001Good evening everyone. In accordance with the Open Public Meeting Act, NJSA 104-6, 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 stephven lewisle l e wis hacksacschools.org. I hereby call to order the special meeting on Wednesday February 11th 2026 in the Hackasack High School Media Center at >> 6:16 p.m. Miss Aash actually please stand for the flag salute. God and to the father stands one nation with liberty and justice for all. >> Please be seated. >> Hey, Mr. Gastra.
002Now, please do a roll call. >> Miss Alustin Bhutra, >> present. >> Miss Amrahamza, >> present. >> Mr. Carol, >> Miss Gilmore, >> here. >> Mr. Jones >> here. >> Miss Pringle >> present. >> Mr. Stein >> here. >> Mr. Martin >> present. >> Miss Harris >> present. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. Okay. So, we're going to move immediately into executive session. Be it resolved that the Hackasack Board of Education determines it necessary to meet in executive session on Wednesday, February 11th, 2026 to discuss legal personnel, student related matters, HIV 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 a motion to go into executive, please? >> So move. Motion by trustee
003Amra Hamza, second by trustee Stein. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Any abstensions? Okay, we'll be back as soon as we can. Thank you. despite providing exceptional value at one of the lowest costs in the entire district. My position is going to be eliminated in 44 days. Uh and contrary to popular belief, nothing official says otherwise. So, you know, tonight's attendance clearly demonstrates this uh misunderstanding. So before I continue, I just wanted to be to ask would you be able to clarify if there has been anything official on this because the remainder of what I have to say um is kind of contingent on the potential ramifications of that moving forward. >> So we'll answer questions at the end. So if you want to say what you have to say.
004>> Sure. I I'll say the rest that I have then. Okay. Um so the US Department of Education publishes and endorses a ratio of 30 students to a teacher as best practice for physical education. The exact language used by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education is that class sizes should be consistent with that of other subject areas um with a maximum of 30 students for a middle school. It's well documented that since CO HMS has been unable to uphold these standards. Uh for example, when I first got here 3 years ago, the ratio was 58 students to a teacher. We had no schedule and the gym was actively being used as the cafeteria. On my very on my third day, uh PE staff was assigned to the turf field for 4 hours straight.
005It was 92 degrees and sunny out. We taught eighth grade for an hour, seventh grade for an hour, sixth grade, then fifth grade for an hour. And again, that was on the turf field. Um, having hired more PE teachers, the ratio currently sits around 47 to1. And I get that we have for uh limited space. I get that it's a gym. I get that under New Jersey Administrative Code 6A13-3.1, there's a little bit of flexibility. Um, but that should not negate federally endorsed guidelines of the 30 to1 ratio. However, on multiple occasions, physical educators were told outright, "These guidelines do not exist." With the RIFF, our ratio is currently slated to be 89 to1. Want to be very clear for the record, 89 students to one teacher for physical education classes. Dropping stuff here. Sorry.
006Uh, according to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, having more than 30 students in the gym compromises safe and effective instruction by increasing risk of injury, conflicts, and opportunities for offtask behavior while greatly decreasing movement space, instructional time per student, and participation ability. We're planning to exceed that number three-fold. At that scale, safety, quality, and equity are all eliminated. Students cannot realistically meet the Shape America guidance recommendation guidelines, learn new sports, develop genuine relationship with fitness, and the goal shifts from educating to crowd control, monitoring those who just need somewhere to be until their next period rather than teaching them healthy lifestyle habits. I'm almost done. I promise. Um, that said, I have two questions. First, what does the board expect for the future of our athletics here? Have we considered the long-term
007damage this will do to the reputation of Hackinac, the one built by generations of comets through blood and sweat and tears? The second, what steps will be taken to ensure fair and equitable evaluations for physical educators with classes of 89 students at a time? That's all. I look forward to hearing your response. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else here in person that would like to speak? Okay, seeing that there are none, we're going to go to online. Nothing online. Okay, thank you. Uh so just to quickly answer um in regards to uh for the the teacher riffs uh that we had voted on can't think of the day anymore. Um two weeks ago, January 28. Thank you. uh we we are still waiting to hear from the state. So as soon as we hear from
008the state um as I had mentioned in my statement before we will either hold a special meeting so that we can unriff those teachers that are in that category or we will wait in in hopes that by I don't want to make any promises but our next meeting is February 25th. So, crossing fingers that the state of New Jersey works as quickly as they can to approve our um capital reserves. Anything else we want to add to that? All right. Oh, yes. Yes. Wanted to address our physical ed education teacher. Um we're going to set up a meeting. We we understand the situation. Um it's all personnel related as well having one gym all of that's an issue. So you know we'll circle back with Dr. Whiting and the team. We know this has been
009an ongoing issue and and we do appreciate you and I appreciate the research you've done. So we'll reach out to you. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. And then the other question was for from Mr. pounds regarding the financial consultant that is on the agenda for tonight. >> Thank you. >> So, as to the question as to whether or not the law permits uh this appointment to not go out for bid, the answer is yes. In the resolution tonight, there's two exceptions to the public bidding law under title 18A, which governs public school districts in the state of New Jersey. Um second, the uh Department of Government Affairs has expressly has expressly found that the hiring of financial consultants is an exception to the public bidding process. There's also two board policies which are cited in
010the resolution uh that gives the board the right to do it as to what is the bid threshold. Currently, it changes every 5 years. And because the school district has what is called the qualifying uh purchasing agent just last year I believe it it went up to 54 55,000 53,000 >> 44 >> it used to be 44 and now uh January 1st 2025 went up to 53 >> 46 thank you and and just to add to that um I was going to mention this later after we did our voting for the financial consultant uh so the financial consultant. The way it came about was um this was basically our response, part of our response from the public um in terms of the concerns of oversight and rebuilding the public's trust. Um you know, retaining this
011financial consultant um who does have over 15 years of experience as a state monitor. Uh we understand that there there was a possibility where we could have had a financial monitor um from the state and with that financial monitor means a permanent residence here in our district where we don't know when that person would would leave. Um the financial monitor would also take away anyone's ability of having any any say. So whatever the financial monitor says, you're stuck with that person for however long they think that we are okay to to be on our own. So this financial consultant is more of our preventative measure so that we can have some oversight and understand like okay this person is reporting to the board. This person is giving us this information. This person comes with the
012knowledge of being a state monitor and what is it that they're looking for and to support our business administrative team. Um, and also just so people understand that this is not a permanent position. This is not someone who is here um for 40 hours a week. It is the maximum of 20 hours a week. >> 25 hours a week. Um, yep. Through June 30th. Thank you. >> Um, so that is uh basically what that is for the financial consultant. Um, and like I said, the financial consultant does have this experience. um has worked in many districts, was a previous business administrator, um state monitor for 15 years, um has a very um well-rounded resume, and I believe this is something that that we definitely need here. Um definitely at this moment in time, our district.
013Okay, so moving on to our committee reports and resolutions. We're going to move straight into our finance committee which our chair for finance committee is Trusty Stein. >> Yes. Thank you, Madame President. >> Thank you. >> Um I'm here to offer uh finance A1 and A2 for consideration by the board. A1 is for a settlement agreement and A2 is the um information regarding our consultant. >> Thank you. So we have a motion from Trusty Stein. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Trusty Jones. Miss Astra, can you please do a roll call? >> Miss Olston Valutra. >> Yes. >> Miss Emma. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carol, you went to where work? Yes. Miss Gilmer, >> yes. >> Mr. Jones, >> yes. >> Miss Pringle, >> yes. >> Mr. Stein, >> yes. >>
014Mr. Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Harris, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, okay. So, just so the public is aware, that is the voting for our financial consultant. Um, and we're going to move on to our community community relations. Do we have anything to report? Um, I could just basically say, um, the community relations committee met on Friday, January 30th. We had a very, um, great discussion. Um, it was essentially um, the trustees listening to the community and just to hear and understand how they're feeling. So, you know, everyone was very um, vocal and we listened and we will be meeting again um, in the coming weeks. Okay, thank you so much. Uh, in terms of other committees, there are no reports to give. Any new business? Thank you. At this
015time, we'll open up for our second public comment section. Individuals may address the board on agenda and school matters of community interest for one minute. Anyone from the public that would like to speak in person? you. >> Okay, please state your name again. I'm sorry. Um I'm a little concerned again with this consulting business because the thing here is um what's his question is what is his background and is he currently working and with regards to the approval with regards to hourly cost and the number of hours does the board or really the superintendent uh should be monitoring this this individual because they directly impact the operations of the school district. What hours and when will he be working or is he free to work those 25 hours a week? And my concern is if
016he's still working, okay, how is that going to impact those hours that he's going to be working during border education hours? And I'm not sure if it's from 8 to 4, 9 to5 or or 6 to 3. Um, and again, um, with regards to, and I'm not questioning his ability as far as his, um, his, um, workplace and where he's going to be working from. I don't know if it's going to be online or if he going to be hands on, but um, we still need someone. And no, I have not heard of anyone say that he's going to look at department by department, look at policies and procedures and see if that is being followed. Yes, he's financial. That's budget. Add and subtracting, multiply and divide. That's all that takes. uh the other things
017are much more detailed and you can hold people accountable for what they're doing in in that process as well because I think all this is from accountability of why the board of education is in this financial straight as it is in the first place. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else from the public? Is there anyone online? Uh public comment section is now closed. All right. Uh so uh because this is a special meeting, there will not be any board comments and we are ready to adjourn our meeting. Can I have a motion to adjourn our meeting? >> A motion. >> A second. Motion by Trustee Pringle, second by Trustee Gilmore. All those in favor say I. I. >> Anyone opposed. Thank you. Meeting adjourns at 8:42 p.m. >> Have a good evening everyone. Get home
018safe.