We would love to have more support due to the size of our schools. Student needs now are greater than ever. So, anything we can do to provide that support will be essential. Thank you. My name is Linda Masterman and I'm a teacher at Marlton Middle School. Um, and I'd say about myself, one of the things about myself is I am stubborn and I don't give up, which is why I'm still here speaking, but we are tired. The teachers are exhausted. This is year after year after year. It ruins morale. It ruins the whole environment of the school. It impacts everyone. The young teachers who are constantly in fear of losing their jobs. The teachers that are in the middle and don't know what this long future looks like. The 20 more years they have to go till they can retire. And the old teachers like me who want to make it to our retirement in a positive way, making up impact on my students that I care about so much.
June 24th. So, we have our regular meeting on those months, but then you're adding another date. That is correct. That will give you four opportunities to expedite new hires. Okay. Is that also for new hires? Yes. 24th. Yes. Both um the 27th and and the 24th will be for special. Okay. Miss Yeah, that's fine with me. Retreat uh July 11th. Everybody open on July 11th from 8 to 3. It's on a Friday, right? How? Friday. Put us down. Just confir When is the leadership the summer leadership in June? June 5th, 6th, and 7th. June 5th, 6th. June, sat sun, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Oh, June. I'm sorry. Yeah, the pre-conference won't be able to attend. You're not going. The pre-conference is the afternoon of the 5th and then the 6th and then check out the seventh. So, we'll just let me know if you want to go.
All right. And, uh, I'm realizing that after each update, I didn't ask if anyone had anything to say or ask of everybody. So, for all those updates, does anyone have any questions or want to say anything? I love that calendar, Joe. That's that's really great and it addresses a lot of concerns that have been brought up. I think that's a great tool. Joe's been doing some great work with our principles. I don't know if people realize that the change that took over in MCCAST and how we have to make sure the bandwidth we have and that everything's operating and working, you know, and to have John all his students taking the MCCAST at the same exact time. I mean, and to have someone available at any time to make sure if there is an issue, they're able to correct it, right? Live. But this piece right here, we heard loud and clear from when we first came here.
It's about protecting the heart of our district and doing the right by the community we serve. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner B. Commissioner Brenak. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to give a shout out to everybody who came here personally to comment. It's It's very concerning to me what I'm all over this city. Um maybe not as much as Commissioner Ciano. We didn't have one person call in via Zoom and one person come in here physically to oppose a tax increase. It's it's mindboggling to me. You got a bunch of keyboard warriors out there. They scream at the world, then they post misinformation about our administration, about our colleagues on this board is absolutely unacceptable. to the city of Clifton, to my colleagues on this board, to the to the residents of the city of Clifton, to the staff that work for our district, I'm asking you to be courageous and I'm asking no matter what decision that this board comes to May 1st, I want to let everybody know that this administration, the top of this administration, Dr.
But we are exhausted because we have been doing this for so many years. And so I'm not going to give up because I'm not a quitter. But it is exhausting. Last time I spoke, I spoke about a grim future. Now we have some hope to bring our district back from the brink of disaster. I think the biggest impact on the students is the teachers. And that's my personal opinion. But as a middle school teacher for 30 years, I can speak best about the middle school. Our middle school will be destroyed if we eliminate the teams and we have class sizes of 33 students with teachers six teaching six classes equaling 190 students. Students will be negatively affected without the team time without teams of teachers supporting them in independent study. Large classes will prohibit conferencing, guided reading groups, and detailed feedback on their writing. There will not be time to give students what they need.
Okay. Uh registration's open the 15th. So, I got to get here super early so I can get those rooms because they book up fast, right? When do you want to know by ASAP? Yeah. Right now. I'll say yes. What was the 11th? I'm sorry. Go ahead. July 11th. July 11th. Oh, July 11th for the retreat. The dates open for me. Okay. You better feed her good. She's putting in leave. Unless they schedule a retreat or something. Uh the next one is the facilities walk through on July 12th, which is the next day Saturday. Yes. I thought that was a good idea. Or I just need 11 and the 12th. Um the if it's available um If I have those two days and then I can let people know in advance and what to prepare and how to prepare the agendas. Anna for I'm good. So you have staff coming in on Saturday.
I heard it loud and clear last night. People want that transparency. They want to know what's happening. They want to see it. Here's your chance. Sign up. You'll get all the alerts that are taking place after. Lori, would you make your social media updates on the committee's page? Would you make a specific one for this, please? For this? Yes. Yeah. Can I ask a question? Yeah. Sorry, Lisa. What's up? Oh, oh, um, so I actually because it just kind of came about um since I have this public forum and the um you know the interweb to um broadcasting. This is super exciting. It's a community event that is happening here at Tanto May 12th at 5:00 for the community. We our steam committee is has developed the Eureka series. as a speaker series and we are going to have and I couldn't even be more excited a the 2024 Nobel laurate for physiology and medicine and a person and um Victor Ambrose and Rosalyn Candy Lee who is his wife and partner in um research who developed or who identified micro RNA which is really cool um and I can talk to anybody about how cool that really is, but just this is an incredible opportunity for our community and it's for anyone in the community.
Roberts, Miss Cusvich, Mr. Mr. Jenaro, Mr. Shahada, they have my fullthroatated endorsement and u no matter what we have to go through, I believe we will survive it and we will get through it. Um, but it's it's got to stop. Make sure you know what you're talking about before you start punching those keys on the keyboard, before you hit that post button. I'm begging all of you to do that. It it gets me a little upset, especially when you're not posting information that's true at all. This board has been very This board has been very transparent about relationships that have that currently exist on our board and the administration. We've done everything in our power to make sure that conflicts do not occur within this. We don't that's the last thing this board needs. We want to have transparency. We're showing you the numbers. This is the second budget meeting we're having prior to the final vote on May 1st.
I know taxpayers do not want to pay more, but I also know no one wants a home in a failing school district where others don't want to move. This is an investment to maintain or even increase the property values of the homes in Marlton. In a perfect world, the state would have given us money, but that is not an option. Nor is it an option to decimate our schools by trying to run them on those preliminary budget numbers. There are no guarantees that if we take the full tax levy that it will be perfect. But I know if we don't take the full amount, we will be back here doing this again. And we are tired. We need to fix this now. So, please vote for this additional tax levy to preserve and hopefully enhance our schools. Now is the chance to save our schools.
If I know ahead of time we can plan. We have had all the Saturday and a Sunday. So this one I'm trying to use a Friday and a Saturday. That way they can have Sunday with their families. Okay. Anything else for future? If not, I do have one more request. President um the study session. I need to find out what what's a day that works for everyone. Um so we can have one hour to talk about a contingency plan for um how to support BIE schools. I am actually available next week if you guys have time. You're available next week? Yeah, I was going to go in trouble but that got cancelled every yesterday. So I am going to be around I can do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday next week evening. It'll be one hour. Yeah, one hour. Um, Tuesday looks promising on my end. Tuesday will be fine.
So, anyone, you know, from the elementary schools or just anybody who's interested in this um and there will be an opportunity for an ask me anything session. So, I think that's really exciting that we were able to schedule this. Lisa, can you repeat the date and name, please? Yes, it is May 12th at 5:00 at the Tanto Auditorium. It is the um Victor Ambrose and Rosyn Lee and they are um Victor is the 2024 Nobel laurate in Physiology and Medicine. They're both incredibly humble, brilliant people who just asked wonderful questions and it can be really inspiring for our young people whether they're six or 60. I can send you the flyer tomorrow if you'd like. Sure. And just to um follow up on that, Sally and I are working with the speaker and their their representative to find out if we'll have permission to live stream it on our YouTube live when they're here.
And I'm asking all of you to please act like human beings. Finally, I want to give my deepest condolences to the Bow and Diesel and Daris family on the loss of Trish uh who tragically passed away Thursday. Uh way too young. Um born, you know, she graduated Clifton High School, class of 86. Wonderful family friend. spent lots of Christmas parties with her in addition to other events, other charity events. Um, she moved back to Clifton in 2017 to take care of her dying uh mother-in-law and uh sadly she just lost her battle to cancer. So, uh to the to the Bentonistl and the Remis family who have strong lineage here in Clifton, please accept my deepest condolences. Thank you everybody for your time and God bless America. Have a good night everybody. Thank you Commissioner Braki. Vice President Santiago. I did not forget you. Thank you.
Please act to do just that. We will not get another chance like this. Thank you. I'm Kim Henson. I live on Meadow View Circle. I appreciate that we have this opportunity to get our district back on track and I do encourage us to take it. I understand it is an overwhelming amount, but looking at the proposal, this really does give us the ability to be exceptional yet again. No matter what you decide, the main priority needs to be keeping class sizes down and making sure that that is sustainable long term. While I know this is not a popular opinion, I am in favor of the full levy. However, as has been stated, where does it end? We need to have a plan for how we move forward together. As Dr. Smith said, the state isn't going to save us, so we have to save ourselves.
You'll be okay with what you need the time to get everything together or is it just everything you have right now in your present? Okay. This going to be an hour. Uhhuh. If everyone reads the contingency uh plan and ask questions in advance, um I do need um any additional areas that you want me to cover.
Cool. Um we just want to make sure that we have their permission to do it whether they want to allow it or not. I wonder if we can send that out to the towns as well. Yes, we have. Yeah, I've actually shared it with the both town libraries, both town halls, uh with with all the schools, for the newsletters, for the students, with staff. The item might be an idea, too. We're far out of Thank you. That's really cool. It's really science. Thanks, Lisa. Any uh anybody else? Anything for anyone? Oh, yes. Um, since more people are paying attention, can Joe, can I ask you what recently you've put Bark in on the computers? I'm sorry. Say that one more time. Sorry, I'm catching you a little off guard, but since more parents are paying attention, can you tell us what you put in on the computers recently with Bark?
Thank you, President Paris. I almost did. Thank you to um Dr. Roberts and Mr. Shiada for providing the the information. We're lucky to have them so that they can provide to the public transparency. They explain it so that our our public is informed. I want to thank the public for coming out. There were several Clifton Public School alumni who are living examples of our investment in our in our district. Imagine if they didn't have the proper funding when they were students. Um we had strategic planning sessions as mentioned earlier which were great. Some of the themes of the challenges were classroom space, more prek, more before and after care, bus transportation for all of our students, just to name a few. So, a lot has changed since our last meeting. An executive order was signed to eliminate the Department of Education. It's not just talk uh at this point.
But is this going to be the case year after year? I am proposing that Dr. Smith and the board agree to meet with a group of parent and community representatives early next year and throughout the year so that we do not find ourselves in this detrimental of a position last minute again. Please let us help you early. Please let us work together to help these kids and to support our teachers and the incredible staff that make their education so exceptional. I am also again begging for transparency. There is already chatter on social media just tonight about whether where is the guarantee that this money will go exactly where it's stated and here and not to a side project. While I want to believe that that wouldn't happen, the point is the trust is not there and I am passionately asking you to try and rebuild it and make that rebuilding a top priority.
um and answer any questions that you may have. Um and and that day um with your support, I would like to also invite to the study session um some members of HRDC that way they are aware of our intention and for them to ask any questions. So it for the 15th 5 o'clock 5:00 works 5 o' 5:30. Okay. 5:30 is fine. That's fine. Yeah. If they can't be here, let them call in. They need to not know what we're talking about, but we'll be here. Thank you for your support on that one. Um, I do have one more request. Sorry about that. I'm so hungry. I know. And it is um we have um a June 10th uh board meeting. I'm required to be um in Los Angeles for personal reasons on the 11th. So I the request um I guess that I'm asking is to see if we can um possibly move the board meeting for June either to the Monday the 9th or June the 3rd or June the 17th.
So, um, we installed an application called Bark, which is to monitor, uh, what the students look up on the internet through Google, Chrome. Uh it's every it's all tied to our Google Chrome. Uh not our Google Chrome, our Google accounts. So anything they do within the Google accounts, whether it's um Docs, emails, uh Chrome, if they're searching it on the internet, it's monitored through this application called Bark. And if it flags anything under bullying, medical concerns, um depression, um violence, and it even goes even further than that. So if it flags any of those, there are certain members in each school that will receive a email depending upon the severity of the concern or the flag. Um otherwise those individuals, the admin or c counselors or adjustment counselors have access to log into bark and they can review um anything that may have been alerted and that that will bring them or cause attention and that acts to blocks and websites as well.
They're actively attacking our students, Clifton children. We talked about 11 million in COVID funds. Uh, but there's another roughly 8 million, if I'm not mistaken, in other federal department of education grants, including title funding that may be cut. Title funds go to lower income students, ELLL students, and special needs or students with disabilities, the most vulnerable students. Um, this is not wasteful spending that's being cut. um you know, you've got to be some kind of evil to harm students, especially these these students, the most vulnerable. Uh so, as far as wasteful spending in our district, we get accolades on our audits. Um and again, the administration provides presentations, information like like today. If we lose 20 million in federal funds, that would be devastating not just to these students, to all of our students. it would have ripple effects. Um, just a reminder that our district, as you know, is 11,000 plus students.