board can also convene a retreat or discussion to discuss board roles and relationships you've had Retreats I think for almost every year for as long as I've I've known these meetings are not regular meetings so they are handled as special meetings in terms of the notice requirements which means that 24 hours notice is required for them even though they're not regular or special meetings per se they still have to comply with the brown act they have to be held in Open Session they have to be held within the district's boundaries um you know you the board can't have a retreat in Santa Cruz because Santa Cruz is not within the territorial jurisdiction of Alum Rock and then as to retreats in public forums uh the um and study sessions um your board by law states specifically that there can be no action items as part of that special study session or sorry study session or Retreat and so again that's why this was framed as a special meeting and as a study session special meeting closed session and a study session for purposes of today okay um now I've said that you have to agendize things in advance depending on whether it's a special meeting regular meeting study session um there are exceptions to that um sometimes emergencies arise and so uh you can there there is a way to do that that I'll talk about in a minute when emergencies do arise to put something on the agenda at the very last minute okay um turning out to slide 30.
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circulation of meeting material so this has been a recent uh uh addition to the law it's more in the in the nature of a clarification so with the and this relates specifically to regular meetings of the board so if there is a writing that's a public record and what that means is that it's a record that's generated by the staff by the district related to an agenda item for Open session at a regular meeting and it's distributed to all or a majority of all of the board less than 72 hours before the meeting then the district has to make the writing available for public inspection here at the district office or whatever other location the district may decide to designate and then the district shall list the address of the office or location uh designated on the agendas um in terms of where uh folks could see those materials so we've done it in the past for things like the budget and the lcap we've posted the address but this is now a more it's a more specific clarification of what's required to comply with the brown act in the past I believe we've always posted it on the agenda immediately at the time it's distributed to board members and then made it available uh here at the district office as well and again that's that's a relatively new clarification in the law okay public comment slide 31.
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uh as I said earlier every agenda for a regular meeting has to provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the board on any item of interest to the public that's within the subject matter jurisdiction of this uh of this District special meetings are different um special meetings you would still have the opportunity for public comment um but um but it the board can limit it to only those item that item or those items that are on the agenda um for discussion at that board meeting that's it so um you doesn't mean that you can't have that public comment if somebody wants to comment comment on something that's not on the special meeting agenda it just means that the board can restrict public comments on a spec uh at the time of the special meeting um slide 32 with respect to public comment at special meetings or regular meetings uh the board can adopt regulations limiting the total amount of time allocated for public testimony on particular issues and for each additional speaker I believe this board has done it you place a cap of 20 minutes on any individual agenda item and two minutes per each additional speaker the time for public comment as this District does this board does then by law you have to provide at least twice the allotted time to a member of the public who uses a translator so if you have a let's say you have a Vietnamese speaking uh person who is at your board meeting V or use you you provide translation services they use the translator and your time limit is two minutes that person automatically gets four minutes uh the board can't prohibit public criticism of your policies your procedures your programs or Services of the district or of the acts or omissions of the board of the district that's First Amendment issue embodied in the brown Act um members of the public have the right to come into board meetings and to record uh audio record uh or um uh video record a board meeting or take pictures you cannot prohibit that from happening unless unless or until it's causing A disruption which I'll talk about shortly um and you can't restrict the broadcast of your open and public meetings uh in the absence of a reasonable finding that the broadcast cannot be accomplished without noise illumination or obstruction of a view so in other words and I think I've seen it at this board meeting in the or these board meetings in the past and at other agencies sometimes people will come with phones or iPads and they will broadcast a meeting live on Facebook live or some other platform unless they're obstructing or somehow interfering with the with the conduct of the board meeting you cannot um prohibit that or limit it okay slide the Edco tells us that the governing board acts by a majority of all the membership constituting the governing board so sometimes words will say I only have three members present today so does that mean two members can pass something for the board the answer is no the law is very clear it's a majority vote of all of the membership constituting the governing board since you have five members any action always always requires uh three members you cannot have any secret ballots whether preliminary or final so for example when you have filled vacancies on this board you rep and you take straw polls to narrow the pool of candidates those those votes are never secret they are read out loud okay page 34 I'm sorry slide 34.
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teleconference of teleconference meetings of the legislative body Okay so uh let's go back to pre-covered uh pre-coverage uh this board public agencies could hold teleconference meetings where one or more members were in a location different than this boardroom or where where the other board members are present they could do it through electronic means either audio or visual or both the requirements were that the meeting agenda had to be posted at all teleconference locations so in other words if president Farm is going to be in Washington DC at the time of a regular meeting but you want to participate in the meeting we would have to post that agenda at least 72 hours in advance of the meeting not just here but at the location you're going to be at in Washington DC this is still the law um the teleconference meeting your your portion of the meeting and and to CL and to be very specific it has to be posted for 72 hours continuously at your location in Washington DC so sometimes there are practical limitations on how this will work but it's happened before we've had members who were in a distant location for an extended period of time um that has to be posted the the teleconference meeting has to be conducted in a manner that protects the constitutional rights of the PA of the public who is attending your meeting um the location has the specific location has to be identified in the notice and agenda of the meeting and each teleconference location has to be accessible to the public doesn't matter if you're in Washington DC or Saskatchewan Canada it has to be open to the public this becomes an issue when sometimes people go on business and they stay in an area that is not uh open to the public it could be a resort it could be a hotel with security and they want to participate from the room that does not work it has to be completely accessible to the public during that teleconference at least a quorum of the members of the of the board have to participate from locations within the boundaries of this of the district so if Mr Farm is in Washington DC uh and another board member is in Saskatchewan Forest the the remaining three members have to be participating from here within the boundaries of the district um the agenda also has to say that members of the public have the opportunity to address the board from the remote locations in other words if I want to go to Mr Farm's hotel room um or another board member's tent in the Saskatchewan Forest I have to be I have the right to do that the reason this becomes unwieldy sometimes and especially in the past is because if a board member was sick and wanted to participate telephonically and they were at home in bed legally they had to open up their house and their bedroom for watch their recovery so a person can participate in the in the board meeting and then finally all all votes had to be taken during the teleconference meeting by roll call always always not just closed session but Open Session as well okay covet hits and we all know that the rules just didn't apply anymore because they weren't written for pandemics really and so um it was a learning experience for everybody uh the governor the governor was issuing a a series of of emergency proclamations and executive orders uh and things seem to be changing every 15 or 20 minutes literally for a few weeks there um now the legislature is finally sort of coming to grips with all this and so there is a new way by which teleconference meetings can happen are there several new ways um one of them is um a board can hold a teleconference meeting without complying with all the requirements that I just walked you through if it's held during if the meeting is held during a proclaimed state of emergency and uh and state or local officials have imposed or recommended measures to promote social distancing um and the board is holding the meeting for the purpose of determining whether as a result of the emergency meeting as a result of the emergency meeting in person would present imminent risks to the health or safety of attendance of attendees and or that as a result of the meeting I'm sorry as a result of the emergency meeting in person would present imminent risk to the health or safety of attendees this is really this exception to not having to apply comply with the teleconference requirements really is addressing the pandemic situation that we you know we're now still coming out of and where there has been a proclaimed state of emergency so I think what the legislature was trying to do is saying okay covid covet may have been a one in a hundred years event but who knows it could happen again and this is a way for us to be prepared so that public agencies can respond immediately if there is a proclaimed state of emergency and especially uh Public Health crisis there seems there is a yes so the board would have to make these findings every 30 days um and I think the idea there was um you know I think early in the pandemic again information was moving so fast nobody really knew whether these things should have been done by executive order by legislation and I think this was sort of a compromise the 30-day requirement fires January oh yes yes there so so uh the legislature recent likes to do this they like to have one version of the law through one period of time and another version of the law that starts on uh uh January 2nd 2024 I just didn't include that here that'll be part of the next Brown act update at the end of the year okay um I don't want to get into all of the requirements if you do that because I think there's um there's really a more important one or one that you're might be likely to use um in the near future and that's really that starts on uh slide 39.
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so the other reason Brown act amendments also allowed for permitted telephone teleconference meetings and again teleconference including zoom and Microsoft teams and all kinds of different video platforms and and telephone platforms um without having to comply with all of the requirements about opening up your house and doing all of those things um so um and in other words and these new exceptions only apply or they apply when there hasn't been a proclaimed state of emergency Okay so again no state of emergency is required a board member May participate remotely in a meeting without meeting the requirements in slide 34 that I just walked through for just cause or due to emergency circumstances okay so an individual board member can now participate remotely without having to open up your bedroom while you're recovering from the flu or opening up your hotel room or your tent wherever it is but only under limited circumstances let's talk about just cause first just cause is that the the board member has to notify the board at the earliest opportunity possible including potentially at the start of a regular meeting of their need to participate remotely for Just Cause and the member has to include a general description of the circumstances relating to their need to appear remotely at the given meeting a board member can only use a just cause remote participation two times in any calendar year just cause is defined in the statute and this is on Slide 40.
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so the board member can use a just cause excuse or or reason for appearing remotely in the event of a child care or child or caregiving need of a child parent grandparent grandchild sibling spouse or domestic partner that requires them to participate remotely a contagious illness that prevents the board member from attending in person a need related to a physical or mental disability that's not being that can't be accommodated or while the member is on traveling on business of the board and the district um in another state of this board or of another state or local agency so uh and I think that takes into account that uh you may be employed by another state or another agency okay so that's just cause the other one is emergency circumstance so remember just cause you can only use two times a year two times a calendar year for an emergency Circumstance the board member has to request the board to allow them to participate remotely due to emergency circumstances and the board has to take an action to approve that request so the board has to request a general description of the circumstances relating to the need to appear remotely um the the description does not have to exceed 20 20 words I don't know what the magic is about 20 words um and it doesn't require the board member to disclose any um any medical diagnosis or disability or personal medical information you just have to provide enough information to your fellow board members that you are facing an emergency circumstance um that requires your remote participation emergency circumstances also defined on pay on slide 40 at the top and it means a family or medical emergency that prevents a member from attending in person so since this emergency circumstances are not agendas how is that built one to four is going to go through I'm just wondering right because it's an emergency we get a call you know right before the board meeting I talked to the world president somebody has an emergency but they want to participate so um what the law says is that the person who is making this uh request has to make it as soon as possible or as soon as reasonably possible at the earliest opportunity possible that means that sometimes it may be right at the beginning of the meeting and that's okay the law says that if that's the case and I think what the law assumes is that the other board members will ask you know will do their due diligence say okay when did you first become aware of this situation if they say three days ago then that's not an emergency circumstance so is that conversation yes all of it is an open session a phone call right that you know I can't make it so that phone call is gonna become public is to yes maybe those that assessment of whether or not to Grant yes right in public absolutely yeah she just wanted to I'm trying to Envision this should be good if it's not an issue you know because it happens it's a board member I don't know got it 24 hours so the board member can circulate the request in advance of the board meeting to all of the board members the board members just can't discuss it until the meeting starts and you're officially in Open Session so board member a sends an email to everybody fellow board members I tested positive for covid uh early this morning I am going to request that my that I participate remotely uh as an emergency circumstance and I will make this request at the beginning of the meeting and then you all are present that person joins the meeting by telephone and says I'm requesting to appear remotely because of my emergency circumstances and then the board takes the vote it's okay that it happened 24 hours ago but the board members should really you know when they have an idea if you think you might have to do this don't be shy about reaching out to me um to help walk you through this but you should really inform your board as soon as you have a reasonable idea that you're going to need to do it yes and it also says that the word shop provided economy means by relationships okay so the circumstance of New York there's the emergency circumstance it feels like There's A and B and Jeff Cobb could be emergency we're like travel would be usually yeah I'd like it to apply under judgment yes so travel definitely would not be an emergency circumstance just looking at the definition of emergency circumstances it doesn't apply to T but not but A and B could be so I want to be remote under emergency so just cause of course because of what what constitutes just cause under the the definition is much broader than emergency circumstance but remember there's a limitation on Just Cause remote participation and that is you can only do a two times a calendar year [Music] that's right and you you what you've been having used anything that maybe you used to then you got to bring it to the board or yes yes yeah so yeah for example in that situation and that wouldn't be exclusive what was it three one three total cars in one year um yeah no it yeah foreign because it's it's not a no it's not an emergency circumstance because it's not a physical or or medical emergency that prevents you from attending there's a horoscope name you can't get well that's not a physical that's not a personal physical injury that's a damage to the car yeah [Music] but with that you know and it was three in a row in one year so with that be executable it and I still have all of the photos just in case that they were told as long as it involved medical or phys or medical issue or physical injury I would say it fits under the definition of emergency circumstance um I don't see it fitting under the any of the other ones for uh just cause yes don't have a limitation there's no limitation one there is a limit there is a limitation I was just trying to find no more accidents okay so if you turn to page four or slide 41 yes and it's the third it's the third bullet point and what it says is that um these Provisions don't allow a board member to participate remotely for a period of more than three consecutive months or 20 percent of the regular meetings for the board within the calendar year or more than two two meetings that the board meets fewer than 10 times per counter you you move you meet more than uh 10 times per calendar year so you wouldn't be able to use that for more than three consecutive months or 20 percent of the regular meetings that you have let's say you have um you meet once a month um 12 regular meetings yeah so uh 13 so 20 what is 20 uh 13.
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um but really it's it's three consecutive months so you might have been able to fit in that okay but that said there is a limit there's a separate limitation that applies to this one as well legislature was trying to do was they recognize how complicated things got with covid um and trying to accommodate all of these different situations um but fortunately or unfortunately we ended up with a really long statute and a lot of different carve outs and and ways to request this so but I think the good news is is that um there are these exceptions now that allow under certain circumstances remote appearance without having to post the agenda at your house without having to agree to open up your home to people to come in all of those things it's just that there are only limited circumstances foreign last year last last game no no it was middle of last year um I want to say around July I could be wrong um so um there are additional requirements for this so if a member takes advantage or or utilizes the just cause or emergency circumstance to participate remotely um these are the requirements the board member has to publicly disclose at the meeting before any action is taken whether any of any other person 18 years of age or older are present with them at the remote location with the board member and the general nature of the members relationship with such person so this is so you know that requirement to me is designed to make sure that people aren't just using these exceptions willy-nilly to go to Hawaii yes before any action is taken foreign [Music] um the the board member has to participate through both audio and visual technology and your camera has to be turned on I want just one thing now I I'm a fan of in person needed but I do understand I mean right so they actually thought about that so at the end of slide 43 .
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in the event There's A disruption that prevents the board from broadcasting the meeting to members of the public using the call-in option or internet-based service option or in the event of A disruption within the district's control that prevents members of the public from offering public comment using the using either of those options the board shall take no further action on items appearing on the meeting agenda until public access to the meeting via the call-in option or Internet Internet option is restored any actions taken while there has been a disruption are specifically subject to challenge under the statute right uh so basically this is basically saying you know we're going to just be at recess until the power was stolen yes and that's true that's a great that's a great uh Point that's true even if four of the members are here in the boardroom and there's an audience your boardroom is packed but you have a board member participating remotely and there's an interruption in the internet service um you have to stop that's it until everything has been restored the president of the board would just saying that there's been a disruption to more than yourself who's participating by public conference at this time of the Lord shall we assess until the you know internet or mobile half hour or yeah yeah and that's true I can just add one thing real quick that's true because as a condition to allowing a member to use the just cause or emergency circumstance basis for remote participation once you allow that for a board member you have to allow that for the rest of the public so the public now can say I don't have to be there I can participate remotely because member uh Farm is doing it and the board has to allow me my opportunity for public comment remotely on a real-time basis so once I interrupt once that is interrupted it basically shuts down the meeting yes it does you do because of the possibility of where you want to ensure your internet yeah that was going to be my question I guess we're coming back to it then if there's an emergency and we're in the beginning of a meeting I would say um wouldn't we have to have something set in place like well as fate would have it you do actually because you you broadcast your meetings over Zoom over YouTube oh so you don't have a zoom link anymore oh um yeah so you'd have to put something in place very quickly so the work will be able to deny this is possibly so your requested it is so the board would be able to deny the emergency circumstance request yes so like all right um to accommodate or to comply with laws yes accomplish ment so the board to the important action to allow that to happen um the board would be interested and that would apply with for just cause too because remember just cause doesn't require the board's consent but where I was going with this is that if if a board member participates under the just cause exception you still have to allow public comment and participation remotely as well and comment on a real-time basis so if you don't have the capacity then it doesn't seem like it would ever happen to to make that change like that all right so that ability only needs to be provided from where that board member is publicly meeting unless it's completely contagious no it has to be that that that opportunity for remote participation has to be provided to the public as well not just that board member so in another participates on Zoom public comment would have to be allowed yes all the public comments wherever people are at yes yes yes and our emergency circumstance how do you just like let everybody know what the zoom is you could post it um on the district's website okay I mean the way we were talking about it could be at like 6 31 and we decided it's not a perfect processarily so you do so you do webcasts over YouTube so you could post it on folks would hear it on YouTube or you could somehow put a slideshow it says for 10 minutes yes but I mean it opens up and it's like we're willing to open that up yes emergency yes based on that emergency okay so so they're they're I'm glad we had this conversation there are um so if you look at the requirements for Just Cause And emergency circumstance meetings they're on slides 40 41 42 and 43 so it is there is a long list of of what the board if the board decides to allow remote participation all of these different things that would have to be done and and it's I think the general rule is again transparency and access and fair play if a board member gets to do it the members of the public get the opportunity to do it as well so it's getting late so I won't walk through all of those um any any other questions on that I would say that's been the really the biggest change in the law I think in the last year or so um those requirements and I've I've helped a couple of districts work through it and allow it um when the when the just cause or emergency circumstances were met it's not impossible but it it's you know it's a little challenging at first okay um slide 44 real quick under the brown act all of your with very limited exceptions all of your regular and special meetings have to be held within the boundaries of the local agency um and then um slide 45 um how does the board take an action on an item that is not on the agenda um every business every District every agency that I've ever worked with has had to use these processes at one point or another so one of the ways to do it is sometimes emergencies happen so uh and there has to be immediate action that is authorized by the board and so let's say you have a regular meeting and that afternoon a uh a transformer blows out and um destroys classrooms or something like that and has created a toxic substance situation and you need to address it uh immediately um the the board can hold an emergency meeting without complying with the 24-hour notice requirement um in the case of an emergency situation which means a work stoppage crippling activity or other activity that severely impairs public health safety or both as determined by a majority of the members of the board majority says yes that that is a public health situation um and so you can you can have you can take that action without meeting the 24-hour notice requirement the other uh the other part of this would be if there was what's called a dire emergency which means a crippling disaster mass destruction terrorist act or threatened terrorist activity I've never seen this happen in my years so thank goodness for that but really it's the public health uh and safety that would allow an emergency situation yes nature of Crisis yeah um and then there's another way to do this but on which an action could be taken on an item that's not on the agenda and it's What's called the need for an immediate action and so the board can take an action on an item of business not appearing on the posted agenda Upon A determination by two-thirds of the members of the board present at the meeting or if less than two-thirds of the members are present a unanimous vote of everyone present that there is a need to take immediate action and that the need for the action came to the attention of the district subsequent to the agenda being posted so the board would have to decide I'm sorry would have to establish on the record in an open meeting or at the beginning of the meeting that there is a need to take an immediate action and why is there any a need to take an immediate action and then the need for the action didn't come to your attention until after the agenda for that meeting was posted so it's sort of two different options one requires emergency uh emergencies are required board majority and then the need to take immediate action requires something more than a board a majority so there is there are ways to take action the point of this is that there are ways to take action on items that are not on the agenda but there are only very narrow circumstances and really deal mostly with emergencies um slide 47 is about um actually uh for the rest of this it's about a closed session um and uh just real quick um the board is allowed to meet in closed session only to the extent expressly authorized by the brown Act has to closed session items have to be agendized if there is no exception in the brown act for discussion in closed session then the discussion has to take place in Open Session generally speaking closed session discussions are designed to preserve confidentiality Personnel issues negotiations litigation litigation strategy that's really the overarching theme if you turn the page uh slide 48 um you know the brown act tells us what are the general permissible categories of closed session discussion they include litigation real estate negotiations public employment labor negotiations student explosions and state audit reports and threats to Public Safety as well but these are really these six bullet points here these are really the most common that are used keep in action I'm on slide 49.
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if an action is taken in closed session then it generally has to be reported out at that same meeting um generally there are exceptions to when a report out is made and other than the meeting in which the action is taken I've already talked about the confidentiality of closed session information and I've already talked about how um closed session can only include uh staff essential to that discussion um and then um the last real section here this is a new law as well or a recent laws on slide 50 has to deal with the conduct of meeting and removal of disruptive persons um the one option is that if a group or group of persons uh render the ordinary the orderly conduct of the meeting unfeasible and Order can't be restored restored then the board may take an action to have the meeting room clear and continue in session the board can take that action the new the newer development law is that the board president May remove or cause the removal of a person disrupting a meeting provided that prior to removal that disruptive person was warned that the behavior was disruptive and that if they failed to stop being disruptive then they would be removed from the meeting and again it's the board president who exercises um that Authority and that's a that's a relatively new addition to law as well then you know who exactly would would divorce person direct such adversed please use in those circumstances where I have seen a disruptive meeting uh the usually law enforcement is called to remove somebody they may need arranged or that um we should have a uh on a San Jose's climate on call yeah can I ask about um public comment um and disruption human public comment I've seen where if it's not on top that if it's not on the engine it's not related to the agenda item and it steers toward a personal attack is usually in a remote situation they can be if they they're warned and they don't redirect they can be you know muted or disconnected Yes except that remember it's only for special meetings where the public comment has to relate specifically to something on the closed session agenda if it's a regular meeting then the public has the right to comment basically on anything within the dirt the district's business jurisdiction especially item six right and then yes disruptive or nasty or whatever they can right it should be about it yes and so the the board president as the person who is responsible for for running the meeting can make that call and shut that person off and say nope that's that's item six so you've had your time but it's an item too General you know that's the pretty yeah but it can't be yeah threatening yes yes and yeah they use our regular platform to talk about the warrior training events we clearly have no joystick moment so that's right at that point you can shut them down that's right all right and then uh just random cussing yes yes yeah that's part of the disruption you know the board and the board president's right to control the meeting to avoid disruption or to prevent further disruption to the procedure I just didn't remember that the white supremacist yes I have a question uh I know that now that we're all here we still call each member when we vote I know we started doing that after the pandemic when we were remote are we able to go back to I mean all of them yes you're you're only webcam you know you don't have to do wrong um but I mean in real time right as the pandemic yes hitting people were not um there wasn't that the board meeting right before the schools closed people were working on my level during the social media right and so we have to right and so like we literally had this stand up and you know putting the people apart right and until they saw that action right now that everybody follows that right so it was it was it's never been removed it is yes but okay yeah it's fine I mean I think that there are advisabled people on very emotional and you never know right thank you um and if you have any other questions you know feel free to send me an email or give me a call Hop it up figure out you know what what the particular she might be yeah it does especially studies thank you
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welcome USD 264 stakeholders parents patrons staff and students I want to introduce myself I'm Jason Johnson I am the superintendent for Clearwater USD 264 and here's our first volume of Clearwater Clarity from August of 2023. so I just want to introduce myself I am come from a family of Educators this will be my 22nd year I've been in education I grew up in southwest Kansas it's been a good majority of my life there growing up teaching coaching and then also being an administrator as of last week I've been married for 24 years I have two children 19 and 17. my son Caden is will be a sophomore at Garden City Community College participating in baseball and then my daughter Corinne just turned 17 and she'll be a senior and she's going to continue her last year of school at Holcomb High School I am extremely passionate about learning and one thing that I preach each and every day is we're going to get one percent better each day and then in my spare time or what you may call for fun I love the opportunity to get out and officiate basketball I've been doing that for 14 years was privileged enough last year as you can see in the picture to be able to work some games with my son and get him started in the officiating Pathway to give back to schools and give back to student athletes so here's just a little bit about me and my employment history and where I've come from so I started out as a business education teacher my first teaching job was just up the Roadie and Cheney and then had the opportunity to work at Bueller and Deerfield as a business educator as well while moving back out west to spend time to be closer to family and also to coach football with my brother at Holcomb high school starting in 2006.
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high school district and the purpose of today the purpose of today's today's media and forum is to be able to address some of the concerns uh our community is facing some of the challenges our community is facing as well as some of the next steps um I want to thank for everyone that is going to be watching us virtually as well part of our friends that are in person I also want to thank the support for all the players that have taken the time and energy to reach out either via email telephone and also to address some options and how we can address the challenges that we're facing for our transportation department I also want to acknowledge and highly appreciating all the families that have looked at the video update that we posted 340 families have collected on the video and on Facebook in 248 on Tick Tock so I highly appreciate your support in staying out today with information that we're providing you all and for child protection I want to give you an update more or less of what's going on um we have a large Fleet of buses and Equipment unfortunately based on the equipment that I have inherited as a superintendent uh part of the equipment setting of based on the preliminary review of the equipment seven of the buses well we're in great conditions the six of our very good conditions terrible need a repair in for their art of permission or going to be Arsenal and in part of this equipment as a result of this review of equipment we have together we have put together a committee to start as early as February to see what options we have for this school year and I want to take and acknowledge the members of the community the community that has supported us along the way and including board members directors at administrators and members of the transportation department and um as early as June 19 that the community felt very comfortable with information that we had before us to be able to move forward and provide Solutions uh for the district um what are we looking for is uh to be able to provide more drivers um look in and compare are we within a competitive competitive wages and looking at how uh what additional trainings our department can benefit from how we can increase the efforts of recruiting and retaining mechanics upgrade our systems for transportation including communication and also based on the options what it would look like if we were to partner with one um One Transportation Company and one of the ones that is interested interested in partnering with us is inline and also what it will take to buy additional passes and rent additional equipment so based on all of this information before us um we have not only every single month looking at all the possibilities to the term of how we're going to do once again the information and the options that we have we keep it in mind number one that we want to keep our bus drivers we want to keep our team number two we want to continue to grow our own as much as possible and we want we wanted to remind the if our our employees want to continue working under us um even if we find with other Transportation companies what that would look like so at least I want to acknowledge and think at this point my transportation department even though we have a large breed not a lot of equipment um has been ready to be deployed and we are doing a lot with what we have um one of the greatest challenges in this at this time I also want to invite the community we have the potential to have 40 of us drivers and we manage it with eight bus drivers that um in in an effort to comply with the needs of Transportation um we have in our bus drivers to come in and pick up the kids and living cells and those students are living cells are going distributed and then they come back and they get the rest of the students and we're having to transfer them in in some of the schools to be able to manage with paid drivers uh having said that I mean but in the community we are in in in a search for bus drivers and bus aides so if you know anyone that would like to partner with us a new part of our team and please come and talk to us please join us that way we can provide that support um by having additional drivers what does that do to us um either also have not only more additional brows but also decreasing the amount Old-Timers schools are on the bus so more students spend two hours some of them are a little bit more than that um being still the shortness of bus drivers we have but yes it is too close that we're trying to accomplish um by looking at our options number one um it's been a good meeting with job quotation uh we're looking at what would it looked like if we were to partner with the the another transportation company is known as v-line um and it will allow us to expand expand our net on bus drivers um even though we've been posting for bus drivers for not only months for a couple of years we have not been successful in in bringing more bus drivers but but partnering with the transportation company they will not only allow us to borrow or or um rent service drivers that will also provide the additional mechanics that we need to maintain the equipment that will also be able to provide not only training but on that manager that will be able to bring the the transportation the partner the department to a whole more updated level um our bus drivers once again they doing the best they can and I I believe that our drivers based on the equipment that they also have they have been over bumpers who set up immunity um to be able to update the community we have the opportunity to send a letter a video we have done some protocols and this is part of role in a with a community rolling out the information with the community to inform them what have we been doing but also to listen to additional options that you may bring into the table our goal is that on August 8th um we we can bring to the government Board of recommendation of the committee and part of the recommendation is to support us in partnering with a transportation department so that we can have not only additional drivers traditional requirements but also traditional um the additional buses that we need we do not have the funding to replace a whole Fleet of equipment or buses all at once but it is our commitment that we will look and continue to invest in buses and at least two um this year and depending on the budget continue to replace the old buses with your buses every single year uh we're looking at the possibility of also selling the old equipment that will help us self survive and pay for new buses the the goal and and this one is gonna even though I like everything to go fast and to be taking uh or to be at rest in an expedited manner um I have to work as fast as the the vendors out there um it's not as easy to buy a car as as it is to buy a bus to buy a bus it takes about a year uh to give them an order uh equip it and bring it back good looking at some aggressive timelines that we're going to fulfill but working with all partners and having to not only um have two new buses on or free as a fleet as early as September but also to be able to rent so medicinal air conditioned buses as early as August 7th the week of August 7th part of the communication was sent out and I wanted to spend some time and it like I mentioned I want to make sure that the USD increases the bus drivers and so far we have interview for one more bus driver and we have we're hoping to complete that process uh before the board meeting and second one we're hoping to also if the Japanese war um okay so part of a b line but even if we don't go that route we learn who still wants to do business with us it is willing to support a shortage of bus drivers that we have as early as August 7th um like as I mentioned earlier it's we are committed in buying to additional buses and we're also going to be able to rent up to two buses possibly or depending on on the availability of buses are quality of those additional four buses will be air-conditioned again it's the big line the great team name will be as early as August 7th and having the Buc purchase will be as early as September uh but having to partner with an outside agency Transportation agency our goal is to we will have two full-time mechanics one is for guests um a gas gas mechanically the other one cities so mechanic um that will allow us not only to add equipment but to maintain the equipment and continue to repair early in the coming up for students and it's a drug dealers classes are safe um we're looking at the possibility of increasing household routes as I mentioned earlier right now we are experiencing local routes than usual in overcrowded us as uh more than usual due to the shortage of us drivers that we've had and we still want to comply with the need of our nation which is we need to transport students so they can have access to education in Curriculum by the ability to have an additional biasis and additional bus drivers that will allow us to wait strategically create arrivals not only to distribute within a sales but also external amounts and then our number one goal is to reduce the number of channels students are on the bus um some of our students that may not be the case because just if we were to have a car just for some of our students and they're they're still on the bus for at least one hour one way each day so our goal is to expedite their their route to make it as close to two hours by adding those routes the ability to partner with the Russell Transportation Company our goal is to increase the number of buses available for after school activities including games and also a bus for fans whenever we have some events and more exciting is we want to ensure that our bus drivers in our draft protection staff they are exposed to some of the best joining and continue to increase the customer service the latest technology and transportation the best routing technology and transportation but any other training that one of the great or big agencies job protection agencies can provide I also have a president two members of the committee I have been Sudan and president bordia and with your support I would like to also share Aubry president to the podium to share what the purpose of the the committee and what has been happening during the committee to address this issue if you don't mind joining me thank you sir stupid uh Juan would be here part of the governing board's responsibility especially is to try and support these types of efforts um a number of the conversations we've had specifically has been to make sure that not only our employees but the community understands that this is the effort that we're trying to put forth in order to really try to lead the need where it absolutely can be met at the same time we have to balance budgets and look at all of those things that are very important on the other side of how how we need the responses how we meet our responsibility fiscally especially but but ultimately um where those types of Emergency Response types of needs are are appropriate um I don't think anyone anticipated that you would have type of heat wave that we have right now I know that it is always hot during the summer and it is always always um where I feel like we we tend to understand that there's there is a need and then for whatever reason and I'm guilty of it as well we we look past it a little bit you know we'll get over it it'll be fine um and I don't want to ever discredit that a family member or or a child or the responsibility that we all have here to our students is never without thinking about all of those things all the time the the committee especially wanted to make sure uh in the experience that I have been on uh in the meetings is that we're protecting our employees many of them are community members many of them um know us and no other families and know the students to the degree that you know we don't ever want that to be threatened in any way uh there are a lot of different intricacies I think that the board and the committee need to be mindful of I'm really glad that the committee has been kind of really taking the standpoint in that in that sense so that the board really doesn't have to rehash those types of things um they haven't done it in this way before and I think this is the way that it should have been done part of the the conversation we have at the transportation this morning which is very important to legally asked you know what what are we doing wrong or why why are you bringing in someone um are we doing are we not doing it like absolutely not that is never what we thought you know they had done what they've had to do every single year because we've never had enough bus drivers and we have always had bus issues and they've always managed to make it make ends meet and to get the students where they needed to be um know what happens during the monsoon season when we know what happens during the summer time they know explicitly what to do how to do it uh what I told them is we failed you we are responsible for making sure that you have the most up-to-date equipment you have all of the necessary needs uh for every single moment that you have so this is not a question of us trying to replace Transportation it is holding I think ourselves to our responsibility to make sure that the best equipment is there that we're not providing self-tar service and that you all have the opportunity to be able to voice those things especially when it comes up but ultimately the superintendent and everyone else involved has been really pointed to to make sure that we're not introducing something that's going to not be beneficial to our students and to the district overall so I just really want to make sure that that's kind of expressed especially because I know that there's a lot of questions on why it takes so long or what why have you hadn't thought about it before I think that when we look at the overall and how much and how well the I guess how they've managed to to continue transportation to a degree that that we haven't really had to have this kind of discussion we knew it was on the horizon and I think we started to move as quickly as possible and then and then you know issues always come up so I'm grateful and I think that that overall uh what the committee will present to the board will be something that'll be be supported especially because those questions have been asked those those concerns have been have been really drilled down to you don't want to invite individuals in who are not going to understand that this is a community of individuals who all know each other who have family members who are we want them to have all the special care that we have from the drivers that we have who know who's getting off where and what they're doing that someone coming in as a representative of this transportation company or B-Line um understands that and that they're giving the right type of training to understand that you know the first person the child sees is the bus driver the last person the child sees the bus driver and we want you to have that same comfortability with them or with anyone who comes into the district so that has also been really drilled down um to just to ensure that we're not introducing something that's going to be harmful or or everything is scary when it's new but I'm hopeful that we're building enough of an understanding what the individuals who need to be able to work with them that they won't feel that way and that starts with drivers it starts with the community starts with you know everyone else that's going to be involved so I'm grateful and that's all I have so far North Carolina thank you at the second time I want to thank um the parents because I understand the squad was that our students have gone through this week and it's been extremely hard and you have made your your statements very clear and I appreciate you reaching out directly either the once again be a call Via message or even on messages on social media um I'm here to support you I want to highlight in reiterate how important are these issue is and this is one of my number one priorities as a superintendent I want to make sure that I address it as fast as all my other partners are working with me um some of it will what's expected to be completed you know in a long timeline but right now as part of the committee expectation is whoever we partner with that it will be able to then in an expedite manner support the needs that we have in the community this week anticipating also the giveaway bus driver was instructed to load the buses with extra water for students to be able to somehow support our students during the ride and we have enough water for the entire week if we need to extend the water based on the Heatwave we will continue to do so I'm also reaching out in in shouting out to the community that I need help um I need help in recruiting additional bus drivers who better than to serve a community than our own community members if you know anyone that is looking for a great opportunity I will stop by the office will be more than happy to support him not only during the application process if you don't have a past driver it doesn't matter help us be part of that training it's better if we also train you and we work with you if you feel that you don't you have the interest but you don't have the license to be able to drive a bus still come and see us we'll let you know what opportunity are available and while training opportunities are available so that you can become part of our team I want to reassure my community that I will make myself available if you need to come and talk to me via email in person um the telephone please do something I want to be able to address your own individual questions and if you believe between now and until we get the December drivers and bus drivers uh I mean buses and bus drivers if you feel that it will be best for your student if your time and transportation allow it I need support it up let me transport your students especially if you have any medical needs and until I'm able to resolve this issue on your behalf I do have a pair of some parents present are there any specific questions that you have or any suggestions please feel free to come forward thank you I don't have um specific questions I do appreciate all the information that you've given so far like I explained to you in my conversation I'm going to own that I think the the information is getting out I think it would have been a lot better having had this information before school started because uh like I also explained when it's coming from the kids and it's after the fact and then it's like oh well we knew this or we knew that and then it gets typical you know why wasn't where I went we told this I think it would have been better received have this information been known from the beginning but I do appreciate all the information that you've shared so far because it's really opened up the bigger picture and I do understand that things are not going to change overnight but I also think that they're used to be a short-term solution because I mean it's hot now these kids don't have okay well let's wait till September and you know it's understandable the kids that live here in the village they don't have heart to travel and it was probably you know 30 minutes and they're home from school depending on which school they go to but like you said the kids in the Villages those are the kids that are on the buses for over two hours and so I think those are the ones that are really affected by this situation I'm not too discarded you know the other kids or say that it's not the same for them because I'm sure they don't have the same thing um and in the winter it's the same situation I know that last year our bus or down south they were without a feeder so it just it's like in the summer it's too hot and there's no air conditioning and then in the winter it's too cold there's not here um but I think not all of these are a stepping stone a beginning solution to um you know address all those issues um I I don't know if job fairs are something that we have been considered in searching for bus drivers I think that would be a good um maybe something to do as to for the Outreach or events you partner with some of the Nations programs to see if they do have people that are interested in obtaining a CVL license or being a bus driver and maybe use out what kind of Suite the process along in finding solutions to that those are just my suggestions thank you and I appreciate your comments and and suggestions as well I do have one of the districts willing to step up for short-term solution so if I get more details I'll be more than happy to disclose that information but um I I am reaching out to some of the local districts and they are they're willing to partner to provide some [Music] Solutions as well so once there are more solid plans and in recommendation um I'll be more than happy to make those available and also um the some of the adjustments that we made um we were ready to hire um additional four drivers to help us as the Friday before school started unfortunately the Monday before school started that service was no longer a deal uh the the partner that the transportation company that we wanted to do to do this with um unfortunately was not able to provide the bus drivers that they report school started and in an effort to accommodate um that challenge we once again changed the schedule uh that is in this whole time on the day old school started to be able to accommodate um the buses that we have in the bus drivers we will continue to find short-term Solutions um and as they come forward um please stay tuned I will continue to send a video on RoboCop in in a letter to inform my parents as well from Solutions were we were able to come up with president just just to kind of because one of the things that we're finding as we're kind of diving more into it and the need that's available we need especially not is some of those doors are possibly moving um trading in buses that we have now but also but in addition to that in the support services that this company is going to be able to provide is really nailing down okay wherever those absolutely need to be because obviously but then as you mentioned within the community here there's probably a little bit less of a need to be very aggressive whereas those really long routes or down south are going to be where we have to focus on those absolutely need to be addressed immediately as opposed to being so but I'm really grateful that you're gonna do Transportation none of us do ultimately though this company is going to be able to provide that that robust type of understanding of not only where to put those things about how to really kind of focus that into and I'm not saying that we don't have that thing right now but the resources and the availability that they'll be able to provide is really kind of appealing when they came to how are you going to be able to meet this like you said immediately as opposed to down the lake which I think absolutely will be presented in the form of approval here's some of the planet incorporating all that Knowledge from the drivers and from everyone else in the community to understand that same way we have some of our other services outsourced so to speak like Food Services you know we do want them to be able to be understanding within the area but also provide that robust type of service that we just really can get behind and that really does provide what we need thank you I also want to point out a special shout out to one stop and we've been partnering with one star but have been able to work with us to not only to advertise that a shortage so we have the transportation about other positions and they've been working on getting one more uh person certified it's only waiting for the one person that's going to One Stop so we can steal it and keep it as possible with keeping the high school district and become part of the team um I'll be also available if there's any other agencies that I can work with I will make myself available and I believe Sergio had another common question uh so the committee yeah and so so from my understanding if the buses are on a commission or just the AC units the let me go back I guess the ones that are in the immediate concern affordable we're here for tonight is that correct some of the right now the buses that we have available um I believe only one has an air conditioner for all those buses the other ones um we brought some mechanics we outsourced about the mechanics and they're waiting for some parts to be a little uh to raise that air conditioning some of the buses um based on those buses once you don't get things Plus on the ones that we will be able to rent from B-Line but the ones that we're going to purchase we will increase the number of units that will have a world you know unfortunately um the the time frame that this has been addressed uh probably in the last year or so I don't know if the previous administration had considered some of these issues or if it was more of a what was kind of mentioned is what we'll kind of get to when you get to it depending how the situation plays out but also um it's also right now is the time for Community families to assist the school district and not just put the blame entirely on the buses because understandable uh understanding that things happen the bus could have a flat tire over the engine couldn't uh that um not be repaired so this is a time and this is a brief temporary fix for families and maybe uh maybe uh inconvenience to some because everybody has their own schedules in the morning and the afternoon well this is temporary uh we need to work together our kids enjoy sometimes riding with us because they have their friends they get to school earlier whereas uh maybe some students don't have that that option to um have a family member going into cells or you know wherever the workplace is at so I do hope that the community understands that this is just a temporary issue that can be resolved if we all work together and it's not just pointing the finger at the school district or Transportation because they've been doing their job and they've all been doing their job and we've been sending our kids to school transportation's been doing their part the USD has been providing um Community Services throughout the year so I do hope that the community does understand that let's not raise issues or point fingers or talk about each other or a community and that's where we need to focus on is short-term resolvement that's it and I appreciate the kind words um thank you two important words that you mentioned is this is an issue that is temporary I'd like I mentioned this is going to be one or has been one of my priorities since I became a superintendent secondly the best part is that it has a solution so this is going to be one of the headaches that is going to be temporary that will be able to solve um and if we all focus on the solution if we all focus on how to help each other um I'll be more than happy to continue to be a partner and the last thing that I know one of the options is well why why can we go virtually until the heat wave goes and and we can address that unfortunately that that is the last thing I want to do it is one of the options for a couple reasons I believe that you already have your children for too long and and I I want to be able to take your children's away from you because now they belong to us as this school year the school year has started you know children they have already um struggle enough being virtually they will do it absolutely we can do it this is the best thing for everybody temporarily maybe but it's not it's not uh the the number one solution um because also many other members many members of the community they don't have the benefit of staying at home and keeping the kids at home they also have to work so I don't want to now use their personal need or they not getting big if I if I if we go virtual I want the students in school my teachers want the students in school my amazing transportation department they were being bending over by us to be able to bring the kids back and take it back to school um I do take responsibility uh now I I respect what other superintendents have done where the priorities were um including having a great Primary School which is amazing um all of the upgrades or anything that has happened I I need to respect one of my predecessors made a priority now this is my problem and I need to address it and and I want to make sure the transportation it is my priority to ensure that my kids comes to say and we can send them back to you safe as well um um I have members of my transportation department is there any messages that you want to share with the community I just want to say you know we are doing our best to keep your kids cool you know it's a long ride it's hot you know the kids you know they're hot but we are hot just as well trying to transport them home you know we give them water bottles I have my eight going up and down you know missing and I'm trying to keep them cool anyway they can you know when the Sometimes some of these little ones they run out of water of course you know it's really hot and you know I I gave my water up you know I give it to them so that they're not hot or you know get dehydrated but you know this is just some things that we are trying to work out as well you know we're doing all we can and you know I think it's improving and you know um operations that had delivered all the water yesterday we have we just got a whole bunch of pellets of water that we were giving we're just gonna start giving out tomorrow but you know just bear with us we're we're trying our best you know that's all we can do is try once again I want to thank those are actually present um I want to again give a shout out to Metro protection department they do what they are doing Miracles and um I I am committed to continue to work with them and my parents in the community to be able to address this thing um stay tuned I will be providing additional updates um and if you have anyone any relatives that is looking for a job and have send them my work I will be more than happy to walk him through the process are there any other last minute comments or questions and if not I want to thank all of you and I want to thank everyone that is visiting uh watching us virtually and we'll stay tuned okay thank you everyone have a great evening and let's have the best year ever thank you thank you
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