001Good evening, everyone. In accordance with the open public meeting act, NJSA 10:4-6, adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the record and the Herald News, posting notice in the Board of Education Administration Building, and filing notice with the City Clerk. To ensure accessibility, interpreter services are available upon request. Please submit your written request at least 24 hours prior to the board meeting to the school business administrator, Dr. Steven A. Lewis, at [email protected]. I hereby call to order the regular meeting on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026, in the Hackensack High School Auditorium at 6:18 p.m. 6:18 p.m. Dr. Lewis, can you please do a roll call? Trustee Austin Balaputra. Present. Trustee Amerman Rosa. Present. Trustee Carroll. Present. Trustee Gilmore. Here. Trustee Jones. Here. Trustee Pringle. Here. Trustee Stein. Present. Vice President Martin. Present.
002President Harris. Present. We have quorum. Thank you. Please stand for the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. Thank you. Okay, so first item on our agenda tonight is the Governor's Educator of the Year Awards and the Educational Support Professional Winners of the Year Awards. Um we do ask that the administrators who are speaking on behalf of their schools to please meet us at this side of the stage and recipients will be receiving their certificates also on this side. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. We are so pleased to recognize our Teacher of the Year and our Educational Service Professional of the Year. Uh they were voted
003by their peers as being outstanding educators, and tonight we just want to acknowledge them along with their principals and their building leader. And thank you. And the certificate reads, "In honor of the contributions of being an outstanding educator in Hackensack Public Schools." Why don't we just give them a round of applause? It's such a meaningful award when your peers have made the recommendation for you to be a professional. So tonight we thank you for the services that you have provided uh to our students and to the Hackensack community and know that we truly appreciate you. Uh now I will call up each uh school and program and we will start with Early Childhood Development Center. Please come forward. And we have Ms. Kaylee Ivarone. And Ms. Gulda Battaglia. Ms. Cinelli. It is truly a privilege
004to stand here today and recognize the exceptional educator, Ms. Kaylee Ivarone. On behalf of the ECDC school community, we are proud to honor Ms. Ivarone for her nomination of Governor Teacher of the Year Award. In every role she takes on, she's a dedicated special education teacher and the ECDC PTA president. She exemplifies what it means to serve as a school community with heart, purpose, and commitment. Those who have the pleasure of working alongside Ms. Ivarone consistently speak about her dedication, professionalism, and her general genuine care she brings to her students. Ms. Ivarone embodies the best of our profession, passionate, student-centered educator who makes a lasting difference. Please join me in celebrating and congratulating Ms. Ivarone. It is my honor to stand here beside Ms. Gulda Battaglia and represent her as an edu- exceptional, excuse me,
005professional. On behalf of the ECDC school community, we are proud to celebrate Ms. Battaglia on her nomination for Governor's Education Service Professional of the Year Award. In her roles as a social worker on the child study team and as a mental health outreach coordinator, she has made a profound and lasting impact within our schools. Throughout her thoughtful observations, targeted support, and collaborative approach, she ensures that every child has the opportunity to strive. She works closely with teachers and classroom teams. Ms. Battaglia builds a strong connection between home and school. She consistently equips families and educators with tools, resources, and guidance they need to support each other and the child development with confidence and care. Ms. Battaglia is an essential member of the child study team and the ECDC school community. Again, join me in celebrating
006and congratulating Ms. Battaglia on this well-deserved recognition. Anyone from ECDC wants to take a picture so we can have it? Alex, thank you. Next, Jackson Avenue School. Our Teacher of the Year, Sarah Kim. And our Educational Services Professional of the Year, Diana De Jesus. And good evening. My name is Donna Petromallo, I'm the acting principal of Jackson Avenue. Along with me is Mr. Collado, assistant principal Jackson Avenue. So unfortunately, Ms. De Jesus is not here tonight. Her daughter is here to accept the award. So a last minute surprise! So we are going to start off with Miss Kim. One moment, please. We would like to recognize Jackson Avenue School's Governor Educator of the Year award, Mrs. Kim, Ms. Sarah Kim, for her dedication, compassion, and expertise shown to our students every day. Ms. Kim is
007an in-class support teacher who which requires a lot of collaboration and differentiation. Through a collaborative approach, she works closely with classroom teachers and staff to support students' diverse social, emotional, and academic needs. With a thoughtful and individualized mindset, Ms. Kim carefully identifies each student's strengths and areas for growth, ensuring that instruction and support are tailored to help every child succeed. Her ability to pinpoint students' needs and implement effective strategies makes her um makes a meaningful difference in the students' progress and confidence. In addition to her many professional strengths, Ms. Kim is incredibly down-to-earth and easy to talk to. Her approachable nature is reflected in the strong, trusting relationships she builds with both colleagues and students. She consistently fosters a sense of comfort and connection, making her a valued member of our school community. Ms. Kim
008also goes above and beyond by generously giving her time to support school events, such as attending bingo night and other community activities. Her willingness to be present outside of the classroom speaks to her deep commitment to our students and families. A true team player, Ms. Kim demonstrates exceptional flexibility and leadership. When a lead teacher is absent, she is seamlessly steps into that role, ensuring conti- continuity of instruction so that students do not miss a beat. Her ability to adapt and lead in those moments is truly commendable and highlights her dedication to student success. We are truly grateful for the impact Ms. Sarah Kim has had on our J.A. students and school community. Thank you, Sarah. Can I read this now? Yeah, you might as well just go ahead and go. And our next honoree is
009Ms. DeJesus. Ms. DeJesus's daughter is here. Hi, I'm Melanie. Melanie also works at Jackson Avenue School. So, we are very proud to recognize Jackson Avenue's Educator Services Professional of the Year, Ms. Diana DeJesus. Through strong collaboration with teachers, paraeducators, and families, our school social worker, Ms. DeJesus plays a vital role in supporting students' social, emotional, and behavioral needs. She works to ensure that every child receives care, guidance, and resources necessary to thrive both in and out of the classroom. As an integral member of the child study team, she brings insight, compassion, expertise, and the process of identifying students' needs and developing meaningful supports and interventions. Her ability to build trusting relationships with students creates a safe space at Jackson Avenue where children feel heard, understood, and supported. I love the laptop, Ms. Petrucci- wall. All
010right, here we go. Okay. Ms. Ms. DeJesus is always willing to lend a helping hand and consistently makes herself available to support students facing challenges. She takes the time to build meaningful relationships not only with students, but also with their families, ensuring a strong home-school connection that benefits each child's overall success. In addition to her daily responsibilities, Ms. DeJesus has been invaluable in supporting during NJSA NJSL planning, particularly in reviewing and ensuring appropriate student accommodations. Her attention to detail and commitment to meeting students' needs helps set both students and staff up for success. Ms. DeJesus's positive demeanor and warm smile make her a pleasure to work with. Her approachable and optimistic nature contributes to a supportive and collaborative environment for both students and staff alike. Ms. DeJesus's dedication, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to students' well-being
011makes a lasting impact on our school community. This recognition as the Educational Services Professional of the Year is a reflection of the difference she makes each and every day. We are truly grateful for her contributions to Jackson Avenue School. Thank you. And now on to Hiller's, Fanny Meyer Hiller's School, and our Teacher of the Year, Ms. Rebecca Ness, and our Educational Services Professional of the Year, Patricia Petralaski. I had to get my phone because I can't get my desktop. I was trying to do out Donna here. Chromebook. That was cute, right? That was so Donna, that was so cute. Good evening, board. Good evening, family and friends, colleagues. Um it is a great honor to represent Hiller's School, my Assistant Principal La Dee Madden, and our entire Hiller's community to honor our ESP award recipient
012and our Teacher of the Year. So, I will begin with Ms. Petralaski. I typically like to talk to you. This is your time. So, Ms. Petralaski, it is an honor to stand here and recognize you as the recipient of the ESP award. In your role on the child study team, you show every day what it means to support students, especially those who need a little bit more. You need You lead with compassion, patience, and a genuine belief that every child's ability to succeed. You are always willing to step in when we need you most, whether it means providing coverage when we are short on substitutes or supporting a classroom in a moment that we need you. What I truly appreciate is your willingness to have the tough conversations when it matters. Advocating for students to
013ensure their voices are heard and their needs are met. Your dedication doesn't go unnoticed. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of our students. Congratulations, Ms. Petralaski, on this well-deserved honor. Ms. Ness. Ms. Ness is our art teacher. Just in case you missed the fairy hair, check it out when we walk by. So, Ms. Ness, it is truly an honor to stand here and celebrate you as the recipient of the Governor Educator of the Year Teacher's award. As our extraordinary art teacher, you don't just teach art, you create a space where every student at Hiller's feels seen, valued, and understood. You make it a point to truly know your students and meet their individual needs, and that kind of care does not go unnoticed. As a special area teacher, understanding the 455 individuals
014is important, and you do that. You reach out to parents when necessary. You walk into my office to talk about some of their needs. You go above and beyond, and I appreciate that. Art is not just your passion, it's your life, evidenced by your fairy hair and your Van Gogh dress. If you've never seen one, you've got to check it out. And when I said, "Is that Monet?" she said, "Van Gogh." Shame on me. Through that passion, you inspire creativity, confidence, and happiness in every child who walks into your classroom. You took on the challenge to create some art when I asked to make the walls like an art art museum for just our students' work. You consistently go above and beyond the call of duty, always putting students first and advocating for what they
015deserve. Tonight, it is both an honor and a privilege to give you your flowers, both literally and figuratively, and to recognize the incre- incredible impact that you have on our school community. Simply put, Ms. Ness, we adore you. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition on behalf of the Hiller School community and myself. Nelly K. Parker School Our Teacher of the Year, Caroline Yeji Kim and our Educational Services Professional of the Year, Teresina Akman. Good evening, everyone. I'm Anibal Galliano. I am the principal at Nelly K. Parker School and I'm honored to present Ms. Akman and Ms. Yeji who could not make it here today, but I will still read an excerpt of the nomination for her on behalf of Ms. Allen, our assistant principal, and the whole Nelly K. Parker School family. I'd like to read
016some excerpts of the nominations for our winners this year because nobody says it better than their colleagues. So, I will read an excerpt for Ms. Akman. It is an honor to nominate Teresa Akman for the Educational Services Professional Award. Teresa has been an essential part of my classroom for the past four plus years and her role extends far beyond that of a typical paraprofessional educator. She is one of the most caring, hardworking, and devoted educators I have ever had the privilege to know. Teresa is a natural-born teacher with a warm heart, quick wit, and wonderful sense of humor. She forms instant rapport with students, making them feel comfortable, valued, and eager to learn. Each morning she leads calendar time with enthusiasm and joy, which I see all the time, so I love it, setting with
017a setting a positive, welcoming tone for the entire day. The children genuinely look forward to this time with her and her engaging presence makes learning come alive to them. Her dedication to the education profession is evident in everything she does. Teresa is deeply passionate about children and approaches every part of her work with purpose and pride. She builds strong relationships not only with students, but also with parents and staff, earning their trust, admiration, and respect. Families often tell me how much her children look forward to Mrs. Akman time and how special she makes them feel. Teresa truly represents the heart of NKP. Her compassion, dedication, professionalism, and genuine love for children make her an exceptional educator. She is without a doubt a true teacher and a cherished member of our school family. It is also
018a special point of pride that Hackensack that the Hackensack School District is Teresa's alma mater. She attended the Hackensack schools from elementary through high school and now gives back so beautifully to the community that helped shape her. So, congratulations, Ms. Akman. Very well deserved. And although Ms. Yeji Kim wasn't able to be here today and she does send her regards, I will read an excerpt of her nomination as well. This is also from a teaching colleague. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to nominate Ms. Caroline Yeji Kim for the Governor's Educator of the Year program. I had the privilege of working with Ms. Yeji, as we call her, as the inclusion teacher in her class and during that time I saw what an incredible incredible educator and human being she is. She gives so much
019of herself to her students and to everyone around her and she does it with genuine kindness and joy. Ms. Yeji welcomes every child into her classroom with an open heart. It does not matter if they are her own students or students coming from another homeroom. She treats each child as if they belong to her and she creates a place where every child feels safe, loved, and ready to learn. She builds beautiful relationships with her students, with their families, and with the staff members who work alongside her. She makes people feel seen and valued and that alone is a gift. She also brings an incredible amount of knowledge to her teaching. Her understanding of literacy development is so strong and she brings her Orton-Gillingham training to life in a way that makes learning fun and exciting.
020She includes her paraprofessionals as true partners in the classroom and gives them meaningful ways to support students. Her classroom feels like a team where everyone plays an important role. For her dedication, her warmth, her knowledge, and the love she pours into her students every single day, I am honored to nominate Caroline Yeji Kim for this recognition. She is the kind of educator who changes children and changes colleagues. She is the reason people believe in the power of teaching. Fairmount School Our Teacher of the Year, Danielle Kakooza and our Educational Services Professional of the Year, Jennifer Jen Zanka Good evening, everyone. My name is Nicole Adams. I'm the proud principal of Fairmount School along with our assistant principal, Mrs. Service, and our entire Fairmount community. We are just super excited to acknowledge and honor Ms. Kakooza
021and Ms. Zanka because they are true examples of what it means to give of yourself every day to our students in our school community. So, I will start with Ms. Zanka. Ms. Zanka, I want to acknowledge first and foremost your advocacy for students outside of the classroom. When they're having a hard day, when um they had a difficult time at home with their parents or sibling, they can always come to you for support and that support doesn't just extend to our students. It also extends to your colleagues when they are experiencing bereavement or having a difficult time with the class. They know that you're always a safe space for them, that you always have a listening ear, often times not taking lunch and time for yourself because of your selflessness and your commitment to them.
022I know that this is bittersweet because of what this day means today, but I want you to know that your impact on Fairmount School, our students, our families, and our kids cannot be wiped away or blemished by any riff conversation or any change in title. What you mean to us is forever, no matter what. And we want to acknowledge your commitment and your service to our students and how much we love and appreciate you at Fairmount. Congratulations. Okay, Mrs. Kakooza. Mrs. Kakooza is our Teacher of the Year and Mrs. Kakooza is a teacher of our preschool disability classroom and she is a dynamo. She is a avid advocate for all students. She ensures that all of their needs are met and if they're not, she will be in your office every day. Um she ensures
023that they have the resources that they need, that she has what she needs to support her parents and all of her families. Um she is a staunch PTA advocate and the reason for our 100% staff participation in the PTA, Fairmont. Um she is the lifeline for our students and speaks when they can't speak for themselves and that advocacy extends to students who have just arrived to Fairmont and also students who may be new to the community or the country even, serving as a resource for them and advocating for them to get what they need. So tonight I just want to recognize you Miss Cacooza as an amazing person, colleague and friend who epitomizes putting students first and making a tremendous difference every day. We are so lucky to have you among our teaching staff and
024you represent the very best of Fairmont. Congratulations. Tell me where to look so I don't have to look twice like Dr. Galliano. Hackensack Middle School. And our teacher of the year, Amy Aguasvivas. And our educational services professional of the year, Glenny Chiapone. Ladies, come a little bit closer. Good evening, Hackensack community. It is my pleasure to stand before you as a very proud principal at Hackensack Middle School along with our phenomenal seventh grade assistant principal, Ms. Johanna Espinal. Tonight I stand before you to honor Hackensack Middle School's Governor Educator of the Year, Ms. Amy Aguasvivas and our educational services personnel of the year, Ms. Glenny Chiapone. Tonight we celebrate impact of these two amazing educators on the lives of Hackensack Middle School comments and our Hackensack Middle School community. When I thought about the two
025of you, this beautiful tale came to mind. You may have heard it before. It's called the starfish story. It all started when a young girl was walking along a beach and happened upon thousands of starfish that had been washed up by a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she picked it up and threw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amazement and they even laughed. She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, "Little girl, why you doing this? Look at this beach. You can't save all these starfish. There's miles of beach and many starfish. You can't begin to make a difference." The girl immediately seemed crushed and suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bit down, picked up another starfish and hurled it
026as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked at that man and replied, "Well, I made a difference for that one." The spirit of that little girl is the tale in this tale is the same spirit that resides in both of you, Ms. Amy Aguasvivas and Glenny Chiapone. Your impact is great. Your reach is wide and your love for your students is boundless. And you desperately try every day to make a difference for at least one. And so tonight we honor and we celebrate you. Please give them a round of applause. So Amy Aguasvivas is a bilingual social studies teacher at Hackensack Middle School. She is known to be a phenomenal teacher whose love for teaching brightens every day and whose work transforms lives. She explains topics in a clear and engaging way.
027You can often see her high-fiving and greeting her children as they walk into the classroom. Her joy is palpable. She is amazing with the children and gives all of her heart. And one of your students, Melanie Zinnin, said, "Miss Aguasvivas, I want to express my deepest gratitude and admiration to you. For you, you are without the best teacher. You're kind and pa- You are kind and patient and make an enormous difference in my life. I appreciate your effort," she said. "Your respect for us, your positive energy and the way you believe in us. You don't just You just don't just teach us content. You teach us how to persevere, how to be responsible and confident. Thank you for everything you do. I feel fortunate to have you as a teacher and we feel fortunate to
028have you as a shining star at Hackensack Middle School. Congratulations." And next up, Ms. Glenny Chiapone, school counselor at Hackensack Middle School. Ms. Chiapone is an exceptional counselor who consistently goes above and beyond to meet the needs of students, families and staff. She often gives up her lunch period, you know how sacred that time is, to meet with students ensuring their social, emotional and academic needs are supported. Ms. Chiapone created something called pause and puzzle, a program to help students feel at ease when connecting with her. She also developed the seventh and eighth grade expectations for a clear path to success. There's never any doubt about your expectations because you we know that for you accountability equals love. Ms. Chiapone has also uh represented student voice and founded the Multicultural Diversity Club giving students the
029opportunity to develop leadership skills, celebrate diversity and contribute to a more inclusive school environment. She freely gives of herself, her resources and collaborates to strengthen our school and every child. Ms. Chiapone is a professional in every way. She gives of her time and her talent. And not only is Ms. Chiapone our educational services professional of the year, she is also the Bergen County School Counselor of the Year. I'm telling you the best of the best only comes from Hackensack. And so in that honor, she was honored not that long ago by the Bergen County uh School Counselor Association for her outstanding commitment to students in counseling. So congratulations Ms. Chiapone on both of these wonderful honors. We are so proud to call you one of our own. And Hackensack High School. And we have Brooke
030Zwier. And Brooke, I hope I pronounced your name right. I will say it again if I did not. Uh Brooke. And Ryan Levy. Brooke Zwier. I wanted to get that right. Thank you, Brooke. Congratulations. He's a coffee guy. Good evening. My name is Jim Montesano. I'm the proud principal of Hackensack High School. Uh standing before me are two wonderful people that I work with on a daily basis and I'm very, very blessed to work at this high school because of people like this. Uh the high school's recommendation for the Governor's educator of the year is Ms. Brooks Meer. Brooks is a dedicated environmental science teacher who has prioritized excellence in pedagogy, equity, and community partnership. Brooks use of equity-based curriculum ensures that all students, especially those historically marginalized in the STEM community, have access to
031meaningful, relevant, and rigorous science learning. She consistently anchors her instruction in local phenomena, such as inequities in the tree canopy around Hackensack, which caused us to get a bunch of trees uh planted around the school, and creating pathways to the Hackensack River for residents and excuse me, empowering students to connect classroom concepts to live experiences and community issues. Sorry. This approach has fostered a deep engagement and a strong sense of ownership in scientific inquiry. A defining aspect of Brooks work is her dedication to using science as a resource for social transformation. She regularly attends the Hackensack Environmental Justice meetings and has encouraged her students to attend as well so they could witness first hand how science informs the community advocacy. Through these experiences, her students gain a powerful understanding of how scientific knowledge can drive
032policy, justice, and positive change, and as a result, she has also formed a student environmental justice club at Hackensack High School. The high school's nominee for educator of the year, Brooks Meer. Ryan Levy, oh boy. All right. I have to stem it down because I don't think Ryan has ever had a bad day in his entire life, at least at Hackensack High School. He's always smiling, and this is not an act. He is really the happiest person, so even when I don't have a good day, I can talk to him for 4 seconds, and I have to have a good day. So, Mr. Ryan Levy. Mr. Ryan Levy is the I think Both of these nominees, I think it's very great because especially when you get a little older at the high school, these recommendations
033come from mostly come from our students, which I think is the most impactful. Um, and this was actually one of Mr. Levy's 504 students. Mr. Ryan Levy is a social worker at Hackensack High School, and he's our recommendation for the Educational Services Professional of the Year Award. According to his students who recommended him for the award, he has an ability to go above and beyond for his students by advocating for their needs, showing incredible care, and helping them feel secure. He understands their mental and physical health and is able to set up plans to ensure their success. He has the ability and willingness to communicate with teachers and staff, showing how seriously he takes the responsibility for each of his students' safe environment. Mr. Levy also shows an immense amount of care, and he regularly
034follows up and ensures that their well-being is a top priority. The Educational Services is Professional of the Year at the High School, Mr. Ryan Levy. Thank you, Ms. McFadden, for being our vote dog. Once again, we want to thank all of the honorees, and also thank their building administrators, as well. Um, you have made a positive difference in the school community, and we thank you, and we love you. Thank you. Okay. Um, at this time, we will take a 15-minute break, and then we will come back to continue with our with our meeting. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Good evening, everyone. We're about to get started again. Hey, thank you. For tonight's meeting, I will be giving a statement before our public comment. After public comment, the board will go into executive session so that
035everyone is aware. Okay, this is my president's statement. Tonight, just a few moments ago, we had the privilege of celebrating some of our incredible educators, professionals who pour into our students day in and day out. Many of them I have had the honor of knowing personally, including as educators of my own children. Moments like that remind us why we do this work. However, the unfortunate reality is that many of us are also here tonight because of the difficult decisions our district continues to face as a result of the 24 million deficit impacting the upcoming 26-27 school year. Caused by similar financial pressures impacting school districts all over New Jersey, including significant cost increases such as a 37% increase in health care benefits. Moreover, our situation has been further complicated by years of poor financial management
036by former district and board leadership that required months just to determine the true baseline of that damage to understand the full scope of the problem. While every school district is required to undergo a financial audit of the previous budget year, it was not that long ago that this board made the necessary decision to expand that independent audit to include financial projections for the 25-26 school year. Through that process, we uncovered serious financial inconsistencies. This board sounded the alarm. We took action and we ensured that those responsible for the financial harm caused to this district are being held accountable through a civil lawsuit. In addition, we have been actively meeting with elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels to alert them of our situation and to get any assistance we can to support our
037staff during this difficult time. These conversations are ongoing and we remain committed to advocating to advocating for solutions to provide dignity and stability for the employees who have served our district for many years. These efforts appear to be beneficial as we did recently receive a 2.4 million increase of state aid for the next school year. When I addressed the public in January, I had to share the difficult news that our district was facing a significant deficit in the current school year. At that moment, we were staring down the possibility of a massive mid-year reduction in force, one that could have abruptly disrupted the school year, left classrooms without teachers, and created chaos in scheduling for our students and staff. Thankfully, our partners in the city recognized the urgency of the situation. Our city council stepped
038in and provided the district with 6.5 million dollars, allowing us to maintain educational continuity for the current school year of 25-26 and preventing an immediate major disruption. But while that support helped stabilize this year, the underlying financial challenges did not disappear. I want the public to be aware that the preliminary budget presented at the March 28th, 2026 board meeting was rejected by the executive county superintendent because it was not considered aggressive enough in terms of financial cuts. The county has made it clear that it requires the full 24 million gap to be addressed through reductions in expenses. Unfortunately, this will mean the loss of additional positions, field trips, and programs. Our revised budget must be submitted and approved by May 7th. And at this point, we have no other option but to make these very
039difficult cuts. This deficit must be solved to avoid the appointment of a state monitor. For those who may not be familiar, a state monitor is appointed for those districts who are unable to properly control their own finances and budget, which would take away all local control of our finances, including decisions on personnel, programs, student activities, and the like. A state monitor is paid by the school district, not the state, with an approximate salary of $200,000 per year. It can last for 10 years. Once appointed, that monitor has the sole authority to make financial decisions for this district, including implementing cuts necessary to bring the budget to balance, often without the same level of consideration for the unique needs, programs, and culture of our community. A state monitor will not will have no regard for the
040programs and activities that have become a fabric of our community. Other districts facing deficits of this magnitude have had to close schools or eliminate major programs simply to reach zero. This board and central office have been working to ensure that Hackensack does not reach that point, but it has been an extremely difficult task. Let me be very clear. The names that appear on the agenda tonight are more than just part of the second phase of reduction in force. Excuse me. They are neighbors, our friends, colleagues that we respect and admire. Their absence will be a huge loss to the district as this will take into effect the upcoming year for 26-27. Excuse me. None of these decisions are easy. While districts face non-renewals and staffing changes for a variety of reasons every year, this situation
041is clearly different because of the scale of the financial problem we inherited and the urgency with which it must be corrected. This board did not create this problem, but we are the ones who uncovered it. And we are committed to fixing it. As part of that effort, I want to take a moment to recognize the work that has gone into bringing clarity to our staffing records. A huge thank you goes to our director of human services and our assistant business administrator who worked diligently to review, correct, and reconcile our position control roster, also known as the PCR. For the first time in a long time, we now have accurate accounting of positions across the district. That level of transparency and accuracy is critical as we make responsible decisions moving forward. We did not run for
042these seats expecting to solve a historic deficit. But when we discovered it, we accepted the responsibility to address it with open communication, accountability, and integrity. We know that nothing I am saying here now, or what this board needs to do tonight and in the upcoming weeks is popular. Believe me, I would much rather talk about the amazing educators we honored before and the achievements of our students. So while these moments are painful and deeply difficult for everyone involved, this board believes that confronting the problem now and correcting it is the only responsible path for the long-term stability of this district and the students we serve. Let me end by saying this. Our responsibility is to ensure that this district is financially stable, not just for today, but for the generations of students who will walk
043through our doors tomorrow. Hackensack deserves a school system that is sustainable, accountable, and strong. And this board is committed to doing the difficult work necessary to make that future possible. Our first priority is to ensure the budget is approved by the executive county superintendent, but I also note that these cuts are not set in stone. As we move forward, this board will work hard to rebuild the district that we love and serve. In order for the district to rebuild, it will require all of us. The board, staff, parents, families, stakeholders, all of us. None of us created this crisis, but together, we will be the ones to fix it. Thank you for listening. Okay. At this time, we're going to go into public comments. Public participation shall be governed by the following rules. If in
044person, a participant must sign the sign-in sheet and be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of his or her name, municipality of residence, and group affiliation if applicable. Two, each statement made by a participant shall be limited to a 3-minute duration during the public session. Three, all statements, questions, or inquiries shall be directed to the presiding officer and any questions or inquiries directed by a participant to another board member shall be redirected to the presiding officer who shall determine if if such statement, question, or inquiry shall be addressed by the presiding officer on behalf of the board or by the individual board member. And four, all board and or acting superintendent responses I read this all the time and it's cut off. I'm sorry. At this time, the public
045comment section is now open. Anyone in person that would like to speak, please come up to the podium. Is this where I should be? Maria Fenner, long-standing Hackensack Comet family, former district para, president administrative assistant in special services, former Hackensack resident. Good even- Good evening, everyone. For the past 4 years, I've served as the district semi coordinator, overseeing the systems that support reimbursement and accountability across our special education programs. I'm speaking tonight not only for myself, but for the district. As the semi coordinator, I support the child study teams and related service providers by assisting with logging for our district's seven schools and also for 70 out of district schools. This work is not just administrative, it directly generates money for our district. Over the past 4 years, my efforts have brought more than $1
046million into the district. Please take a look at the data in the folders I provided you with tonight. The percentages speak for themselves. Before I entered into this position, the district only generated approximately $150,000 less per year. In fact, in fiscal year 2022, Hackensack achieved only 22% of its projected reimbursement. With my consistent oversight, organization, and follow-through, that number increased to over 100%. In fiscal year 23, it reached 139%. And in in I'm sorry, in fiscal year 2024, I'm sorry, 139% in fiscal year 2024. Due to challenges within Due to changes within semi, the district the district's FY25 um district snapshot was not included. Uh so basically, it was just a kind of neutral year that year. This year, fiscal year 26, will will bring an additional 20- 250,000, which will in total will result
047in $1 million in revenue. That level of improvement is not accidental. It is the result of my dedication, detailed systems, and accountability. During my time in special services, I also developed and managed a district-wide nursing coverage system. Coverage was tracked, organized, and consistently filled. That system alone has saved the district over 250,000 per year. In addition, I ensure vendor and service accountability, making sure that what the district pays for is accurate, documented, and justified. This work is ongoing. It is detailed. It is directly tied to district funding, compliance, and daily operations. These are not isolated tasks. They are systems that require continuity to function effectively. Beyond this work, the office of special services has already lost two supervisor positions. These are roles that support critical year-round work. When positions like these are reduced or removed,
048the district does not lose staff, it risks losing systems, account- the accountability, and the revenue that supports our district's our students every day. I want to add that I am the only one in the district who has the experience and knowledge to continue to ensure that this program continues to increase in revenue. I will end with this. My goal tonight is simple. I ask that you fully consider the operational and financial impact on the district and what it takes to sustain the progress and the all that has already been made. I ask that you not make it a task, but make it a priority. I appreciate your time, and if you have any questions about the semi program, I can be reached at special services at extension 8004. Thank you so much. Vivian Mendez King,
049um proud parent of two Hackensack I'm sorry, can you speak into the mic, please? Thank you. >> Vivian Mendez King, proud parent of two Hackensack high school graduates and um one in the middle school and proud Parker teacher for over 20 years. Over the past few months, I have carried so many feelings, anger, heartbreak, and a deep sense of injustice. When I've spoken up, I've often been told to bring my concerns to the board meeting with the hope that speaking out might change someone's mind. But as I look at the state of our district, I have to be honest, I don't believe anything that I say will change the minds of those in charge. The decisions have already been made, decisions that I believe are deeply detrimental to our district and our most vulnerable students.
050So instead of trying to move people who have already turned away, I'm choosing to shift my focus where it truly belongs. Bear with me. I'm choosing to speak directly to the people who are the backbone of our schools. This is a letter of gratitude and solidarity for our paraprofessionals. To the heart of our classrooms and the steady hands that have guided generations of students, we see you. For 15, 20, and even 35 years, you have been the constant. Often times, you are the very first ones to arrive in our buildings, quietly making copies, prepping materials, and standing out in the weather to help students line up safely. In my own classroom, I have been blessed with Miriam. She is not just a colleague, she is my friend and family. We have reached a point where
051words are often not necessary. She knows exactly when to step in, when to step back, and when to step up. Often before I have even fully formed a task in my mind, she has already completed it. This is what our students are losing. They're losing Miriam's gentle nature. Every single day she pulls aside the students who are struggling, coaching and guiding them with a tenderness that cannot be measured on a balance sheet. I see the same dedication in all our full-time power professionals, or should I say power professionals, who show up in the summer heat to prep classrooms, and even in the faces of every para in this district. You are the institutional memory of Hackensack. We see paras who pour their souls into the PTA and show up to cheer for our students at
052their sporting events on their own time. It is gut-wrenching to see this loyalty met with a part-time label, a 30-minute technicality used to strip you of your health care, slash your salary some by nearly half, while still expecting you to show up and do the same level of work you have always done. To our community, I ask you to imagine this. Imagine being told tomorrow that you have to continue working at your job, but you will lose your health care and half your pay, all while being expected to do even more work because the demands of the job are only getting harder. This is the reality that our full-time power professionals are facing. In addition to this being a moral failure, it is a local one. We must remember that the majority of these 54
053or so paraeducators are Hackensack residents. They are our neighbors, our taxpayers, and people who vote on these budgets. While you are literally cutting their salaries in half and removing their health care and their dignity, you're expecting them to foot the bill for the egregious financial mishandling of the budget by this district. You are asking the very people who you have devalued to subsidize mistakes they did not make. I want the community to think long and hard about the impact that will have when it comes time to vote. I want to be clear in sharing this. I am in no way diminishing the pain of any other staff member, our teachers, custodians, secretaries, and support staff who are also losing their jobs. I'm heartbroken for every one of you. As a proud teacher and parent of
054Hackensack graduates, I'm outraged. I can be and am upset for everyone. But for our full-time paras, the reality is that as positions are cut and classroom sizes explode, your roles will become more demanding than ever. You will be asked to provide more love, more care for our most vulnerable students while being given the absolute least in return. To our paras, please know this. We see your labor. You carry the weight of the room alongside us. We see your sacrifice. From the PTA to the sidelines of a game, you show up. We see your value. A spreadsheet might call you part-time, but your impact is full-time, lifelong, and irreplaceable. We are so incredibly sorry that this is the thanks you are receiving. You have never been paid what you are truly worth, but today the gap
055between your value and your treatment is a tragedy. You hold us together. You make our schools a community. We see you. We thank you. We appreciate you. And we stand with all of you. With my deepest respect, heartbreak, and love. Good evening. My name is Christopher Kappler. I'm a Westwood resident and a proud Hillers School teacher. I stand before you tonight with the intention of expressing an immense amount of disappointment in this school district. As an 11-year employee, I have witnessed many ups and downs in Hackensack, and we have always found ways to work through them. But the ongoing financial crisis has really marked a new era. It's going to be remembered like COVID, before this financial crisis and after it. The amount of employees who are losing their jobs is unprecedented for a school
056district of this size. We're big, but we're not that big. Obviously, the ball has been dropped for several years now, undoubtedly by several different people. I'm not here to point blame, though it might make residents and employees feel a little better knowing who is truly at fault and to what extent they are responsible. The latest development is hopefully the straw that will break the camel's back. Taking full-time para professional positions and turning them into part-time jobs is horrific. Para professionals have historically been treated as if they are expendable. I'm here to tell you they are not. They are vital parts of the classroom, offering support to teachers, students, and families. They collaborate with us, and I have yet to meet a para professional who helps only the one or two students they are assigned to
057be with. What's being done to the full-time paras is a travesty. It's insulting to expect working professionals to accept a potential 40% pay cut and the loss of their health insurance. I understand the need to cut costs, but this is not the move. Truly, it is not. Many of these individuals are so close to retirement, but will not be able to work their last few years in Hackensack because they need a full-time salary and benefits. We all realize money needs to be cut somewhere, but you all need to get creative. There are ways to do it without punishing one small group of dedicated employees and basically chasing them out of the district, forcing them to find new places to work. Additionally, now that we have an updated PCR, a staff seniority list should be released
058for full transparency. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Dina Harima, and I am a proud teacher at Hillers School. I had to write this down because my emotion can get the best of me, and I would like to my message to be heard because those people are my people. The loss of staff positions due to the actions or misconduct of others is both unjust and deeply harmful to our school community. The reduction of full-time paras to part-time and the loss of our bilingual administrative assistant and the many amazing teachers will have a detri- detrimental impact on our students, families, and teachers alike. These individuals have dedicated their everything, and seeing this happen to them is just outright wrong. Their absence will not only disturb daily operations, but will also significantly hinder our ability to
059meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of our students. Beyond our schools, these decisions are not just isolated to their impact. In many, and I mean in many, circumstances, they are altering lives in significant and lasting ways. The ripple effects of these decisions will be felt on every single level, professionally, individually, personally. I understand that you're trying, but are we really trying? I just needed to voice and echo the many of these concerns that you've already heard, and I really hope that you continue to hear them. Thank you. Sorry that I'm tall. Um Antwanette Walker Hazel. Um I'm a proud Comet. I'm a parent, taxpayer, also a CST worker, and at Nellie K. Parker School. Uh to the Board of Education, I come before you tonight as a parent, again, taxpayer, and educator in this
060district. I understand the district is facing a $24 million deficit. However, I what I want I mean sorry, what I and many others need is clarity about the next school year will actually look like. I need to know that my child is walking into a into my into a student I'm sorry, I'm so I need to know that my child is walking into as a student in this district and what I'm walking into as a educator for next year. Right now, there are serious concerns. We are hearing about the increase of classes, potentially 25 to 30 per classroom. I need to know and understand how my child is expected to succeed in this environment, especially at the elementary level. In the in-class support classrooms, we're looking up to 30 students, including students with IEPs. These
061classes are designed to support diverse learning needs, yet may be staffed without additional support. How can teachers realistically meet the needs of all students under those conditions? We cannot continue to expect educators to simply bend over backwards to make this work. This is not sustainable, and it's not fair to our staff or our students. Additionally, we're hearing about the reduction in essential personnel, secretaries, paraeducators, paraeducators, assistant principals in the buildings that are already short-staffed. The This raises serious operational concerns. How are principals expected to effectively run buildings without adequate support? When issues arise, who will step in to assist to provide coverage? Right now, it feels like the answer is nobody. What is What is most frustrating is the lack of concrete answers. We are repeatedly told at the district of being transparent or with
062I don't know. Yet, we're not being given a clear plan or a detailed picture of what next year will actually look like. Tonight, I'm asking for more than general statements. I'm asking for specifics. I'm asking for a clear, actionable plan that families and staff can be prepared, not guess what the future will look like. I'm urgently requesting that the Board of Ed address those concerns directly or we understand that decisions have already been made without meaningful input from the very community that has impacted us. Good evening. My name is Nicholas Castellanos and I'm a sophomore in Hackensack High School. I'm part of the current Hackensack crew team. I'm sure everybody here is familiar with the school district financial situation that we're currently facing. My teammates and I are here today to express our strong opposition
063to the decision of making positions through every school district such as assistant teachers that will have this decision will have lasting negative impacts not only on the students but also on the educators and the broader community. A clear example of this is our beloved coach Merna Gotrell who suffers from stage four cancer and is currently benefiting from the health care that the school provides to its staff members. Through cutting of many staff positions, health care benefits will will suffer from the role that the school gives and taking this part of education will always affect the future of Hackensack High School students and other the environment itself. Um thank you for taking into consideration and thank you for giving your time. Uh my teammates going to talk now. Good evening, members of the board, staff members,
064members of the community. As some of you may already know, Merna Gotrell is the head coach of Hackensack High School's crew team which is a very diverse, dedicated, and driven team. If the board goes through with their decision, the entire crew team will be cut as a whole due to the lack of a coach. As we are self-funded and already do not get any money from the school unlike other sports, I do not believe that this is fair. My first year here at Hackensack High School was completely altered by joining crew. through the immediate friendships and connections I've made with my teammates as well as the discipline, time management, and dedication I've learned through my coach Merna Gotrell. My coach has always told us to fight for what we want which is what brings me
065here to this podium today. Our coach has gone above and beyond by supporting the school's crew team, volunteering countless hours to mentor and inspire students. These contributions build the character and confidence of young people, something that cannot be measured in budget lines. We urge the board to reconsider this decision and recognize that investing in assistant teachers is investing in the success and well-being of our students and community. And funds can be recovered from different sources. Thank you for all for your time and we hope you take this into consideration. Can you state your name? Aleni Scarvellis. Thank you. Good evening, board members, teachers, family, friends. My name is Noah Politesam and I've come here to support my coach who has very strongly and supported my first year as a team member and crew crew. I
066believe it's not really fair for my fellow novices and also my coach that she has been cut Excuse me. Cut. As it is this is my also my first year. Excuse me. Just please consider that. My coach has done everything. Please Greetings, board members, teachers, and families. I came here to talk about the crew situation. And like Noah said, to coach she was supporting me all the way. I did my best. And this first time I found something I really love. When she gave me the news, it hurts. Half of the team what did was sad. And the same time trying to make coach happy. I know I'm not good at this. This is my first time. But I will do my best for my last season. I'll at least try to make coach happy
067and have her the great season I really had. And that's it. But thank you for your time. My name is James Dawkins. I'm assistant coach, volunteer coach for rowing. As you can see, I was compelled to do this and volunteer my time. I own my own business and this is toughest um speech I've ever had to make. I'm used to getting yelled at by generals. I work with the military. Um but this is this is heart-wrenching. Um I was you know, I had a speech prepared to talk about how great rowing is, how it's an entree into Ivy League schools, how it's easier, how it's the most um the the largest return on investment for any sport in any high school. And how we are at the epicenter, Bergen County, of all the rowing community.
068I mean, I've been volunteering and going to the to the regattas and there's no other sport. I I swam in school, but there's no other sport that I've ever attended where the coaches and and prospectors actually came come up to you while you're there. The um it is just amazing. Also, rowing is one of the sports where if you're not great in basketball, football, any other sports, you can come to rowing. You can learn leadership. You can get better. It's all technique. I've you know, I like I said, I prepared a speech and this is this is this heart-wrenching. Um I'm proud of my team. I qualified 20 28 students to qualify for USA Rowing. Taught them how to swim. Um there were people that didn't know how to swim at all. So, this is
069definitely a miracle in the making. It would be a travesty to have this program be decimated by the budget cuts. That's all I have to say. I'm sorry. Thank you for your time. Hello. My name is Jonathan Colon Dominguez. I am uh let's say ex former captain of the rowing team. I'm here for Miss Gotrell the same as everybody here behind me to say so. It's sad to lose somebody so great as her. And that path she opened to me it was the best thing ever. As a person, as a leader, as I was it was the greatest thing ever. Leading my team, not my team, my family. It was something great. Somebody that opened paths everything that broke a wall for let just I said because let's say I come from a lower grade
070let's say I'm sorry. Um I came from a down I was I'm just going to say I wasn't the best student. But somebody showed me the way to become that leader. As the path that opened to me and seeing that door close behind me seeing that person that is left behind is sad. Losing everybody that you think they will be the greatest, looking at the past, the person that will succeed you go to dust. It's painful. But in the near future, I hope they see that one day they will come alive again. They will come back and that door will open and kids can see a better future. Thank you. Before I get started, can we just give them all a round of applause? Please. Like you guys are why we are here. This is
071why Hackensack students are so amazing, right? They're using their voices and they're advocating. That's what we teach them to do. And just I just love you all. Okay. My name is Laura Martin. I'm a district teacher and parent and I'm here tonight because I have concerns about anticipated cuts to our special education department. As a district, we have struggled for years to find highly qualified, appropriately certified, and temperamentally suited individuals to fill our special education positions. These individuals work with our most vulnerable student population and it takes the right kind of folks to meet this group's needs. I was therefore surprised to learn that several of our hardworking and dedicated special education staff members were recipients of riff notices last week. And I was also surprised to learn that our full-time paras would be transitioned
072to part-time status. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not believe that our special education population has decreased. I also do not believe that their needs have significantly changed or that our responsibility to provide them with a thorough education has been vacated. Given the reduction in staff and the potential for additional losses by resignations and retirements, I am struggling to see how our district will be able to meet its legal and ethical obligations to these students. We have a hard enough time as it is providing equitable access to services, so I'm at a loss as to why these cuts are permissible. I am thus asking that the district provide our community with concrete information about what special education will look like next year. I believe that a presentation or general outline regarding staffing
073levels, anticipated class sizes, and possible service changes should be publicly available and that the community should be given an opportunity to ask questions about the district's plans. I feel that this level of transparency is warranted and necessary as both families and staff figure out how to best meet student needs. There should be as few surprises as possible as we enter the peak of our annual IEP and 504 review season when teams meet to discuss placements for next year. Information is power and we should be seeking to provide as much information as possible to our students, family, and staff. As a parent and teacher, I ask that you please take a proactive approach in sharing the district's plans regarding special education. Thank you for your time and consideration. Hi, my name is Cindy Roman. I am
074a parent. I have a second comment. I have a 504 kid, two IEPs, and a high schooler. My main concern is my two IEPs. What are their classroom going to look like for a kindergartner? What the classroom is going to look like for a fourth grader? What's the classroom going to look like for the seventh grader? I'm not too concerned about my high schooler, but those three I am. And everyone knows me, I'll fight for my kids to the end. What's going to happen come September when you have to do back to school night, conference, grades, kids missing their assignments, teachers trying to call you to tell you your son is having an outburst and you have to miss work to come and attend to him. What's going to happen to the students coming to
075school and not having their support system to go talk to a guidance counselor, to go talk to a para, or to even have a moment to talk to their teacher? We have not taken this into consideration. You keep saying that you're going to be transparent. There's no transparency. I'm very sorry there isn't. We've known this situation since 2019, but this has been surfaced now in January. What's going to happen come September? You already said you did your second phase. Are we doing the second phase during the school year? And if so, why? Why wait to school during the school year? As you can see, everyone sitting here is concerned. I'm concerned. People that are moving into town to bring their kids here sees us on national TV. We are all over social media completely being
076bashed left and right because of what happened. The question here is what's going to happen? Yes, the writings are on the wall. What's the solution? What are we waiting for? September is weeks away. The end of school year is less than eight weeks away. Where are the students going to go? Where are my kids going to go? Who's going to be their teacher? Who's going to be the support system? The question is what are we doing? Why are we waiting so long? You guys know September is around the corner. Why are we having transparency here now? Why didn't we do this already? When will the transparency come about? Because you're going to have parents like myself or just me be here in front of you when school starts asking questions all over again to the
077questions that I'm asking tonight. We need to understand what is happening and have clarity and help everyone as a community to bring Hackensack back to what it was when I was here in 20 in 2002. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Kim Miranda, the reading interventionist at Fairmount School. I'm here to speak about a decision that will have a direct, lasting impact on our students, our teachers, and our school community. I understand that difficult financial decisions must be made, but not all positions carry the same weight and not all cuts result in the same consequences. Our school serves 525 students, the largest elementary school population in the district, and we are a community that is 65% Hispanic with 341 students being them. For many of our families, Spanish is our primary language
078and that matters when we talk about leadership, access, and equity. Our assistant principal, Mrs. Service, is not just an administrator. She is a critical bridge between the school and our families. She communicates with parents who might otherwise feel disconnected from the school system and she ensures they understand what's happening with their children, their progress, their needs, and their opportunities. She builds trust where trust can be difficult to dis- to establish. Because of that, our families are more engaged, more informed, and more able to support their children's success. That kind of connection cannot be easily replaced and it cannot be reduced to a line item in a budget. At the same time, leadership inside building has been essential. She has played a key role in addressing chronic absenteeism, creating systems of accountability and follow-through that have
079improved attendance and in turn student outcomes. She has implemented MTSS as a real functioning system. Teachers are supported, interventions are intentional. Student progress is monitored and adjusted based on data. That level of coordination and consistency requires strong leadership and we are seeing the results. Our students are making progress, our systems are working, and our teachers are supported. She has not simply filled this role. She has shaped it into something that truly works for Fairmount School. Through her dedication, consistency, and deep understanding of our students and families, she has built systems and relationships that reflect the unique needs of our community. The structures that she has put in place are not generic and they are intentional, responsive, and effective because of her leadership. That kind of work takes time, trust, and commitment and it cannot be
080easily replicated or replaced. Removing her from this role is not a neutral decision. It risks weakening family engagement in a community where language access is essential. It risks disrupting systems that are producing real results and it risks placing additional strain on a school that already serves a large number of students. If the goal is equity, then we must consider the unique needs for each school community. If the goal is student success, then we must protect the systems and leadership that are driving that success. And if the goal is responsible decision-making, then we must look beyond numbers and consider real impact. I urge you to reconsider this decision, not just for the sake of a the sake of a position, but for the students, families, and staff who depend on the lea- on the leadership behind
081it. Because in our school, that leadership is not optional. It is essential. Thank you for your time. Good evening to everyone. My name is Bernie Byrd. I am a proud Comet teacher at Fanny Meyer Hiller School, taxpayer in Hackensack, and part of the clergy. A popular phrase once said, "Desperate times require desperate measures." Some would probably say that perhaps he was being a little bit prophetic about what we're experiencing here in Hackensack today. And while we understand the need to make major changes, what is September going to look like? 30 kindergarten children in a classroom with no para, full-time paras being switched to part-time paras losing their benefits. I wonder what it would feel like if someone in central office or making at the top rung lost half their pay. I hope central office is
082willing to roll up their sleeves and come to the help fill in the gaps. Because you might find yourselves in your new walkthroughs coming to help in a kindergarten class with 30 kids who you can't monitor in the bathroom all at one time because there's not enough adult coverage or supervision to be able to watch over them. 30 kids in a classroom and our classrooms that are ICS or their behavioral classrooms with kids who are runners and everything else. And so 30 kids in a classroom, one teacher, not possible to catch the kids running around the classroom or possibly running down the hall simply because there's not enough coverage. How are these changes going to impact the success of our children? Hackensack has been talking about test scores for years. If you think test scores
083have changed before, you better get ready for what you might see now by not having enough people to cover and properly educate our children so that they're able to excel. Schools are being expected to function with one secretary. Will central office do the same? How are schools expected to function if they don't have the support that they need? Assistant principals, I don't know about another schools, but they are necessary in elementary schools. They provide two separate functions in an elementary school and they are needed to ensure that it is a successful environment. SEL out the window because it's not going to be possible if we don't provide the kind of environment that is conducive or productive conducive to our students being able to learn. I've spent this last year in kindergarten and I've watched the
084level that these children come in. There is no way possible that we could put 30 kids kindergarten who can't identify their name, don't know their letters, don't know numbers, and expect a teacher with 30 kindergarten kids who are still crying cuz they miss mommy and daddy when they come in the door. Not possible. We need to rethink what we're doing, pivot. I don't know what we need to do, but you need to recalibrate cuz we need help. My name is Kayla Pyro and I am a lifelong resident of Hackensack. I went to Jackson Avenue Middle School and graduated from Hackensack High School. I've been attending Board of Education meetings with my mom for as long as I can remember, now mainly watching online. Let me start by saying that this is the last place I
085want to be today because today is my birthday. I didn't get I was in But for my mom, Linda Pyro, I will do anything. Anything. As you all know, the decision to eliminate full-time paraprofessionals was announced. There will be no more full-time paras, which will in turn force many paras to retire or find find employment elsewhere. This is disgraceful. As a result of this action, Hackensack will lose paras that have been in this district for over 20 years. E- 30. These paras are beloved and irreplaceable and due to no fault of their own are being pushed out. My mom, Linda Pyro, has served the students of Jackson Avenue School for nearly 32 years. To know her is to understand the level of care and commitment she brings every single day. She also won the Governor's
086Para Professional of the Year Award multiple times. The children she works with benefit not only academically but emotionally. She often says how much the students need her, but just as much but just as importantly, how much she needs them. The kind of dedic- This kind of dedication cannot be replicated. I can't help but to think back to when the prior superintendent was hired. It was obvious from the beginning that he was all wrong for the students of Hackensack. He talked about changing everything that made this district special and the board was blinded by his sharp suits and many Facebook posts and videos. It all could have been avoided if we had stuck with our own. And what I mean by that is that there was another candidate that truly deserved the position but over was
087over- was overlooked for reasons I will never understand. And that is Mrs. Parchment. She knows Hackensack like the back of her hand and loves every student. It was hard for me to hear her give that presentation on all the cuts she would have to be making and now it it is even harder that the paras paras will suffer from this, too. Respectfully, I feel other cut- cuts could have been made before having to make the paras part-time. Why not pay cuts or letting go of more teachers and and men without tenure or go with other less Excuse me, costlier costly health insurance options so everyone can take a hit. This is truly unfair and I fear for the future of Hackensack students. I urge you to reconsider these cuts. Obviously, I truly hope you understand
088the weight of the loss you're creating. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Kelly Collazo, kindergarten teacher at Fairmount School. I would first like to acknowledge that you are in all in a position where you were forced to make difficult decisions. I'm here today to speak about how one of those decisions has impacted my students, my para, and myself. On April 10th, we said goodbye to our wonderful paraprofessional who was moved to a different classroom after being deemed non-essential in mine. Please let it be clear that she is in fact very, very essential. Here are some of the things that have happened in the last week. One, a student had an accident in the classroom and there was no one to escort him to the nurse. He lost his way. Two, my classroom is not
089being cleaned correctly during the day, leaving more work for our already overworked custodians. Three, we had a fire drill and while my class made a right like we have done every single time, two students in the back made a left. Four, the lunch aid in charge of my class is now on her own and has informed me that she is having a difficult time keeping track of my students and she does not always know if they are in the bathroom or where they may have gone. I am very grateful for the teachers who have taken being a Fairmount family to heart and have stepped up to help when help is needed because help is needed. Losing our para has impacted my students' classroom environment, my students' routine, my students' social emotional well-being, and most importantly,
090their safety. With only 43 days of school left, my students are looking forward to September and their first day as first graders. I'm worried about September of what the first day will look like with 30 little four and five-year-olds who are crying, having accidents on themselves, running from the classroom looking for their mommies and daddies. We are losing Mrs. Service, Mrs. Senka, Mrs. Cabrera, and many other important members of our Fairmount family. I know there is no wiggle room in the budget to give us back our support system, but I do hope that serious consideration will be given to how the first few days, weeks, and months will go with safety and equity in mind. And to Mrs. Bruger, if you are listening, we love you, we miss you, and we need you. Thank you.
091Good evening, Hackensack Board of Education family and friends. I'm Nia Watson and this is Janae Kilgore, Hackensack residents, former students of the Hackensack Public Schools, and we are both currently volunteering members for the Hackensack High School Dance Team. The Hackensack High School Dance Team has become impactful an impactful part of this district. Our pep rally before the annual Thanksgiving game is what many people look forward to seeing each year. We also have our annual Black History Month show that many of the board members on stage have attended. We are also asked to perform at board meetings and countless community events around Hackensack. Due to the horrible financial crisis, we had to break it to our upcoming senior and junior who have been on our team since day one that our team will no longer exist.
092And the loss of an amazing administrative assistant and team advisor, Dennis Henry. Dennis goes above and beyond for our team. He spends countless days and hours discussing new opportunities for our dancers, even when me and Janay think it's a little too much. Not only that Sorry. Dennis is not only an advisor, but he's an integral part of the Nellie K. Parker staff. Dennis goes above and beyond at his job. He's usually running around doing all he can to make sure the kids of Parker are seen. He has made a true impact on the kids through dance that they look forward to doing every single day. The kids and parents have been so appreciative of all that Dennis has done for them. They're even asking what is happening with next year. Losing an impactful individual such
093as Dennis Henry will have a long-lasting impact on our Parker students, Hackensack High School students, and Hackensack community. The students use dance as an outlet to express themselves and unapologetically and created lifelong friendships and memories that they will always have thanks to Dennis Henry. Please understand the impact of what your decision is doing to our children of Nellie K. Parker School and of the Hackensack High School dance team. Thank you. All right, hello everyone. Bear with me. My name is Mia Mitchell. I am a lifelong Hackensack resident. I am a current teacher at Hackensack High School. I am also the cheerleading coach at Hackensack High School. I started the Hackensack Middle School cheer program alongside Nicole Villardo. I am an HHM member. I attended Fairmount, HMS, and graduated from Hackensack High School in 2016. I
094am also currently planning our 10-year reunion. With that being said, I was supposed to receive my tenure this upcoming September. And I have been silent publicly for 85 days about how this deficit has turned my world upside down. I have felt every stage of grief as I watched my dream and home crumble before my very eyes. If you know me, you know how proud I am to call myself a Comet. And in moments like this, I feel ashamed and disappointed to utter the phrase. I could speak from a multitude of lenses today. But today I want to speak from the perspective of a Hackensack student who had a dream come true to come back and give to the very community that raised her. The aspiring educator who graduated Delaware State University with a 3.8 GPA.
095The HHS teacher who went on to obtain a Master's of Educational Leadership with supervisor, principal, and district leader endorsements. So today I want to thank all of the educators who played a role in my educational success because I learned from the best. I could stand here for hours and express the wonderful experiences I've had had as a student, alumna, teacher, coach, mentor, and aspiring administrator. But overall, I would like to thank anyone who impacted my 22-year-long journey here. Thank you to my former teachers and colleagues, Ms. Miranda, Mr. Bennett, Ms. McAllister, Ms. Long, Mr. King, Coach Michelle, Ms. Ali, Mr. Urban, Coach LaRose, Mr. Turner, Coach Maroney, Mr. Redden, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Murray, Señora Caracino, Señora Manzoor, Ms. Ferrante, Mr. Grant, Dr. Skiba, Adam, Ms. Johnson, Mrs. McFadden, Ms. Pat, Ms. Claudette, Steph, Hodge, Ozzie,
096Leah, Susie, Brophy, Brenda, Jamie, Dr. Stone, Davis, Taylor, Cassine, Joe, Sandy, and my fellow coaches, Meg, Ali, and Jenny. Thank you to my administrators who support me in different capacities and inspired my style of leadership, Mr. Avery, Mr. Whiting, Mr. Greenwood, Mr. Montesano, Mrs. Lozano, Mr. King, Dr. Gagliano, Ms. Adams, Mr. Pemberton, and Mrs. Parchment. Most importantly, I would like to say thank you to Dr. Whiting, Mrs. Manning, Ms. Forster, and Ms. Maggie for setting an example and being my representation of a strong black woman in education, for teaching me the power of education, and that I have to work twice as hard to be just as good, for giving me the space to express myself freely, to not shrink myself for others, and that my success is already written in the stars. These women
097served as mentors and leaders who greatly impacted what the next generation sees in me. There would be no Coach Mitchell without Mrs. Manning, the woman who believed in me at 10 years old and fostered my confidence and leadership school skills through dance. It was dance that set the foundation for cheer and gave me the fundamentals that I now instill in my cheerleaders. In addition, I want to thank Dr. Whiting, who has been with me since I was in kindergarten, who was my comfort when she moved to the 5/6 school with us. I still remember the day she tackled me in Chili's when I told her I would be attending her illustrious alma mater, Hampton University. During my college years, she continued to nurture our relationship by visiting myself and other Hackensack Hamptonians every homecoming and
098making sure we had something in our pockets for lunch. She was the first familiar face I saw when I attended new teacher orientation 4 years ago, and I had the pleasure of teaching and building a bond with her wonderful daughter, Camille. There would be no Ms. Mitchell if not for Dr. Whiting. She is my inspiration, role model, and friend, and I love you dearly. Last but not least, I would like to thank my students, current or former. You guys gave me the greatest 4 years of my life thus far. I walk into this building with my shoulders back, chest high, and a smile on my face because of you. I walked into this building at 23 with a blazer and a dream. I will walk out of here at 27 with a multitude of experience,
099lessons, and memories under my belt. I stayed silent for you guys because there's nothing more important to me than your educational success. I am proud to call myself your teacher. To my cheerleaders, being your coach was everything I envisioned it to be. I know my methods may have seemed crazy at times, but y'all know how I feel about my choreography. I walked across that bridge 10 years ago with a dream, and you guys made it a reality. The hurt and pain you feel right now is okay. But if I can teach you anything through this situation, it's to always follow your dreams. And when the storm comes, you tread through it and don't stop fighting until you make it to safety. I will miss you dearly. Take the skills and lessons I taught you, and
100don't forget to make your voice heard. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Matthew Holmes. I'm a president and parent. I'm moved by the comments made here tonight, and I hope that you all were as well. Uh hearing from educators and students alike shows me that this community is as dejected by the decision to remove resources from our classrooms as I was when my kindergartner came home with this news. News that you failed to deliver appropriately and in a transparent way. While I raised this concern during the recent emergency meeting of this board, I struggle to see meaningful improvement in the board's commitment to transparent communication since then. Despite hearing person after person ask for it. You warned us in your statement about the cost of state oversight. The question is becoming whether we can
101afford not to have state oversight. If we are to have confidence in this board's ability to navigate the crisis we're facing, you must communicate the exact nature of the challenges being faced and the solutions that have been identified. Your fear of delivering bad news has left us in an information desert. This room full of people tells me that our students and teachers have the support of their community. A community that is entitled to the transparency that you have withheld. We all want the best for our students, and we're willing to help to that end, but we are being deprived of the opportunity to give it without your forthcomingness. I implore you to do better. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Paige Van Eckyo. I'm a resident, alumna, parent of four alumni, and a ESL
102teacher at Fairmount. And um I'm not going to browbeat you over this because I know you're I know, Mrs. Parchment, that your heart is broken with all of ours. I believe that. And that's having our leadership care as much as we do is vital right now, but it's not fixing this. So, we're in a terrible crisis. Everything that can legally be cut is being cut. That's my observation. We're a skeleton. It's not who we've ever been before. It's not who we want to be. What I want today, what I'm asking you for is assurance that these things will be returned. The state doesn't mandate paras in every kindergarten classroom. The state doesn't mandate assistant principals in uh in every elementary school. The state doesn't mandate elementary music programs, musical instrument programs, um or apparently reasonable
103class sizes. Um now we know there's issues with nursing coverage and and that needs to be handled. And our crew team, I mean, the crew team said it all. I feel like we don't need to say anything more. Um the dance team, the drama club, all of these things, you're writing them down and I so appreciate that because please put them on the shelf so that they can come off if and when this crisis is fixed. I'm I'm terrified because what we've seen in the past is we cut something and we never see it again. We want these things back. They are essential. Our full-time paras are essential. Our assistant principals are essential. Our guidance counselors are essential. Look at your list cuz I see you all writing. Everything that someone has come up here
104and emailed you about and said publicly, privately, in any other way is essential to our community. No matter what the state says, no matter what the government says. So, please just keep that at the top of your mind as we get through this. Thank you. Uh first I want to say thank you for not letting us run out the clock. We appreciate it. It's the right thing to do. My name is Patricia Broderick. I'm a third grade teacher at Fairmount School. Um 25 years. So, I want to say um I'm concerned about the transparency issue because if I was a layperson, a parent, a resident, I would not understand the agenda. The agenda tells us who you're keeping. And it's not telling anybody who you're getting rid of. Okay? If I read that, I'd be
105look, look who they're trying to keep. But I don't think people understand that we're losing our vice principal, our counselor who got her flowers tonight. Her position has been removed. Um one of our secretaries. So, now our first floor at the most populated school in the district will have a nurse, a principal, and one secretary. I don't know who's answering the phone. I don't know who's catching those loafers. I don't know how it's going to work. I don't know how I'm going to have 30 kids. I'm going to do it. I have to. But that's too many. And I'm I'm very surprised that when there are rules like class sizes and keeping tenure teachers that under the umbrella of budget concerns, there's no rules. Now you can have 30 kids and now tenure teachers can
106lose their job. I didn't know that. Um I'm concerned that Fairmount has the biggest population, but has the same fix that all the other schools got. We're not the same. We have the most kids. There are schools that have more than 200 fewer kids than us. That's a lot. That's a big difference. Our our VP is the first person they see in the morning. She brings them in and she sees them out in the afternoon. Not to mention she speaks Spanish. I don't. Thank God for her. Um she's We are the only school that doesn't have We're not being having oversight for attendance because of our vice principal. The only one. And we have the most children. Um I forget. What Oh, our vice principal not only knows how they're doing on their assessments, but
107she knows how they're doing on the playground. She knows all of them. All of them. Um it's a loss. I don't know how an elementary doesn't have a VP. We tried to share one several years ago and it was a disaster. I don't know how that's a fix again. I don't know how middle school and high school works, but we need two principals. Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Um I'm not one to speak, but I couldn't help but come up tonight. Uh my name's Felicia Pataford. I am a kindergarten teacher at Fairmount um Elementary School. And I just came up to share with you the blessing that my paraprofessional Rosalia Davi has been to me. Um speaking on both of our behalves. Um I was transferred to Fairmount little over like two and years and
108some change ago um through no desire of my own. Um I was transferred to a first grade classroom for 2 months. And then I was given the option to either go back to ECDC or stay in Fairmount and I decided to stay at Fairmount because over that period of time, I started to see what the family of Fairmount really meant and I wanted to stay in that family. Um last year after 15, 18 years in pre-teaching pre-K, I decided to take the leap into kindergarten and it was rough. Kindergarten was a whole new ball game. Um but had it not been for my amazing paraprofessional, Ms. Davi, I would not have made it through that first year. Her knowledge, her expertise, her caring, her just her ability to support me and just sustain me the
109whole year. She, you know, took all the tools in her tool belt and she shared them with me willingly. And then also over that time, we developed a friendship and a relationship that I have come to value and treasure. Um we supported each other not just in the classroom with things regarding the students, but also with our personal lives. Um she had some things that happened last year with her and I supported her. This year in October 28th, I lost my mother. And I returned to the classroom a week later. And if I if she hadn't been in the classroom to support my kids and support me, I doubt that I would be here. I probably would have taken a leave of absence or something to recover. But because she was there and because she
110um stood in the gap and she held down that classroom. She held down my students. She held down my parents and my families and I've been able to slowly, slowly recover and rebuild and still show up and be present for my kids um despite the loss and the grief. Now, ripping my para from me has made another layer of grief. Now you're Now something else is getting taken away. And I I have to be honest, it's hard to recover from. So, I just want everyone to think about that um when these decisions are being made. Um my children are crying. There There's at least one or two students that I have that cry daily, "Why isn't Ms. Davi here? Is she coming back? Why is she in another class?" And I have no answers. So,
111that's all I wanted to share tonight. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Mona Mitchell. Hackensack resident for 30 plus odd years. 1981 graduate of Hackensack High School. Lifelong civil servant of Hackensack. Unelected, but proud to be. By design and purpose. I am also the coach of the Hackensack rowing team. Um I'm not going to stand up here and beg you for my job. Your decisions have been made. You've made them for whatever reason. You've looked at numbers without looking at the people behind those numbers and the effect that will have on the children behind those numbers. So, I'm not up here to try to change your mind. I've gone through all the stages of grief. And I'm now at the acceptance stage. But see, usually you grieve something that dies. And what I'm grieving is my
112life. So, I'm I'm I'm at the acceptance acceptance stage of if this is the way God intends to take me out, then I'm ready for whatever his plan is. Right? But I want you to be aware so that when it comes around again or when you get up to those pearly gates and the Lord says to you, "Why did you do this?" You cannot say, "I did not know." Because I'm going to tell you tonight. And because I am a paraeducator and I'm work I'm used to working with differentiated learning, I know some people are visual learners. And I've had a few people say to me tonight, "Oh, you look great, Berna." You're 61 years old, almost 62 years old. You have stage four cancer. You look great. Okay? But I want you to get
113I want you to have a visual of what it looks like. This is what it looks like. This is what 61 years old with stage four cancer looks like. And I put that wig on every day. And I come into the school and in this school system, no matter what school it is, and I love those kids as if they are my own. And that is what you're getting rid of. Okay? So, I know your your your numbers are set. You know, just because I prove I choose to be a paraeducator at this point in my life, doesn't mean I don't understand numbers. I worked at Ralph Lauren for 12 years and before that I worked at Tommy Hilfiger. I dealt with million-dollar budgets. So, I know what a $24 million budget looks like, which
114is why I left that field to work with people and to work with kids. Some of your kids I had and I loved them like they were my own. And when some of you decided that you wanted to get into public life, we I encouraged and I supported. Some of you, when my daughter was 5 years old and got separated up from us at an event and found the familiar face that they knew in that crowd and they came to you. And you protected them. And again on in when she was in middle school and she was harassed on that bus and you protected her. That trust, when I tell you that that trust has now turned to hatred. I am not saying that lightly. So, in terms of the rowing team, I wanted to
115give you some facts because I'm sure some of you don't know. Some of you didn't even know we had a rowing team. But we do. That rowing team started 8 years ago with two athletes who became state champions. Today, that rowing team has 25 athletes. Three quarters of whom are children in our special education program who had no other outlet and found rowing and we became a family. And they're happy. When I told those kids that there would no longer be a rowing team, I had one student who sank to the ground holding his head and said to me, "I don't know what I'm going to do. This is the first time I've ever been accepted in a sport. This is the first time my parents have ever supported me in anything." This student takes
116the bus home every day because he has no one to come pick him up. And you this is what's being taken from him. Okay? So, let's look we I know we like to talk about numbers. Let's talk about some numbers. I told you we had 25 students enrolled this year. You guys only fund 15. I pay for the rest out of my pocket. Because those kids are precious and what they get out of being a part of a family, a part of a sport, and a part of the team is more important to me than the money. In the 8 years that we have been a team, we have sent multiple athletes to college either on partial or full scholarship. Last year I had five seniors graduate. Every single one of those five students received
117college offers. This year, I have a state champion that Dartmouth has called about and is looking to recruit on a full ride. That is one of our special education kids that people told him he couldn't do it. And that's why I do what I do. It's not because of y'all. It's because of them. Because I believe that every youth should have the opportunity to excel at whatever level that they can make. One of the young men that got up and stood and talked today was part of the inspiration for starting the team. That student, the second year of that team being in existence, came into the classroom hysterical in tears. And I want to tell the story. I know I'm over time, but I I apologize. He came into the classroom hysterical. I said, "What's
118wrong?" He said, "I just had a big fight with my dad." I said, "Why?" He said, "Because my dad wants me to quit school and quit the rowing team and come work with him pulling pallets in the warehouse." And I said, "Hold on." And he said to me, "Miss G, I am not giving up. I want to make something out of myself. I don't care what he says. I don't care if we have to fight every day. I'm not giving up." We figured it out. That dad went from not wanting him to be in school to driving him to regattas in Connecticut and upstate New York, to running with him, to developing a relationship with his son that never existed before, that still exist to this day because of rowing. This is what we're taking
119from these kids. And I know I'm not the only program out there. I know that. And somehow, someway, I will find a way to help those kids despite y'all's efforts. I'll figure it out. My only hope is that I'll last long enough to give them that future. And so, I want to leave you with one thought tonight. You know, we like to talk about we bleed blue and gold and we put the H in Comets and, you know, we're we're a Comet community and, you know, all of these grandiose things that we like to say. Well, I want to tell you this. If in a couple years from now you hear that I've gone on to my maker, I want you to look down at your hands. And I guarantee you you will not see
120blue and gold there. You will see blood. Because I don't bleed blue and gold. I bleed blood. Okay? So, in one fell swoop, you came to me and you said, "I'm taking away your health insurance. I'm cutting your pay. I'm raising your taxes because I live in this town, right? So, I expect you, by me raising your taxes, to pay for me taking away your health insurance and cutting your pay so that I can afford to buy health insurance. I can't afford Cobra. I just went over the numbers today, $31,000 a year for a year of Cobra so that I can stay alive long enough. Because you see, at the end of August, when my health insurance runs out, that's when my chemotherapy stops. Cuz there's no way I can afford a pill that's $900
121a day. My house gets foreclosed because without the the paycheck and the increased health insurance costs, I can't pay my mortgage. So, while I have compassion for all of you to have been put into this position, you ask us to have compassion for you. Where's the compassion for us? The Hackensack team is revered among US Rowing as an example of how to run a program. If you were to go to US Rowing and ask them how to set up a scholastic program, they would send them to me. You go to US Rowing, you speak to anybody at US Rowing, which is, by the way, in case anybody doesn't know, US Rowing is the governing body for everything rowing in the United States, including the Olympic team, the world team. I have weekly conversations with the
122CEO of US Rowing. This is what you're taking away from your kids. Okay? So, again, I just wanted to let you know and to let you see so that when we do go to the pearly gates, can't say I didn't know, cuz I'm telling you. I'm showing you. Nobody's ever seen my bald head. Mr. Jackson, you've known me since I was diagnosed with cancer. Have you ever seen my bald head? But there it is. And just cuz we make it look good, doesn't mean it is good. Okay, that wig covers up the struggle that we go through every day to get out of bed. But none of my students will ever know that, none of my colleagues will ever know that because that's my struggle. And that's not why I'm here. So, I will end
123by saying this, may God bless your souls. May God protect you and your families from ever having to go through a situation like this. And as I pray for your souls, I ask God to protect you and guide you as you've taken my soul from me. Good night. Kimberly King, resident, parent, teacher of Hackensack High School. I've spoken to you several times before. When this was announced, when we first learned that we were in a deficit, I asked the question, who was going to be impacted? We were assured that this is going to be felt everywhere. It seems that the people most impacted are those with their feet on the ground in the classrooms. And it seems that the people are that are going to feel it the most are the students in our classes,
124the families in this town, and our sending districts. The questions that I have for tonight, how closely did you look in your own house before you made the decisions to eliminate staff? How aggressively did you clean your house before you looked to all the schools in the district and cut staff? That's a key question that I think needs to be addressed at some point. Because it seems like it's paras, teachers, secretaries in our building, in the schools throughout the district, where we're feeling the loss. Those that have a direct and daily impact with students. I haven't heard yet of central office being impacted. It seems like we've been spending money on programs, programs that we're told to use. Pilot this program, look at this program, use this. It seems like we're wasting a lot of
125money. We have wasted a lot of money to see what's going to work. That's money that we're just bleeding instead of looking to see who we can hold on to. We're losing valuable staff. We're losing too many important people. And I don't know when we're going to recover from this. I don't know how we get over this. There's such a push to talk about test scores and and what's going to happen with our How are we going to retain families? How are we going to retain good staff if this is what we're doing? We had audit reports talking about enrollment. How aggressively have you pursued the removal of students that don't live in Hackensack and our sending districts? That has gone on for years. They've been in my classroom. This is not a personal attack
126on those students, but they cost us money and they've been costing us money. That's something that needs to be addressed and followed through on. This wouldn't be happening in other districts. The other thing is, I think you really need to take a a hard look at central office and see where those positions can be eliminated because those positions have no direct impact on students and the quality of teaching that's going on in our classrooms. Thank you. My name is Mason Rodriguez, a fourth grade student of Fairmount School. And I was going to say that um about a month ago, our class had an assembly program with two kindergarten classes. And while we're doing our practices, there was kindergarten students chatting, not following directions, while the fourth graders were doing and practicing their speaking parts. So,
127I was just going to say the assembly program wouldn't have been possible without the paras. That's all I have to say. Good job. Good job, Mason. Okay. He was listening here. He had to come here because he was with me and dad works on Wednesday night. So, kids were with me tonight. Um and he was listening to the comments that everybody said and he said, "I want to say something. I want to say my experience." So, good job, Mason. Um So, that's the perspective of what it would look like and I don't think teachers could do assembly programs next year. And if you talk to kids in their experience Sorry, Tracy Ponteseca. I didn't introduce myself. Um I think it might be prudent to start talking to kids and seeing what their experiences are going
128to look like next year without A or B or C. While we're waiting, I told him, "Miss Service won't be there next year in Fair Lawn School." And he's like, and I said, "Miss Cabrera won't be there." And I said, "Miss Zanco won't be there." So, he said, "You mean Miss Crespo's going to be in the office by herself?" I said her and Miss Adams, but I don't know how it's going to happen. Um I I'm completely speechless after hearing Myrna Gotchalt speak because I I think the the concept of cutting paras for I don't know what it was, 3 and 1/2 million or 4 and 1/2 million was the quick fix. We really try to teach kids to think outside the box. We give them a math problem. We don't just give them an
129arithmetic problem anymore. We give them a word problem, a deeper meaning problem, a higher level thinking question where they have to take multiple steps and multiple measures and put it together. And I know you guys are all looking at that, but I know you're also under a time crunch, so it's probably easiest to find something that was a big hit in one shot. I just really hope that we're looking at every possible scenario because the full-time paras are getting it from every angle. I have a lot of stuff to cover on my list, but I'm probably not going to get to it all. Um Not only was their salary cut, their benefits were taken and some of them are so close to retirement that now they don't have enough time at this point in the
130year to securely find another job and know that they're going to be financially stable in the upcoming year. They are the ones who are, like they said, they're early in the morning. Miss King, if you guys could go back and watch it again when there's not 100 people sitting in here and you're not in the front of everybody else, she had a lot of amazing things to say and so did Miss Kelly Collazo from Fair Lawn School. I don't know how kindergarten teachers are going to do it in September and I don't know how the teachers who had full-time paras are going to do it in September. And just in talking with some of our full-time paras, you should see how many of them have battled cancer or currently battling cancer. And all of them
131would have a similar thing to say to you as Miss Gotchalt. And if you look at these full-time paras, they're not people who came here just for benefits. These are people who are vested. A lot of them had had kids in the school and they volunteered for PTA when their kids were little and they stayed around. And when it was time for them to go back into the workforce, they decided to come back to us and invest in our kids and volunteer their time outside of the work day. So, if we could look at other things and if there can be just a little bit more transparency as to why other options maybe weren't taken. Some of the questions that people are asking, are fifth graders coming back to elementary school? Are pre-kindergarteners coming back
132to elementary school? Are we still going to pay ECDC lease? These are all questions that people have and we don't understand why those those solutions were taken were not taken and paras were taken instead. So, sometimes just a little bit more understanding can help people see things a little bit clearer, maybe understand why this had to be so drastic and why there couldn't be some sort of conversation beforehand for creative solutions like we encourage our kids to do. Could we ask staff, "Are you willing to go to New Jersey Health Educators uh New Jersey Educators Plan for insurance?" It's my understanding that by me switching this year, I saved the district $47,000. Which means that if we could ask full-time staff, "Do you want to save a para?" I bet you you'd have a line
133out your door of people who are willing to save full-time paras by changing their health benefits plan. Not requiring it cuz I know it's negotiable. But just talking from humans to humans cuz these are our neighbors. These are the people who have given up their time and money for the kids that are in our rooms and for our sanity and for your sanity as parents cuz a lot of times these full-time paras are the ones that are right there in it all day. The stuff that we can't handle in our homes with our kids, you know, when we have a week off. So, please if we could just open conversations for creative solutions and more dialogue as to why things are possible or not possible from a legal standpoint or you know, maybe a a
134different lens that you guys have that maybe we don't. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Good evening. Um Buenas noches. When I get nervous, I go to Spanish, but it is spoken by most of the students in our district. Um my name is Soraya Gonzalez. This is my sister, Paola Gonzalez. And I'm known for crying and that's why I didn't plan anything. I didn't prepare to speak tonight, but after seeing the rowing team students and Miss Gotchalt and my sister's a parent, that's the main reason I came tonight. I decided that I needed to say something and I said to her, "Come with me cuz we're in this together." I said my name. I'm a Spanish teacher at the high school for the last 21 years. But before that, I was a vice president of
135the Hackensack Board of Education. I served with some of you. And before that, I was a I graduated from Hackensack High School with one of you. So, I have a long story in Hackensack. And um since 1982 when my sister and I, two little girls, came from Colombia to the Hackensack Middle School and then the Hackensack High School where we learned English. So, blame my teacher. Um and graduated to college. I'm not going to tell you my story, but served on the Board of Education when Mr. Montesano was the um superintendent. And yes, it was a different Hackensack. And that's the Hackensack that I came to. Because I said to him, "I used to work in New York in finances." And I said to him, "I want to teach, but the only place I want
136to teach is Hackensack." Because that's the district that I went to school to and and I want to give my students back what my teachers gave me. My ESL bilingual teachers gave me. And one thing that I remember from a long, long time ago, I'm 56, class of '88, field trips. When my teachers would take me to places that my parents could not afford to. I even remember not even going to Amish country, remember? They took us to Pennsylvania cuz we went together with in this ESL program here at the high school. But anyways, the reason I came back to teach and I resigned from the Board of Ed is because my heart is here and my heart aches tonight. It hurts. And like I said, I came for my sister being a parent. She
137only had 2 years left. Finding out that she's not going to have insurance. It's main thing. She's We We've been crying together since it was announced. And then I also came for the rowing team. I don't know if you know, but for the last 2 years, I also volunteer um as an assistant coach, but I would go under regardless with Miss Gotchalt and the team. And like she said and every team member said, it was a family. It's a community. I know Jonathan, the one that spoke, the one that whose father didn't want him to continue the education. When he saw me today, he said, "Profesor, you know, I'm still going to Bergen. Even I'm taking one class at a time. And I'm a I'm still in touch with with Miss G because she pushes
138me every day to still be in touch with my parents. Going to those regattas, yes I would leave my family, my son and my husband all day. My family, I miss a lot of events in my family. Oh my god, you'd rather be on on on a regatta than being here with us. We have birthdays, we have this, we have that. Getting up at 4:00 in the morning getting to the high school, going on the bus with the kids. For the first time in my life, I made chili. I don't cook. Do I Do I cook? I don't cook for my husband. But the team, everyone brings something. Everyone contributes. We spend the day together cheering each other. It is a family that is so sad that it might go away. And I'll probably be
139all over the place cuz like I said, I get super nervous. Um but what I want to do is say some of what other people have said before. Look at the numbers again. I don't believe that it's done. I don't believe that it's final. I want to be hopeful. I want you to look at the numbers again and see if the paras can have another chance. I hear there's stipends all over. Um there's money for other things. Um I like like I said earlier, I've been in your shoes and not during these times, right? But look at the numbers again. Try to do the math again and and I don't know. That's that's what I ask for me when I'm in pain. Thank you. Gracias. Peace and good evening, everybody. Uh Tony Jackson, uh parent
140teacher um I feel like all the words are gone. All of the words are gone. Um I want to start with a little bit of what I wanted to say. Uh recognizing the severity of the budget crisis uh the difficult decisions that the district has to make. Um I think we know that it's important to recognize that the decisions don't just impact the finances as we can see. Uh they directly change the conditions of the teaching and the learning. And so as everybody has mentioned September, that's been the reality that I have that I've been living in. Um we talk about or hear about larger class sizes uh reduced support um and it's it's hard to even say just reduced support because because of what we know that support consists of. Um so I just
141want to mention a couple of a couple of people. Can't mention every name. Um I have a student who has an injury and so when we go downstairs he can't make it down the stairs with us cuz he has his crutches. And so Frank Revell um the para right across the hall who worked in the high school with my mom before she retired and now is there in so many ways in so many different capacities. Um or Pat Chandler um they will escort him down, bring him back up. Miss Yuloa, there's so many names I could mention there. Um but I know that it's okay because they're there. Um Miss Alert Jackie Alert and uh she is our school social worker and she is not going to be uh for much longer. And when we
142talk about like maintaining the continuity as best we can for kids um she is both a rock and a soft place to land. And when you rip out the soft place to land for students um they're just going to be hitting it's going to be hard. Right? Um and so I I'm I miss her already and all of the other professionals that work in a similar capacity. Um when the students find out um all of us are trying to pick up that slack and we're trying to comfort um but it extends beyond the students because the families need them so deeply. And they become pivotal members of the community. And there already are folks who are reaching out to us saying how is my child going to be okay? Um I just heard today uh
143Dennis Henry's name. Dennis Henry is so Miss Alert is a rock and a soft place to land. Dennis Henry is just a rock because he is foundational. And he and Luz in that office mean so much that if you pull them out, the structure of the building just falls. And and uh in in a in a building that is that is still grieving um knowing the level of this loss uh not just for us but for the students and for the families uh I'm just going to lean on the words of so many folks who came before and who are are humbly asking that as hard as the work is that you are doing and the decisions that you are making to continue um as my colleague Tracy said, to be creative um as we're
144going to try to do as well. Thank you. Good evening, all. I thought long and hard about standing before you this evening but I feel compelled to speak as a building leader and give you the perspective of what we see. My name is Dr. Joy Dorsey Whiting and I stand before you this evening as a proud 31-year educator in this school district. My journey for these past three decades has taken me to many beautiful places with many phenomenal people. From Fairmount School as a teacher then to the 5/6 School as a teacher when it first opened then back to Fairmount as the assistant principal then back to the 5/6 School as principal then to the Academy on the Hill my beloved Taylor School as principal and now to my home, my heart, Hackensack Middle School
145as principal where we strive to exemplify pride, passion, and purpose in all that we do. I am also the wife and very proud mother of two amazing Comets and a wonderful husband by the name of Gordon Whiting. And I consider myself a Comet as well because I have learned through my time in Hackensack you become a Comet by virtue of where you are, not by where you come from. And although most of my experiences in Hackensack have been overwhelmingly amazing I stand before you to share that these past few weeks have been much less than that. In fact, as a school leader I never thought I would experience this kind of heartache and grief and pray that I never have to ever again. Last week, I had the arduous and emotional task of telling more
146than 42 staff members including three of my phenomenal administrative assistants Lisa Mac Lore Tatiana Campos and Amy Nunez and two of the hardest working assistant principals in this district Dr. Cat Taraskiba and Miss Johanna Espinal that they would unfortunately not be able to continue in Hackensack as employees regardless of the amazing time, talent, and treasure they have dedicated to our schools because of our budget deficit. I don't stand before you to point a finger at anyone because we all we all know that when you point a finger, one goes out but three come back. Yet I stand before you to shed a light on the people the human beings the human capital the souls within my charge who I care deeply for as their building leader and pose the question what's next for them? For
147our students for our families. Our students will undoubtedly suffer the most but what is the plan to address the deep and wide chasm that remain after all these staff members exit our schools? I don't have the answer. But I charge all of us here this evening to start thinking about our next and keep ever present in our minds the students and families we have committed to giving our best to because this surely isn't it. There is a beautiful song by Whitney Houston called The Greatest Love of All. The beginning of the song says, "I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. Let the children's laughter remind us how it
148used to be." Not sure what can be done or how we will recover from this great loss. But let's put our collective energy together to make sure that we keep the children's future ever present in our plans, in our actions, and in our deeds because they are who matter the most. And let us hope for a better day for Hackensack Public Schools. That is my prayer. And after all, hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. Thank you so much for this time to speak. Cassine Games. And truly, for the first time, I may actually be at a loss for words. I uh I feel a bit like my students when they say that other kids stole what I was going to say. That that other kid would
149be Tracy Ponteseca today. Um now I have to believe them, I guess, cuz it happened to me. But I'm just going to speak for a moment about what's on my heart and I don't know what hat it's going to reflect. So, I'm just going to speak um because as someone who went to Nellie K. Parker, to Hackensack Middle School, Hackensack High School, who was blessed with phenomenal teachers throughout my entire journey, and sometimes I think I am truly the luckiest person in the world because when I think back at my teachers, I really don't have a bad one that I can remember in Hackensack. One of the things that I learned here is that you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up, even if it's multiple things at the same time.
150So, I don't apologize for it. I'm proud of it. And I take very seriously the responsibility that we have as a community to the 47,000 people who live here, including the most vulnerable among us. And that's not any adult in this room. Those are the kids of this city. And I have to say truthfully, I don't quite understand and it hurts me that our kids who are most impacted have not had, to my knowledge, an assembly, have not had any communication about what's going on, that they have to see on social media and dear God, Hackensack Happenings. Keep my name out your mouth, Hackensack Happenings. And through teachers who are upset and trying to process this as well, they're part of the family, too. And they haven't been spoken to. So, I understand that September
151is going to look very different. I understand that. But one of the things that Tracy said and Tony said and I think Dr. Whiting said and other folks have said is that we are collaborative here and we are creative here. I take incredible pride and make no apology for the fact that Hackensack is the only municipality with all of these municipalities having budget crises throughout the state where both branches of government came together to do something to help the kids of this community. I'm proud of that. And I'm proud of that not as a teacher, not as an elected official. I'm proud of that as someone who says, "That's what we do here in Hackensack." No one who lives in Hackensack should be surprised that that's what Hackensack does when Hackensack has a problem. And
152people that don't get it don't get Hackensack. Because we help where we can, in all the ways we can. I'm going to ask that the board, central office, really make a concerted effort in these next days and weeks and I understand that there are lots of deadlines and things that are coming up. But first and foremost, there has to be better communication. There has to be better communication to parents, to kids, to the staff because you are also employers. I spend a lot of time looking up pension plans and tiers and benefits and who can keep what and this one started in this district and then moved to this position and that sort of thing. It's not my job, really. It's not really my job. I do it because these are my people and they're
153all our people. But if there are ways, for example, perhaps during a staff meeting time, during PD time, I had someone reach out to me who got riffed, who said that their PD on Tuesday was to plan for next year. That's time that could be used, perhaps, in better ways to help the staff members that, because of the realities of this district, are not going to be able to land on their feet in a Hackensack Public School next year. I would ask that Ms. Parchment, please, any staff member who reaches out with a letter of recommendation to go on to a subsequent employer, if that's something that you can provide, that your office can provide, so that people understand that we have the best educators here in Hackensack and that any child anywhere would be
154fortunate to have them. I don't know where the savings or the reductions are coming from outside of the personnel side, but I would hope that we take a good look at all of these educators that have the ability to teach and have special certifications and that next year is probably a good idea to pilot scaling back the cost of professional development from people that need planes to get here to provide it and start tapping into some of the talent that we have here so that we can save some money. What I'm trying to get at is there's things on the surface that we see. And then there's a whole lot of stuff that when we're talking about what we can do without temporarily, maybe some of these curricula can just be paused for a little
155bit and we can go back to the books that are in our book rooms that are taking up lots of space and we can tap into some of that and not pay six figures to educational companies just for a little bit, just to try it, just to see how we do. But there may be opportunities to save money there, too. And maybe you've already looked at those things. I don't know. But part of my issue, frankly, is that I don't know. I think since we have had to go I wouldn't say back to the drawing board, but since we've had to make revisions and amendments or future changes, I would request that soon we get some folks to have a conversation. Folks of different walks of life in this district who might be able to
156say, "Here's a program, here's a thing that I think we can do without." And I use by way of example, we have in ELA, we have a program called Turnitin, which I use. I use all the time. I don't know who else uses it, but I know that we pay for it, and I also know I can do without it. So, I just use that by way of example. I don't know what all is happening outside of what we see in the personnel. But what I'm requesting is that we think considerably considerately at how we can best utilize the folks who are here, how we can best prepare the folks that unfortunately will not be able to be here for success moving forward. And that we have a little bit of communication with our students.
157Last thing that I will say is one of the things that I took great issue with with I suppose the the superintendent, not Ms. Parchment, Dr. McBride, was that January, February, March, April of that time where he was here, in one of our HEA meetings that we have at central office, I said, "You know, a colleague mentioned to me, I hadn't even really thought about it cuz I have these monthly meetings, so I interface with you, but hadn't been to a staff meeting, hadn't addressed the students. There'd been an email, but there was no human interface. And I suggested, 'We have a journalism class, why don't you come and do a video?' And he did record a video, and it was on the website for a while. But the point is the kids need to
158hear from the people in central office, they need to hear from these folks as well because there are lots of consequences to all of these actions, and I understand that they can't that some of them are going to happen. A lot of them are going to happen, and probably more will happen. But treat the kids with the dignity and respect that they deserve by being honest with them and speaking to them. Thank you. Good evening. I have come before you again to say this, how did we get here? How did we get here? Let me help you, some of you people that don't know. I have been in rooms with some of you people that sit up there right now. And you know how you got here? Because you backbite. You reject each other, you
159talk about each other. It ain't about the kids, it's about your own personal gains or or you feeling important. That's how we got here. You didn't give a damn about these children. You cared about your damn self more than the children. So, I want to let people know, you know, it's a damn shame that this city I'm not First of all, I'm not from Hackensack. But I grew up in a environment where, you know, the teachers that I had growing up, there was a certain amount of importancy to let me know that as a black child, there was hope for me. Not getting up and talking about the um the former um principal, whatever, um that he didn't talk with the students. You got a person in this school, and I heard this multiple times,
160who've been here from seem like day one. The kids don't even know the hell he is. Now, think about that. You've been in here over 20-something years, 25, 30 years, and some of the kids don't even know you're the damn principal. Let's stop with the foolishness. Let's put away the little pettiness that we we have towards each other and get some work done. You know, it's it's just sickening to hear the crap that's come out some of you people's mouths. And like I said, I've been in the room with you. I've heard you say certain things. But I don't believe nothing you said because of where we at right now. Good evening, board. Linda Pyro, paraprofessional at Jackson Avenue School, 31 and a half years. Uh Thank you. Mhm. I'd like to shout out to
161my other paras. If you'd please stand up. Just let us see you. Let's see you. Wow. You're great. I just like to address all of you because I know you're a new board, and I've been to the board meetings, I've been to the Padavano Center, too, and I have heard that you're here for the kids, and that's all I have to hear because I know your hearts. I know Ms. Parchment's heart, and I'm getting to know all of you. Um Thank you, Christine, for um giving me a preface to start. We had a meeting last Tuesday, uh April 14th, but 8:00 in the morning, our acting principal, um Donna Petrin Woll, sent out a email saying that all full-time paras had to be here at 3:30. While we had a Stop the Bleed PD scheduled,
162and I'm like, I should be there for that. I've learned the Heimlich, and I've helped kids. You know, what could be so important? So, we went to the meeting, and I know you weren't there. I know Ms. Parchment was there. Carol from the state was there. Christine and Tom Tosano was there. All the principals were there. And after the meeting, well, I'll read what I wrote to Ms. Parchment. I know today was hard for you as well it was as well as it was for all of us. As I looked around at our paras in the auditorium, I realized that these faces that I've seen around our children students for years make up a big part of our school community. Their hearts have been there for the children of Hackensack, and to see them crying,
163a big piece of my heart got ripped out, too. And that's surely not something I'd ever imagining happening in a place that's been my second home for half of my life. Due to no fault of ours, we're the ones who will suffer because of the ones entrusted to have our students and staff's best interests at heart. They failed at their jobs, and we've done our jobs, but we're the ones who have lost out on something so special. To work daily with children is a gift, and it takes a special person, as you well know. The kids are my life. Like, I love going to work every day, and my husband and I who we figure will retire in 2 years, so to have this brought up to me like, you know, I have to retire,
164it breaks my heart because being with those children every day and seeing, you know, them grow and the love. Look at the rowing team, how they came up to this podium. They've never done it before, but someone loved them like Ms. Gatrelle. Look at this, and the coach, you know, I didn't even know there was a rowing team, but this brought those children out of their shell, gave them comfort, gave them something to look forward to every day. Isn't that what we want for our children? And to be able to express themselves in the way that they did is beautiful. When I see little my second graders every day being happy, making friends, I don't know, just being themselves and showing love and caring. I see that from you, too, when I, you know, go
165to these meetings, too. We have to believe that that we're doing the best for our students and our staff. A lot of the people I didn't know, but tonight we got to see a lot of their hearts, and I just hope that we can continue as we are, and I want to say that I've met some of the most beautiful people in my lives, the parents, the teachers, the staff. I really love you all, and I hope that Hackensack, you know, we can somehow get the money to, uh, keep making us be the beautiful place that we are, cuz I know our hearts are for the children. Thank you. Is there anyone else in person that would like to speak? Okay, I see that there are none, so we're going to close the in-person public
166comment section. Um, before we get into our Zoom participants, I would like to just take a 10-to-15-minute break, and then we will come back, and then we'll resume with our public comment portion for online. Thank you. >> Good evening, everyone. We're going to begin our second part of public comments. Before we begin our online portion of public comments, I would like uh for someone to make a motion to extend our meeting past 10:00. I would like to make a motion. Okay, so we have a motion from Vice President Martin. >> Seconded by Trustee Jones. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Any abstention? We end the meeting. Thank you. Okay. So now we have extended the meeting past 10:00. It is 9:54 p.m. And we will go right into our Zoom participants. And
167just as a reminder to our Zoom participants, please try your best to limit your to limit your comments to 3 minutes. Thank you. Good evening. Hi, good evening. My name is Fran Campolo. I am a lifelong Hackensack resident, uh parent of a child who attends Hackensack High School, Spanish instructor at Hackensack Middle School for almost 30 years, alumna and taxpayer. I echo the same sentiment as my colleagues about our about our full-time paras losing their full-time status. The situation is deplorable and should not be happening. This week I learned that the wood shop program at the middle school was cut. This was very unfortunate and sad. This class integrates science, technology, engineering, and math. Children really enjoy wood shop as they learn by doing. It provides the students with real-world skills and career exploration at
168an early age that many students don't get elsewhere. What analysis has been done on how eliminating this program will affect student engagement and career readiness? I am hopeful also that the district considers the importance of retaining our school monitors in supporting our students. Our monitors assist in building expectations, support conflict resolution, and provide social emotional support for students within our school. I've had the privilege of observing the interactions between the monitors and the students at the middle school. Our monitors act as mentors and are vital particularly in the middle school years when certain behaviors tend to peak. Given the proposed cuts within our schools, what specific systems will be in place to monitor all of our students well-being and academic progress? How will the district ensure timely interventions if the students begin to struggle? Thank
169you so much. Hi, good evening. Uh Anna Garcia, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, um at the beginning of this meeting the board president spoke about sustainable budget. Um and I think it's quite interesting. You know, to me sustainable budget means decisions are being made that make financial sense. So I have a question. How is it that building unionized secretaries with a salary cap of about 65,000 are being let go, but central office secretaries, which are non-union confidential, salary of 90k plus, are able to stay and they're not dealing with any students at all? To me it would make sense you get rid of those secretaries, you move the building secretaries to do some of the central work, and keep them employed because financially they cost less to have them. I would like that question
170answered. And as parents of this community, we've lost a lot of trust for central office, members of the board, because you're saying one thing, but you're doing something else completely. I also would like to bring up another point. If the buildings can lose an assistant principal, then I think it's time that Hackensack returns to a one superintendent model. We don't need two. And it should be really easy to choose one. Let's choose the superintendent that's not embattled in multiple lawsuits. That's really easy to do. My other point. With all of the teachers being let go and classrooms now having to take on more students, I hope that the city's fire warden is going to be checking maximum occupancy of buildings and classrooms that are not going to make students unsafe, that are going to preserve
171fire safety, space compliance, and adhere to protections and rules to making sure that students can get in and out safely, because I know there is a desk-to-student ratio in all classrooms. So hopefully that kind of report will be presented to us at one point. We have out of the four elementary schools, we have two elementary schools that cannot take any more new enrollment, right? We all know Fairmount and Hillers are maxed out. I'm hoping that to eliminate some of these classrooms being even larger, that some of these kids are going to get funneled to the other two schools with the lower enrollment. Jackson and Parker. And hopefully we can balance out and have all of the schools with the same number of enrollment instead of having two schools that are overcrowded and two schools that
172are undercrowded. That is all. I would like my questions answered though. Questions will be answered at the end of public comments. Hello. Yes. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, good evening. Oh, good evening. Hi, my name is Deborah Serrano. Um I'm a full-time para for 17 plus years at Hillers School. Um I just want to say that finding out the news of our salary being cut in half and losing my benefits has been devastating for me and my family. I have worked with special ed, um multiple disability, I've done ABA for 17 plus years. I love what I do. I've born and raised in Hackensack. I graduated from Hackensack High in 1990. My daughter has graduated from Hackensack High. And I love my kids. I never thought I would be faced with the now the
173decision of giving all that I give to my kids to another district. I love Hackensack. I love my Hackensack kids. I love working with them. I give 100 and 1% every single day. Nothing less. Nothing less. Please, if you can find another way to make this work, I beg of you to try. Thank you. Hello. Yes, good evening. Good evening. My name is Michelle Tavares, Hackensack resident. Most of you know me by now. I am a proud parent of a senior and a high school graduate who is now a college freshman. I've always been proud to stand and support this district. I speak out for the positive as your Presidents' Council president and as a constant PTA president. But tonight feels different. How do I even begin to speak today? I don't personally know Ms.
174Cotrell, but I know her situation all too well. As a cancer survivor who has gone through chemotherapy and relies on ongoing medical care, I can tell you this, without my insurance, my family would have lost everything. Or I might not even be here today, because I would have had to make the choice. Listening to her story tonight was heartbreaking. I couldn't even sit in my own home without crying so hard I could barely breathe. I understand there's a deficit. I understand difficult decisions have to be made. But I have to ask, was this the right one? Could we have done another option? Was there another way? Cutting full-time positions, especially for people who give so much, cannot be the only solution. To Mr. I, although you were never officially my child's teacher, you were always
175there for them, both of them. Your support meant more than you know, and I will always be grateful. You do not deserve to lose your full-time role. To Ms. Mitchell, you had a profound impact on my children's education. The program you built, especially in cheer, brought energy, pride, and unity to this district. As a football parent, I can say that those athletes those female athletes defined Friday nights. Thank you for everything you've given. This has been one of the hardest meetings I've ever experienced. To the educators, students, and families who spoke out tonight, I am incredibly proud of you. Especially Ms. Cotrell, you have my full support. And to the school secretaries who are losing their position, this is not right. You are the heart of your schools. You are the ones who know everything
176about your buildings, who keep things running every single day, often without recognition. You don't deserve this. And speaking on administrative assistants day, I agree with what Ms. Garcia said. Please make this all make sense because it doesn't make sense. But what breaks me the most in this, while watching tonight, I was texting my college freshman, my proud graduate, who chose the path of education because of the educators in this district, not because of central office staff, but because of teachers like the ones in this district. And for the first time, my child texted me and said, "Mom, I don't think I want to teach in Hackensack anymore. Not because I don't love this community, but because of how it is treating its educators. It's just not right." That should matter to every single one of
177us. Thank you. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes, good evening. Good evening. This is Julie Plati, Hackensack High School music teacher. For several years now, the primary solution to the many challenges facing students is being placed entirely on teachers and school staff. Specifically, we are told over and over that we need to build relationships with students. Well, over the past 3 months, at board meeting after board meeting, whenever students have spoken out, it has been obvious that Hackensack teachers and staff are going above and beyond in building these relationships. I think I can say for all of us that we spend time every day intentionally building relationships with our students. And the proof is in the tears of the students who have spoken out because they are going to lose those relationships. We love
178our students, and they love us. You know what cannot build relationships? Chromebooks, AI, digital hall pass apps. We need to address the expenses of technology. How much money can be saved there? Where else can cuts be made to limit the loss of our human resources? Humans educate and yes, build relationships with our children. Every human that is cut to try to balance the budget harms our students. Please find other ways to close the budget gap instead of relying so heavily on staff cuts. Thank you. And also, please come out to the high school vocal music concert this coming Tuesday, 6:00 p.m. here in the auditorium. Thank you and have a good night. Hello. Hi, good evening. Everybody, I'm Jackie Alert, the SEL social worker at Nellie K. Parker School, the greatest school in the world.
179I'm speaking tonight as someone who has spent the last 8 years fostering social emotional learning at Nellie K. Parker and across the district. I've been building systems, supporting students, staff, and families, and creating spaces where children feel seen, safe, and connected. I'm also speaking as someone who has made the difficult and emotional decision to resign, with my last day being May 1st. We've heard that we are in a moment of change, and while change in this moment is necessary, the way it's being handled right now is causing real harm. Staff are being asked to make life-altering decisions with little time to process, little clarity of what their jobs now entail, and little support. Paras were informed about their change in status mere hours before the community, with no time to process what this new reality
180looked like. The changes you are making are monumental. I'll ask the hard questions now because we need answers soon. Without a social emotional learning team and assistant principals in the elementary level, who will take over 504s? Who will do attendance? Who will conduct the bullying investigations, then do the restorative counseling? Who makes up the INRST team? Who will conduct crisis and behavioral threat assessments? Who will do the tier one interventions and the SEL class lessons? Now, pivoting back to my colleagues who were reduced in force. These are careers, livelihoods. The board president spoke tonight about dignity, but where is dignity for the staff? Dignity looks like time, clarity, transparency. It looks like honesty. It looks like allowing people time to process, to plan, and to transition with respect. Where is the dignity for families? As
181I told my building admin, best practices and the social work code of ethics encourages us to begin the process of termination sooner rather than later. Allowing students time to process the transition, ask questions, and to receive closure in a supportive and developmentally appropriate way. I also believe that clear and timely communication to families is an important part of the process. It not only supports transparency, but helps families reinforce these transitions at home and reach out to appropriate supports moving forward. But the issue is that they are left with more questions. Who are those support people going to be? Instead, this all feels rushed. It feels poorly managed, and it shows. There's a saying, "Proper preparation prevents poor performance." But right now, what we are witnessing is the result of poor preparation. We also need to
182talk about equity. Equity is not just cutting what is deemed, quote unquote, the easiest to cut, like the 10 non-tenured individuals, custodians, grant positions, admin assistants. It is not removing the very people who support students every day. True equity is top-down. It requires thoughtful, balanced decision-making. When we remove student-facing like the paraprofessionals, the SEL social workers, 504 coordinators, school counselors, we are not balancing a budget. Hence, this is round one and round two of cuts. We are changing a child's daily experience. Your lack of communication and transparency has only deepened this harm. Staff are learning about decisions that impact their lives in real time, sometimes alongside or after families and the community. That is not transparency. That is what creates confusion, mistrust, and instability across the entire community, hence the posts on Hackensack Happenings. And
183to be clear, transparency and confidentiality confidentiality are not in conflict here. Under New Jersey Sunshine Law, which has been quoted every time I ask for transparency, sharing what positions are being eliminated without naming individuals does not violate personnel confidentiality. Families can and should be informed about what roles are being cut and how these changes will impact their children. That level of clarity is not only permissible, it is responsible, and that is dignity. So, we have to ask ourselves, why are we removing the very supports that help address all the needs that our students have? I am sad. I am afraid. I am worried for Monday, May 4th, because who will maintain the compliance of 504s? Who will do the check-ins with my students when the only social worker left at my school has a caseload
184of 70-plus students on her own. And this is not her or the child study team's responsibility. I say this with respect, but also because I have a responsibility. Our students, our families, and our staff deserve better communication regarding the decisions that feel rushed because of the deficit, unclear communication, and inequitable cuts because the message that I am hearing is, "Hi, you're going to lose your benefits, but yay, you still have a job. Oh, but at least your grade level can go on a field trip." There is still time to do this differently, to lead with transparency, to center true equity, and to restore dignity to this process. Because how you handle this moment not only defines who you are as a district and as a board, but to who we are moving forward. So, to
185my families and my staff and my friends and colleagues, thank you for the best 8 years and for working alongside with me. Hello. Yes, good evening. Good evening. Um Patty Lozano, assistant principal at Hackensack High School. My apologies for not being there tonight. Um so much of our staff um and what I consider family are hurting. Um I just want to say sorry um from the bottom of my heart. My heart breaks watching and hearing, you know, over the last few months, um for Hackensack, for Myrna, for OD, Charlie, Romey, Haley, Mia, Stella, Michael, Simone, and E, Melinda, Monique, Melissa, Pablo, Gabby, Karina, our crew team. You are our family. You're my family. Um you have been Hackensack board members. Everyone has been part of my family through the best and worst times of my
186life. Being fired and then reinstated, my marriage, pregnancy losses, childbirth, cancer, and to watch this happening or experiencing this happening with members of our Hackensack family, it just breaks my heart. I have faith in my heart and I know might sound crazy, um but all I could do is pray that better times are coming for our children, for the people of Hackensack that have given years and years to the community and continue to give. I pray for all of you that spoke tonight, all the parents, and especially our children. I know this cannot be it. I know that better times have to come and I will try my best and give anything I can to help the outcome. Um again, I'm sorry and I'm hoping for better days. Hi everyone, good evening. My name is
187Delia Rodriguez. I am an alumni and current child study team uh social worker at Nellie K. Parker, the greatest school in the world. Um I want to start by saying that I've listened very closely tonight to everything that has been said and I keep coming back to the same feeling that this is so much bigger than numbers. I understand that decisions have to be made. I I genuinely, wholeheartedly do, but I do have to ask the question, has or will the county superintendent actually come into our schools and see what this looks like, not just on paper, but in real time, in real life? We are talking about classrooms that could reach up to 30 students in spaces like NKP that don't have walls. Let's not forget that we have open classrooms at Nellie K.
188Parker. We're talking about environments where noise carries, where needs overlap, where it's already hard and we we're being asked to stretch it even further. Someone earlier had mentioned before elopers or runners. Do you know how difficult it is to maintain the safety of staff and students without walls? A lot of us at NKP wear sneakers and yes, we do joke about who is the fastest support staff, but the truth is we joke because if we don't, we'll break because every single day we are running physically and emotionally trying to meet the needs that don't fit neatly into a budget. Nellie K. Parker has 163 classified students and counting out of 511. That is the highest number of classified students out of all the elementary schools and to be clear, for the record, as far as
189enrollment goes, Nellie K. Parker has the second highest number of enrollment. I'm not a math whiz, but 163 out of 511 is over 20% of the student population. Even higher need districts might be in that 15 to 16% range. Increasing class size in that kind of environment doesn't stretch resources, it risks student safety and their ability to learn. This is about access. This is about whether students are getting what they need to be successful and not just managed. For some of these students, it's their federally mandated needs in order to be successful. Their futures and safety are not line items. And I want to say something that is honestly very hard for me to say out loud. I had the option to enroll my own children in this district. They'll be three next month. Mommy's
190alma mater, but I did it. I chose a private option because I was scared and that breaks me because I believe in public education and I believe in this community, but belief alone isn't enough when the reality doesn't match what our kids deserve. So I'm asking you, please don't let this just be about the dollar sign. Come into the classrooms. Come to Nellie K. Parker. Come to our offices. Talk to the people doing the work. Talk to our students. See what these rooms look like. See the impact before these decisions are finalized because once they are, it's our kids who are carrying the weight of them. Thank you. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, good evening. Good evening. Um my name is Jessica Cruz, Nellie K. Parker PTA president, a special education mom, a mom
191of two children at Nellie K. Parker actually, a preschooler, kindergartner next year. Um and my my son is an inclusion, presently an inclusion child with an IEP. Um with all of the cuts and just kind of echoing what was just said as well, you know, I've I've been vocal before about the fact that my son and has had my my children have made tremendous success at Nellie K. Parker and that it's the people that have led to that success. You know, um life happens and things happen and your community, knowing that your community has eyes on your child when they're an eloper, and for those who don't understand, an eloper is a child who can take off at any point and sometimes there's not a clear antecedent that they're just going to bolt and it's
192very scary as a parent. Um and it's even harder being at work and knowing that my child's in a different building and having blind faith that they're safe. But when my child when my son is at Nellie K. Parker, I know that people like Dennis Henry, Takima Allen, um Penelope Wood, Ms. Akman, all these people that are not going to be may not be there next year are watching out for them. Um they it's not just one it's not even one name that I could say, you know, uh I know my son is safe because these people are watching out for him and they know who he is by name and they know his needs, but how wonderful he is and they're just making sure that he's safe all the time and I'm just praying
193that next year that Dr. Galliano doesn't get sick when, you know, there's no AP or, you know, that Ms. That Luz doesn't get sick because who's going to cover them? What if they both get sick? You know, like it it it scares me that or what if his one-to-one is sick? I I just I these are things that happen on a day-to-day and at least there's enough staff that somebody can cover, but thinking that my son may not be safe on a day-to-day basis because there's not someone else there and that we're already bare bones is really, really terrifying. And on another note, my daughter being in kindergarten next year in a class of 30, this is something that's really, really, really scaring me because she my son has been reading since he was two.
194My daughter's more typical. She's not reading yet cuz that's typical of a pre-K going into kindergarten. I don't know if she's going to struggle with it and I don't know if in a class of 30, that means that because she's not, you know, an emotional kid or an eloper or behavioral, that that means that keeping them safe is going to be the priority and she may not get what she needs. And just on another note, all of these people that are not going to be here next year, like um it's I I hate to get emotional and I probably sound like a crazy person right now, but I'm Nellie K. Parker as an alumni, as PTA president, as someone who has been so felt so safe and happy and and felt like my kids were
195protected every day that they've been there, I'm worried about what that's going to be like next year and it's not because the staff and the the administration, the administrative assistant, those that are left are not going to be doing the best that they can, but you know, things happen and if we don't have enough I I just it scares me as a mom. Thank you. Hello. Yes, good evening. Yes, good evening. Hello, my name is Philip Brophy. Uh I'm a teacher at Hackensack High School and I'm calling as a member of the district equity team. Uh which was once a a group that was extraordinarily strong and was able to produce a lot of incredible professional development opportunities that were all housed from inside the district. Uh they were uh it was it was comprised
196of some extraordinarily talented people from all the schools. In fact, some of those people spoke tonight, Tony Jackson, uh Kassim Gaines, among many others. Uh And they could be the the district equity team could be an invaluable resource that is far less costs than people who are flown in to give us flashy PDs that last an hour and a half and cost a district tens of thousands of dollars. Um there are ways that the district can save money by utilizing the brain trust that exists within Hackensack. We talk so much about bleeding blue and gold and how great Hackensack is and yet we always find ways to give money to private corporations that don't live in this town, that don't have anything to do with this district. They're part of Silicon Valley and and another
197thing that is really important is I hear a lot of people talking about what this is happening everywhere. Um one place that this is not happening is in ICE facilities, which are well-funded and have no problem making their budgets and they're not concerned about cutting staff. They're growing. So whenever people are beginning to get angry about this person on this health care plan or this and other employee and which program we're going to cut, let us not forget that and this is something that the district equity team would be speaking on. There are constantly literally around the school opportunities to look at the inequities that are happening in this community uh and I urge us to discuss that and let that be a part of this entire conversation because the IDF uh they're not worried
198about their funding. They're getting our tax dollars. ICE is getting our tax dollars. So who's not getting our tax dollars is public school teachers. And I think this can be a good opportunity for people to begin to understand just in what ways public schools are being assaulted and ways that we can organize and cooperate, collaborate and try to push back against these forces. So thank you so much for your time and have a great night. Okay, at this time the online portion of public comments is closed. Okay, I'm going to try my best to address some of the things that were mentioned today. I will give it up over hand it over to our acting superintendent Ms. Andrea Oates Parchment because she can answer some of these questions, but I do want to say thank
199you to our students who did come out. Excuse me, the air was suddenly kicked out kicked on. Um I do want to thank our students for coming out and speaking and advocating for your teachers, for your paras. Thank you to the paras who came out this evening as well in support of each other. Uh one thing that that I that I see here for this evening is hearing from students and what will our school look like in September. Big concerns about that. Who will be impacted in September? And when will students know? Those questions I cannot answer. And this is where I will give it up to our acting superintendent Ms. Andrea Oates Parchment. If you can just give us an update of what has happened so far. First First I I want to say
200uh heard the sentiments of everyone. And they're all valid. They're valid. But I need to and I I don't want to be insensitive, but I really need to express where we are. When I started this position on June 18th, the next day I was acting superintendent. My assistant BA who became the acting BA came to my office concerned that we were not going to meet payroll by the end of this school year. And that led to us rediscovering that we had a problem. And the one thing that was not going to happen is that every staff member that works in this district was going to get paid. That was a sense of urgency. Thankfully, and that is going into the this school year. Thankfully, with the help of our city council and with us being
201able to finally get approved to use our reserves, and unfortunately, with the risks that we had to make in March, we're able to meet this payroll for the end of the year. And now we're preparing for the next year. And we have the same situation. In fact, most recently, as you know, our budget was rejected. We now have a seven million dollar that we still have to make Some of the things that were that I heard was what are the other options? Can we do this instead of that? And we are at the point where we have limited options. I have to do this and I have to do something else. We have to have more cuts. This is not anything that we want to do, but this is what we need to do for
202next school year so that we can meet payroll, so that we're not in a deficit. And unfortunately, there are riffs. And I will tell you that we are considering and have considered every single area, including central office because I've heard central office and no, I cannot go into details of names because sometimes once you state a certain position, you're going to know the names. But rest assured that we are considering every area. And this has to happen quickly. I've met with the county superintendent at least two times within the last two weeks. And we have our marching orders. And I said to someone yeah, we have to it's ruthless. It really is. But it's not heartless, even though we are hurting people. When you have a deficit of this amount, the options are limited. Do
203I want to have paras go from full-time to part-time? I absolutely do not. We have to stop this deficit. We looked at people and we looked at numbers. Sometimes we can't select who we're going to keep and who we're not going to keep. We have tenure, we have laws that we have to follow in terms of tenure, non-tenured, seniority. There's a lot of things that we had to look at. I also wanted to I mean, just have different notes because I wanted to try to address all of this in terms of the actionable plan. We are still in the midst of making cuts. And if anyone knows me and has worked with me and I heard one of the uh comments, public comments, said, "You can't do things in haste. You can't do things in
204rush through them. We have to strategically now determine how September will look. I almost don't want to promise you this, but I am going to promise it. I have to work day and night. By June you will see, our parents will see, our teachers will see a plan. All of my administrators know that the last time I spoke to them we're at the stage after all the RIFs, all the cuts and everything happens there's the planning stage of how it looks. And that's going to take time. And we will be working with our administrators to address how September will look. And then we'll share it with the parents. Um Mr. Gaines great idea about speaking to the students. But I can't speak to the students before I really deal with the staff. If I meet
205with the students and the staff isn't informed it's a process. So, thank you for that. Um transparency Yes, we can always be more transparent about class size, about who your students' teachers are going to be, about how we're going to support SEL and students' needs. This cannot be determined overnight. We will have a plan to address it. And it is going to be difficult. But we can't maintain the level of staffing that we have now. We mentioned how aggressively we looked at students who do not live in this district. We have investigated a vendor but now we have to that vendor costs money. And you have to weigh out whether we're going to pay the vendor to maybe find 20, 25 students who do not live here. So, it's it's just very difficult. The rowing
206team it's heartfelt about the rowing team. But as I sat here and I listened to the students I can tell you now that we have to look at sports as well. We have a number of teachers who have lost their jobs. And I can't continue to look at staffing. We have to look at other areas. And the reason staffing is being hit the hardest is because 80% of our budget is based on salaries. You can't make up millions and millions of dollars without impacting staff. And then 20% of our budget is made up of purchasing things curriculum and PD and you're absolutely right. We met today and yesterday and we have looked at programs that aren't being used. Um Mr. Gaines, I forgot the one that you mentioned, but we have looked at those areas
207and we're taking a deep dive with those cuts as well. We looked at PD across the board, even PD for me. I'm not I'm not going on any conferences except the one that we have to attend. We've looked at every area. When the time comes for the collaboration we will address that. But right now I have a deadline of coming up with seven more million dollars. And we're working day in and day out. I've even sacrificed and came back from my bereavement because I am committed as well as everyone else. And it's been difficult. I'm not looking for your pity, but I'm just saying that I too find that it's very important that we're working day in and day out. Once unfortunately we have determined all of the areas that have been cut we will
208share with you. I know I think it was Mrs. Alert that said we need time to process. You absolutely do. But the situation that we're in we can't even process. We are we have to move. We have to move quickly and we have to have a balanced budget. And our deadline is May 7th or May 6th. Um as soon as I have information you will get information. But I absolutely agree. Everything that everyone said here is true. And a plan will be forthcoming. But it won't be a plan that we're going to have to say, "Oh, wait a minute. We didn't consider this, so we have to go back." When we give you a plan of how things are going to look in September it may not be completely perfect, but it's going to be
209solid and we need time to do that. And that's going to involve pulling principals and administrators back into central office to meet balancing the things that they still have to be in the building for. All of these things we have to take into consideration. So, I I want to thank you for sharing your sentiments which again I validate. And we will be transparent to the best of our ability. Okay. Um thank you, Ms. Andrea Holdsclaw Portchment. Um at this time, being that we still have people here in the audience and we have still have people listening online I would like to open um up with board comments. It will be in no particular order, so board members, if you would like to speak now this is your opportunity. Yeah, I'll I'll start. If you don't
210mind. First, I want to just thank everyone for coming out. Um you know, we know that um we know we see how you feel, we know how you feel, we feel the same way. But there's things that we have to do. We are we are doing our best. I repeat, we are doing our best to keep the ship sailing. All of us have put our lives, personal lives, on hold to make sure that this budget is passed by the 7th. The uh county put the pressure on us. They want to see a zero. We have to give them that zero. Um we have to do whatever we have to do to the best of our ability. It's not uh it's not fun. It hurts. But it's something that we have to do. Um Just uh
211keep in mind, too, on the federal level the state of New Jersey is not receiving any federal funding. So, that is definitely going to hurt us on the school uh on the your school level. Uh and if why we not receiving any federal funding? Because we are a sanctuary state. So, keep that in mind, too. That money's not going to be coming in. There's and this is why we got to take that in consideration when we're looking at our budget and looking at different things that uh we are cutting. Uh again, the ones that's being cut or or uh s- pushed back is is not pleasant for us to do, but again, we have to do that. So, um we plead with you just stay with us. As Ms. Pochman said, we have a plan.
212There is a plan. Um September's not going to look great. But we're going to make it as pleasant as possible that we can. Um It is is this it's not easy. There's no words to describe what we what we have to go through and what you're going through. And um we understand that um what's happening to you. So, with that said again just bear with us. Uh we have that deadline and it got to say zero at the end at by um the 7th. So, um just please uh just stick by us. And again, I'm also I want to just um Uh I'll save that for later. Go ahead. I'm done. I'm done. Anyone else on the board that would like to speak? If you choose to speak right now, yeah. I'll speak. Um couple
213things. And uh No. We've heard people talk or question us. Not that many people, but there's been some talk as if the money went missing. A lot of the headlines said the money's missing. And I think it's important to note that maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the only one that's ever had this issue. It's I think it's important to talk about this isn't about the money being missing. It's that we spent more than we had. I don't know if anybody else has had this experience where you had a reduction in income. Let's say you had a second job and now you don't have it. So, less money coming in. But the bills that you have hit your account and now your account is negative. Cuz and and then they put fees on that. I
214don't know if anybody's ever been in that situation, but I have. This is a situation of we didn't have as much money coming in because we had shifts in our student population because the send receive districts, there were changes in that area. The money that was spent was spent on staff and services and programming for our children. So, I don't the I don't I just want to talk that there's this sentiment that $24 million went missing. No, no, no. We spent it on the kids. And there's some other things in public record. We went after some some other stuff, but that was not $24 million. The lion's share of what we're talking about is that we spent it on our children. But we spent more than we had. Or there was money coming in due
215to COVID. And that revenue went away. But we didn't get rid of those staff members. We retained them. They still work here cuz they provide services to our children. So, I just want to emphasize to the public that this isn't about money going missing. There were some difficulties in keeping a track of it, but we definitely spent this money on this community. And I think that's important to note. Um At first, I was on the fence about combining, honoring our educators at this meeting because I knew this was going to be heavy. And I just I was on the fence about how that would feel. But I was wrong. It is important to keep saying in the face of all that we're we're dealing with how great a job people are doing. And to honor
216people in the work that they do. It was heartbreaking that some of the honorees are people who are going to be more impacted the most impacted by some of the things that we have going on right now. But given that, I think it was even more important to say we appreciate you and we see you. And you are part of what makes us us. And to push past the sadness of that and still honor those people uh I I just wanted to say publicly that that that's still important that we do that. And I'm glad I'm grateful that we did. Thank you. Um I just wanted to pick up on, you know, some of those comments um from Trustee Austin Balaputra um from our acting superintendent um from our board president um you know, again,
217just a huge thank you to everyone who is here tonight um to especially our students our staff, the staff through that are being most impacted um and our administrators that came to speak tonight. Um We are a district that is truly blessed with hard-working, dedicated staff. Not one of whom is expendable. Not one person whose absence will not be felt. That was obvious in everything that we heard from the 43 people that spoke tonight in person and online and from the hundreds, thousands of people who didn't speak tonight from our students and their families from our colleagues. We know that you are all our neighbors, you are all friends and family and it is an extremely horrible terrible situation that we are in and I think a lot of people have said it's we're just
218at a loss um as to what to say to really adequately describe that. And it's it's difficult for us to sit up here and hear the pain that people are feeling. We feel that pain, but we know that you are feeling it. You know, it is affecting your livelihood. It is affecting your colleagues, your work environment, and of course, most importantly, it's affecting our students and our community as a whole because our schools, they are the heart of our community. Um I think one of the things that has made our our board this board of nine people so special is that we really have been very united. Um unified in really coming together with a purpose of trying to minimize the damage that will undoubtedly be done to this district with these cuts, with this
219deficit. Um and that's because we all have a love of this district. You know, most of the people on this stage have gone through our schools. You know, many have sent their kids through our schools. Many have family and friends that, you know, work at our schools. And even though I I didn't go through the Hackensack school system, I had the great fortune of volunteering in our high school for 10 years um as part of an adult ESL program for our parents. And it really just made me fall in love with our Hackensack school system and our community because you see exactly what everyone said. Ms. Mitchell, you know, goes through our school system and wants to come back to Hackensack to give back to the community that she loves, to work with her her
220role models who inspired her to become an educator. It's it's hard not to feel for all of you, for all of our students. Um I do think it's important, as Trustee Velaputra said, um it bears repeating to really just understand why these decisions right now are so impossible. And there's really very little flexibility in what we have to do. Um And I know our acting superintendent spoke about 7 million more dollars that we're looking for, but that is part of, again, just so people remember, it was $17 million deficit for this current school year, and it's a $24 million deficit going into the '26-'27 school year, and we still have to look for 7 million more dollars in cuts of that 24 million. Um But really, to to Melanie's point, the the problem we're facing
221is that, like all of us who struggle, who juggle to make our our ends meet, our for our households, it comes down to revenue, what you're bringing in, and our expenses. And you know, as as Melanie said, you know, we, unfortunately, for the last 5 years, and and this is something that we went through in great detail in that January meeting, the district had been spending more than it was bringing in. And so, I think one of the things we just want to reassure people about, cuz I know one of the the common themes was that there's not a lot of information on what happens behind the scenes or outside, in between meetings. But the board, you know, has been working very closely, regularly, daily communication with our acting superintendent and her team, especially our
222assistant BA, our director of HR, um our assistant superintendent, um all of our central office staff. Um As well as our county superintendent. I know that came up as well. That communication with the county superintendent is constant. There's regular communication, checking in, asking questions about certain things. Um And he, our county superintendent, is really the one that is our representative and has to advocate on behalf of our district to the state. Um together, we we've really been looking to see are there other ways that we can bring in revenue so that we don't have to make such deep cuts. You know, as the president um as President Harris said, you know, this year, you know, because of a lot of advocacy, um you know, we did see an actual increase of 6% in our state
223aid. Um And it that was an additional $2.4 million. Um We also formally made a request to the state to see if we could defer the first repayment to our own reserves, um that are technically supposed to start. That's um $1.8 million that we have to include in this '26-'27 um budget to repay our cash reserves. The state says if you borrow from your cash reserves, you have to repay it in 3 years. Um and so, we formally requested from the state, can we defer that to the following school year? And that request is still outstanding, but it is something that we look to do. Um As a result, and as we've heard and has been said, you know, as a result of our really, for the first time, our close relationship with the city,
224with our mayor and our council, um we actually were able to, and I do think it is a wonderful example of the good things government can do when they work together. Um we were able to close the deficit that we had for this current school year by getting that $6.5 million from the city. And that prevented another crisis. This is definitely a crisis going into the next school year, but this would have impacted everyone immediately um in the middle of the school year if we weren't able to close that deficit. And we were able to get approval from the state to use that $9.1 million of our remaining reserves. Um But you know, despite all of those efforts, as previously mentioned, um the district um has really experienced a loss in revenue in these past
2255 years. And you know, that is the result of poor leadership, both within the district and on the board. Um And that loss of revenue, um you know, just it without going through like whose fault this, that, but just to remind people what that loss of revenue was, we're talking about $6 to $8 million in lost annual revenue from Maywood by them leaving the district. Imagine what we could have done with an additional $6 to $8 million this year. All the things people talked about. Our beloved power professionals, um our crew team, you know, everything we've talked about. $8 million would go a long way. A loss of that COVID funding, which that's not unique to Hackensack. We've heard we know there's at least 10 other districts and counting across the state that are grappling
226with that loss of COVID funding. Um leaving tax dollars on the table by not utilizing the full 2% tax levy that school districts are allowed to use every year because our regular cost of living expenses go up. So, that was money left on the table. And then, essentially, you know, being robbed of tax dollars when a former mayor and council were basically giving tax breaks, giveaways in the form of pilot payments, to developers that took money away from our schools. Um And you know, regardless of what people think or on this board, you know, what people think of of a referendum, you know, that's also potentially an option for revenue. Unfortunately, because it took so long to realize the true depths of the deficit that we had, we were not able to even consider a
227referendum in time for the state deadlines that would have made a difference for this '26-'27 budget. That doesn't mean we can't think about it in the future, but it would it it can't help us for the '26-'27 budget. So, uh you know, I I'm saying all of that, you know, because at the the same time that we saw the losses in all of that revenue, um and as has been said, Hackensack, like other districts across the state, have has been faced with unprecedented increases in expenses that are beyond our control. Um health care costs, over 32% in our '25-'26 budget, and we've had to include an increase of 37%, which is required by the county superintendent in this '26-'27 budget. That is unbelievable. And there is no way you can account for a 37% increase
228in health care costs. That is a huge shock to any budget. Um And I I I just, you know, want to say that none of this is what any of us wants to see. And if we had a magic wand, you know, if we could talk to someone to gift us millions of dollars, we would gladly accept that. Um But right now, our chief priority, as um our Oh, we would accept that if we were legally able to do that. Uh you know, our our chief priority, as our president and our acting superintendent have said, is we have been instructed by the county um to produce a budget that allows us to deliver the education that we can afford right now. And we have to produce that budget as on as Andrea said, we have
229to get those numbers by April 27th. They have to be approved by May 7th. But just know, just because that document is approved, it doesn't mean that the very next day we are not going to continue to work so hard to make sure we rebuild and restore these programs that we are cutting. I know Ms. Delvecchio raised this in her comments that, you know, she wants to know it's not like the past where when you make a cut, it never comes back again. No. Maybe there's a pause in some of these programs that we love for a year. You know, but that doesn't mean that they can't come back once we restore the revenue. And it doesn't mean that people can't fundraise and come up with creative ideas. You know, this is going to require
230all hands on deck, the community, you know, our staff. And I agree with what Mr. Gaines said, you know, um what Mayor Gaines said about collaboration. You know, we've heard that many times. We have brilliant staff who want to contribute with ideas. And I do, you know, want to give a huge um shout-out to our director of curriculum and um and IT, you know, who are looking at all of those expensive, you know, programs and software and devices and seeing what are those cuts that we can make. And they are saving, identifying savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Um so, everything is on the table. Please don't think that we are only looking at certain things. Everything is on the table. And um and again, I I am very sorry, you know, for all
231the heartbreak that everybody feels. Um and we are going to continue because I know how hard everybody here is working to try and and minimize the harm to our district. Uh I'm sorry to have gone on for so long. Okay. Can I go now? Good evening, um everyone who's still here and online. Um I thought the January meeting um was hard, but but tonight um was was difficult um to listen to the impacts, the personal stories, um the heartbreak um was not easy. And the decisions that we're making are are difficult. And I hope people know that we're not taking this lightly. And despite what some people think, this hurts. And um I know for me, I'm taking it personally. Um but we are faced with a reality that requires hard and tough decisions um
232to ensure financial stability, not just for today, but for the future of this district that we all love so much. Um and I also just want to recognize um to Melanie's point, the teachers that were recognized tonight, they deserve to be celebrated. They shouldn't be put on the back burner because of um the district's um deficit. Um that's what makes Hackensack so special are the remarkable educators um that we have. So, we should celebrate them at every opportunity that we have. And I just want to take a moment to thank um a acting superintendent Andrea Oats Parchment for her dedication and her sacrifice that she she has made during such a tremendous personal loss. Um it does not go unnoticed. Um but I I just want us to think about something. We We don't want
233this deficit to define Hackensack. We want how we come out of this to be our legacy. Because things turn around. We know that miracles do happen. Um so, please just know that we are working tirelessly to think of anything that we can do to mitigate the loss and the heartbreak that these temporary, I'm going to say temporary cuts that we have to make will cause. Um because all of us up here, besides Layla, have went through the Hackensack district and have benefited from the richness of this district. And we want to provide our children the same opportunities that we have. So, we are here to do the hard work. And we're not going to stop until we are able to provide our students with the education and the experiences that they deserve. Thank you. I'll
234go. Um Appreciate everybody coming out tonight. Um especially the kids and and and uh all the parents that were affected. It was uh My 9 months here has felt like 3 years. Uh And there was there's been a lot of rough meetings. Uh and as Gina said, the one of January was but this was uh this was tough on all of us. And I know we're not suffering like you're suffering. So, I'm not comparing that, but it's uh there's not a person up here that wants to do any of this stuff. But as you just heard uh from superintendent, um there's still $7 million we have to find. And um and and that's going to that's going to take a lot of creativity. Um But it's there's not a lot of time, right? We're looking
235at I think she said May 6th. Um a lot has to happen in that time for us to try to make this budget. Uh There's definitely, I think, a lot of things we can look at going into next year and and for the next budget. And um I think there is a lot of creative things that we can do, you know, as Mr. Brophy said when he called in, you know, the brain trust that is the teachers and parents and the people that work here. Uh We should be getting ideas from you guys. Um I'm not a teacher. I'm not a para. I'm not a custodian. I've never worked in a school. So, I don't pretend to know how to run a school. Uh But I know I know that the the people here have
236some have some ideas on how we can do this stuff. But unfortunately, right now, um there's not a lot of time. Um so, a lot a lot of things have to happen over the next couple weeks for us to pass this budget. Uh And I don't think, you know, anything's off the table. But again, the the the amount of time we have is is kind of what we're dealing with. Um There's uh I I think we got a couple separate things we're dealing with. There's the budget uh which is right now, we're trying to get that under control. A lot of it is out of our control, and I'm not going to spend time talking about how we got here. I think it's pretty well documented. Uh But then there's communication. And that is in
237our control. And uh I think we could do a better job with it. I do. I think that's something that uh I think we got to create a culture of accountability. And I think that uh I think that moving forward, um everybody kind of needs to be involved. And and as Layla was saying, I believe Gina said it also. I mean, this is this is also going to take everybody. I mean, this is going to take everybody out there. This isn't this isn't kind of just for the board to solve. It's kind of we're going to need everybody to help solve it. And open to all ideas. I mean, I got some ideas that probably can't be used right now, but maybe it can be used moving forward. Um I think the most important thing
238is, and I think we're all on the same page with this, and I think this is the the most important thing is that whatever we do has to be with the kids in mind number one. It's the kids' experience. And I got my four children. And two of them are in the school system right now. And and I know they're going to be affected by this. And and it and it kills me. And it's uh There's nobody up here that doesn't have the kids in mind. And I think that's the most important thing. So, uh I promise you that that moving forward, uh you know, we we got to get through what we got to get through in the next couple weeks. Um But I think no stone will be left unturned uh moving forward.
239I mean, and and and and listen, there's, you know, as uh as Layla referenced, you know, not all this stuff has to be permanent, right? I mean, we have to get healthy. And right now, we're not healthy. So, um I think we got to do some things to get ourselves healthy, and then we can start talking about, you know, bringing some things back or or, you You looking looking at different ways to do things. But I mean moving forward this is going to be a Dr. Lewis has said a three-year process at least. So, it's there's going to be more pain coming. Um and I think it's important though that the communication thing because there might not be something we can do about the pain, but I think communicating it at least lets people prepare
240and lets people understand what's going on and I I think that goes a long way in how you receive information when at least you're prepped for something. And uh I think that's something that that we'll be working on and doing a better job at in the future. Thank you. I'm a >> I'm not in person. Oh, you going Mark? Go ahead. Uh I've been receiving a number of calls over the past couple of weeks regarding what's wrong with the state monitor coming into Hackensack. And my answer has been very simple. If you want to give up total control of this board to look at a budget with our finance director with our superintendent and let the state just decide what cuts are going to be made. That's how it works. Is there a cost to
241the district? Yeah, about two $200,000 a year for a state monitor to come in who could be here for 10 years and my perception is the worst thing that could happen is have that stigma of Hackensack had a monitor coming in from the state and controlling what takes place financially, only financially on a day-to-day basis. I think that's wrong for the taxpayers. I think that's wrong for our staff. I think that's wrong for administration. And I definitely think it's wrong for the people who have really put their hearts into everything we've tried to do over the past seven months. And that's the board. We will totally lose control. The state will tell us what to do and they could be here for 10 years. If that's what the residents want I think they're making a
242big mistake. Because you have a board here right now that has met two sometimes three times a week to go crunch these numbers and to see the less loss that we can to our staff and yes our parents. Um this has not been an easy night as I think you've learned from this board. For me this is a heartbreaking night. Uh this is something as being on the finance committee and asking the hard questions we're still short of coming to a balance not a zero budget, a balanced budget. Income has to meet expenses. And that's what we're looking at. So, I've hopefully answered for you a number of questions regarding the state monitor coming in and the decimation of this school district if they do come in. Um basically what I was going to say
243Mark actually did a better job in explaining it. Um not wanting us not wanting the state monitor um to come in. Um I never knew that uh being on the board that we would have to go through something like this. I'm not I'm just never thought like this is one of the most hardest things that I think that I ever had to do because I feel like although it's like a personal feeling, I just feel like you have the life of so many people's in your hand and you have to make a decision and it's not an easy decision. Um sometimes I question myself whether or not I'm built for this because I think that um sometimes I don't know how to get my emotions out of the way, but I'm human. I'm a mother.
244I'm a child. I'm somebody's child. You know, this is not it's just not easy. Um sometimes it's hard to sit up here um and hear some of the comments because nobody Well, let me not say nobody. There are a few people that may not understand the process um and how difficult it is for us. Um and like we sit and we we try our best. We have disagreements with each other in a loving way to try to figure things out. Um The best thing about this board is that you know, we could still come together and just understand that the decisions that we're making that we know that it's for the betterment of um of Hackensack. So, no I didn't go to school here. I went to school in the Bronx. Um but my son
245graduated from here and my daughter's about to graduate in June from here. Um and I'm happy that, you know, I made the decision to move to this town. I mean my my kids had great teachers and Joy Wyler was one of the first people that I met when I came to um Hackensack actually. Um So, I I really don't have a lot to say because I'm hurt. But not hurt for myself, I'm hurt for our community. Um and when I'm hurt I shut down. And there's nothing that I could say anyway at this point that can fix anything for anybody. The only thing that I can say we have to continue to pray with and for each other. And just know that I'm praying for all of us and all of you. Get home safe.
246Love you guys. Have a good night. Hi it's Megan. I asked um President Harris if I could speak again because I thought we were going to save more for the end, but y'all not going to be here. Nobody's going to be online. So, I figured I'd just say the rest of my stuff. Um we're not dealing with decisions about full-time para professionals versus ice sculptures and t-shirts. We're talking about full-time para professionals and do we need a boiler at Parker? We're talking about heat. Electricity. These are the decisions that like I I didn't think we'd actually be talking about a boiler and do kids need heat. Seven million more dollars than the cuts we've already made. I don't even we we were there all day on Saturday. We've been here yesterday. Like this is we're
247we're out of fat. We're out of muscle. We're out of we're at bone at this point in terms of cuts. So, I don't want people to think that this is well, just don't do this cuz we consider these cuts, okay? But I don't want kids to be cold all winter. These are these are these are Sophie's Choice type situations that we're dealing with. So, I just wanted to give people some context to that. But there are things that we can do for this community that are free. And we're not maximizing that. Between the board business, the time that I have away from my child to conduct board business, I try to do and make as many of the school events that we're invited to. And the ones that I've been to are not full. I
248would love to see us as a community keep the same energy of filling this room to talk about these things that the plays and the concerts and the things that we are still supporting our kids cuz they need our support now more than ever that we keep that same energy in trying to do the things that are still free. We can't fix the money problem. But as a community we can still come together to to do the things to support our kids. Um I did get a chance to see the crew team in action. It's amazing. The middle school play I went to couple weeks ago. Brave, strong, fearless voices. Um student leadership. There was a student production team and directors and all the opportunities we trying to give our kids, but we're still not
249showing up to see those things happen. Our Detroit was half empty. I'm sorry, half full. But until we fix the money stuff, let's not lose focus on stuff that's free. Showing up for our kids is still free. And I'd love to see us a as a community while we still focus on that to focus on these things, too. One other thing I was wrong about when the districts talked about single point of entry and more security and having security guards in buildings and I felt that those that would make a school feel like a prison. I had a recent experience of spending some time at Hackensack Middle School. And the person who made it to me, the first face that I saw, the first person I interacted with who made it feel least like a
250prison, I believe is Mr. Michael Angel, who's security guard. That's the first person you see when you go in the middle school. I didn't imagine that a security guard would make it be that pleasant of an experience to walk in a building. And I just wanted to say once again, I try to admit when I'm wrong these days. I was definitely wrong or at least the way it's being lived at the middle school is completely different than what I imagined. And I'm just grateful that we have people like that working in our district. Uh and put in a plug for Proctor Schools Autism Acceptance Month event on May 1st. If you can make it, please try to do so. Um happy Autism Acceptance Month. Thank you. Mr. Andre, you have one more thing you want
251to say? I just wanted to clarify something in terms of our deadline. Cuz I don't want when I said in May 6th, that means we have to have our budget presentation and hearing by May 6th. So, we were given a deadline of this Monday. And so, when I say a sense of urgency to find $7 million, I met with the county superintendent was it Tuesday? Yeah. Uh and our deadline for him is Monday. Which my deadline for our business office, our assistant BA who's working on the budget was this afternoon. And that's going to be now tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon because she has to spend ample time rebalancing what she put into the system. And have that by Friday. And that's cutting it close. So, May 6th is when we actually come to the public
252or whatever that special meeting is going to be. But Monday is the day we have to see the county superintendent again to show that we've cut $7 million. And that's that's going to be difficult. And we're not at that point yet of the $7 million. Okay, thank you. Um I'm not going to reiterate what my fellow board members have said. Um it it is a historic evening. We know the number is is massive. And we are definitely working hard as we are all here close to midnight still sitting here. Um but one thing that I still need to acknowledge, um and I'm glad that Trustee Austin Puchert said that there there was a moment where we all thought, "Is tonight a good night for us to do our awards? Should we put it off to
253the next month?" And I said, "These people are still working every day, coming here and showing face for our students every day regardless of what's going on. We need to show our appreciation to our teachers, to our ESPs." And I'm glad that we did that tonight because they do deserve their flowers. They come and show up for our students every single day and even for our staff. And we thank you for everything that you do. I wanted to also shout out our students that still, regardless of the situation that we are in, they are also still coming to school, learning and growing. And to our athletics, our shout out to the boys track and field team who made it to the championship. They won um for the group A of Bergen County Championships. Congratulations to
254them. Uh it is Autism Acceptance Month. And I am so happy and so proud to be part of a community that every single school has done something in terms of inclusion, whether it be crazy socks day, pajama day, wear your favorite color day, puzzle piece day. It it has been such a wonderful thing to see as a parent with a child with special needs who's 17 years old. He's going to graduate in June. And I am just so proud of how far he's come with all the educators that he's had here in Hackensack. Unfortunately, those educators were also paraprofessionals who I do hold true and dear to my heart. I keep in contact with them till this day. They know I have so much love and appreciation for them. And I am so deeply, deeply
255sorry for what you are all going through right now. It is definitely not something that I ever wish upon on anyone. As a paraprofessional myself that I was um for 10 years, I also felt that year to year, am I going to be renewed? Um the threat of us going private, us going from full-time to to part-time as well. Um I worked with the most challenging students in an ABA self-contained classroom. And it was it was difficult. I had my two boys. I needed the insurance as well. What was I going to do with them? The choices that we make here are definitely not easy. And please know that we have every single one of you in mind. Every single one of you. I wanted to also wish good luck to all of our students.
256And next week is NJSL A testing. That is a big one. Um uh if you don't know, they have changed the format and it is an adaptive testing um format now. So, that means depending on how well they do, might get a little harder. Uh depending on not how well they do, it changes a little bit. The levels. Um so, good luck to our students. I hope you all get lots of rest. Please take it seriously. Um and then once you're done, you're done. Also, you know, someone did say that they're tired of seeing us on social media in a negative light. Um I do want to raise a positive light um where Hackensack High School students were featured on News 12. Uh and 22 of our art students here in Hackensack were featured on
257News 12 um where they created an ocean theme series of work and it was displayed at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital here in Hackensack. Um it was to spread some joy to those children who are going through very difficult and challenging times. If you get the opportunity, there is an article and a small little um video clip of the beautiful artwork that our students did. And thank you for shining some light on those kids in need. Uh that is it for me for this evening. However, our meeting is still not done, unfortunately. We still have a long way to go. Um but I do want to thank everyone who stuck around here with us tonight and online as well. At this moment, we will now go into our executive session. Be it resolved that
258the Hackensack Board of Education determines it necessary to meet in executive session on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 to discuss legal, personnel, student-related matters, HIB reports, negotiations, and other confidential matters. And be it further resolved that these matters will be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Can I have you motion to go into executive, please? Okay, motion by Trustee Jones, second by Trustee Stein. All those in favor, say I. Anyone oppose? Any abstentions? Thank you all. Um it's 11:33. I cannot guarantee what time we'll be back out, but most likely it'll be the next day. Have a good night. If I don't see you all, get home safe. We'll be back tomorrow. Okay. Can I have a motion to go back to the public, please? I'll offer. Dave, motion by Trustee Amra
259Hamza. Can I have a second? I second. Second by Trustee Gilmore. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Any abstention? All right, thank you. Welcome all. The time is 2:55 a.m. Right, and we are going to go into the approval of the minutes. Be it resolved that the Hackensack Board of Education approves the regular meeting minutes and executive session minutes of March 18th, 2026, special meeting minutes, and executive session minutes of March 25th, 2026. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes, please? Motion. Okay, motion by Trustee Jones. A second? >> I second. Second by Trustee Sign. All those in favor say I. Anyone opposed? Any abstention? All right, so we're good. Moving on to our Superintendent's reports, Ms. Andrea Oakes-Parchment. Good morning. Our Superintendent's enrollment report, uh as of April 16th,
260we have 5,049 students. And our attendance rate for total of the districts of six schools and one program is 97 .63%. Our residency report, number of residency cases received were four for the month of March. One residency was verified. Three were unverified. Uh one, the parent provided information. And two students were withdrawn. To date, to is seven. Year to date is seven students withdrawn. For our harassment, intimidation, and bullying report, uh we had 12 investigations completed. Four were founded. Eight were unfounded. We still have five pending. And three cases that were determined preliminary determination of not HIB. And finally, just want to highlight a few things. Today is Take Your Child to Work Day. And we're excited to have all of our uh children and young adults uh visit our schools with their parents or
261guardians. And congratulations again to all of our teachers of the year and our educational professionals of the year. And I wanted to, as I said each month, I want to highlight a school. And I would like to highlight Fairmont School for their Walk-A-Thon fundraiser. It was a successful Walk-A-Thon. I participated, and our students raised $1,700. And that will support families experiencing housing insecurity. And we want to specially thank Mrs. Fordal, Ms. Lamb, Ms. Mrs. Miranda, Mrs. Garrabrant, and Mr. Bennett, who led this initiative. Special thank you to the Fairmont PTA, the staff, and the Hackensack uh Police Department in this effort. Or also, you noted earlier that it was stated that it's Autism Acceptance Month. And congratulations uh to our track team. I've received several, and I'm trying to see if I could call it
262up. Uh several updates from Mr. Todd, who started uh on Tuesday with accolades about the wins of our teams. Uh volleyball, softball, a big game today, I think he said, a volleyball game at Bergen Catholic, and also our track team. Um Congratulations to the Hackensack boys track and field, Group A Bergen County champions. Um So, congratulations to all our athletes who continue to do exceptionally well and represent um Hackensack Public Schools. And that's all I have. All right, thank you. On to our committee reports and resolutions, and we're going to start with personnel. The chair of personnel is Trustee Amra Hamza. Thank you, Madam President. Uh the Personnel Committee met last week. Um and once again, um it is with a very heavy heart that we have items on the agenda A1 A through U.
263However, uh before I make a motion um for these items, I would like to first make a motion to table personnel items L16 and L37. Uh So, we have a motion from Trustee Amra Hamza, a second from Vice President Martin. Dr. Lewis, can you please do a roll call? Trustee Austin Balaputra. Abstain. Trustee Amra Hamza. Yes. Trustee Carroll. Yes. Trustee Gilmore. Yes. Trustee Jones. Trustee Pringle. Yes, tabling L16 and L37. Yes. Trustee Sign. Yes. Vice President Martin. Yes. President Harris. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Moving on to policy, and the chair of policy >> No, we have to vote on the rest of the agenda. >> I apologize. >> Yep. It's very late or very early. >> I see if I was still paying attention. Uh-huh. Older. Thank you. Older. >> Okay. Okay. So, um
264as I previously said, the Personnel Committee met last week. Um and once again, it is uh with a very heavy heart that um we offer agenda items A1 A through U, with the exception of tabled items L16 and L37. Okay, so we have a motion from Trustee Amra Hamza, second by Trustee Carroll. Dr. Lewis, can you please do a roll call? Trustee Austin Balaputra. Yes, with a couple of abstentions. Those abstentions are J3, M5, N21, O5, 19, and 23. Do you need me to repeat? I'll repeat it. J3, M as in Michael 5, N as in Nancy 21, O5, 19, and 23. That is correct. Thank you. Thank you. Trustee Amra Hamza. Yes. Trustee Carroll. Yes. Hold on. Um Stand by. Yes, and I recuse myself from J5. And what else? And M2. Trustee Carroll,
265you're saying yes to all except for J5 and what? M2? M2. M as in Michael? Yes. All right. Yes. Thank you. Trustee Gilmore. I think there was one more. And I recuse myself from M6 as well. M as in Michael? Yes, sir. So, for clarification, you're abstaining from J5, M as in Michael 2, recusing. Oh, you're recusing. Yes. Okay. So, you're recusing yourself from J5, M as in Michael 2, M as in Michael 6. Yes. All right, thank you. Trustee Gilmore. Yes. Trustee Jones. Trustee Pringle. Yes. Trustee Stein. Yes. Vice President Martin. Yes to all. Recuse myself from M2. But President Harris. Yes. All motions carried. Thank you. Now, moving on to policy. The chair of policy is Trustee Pringle. Um policies, we don't have any new first reads for this evening. Okay, thank you.
266And now we're going to move on to curriculum, and again, that's Trustee Pringle. I'd like to motion um C1 through C 12. Um I would like to highlight um C7. Um be it resolved, Hackensack Board of Education, upon recommendation of the acting Superintendent of Schools, approves the memorandum of understanding MOU between Hackensack Public Schools and Vibrant Voices Wind Quintet to provide a concert to Jackson Avenue School third and fourth grade students on Friday, May 15th, at no cost to the district. I would also like to highlight the 11. Um approves the amended 25-26 agreement between Kid Clan and Hackensack Public Schools to increase the original budget allocation for a Kid Kid Clan to satisfy remaining obligations for related services, including occupational therapy, speech therapy, behaviorist, BCBA, physical therapy, and other related services based on IEP
267needs required through 25-26 school year, and then the chart that follows, but I'll leave that to be that. So, again, I would like to motion um C1 through C12. Okay, so we have a motion from Trustee Pringle, and a second? Second. Second from Trustee Jones. Uh any discussion? Okay, I see that there are none. Dr. Lewis, can you please do a roll call? Trustee Austin Balabucca. Yes to all with the exception of C9. I'm abstaining from C9. Thank you. Trustee Almahamza. Yes to all. Trustee Carroll. Yes. Trustee Gilmore. Yes to all. Trustee Jones. Yes. Trustee Pringle. Yes. Trustee Stein. Yes. Vice President Martin. Yes. President Harris. Yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Moving on to finance, and the chair of finance is Trustee Stein. Uh yes. I'd like to offer uh D1 through D14. Calling your
268attention to um D11, where uh Rotary Club has uh donated $500 for a transportation cost for Nellie J. Parker School to the New Jersey State House. And D12, um they have expressed the education transport transportation grant uh of $450 to again cover transportation costs to the New Jersey State House. Okay. We have a motion from Trustee Stein, can I have a second? I second. Uh second by Trustee Pringle. Any discussion? No. Okay, I see that there are none. Dr. Lewis, can you please do a roll call? Trustee Austin Balabucca. Yes to all. I need to abstain from D2 and D14. Trustee Almahamza. Yes. Trustee Carroll. Yes. Trustee Gilmore. Yes. Trustee Jones. Yes. Trustee Pringle. Yes. Trustee Stein. Yes. Vice President Martin. Yes. President Harris. Yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Moving on to community relations, and
269the chair of community relations is Trustee Gilmore. Um the community uh the community relations committee did not meet in April, but at the last meeting in March, um we did have discussions that uh we were going to uh do a survey to see um what our subject of our our town hall um would be. So, that will be forthcoming. Um there will be a meeting scheduled in um May. Thank you so much. Um moving on to other committees, um I just would like to give an update regarding our joint Board of Ed and City Committee. Um it has now been officially finalized part of our shared services, where we have been looking into uh certain services, and one of them is the Perry Weather Outdoor Warning System that will be implemented at our um fields,
270at our schools, so that our children and staff can remain safe when they are outside. It can detect if there is lightning in the in the area, and then the students can evacuate or take shelter um inside. And even better news is that Fairmount and Jackson, starting next week, will begin receiving some of those uh pieces um coming in from the Perry Weather Outdoor Warning System. So, that's very exciting, and thank you for the city for partnering with us in the shared service. Moving on to new business. Anyone have any new business? Just wanted to update the the community that we did have our board retreat on Saturday. It went really well. Uh we had Melissa from our New Jersey School Boards Association. She is our rep who led the discussion, uh and it was
271the eight common um mistakes or areas that board members um that boards do, and we were finding different ways of how we work and how we operate. Um very informative, and I'm glad that we also had members of the public also attend as well to to watch us work for the first half. Moving on to our second public comment of the evening or the morning. Um individuals may address the board on agenda and school matters of community interest for 1 minute. Uh I see that there is no one here in the public in person. Is there anyone online? Okay, thank you. There is no one online. Public comment section is closed. Moving on to board comments. Start with Ms. Pringle. Hold on. Oh, I apologize. I'm sorry. It was the way this was written uh
272I see here. Sorry. Mr. Carroll wanted to make clear he had he's abstaining on K3 and 4 on the personnel director items. Turn turn on your mic. Yeah, I have to recuse myself from K3 and 4 as well. In personnel? In personnel, yes. Duly noted. Thank you. Thank you. I think you're going on. No, I'm Okay. Uh now moving on to board comments. Uh Trustee Pringle. Um Good night. Trustee Gilmore. Good night, everyone. Trustee Almahamza. Trustee Carroll. Good morning, everyone. Okay, uh Trustee Jones. I say good morning, also. Trustee Austin Balabucca. Good night, and thank you to the staff who had to stay here with us. Trustee Stein. Just want to congratulate as we have heard tonight uh our teacher honorees um as well as I have heard that a number of our students in
273the concert band uh are moving on to colleges to pursue their uh degrees in music. So, my congratulations to them. And thank you all for showing up and drive home safely. Vice President Martin. Well, uh teachers congratulations. To all our teachers, congratulations and uh have a good morning. Thank Just want to also thank our staff who stays here really late with us and make sure that um we are able to stream this meeting tonight. Thank you so much for sticking around with us. And central office staff, thank you very much for all your hard work. All right, at this time, can I have you motion to adjourn the meeting? Motion. Motion by Trustee Pringle, can I have a second? >> Second. Second by Trustee Stein, all those in favor say I. I. Anyone oppose? Any
274abstentions? Thank you very much. Meeting adjourned at 3:15 a.m. Have a good night and a good morning, everyone.