001Good evening everyone. Please stand for the flag salute. >> United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Please remain standing. Please join me in a moment of silence to honor the recent passing of Mr. Daryl Harris as well as other Comet alumni, former teachers who have passed in recent months and left a lasting impact on our school community. Please be seated. In accordance with the Open Public Meeting Act, NJSA 10 col4-6, adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the record and 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
002notice to the board meeting to the acting school business administrator Linda Agastra at l aostastra at hackinstackschools.org. I hereby call to order the regular public meeting on Wednesday, September 24th, 2025 in the Hackinack High School Media Center at 6:17 p.m. Miss Astra, can you please do a roll call? Present >> present. >> Mr. Carol >> present. >> Miss Gilmore >> here. >> Mr. Jones >> here. >> Mr. Martin >> present. >> Miss Harris >> present. >> Mr. Stein is absent. We have a quorum. >> Thank you so much. And before we begin, I would like to wish our Jewish community and our student body a happy Rashashana. I understand that this is the second night of Rashashana of their new year and um unfortunately there was a scheduled board meeting for tonight. Uh these meetings
003are scheduled a year in advance. Um it was really an oversight. Um we used the district calendar which we are in school during that time. So we apologize for the inconvenience. At this time, we are going to move into our student special presentation presentation, which is the Hackinack High School cell phone presentation. Um, and I'm going to give it up to Mr. Montasano and his crew. We got a click or two, huh? This is good. Good evening. Um, thank you for having us again. We were just asked to kind of give an update as far as how is our one of our biggest I think initiatives and one of our newest initiatives that we're starting this year uh which is our cell phone procedures and just to provide a little bit update. We're obviously still
004in our honeymoon but again we'll give a teach administrative perspective. We'll have a teacher perspective and then obviously we'll end with our grand finale which is our most important. We'll have a student perspective too. Um so over the summer uh we did a lot of I guess soulsearching and just when we were doing our walkthroughs we did a you know well over 200 walkthroughs last year as an administrative team and I think the one thing we saw which was pretty consistent was even the most engaging uh lessons just something was missing and we really to put our hand on it and you know kind of sometimes you do a little reflection over the summer sometimes I feel like our best work is done over the summer because we can kind of take a deep breath
005and reflect Um but we also listen to our staff, we listen to our students and the biggest distractor and the reason that they were having trouble engaging and also um having difficulty um you know with distractions and engagement really was the cell phones. Um so we said why don't we just eliminate the distraction and we've had certain classrooms who kind of piloted this for us last year and the ones that did it it was remarkable to see. Um and this is really kind of how we got to where we are today. So tonight we'd like to discuss, you know, how we got here, some of our results so far, and also we can even we'll even share some teacher and student testimonials. Um, so now to give it a teacher perspective, I'm going to turn
006it over to Miss Kink. >> Yes. Yes. >> What fun? >> That one. Yep. So that's >> Yeah. All by yourself. >> Okay. So um, upon entering the classroom, our students are required to place their cell phones in a numbered wall-mounted pocket holder. um their phones are either put on do not disturb or they're turned off. Their the phones face the wall so that um if their phones are still on, we don't see what's coming up on the screen, they don't see their notifications. Phones remain in the pockets for the duration of instructional time. Um many teachers will use the pocket chart for visual attendance. Placeholder cards are cards are issued for students without phones or those needing medical accommodations. And the goal is to reduce distractions and create a focused respectful classroom environment. Um
007I myself started doing this on day one on the first day of school and found that start establishing that routine has been a great success for me. Um we're still waiting. Are we still waiting on classroom? >> Couple classrooms are still waiting for it. Um but the feedback amongst my colleagues, the feedback in the teachers lounge has been 100% positive. Um teachers observe improved student focus and more positive classroom climate. Attendance has been taken via this uh via chart is streamlined and it's efficient. Um and this is generally what it looks like. Um, you can have the pouches which the district has ordered. Um, we have clear pouches. We some I don't not sure what number two is. >> Number two is actually what they use in physical education where they don't necessarily have walls
008for it. Uh, it was their idea. They kind of came up with it. So, we ordered some of those for each gym. >> And for anyone that is concerned about um the security, this is what you see upon entering the classroom. So, it's away from the students. sits at the front of the room um monitored by teachers all throughout. So there there's really no opportunity for students to go and and take the wrong phone. It and in the event that that happens um the students are great about bringing it back. Um it generally the teachers are circulating the room. No one is going up there when they're not supposed to be going up there. Um and aside from the the general complaint like I don't want to do this. Um, it hasn't been an issue.
009Students are respectful. I haven't had any negative interactions. I haven't had any interactions that have escalated into uncomfortable situations. Students comply. And in the event that a student hasn't put their phone in there, um, that phone has been kept in their bag. It hasn't been turned on. And in the event that somebody has forgotten to do it, the student gets up, puts it in the pouch, and it's never been an issue for me. Yeah, I don't want to speak too soon. >> So, I think obviously any new initiative presents some challenges and also presents, you know, again, I think it's most important, especially where we're about a month into this is to get some feedback from our stakeholders. So, we got some feedback from our teachers to see what was working well, what doesn't, and
010to kind of talk about that a little bit is Mr. Lozano. >> Good evening, everyone. >> Hi. Um so some challenges um we all know that we are attached to our phones. Um so initially over the summer when this came out there was some resistance from families, students, former students um not even current students that we were made aware of right away. Um we're we have a pretty good pulse on the community. We've been here for long enough. Um and we knew that this was going to be something that you know some students were going to have a hard time with or families. Um but we felt united in our approach. Um with your support um with Mr. Monosano's um support of all of us, we responded withformational outreach flexibility for special cases. Um anybody
011with an IEP or 504 or any special circumstances, we understand people have emergencies, so we have worked through those with counselors and with families. Um security concerns were also addressed with teacher supervision as Mrs. King spoke about earlier and just really clear communication. Um, from the beginning, like Mrs. King said, we were clear about, you know, establishing that respect between students and staff members there. We haven't had any issues either. Um, speaking to students if there's any anxieties with families, we we approached it immediately and it's been really um running great also. Okay. >> Yeah. because no um so we wanted to just send something out uh to staff right feedback and testimonials and as you see 98.7 um said that they felt that the new cell phone rules have produced a better classroom climate.
012Um obviously we are addressing the other one one feedback. Um, but as you can see, that's a lot of of of positive feedback. And do you feel as though the new cell phone rules have increased student engagement? Not only in this survey, but through our walkthroughs the first few weeks, the engagement is incredible. I don't want to um take what the students are going to say because, you know, we we went around and asked them um and we asked teachers, but this is a little bit more formal just so that it visually we can understand the impact it's been having. Thank you. >> Good evening. Um, thank you everyone for coming. So, as as we said in terms of the update in the implementation of the results of the survey, we had 98 98 almost
01399% of the teachers said the policy is effective and they're adopting. Um, one of the things that we also see in terms of the write-ups, cell phone usage, I think I don't think I've gotten none. I know I've gotten no writeups so far uh in this month and by now we probably would have had like 15 20 uh per grade. Um and one of the things that when we set this out and we started and we talked about it over the summer like Mr. Mano said we communicated this through the letter first then we communicated during our parent meetings. We all had grade level parent meetings that we brought them in. We talked about the new policy, what was going to be like and how it's the kids are going to come in soon to
014come in the classroom, put the cell phones away and then get started right away on their do now activities to get them going. and had like a wood and it has been great. But I we did started from the beginning and we made it our point in the summer to clearly communicate the expectations to parents with the with the letter that went out in the summer and during our grade level parent meetings which we also communicated and and oh I almost forgot about that and then we also had our grade level student meetings that we had the first full week of school. So everything was laid out, everyone was on board. We have, you know, our stakeholders and our student body. >> So just to talk a little bit about some of the teacher feedback
015we received so far is none other than Mr. Greenwood. >> Good evening. Um, just to talk about uh go back to last year. Last year we did not have a schoolwide cell phone policy. However, we did have some instructors kind of pilot the program on their own by implementing uh pouch systems. Um so in in looking at the feedback uh the first one uh now the teacher saying having it everyone enforces it makes it easier. Now that schoolwide it's a lot easier for the pouch system. Uh we did have some success with it last year. There was some push back with because it wasn't an official policy but it worked out nicely especially in the math classes where the students would come in take a calculator and put their cell phone in in their spot.
016So now that it's it's schoolwide, we've had a lot of positive feedback for that. Teachers have noted that there's less distractions. They've noted that the uh climate of the classroom is much better. Um they've noted that the cell phone policy that in their words has been a gamecher, especially in the hallways and bathrooms. Um they've they've allowed for more student engagement in the classroom. There's been very little student resistance in using the cell phone uh caddy. Um, honestly, I think it's because the cell phone pouches are less intrusive than the lock pouches. With a lock pouch, the students wouldn't have access to the cell phone during the course of the school day. With the pouches, you they get them between classes. If there's an emergency, they have them, you know, if they have lunch, they
017can they can take them. So, they still have access. So, I think it's it's kind of like they're working with it because they're the system works with them as well. So, um, you know, and the last one that this has been amazing. So they said the kids are really good with it. There's no more distractions and a lot of the teachers really love the policy. So but obviously we could just stand up here and give you some rhetoric. But the most important asset that we have as a comic community is our students. So again we were just happen to be talking to the kids in in the hallways just to get their feedback. Um we so we have two students here tonight comfortra and anulina Estz Marcelino. um they gave us such good responses. They
018didn't realize, but then we solicited them to the board meeting. This is their reward for being so helpful. But without further ado, I'd like to turn it over to our students. >> Um hello everyone. Um for the cell phone policy, I feel like it gives us a new environment, a new learning experience. um we're more connected to our teachers and we interact more with our class classmates. It wasn't really like that before. Everyone's on their phone on Instagram, they hear a ring, they looking at their phone, hiding it. So, I just feel like yeah, we're more interactive and it's not just a policy. I feel like it's it's for our own good. Like, it's just it's for us to succeed and get a better learning experience. Hi, I'm Angelina. >> Hi, I'm Angelina Estes. I'm
019piggybacking off of what Comfort said, I do agree with the how it really helps us in the classroom environment, focusing more on our studies and in the classroom, actually interacting with our classmates and teachers projects. Um, we're actually just not googling everything. We're actually like researching it off our computers and everything. So, I just feel like it really helps us focus on our work and yeah. >> So, I I know I think it probably would have been pretty easy for us as an administrative team to just kind of keep everything status quo. I feel like we did take a risk. I think it was a calculated risk, but I have to say it's now my 16th year as principal. This is probably number one thing we've done so far as far as increasing student engagement.
020However, none of this is possible. It really isn't without a wonderful student body and a wonderful teaching staff. So, for those who are watching or those who will probably hear about it tomorrow, we can't do it without them. They've all bought in uh and and again, it's just because of the culture and the climate that we have at Hackinson High School. So, thank you. >> Question either yourself or Miss Bart can answer this on the lower grade. >> Mr. Martin, can you speak closer to the mic? >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Thank you. >> Um, either yourself or Miss Parchman can answer this question. E on the lower grades, are they doing the same? So, they are condition when they do come to you that they wouldn't be that resistant or we don't know. I
021would never had done this before type of. >> So, our wonderful middle school principal is going to come to us tomorrow, I think, and just kind of take a bird's eye view of see how it's going and do a little walkthrough with us. So again, that would make our lives so much easier if it could start, you know, in the middle school level. So yeah, we're going to, >> you know, she said she's bringing snacks, too. So we said, "Yes, you'd give that." So that's >> sheer. >> I I will say, Mr. Montasano, that um as a parent, when I received that email, I said, "Oh, oh, yep." I was like, "Oh." So I had to explain to my child and say, you know, these are the expectations now. You know, you got to follow
022the rules. You get a write up. And I, you know, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what a pouch, right? what kind of pouch, but they are >> kind of like shoe pouches, right? That's exactly what it is. >> Yeah. Um I think it's very it's amazing and I love the feedback from the students. I think it's it's a great idea. >> I think for us too, I think the biggest thing is treating them like young adults. We're not excluding you from them. We know we understand that they're a part of your life, but also your education is a bigger part of your life. So if we can take it out of your hands for 40 minutes and then you can, you know, we treat you like young adults in the hallways,
023in the cafeteria, in the common areas, you can use them again. They've really risen to the occasion. met our expectations and then some. >> Right. Thank you. >> I have a question. Um what are the the next steps for other devices like watches, earbuds, and those type of distractions. >> So I think we've talked about it. You know, I think this is probably step one for us. I mean, I think the watches are going to present a challenge, too. So, I don't necessarily know if they really have a spot for themselves in the uh pouches, you know, so to speak, but uh we I go to like Bergen County roundts and I know this is a discussion point among uh some of the other principles who have instituted this and I feel like this is
024step one. Let's make sure it works because not every classroom has them yet. We ordered them from WB Mason. They ended up canceling the order on us. You know how everything goes. But we should have the rest of them by next week. Once we get a full thing then I uh a full implementation across the district I mean across the school then we can kind of take a good look at some of the other things. >> Okay. And I'll be curious to see if the test scores improve. >> We keep talking like underhandedly about it. I I mean I really I firmly believe it's going to I really do. >> Um so being that it was stated that this is a form of also having attendance taken. So if someone forgets to put their phone
025in the p in the pouch or if they have it in their bag and it's not disrupting the class, how is attendance? >> There's still a visual component. So this is like just an initial scan really quick to see because the number that's on the pouch matches the number on the desk. So if a teacher sees the number eight's missing, she quick scans or he or she quick scans the number eight. If the student's there, then it's probably a one-on-one conversation as to why isn't your cell phone in the um pouch. >> Okay. Uh the other thing too I think which was important again we listen to the students too because we did get some initial feedback in the event of emergency in the event of you know anything we we understand we're an open
026campus this isn't necessarily the easiest place especially when they go to lunch so that's why in the event there is an emergency they're literally right in the classroom so there's not like they're hidden or anything else we're excluding them from the day so I think this was kind of a you know we met them to where we are and we met you know understanding the needs of our school too >> I just want to thank you Mr. Montesano and um the whole administrative team and our students for coming out tonight um you know and just really working hard to make sure our students have the best learning environment. So thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. At this time, um, be it resolved that the Hackasack
027Board of Education determs it necessary to meet in executive session on Wednesday, September 24th, 20125 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 confident confidentiality no longer exists. Can I have a motion to go into executive? I'll offer. >> Okay. Motion by Trusty Amrazza. Can I have a second? >> Second by Trustee Carol. All those in favor say I. I. >> Anyone opposed? >> Excellent. Thank you so much. Um it is 6:36. I would say we would be back by uh give us around by 8:15. We do have a heavy um close session agenda. We will try our best to come out a little bit before. Thank you. Okay, good evening everyone. Welcome
028back. Um, can I have a motion to reopen to the public session, please? >> Second by Trustee Pringle. Can I have a second? >> A second. >> Second by Trustee Gilmore. All those in favor say I. I. >> Anyone opposed? Excellent. Okay, we're going to move on to our agenda and do the approval of the minutes. Be it resolved that the Hackasak Board of Education approves the regular and executive meeting minutes of August 20th, 2025. Can I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes? >> I'll approve. >> Okay. Motion by Trustee Arma Hamza. Can I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Trustee Martin. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? >> Any abstensions? Okay. Thank you very much. At this time, we're going to go to our presentations. Um,
029and our first presentation is the graduation pathway, which will be presented by our assistant superintendent, Rosemary Marks. >> Good evening, everybody. >> Good evening. And thank you to our awesome tech team out there who has these presentations ready to go for us at the drop of a hat. Thank you guys. Um so this evening um I am going to share the graduation pathways data report with you and um this report is essentially information on pathways that our students have taken alternate pathways to achieve graduation. And I have a lot of information to share with you and it's all on one slide. So we're going to go through this quickly. So the number of students who graduated last year in total was 435 at Hackinac High School. of those students, the number of students graduating under
030the substitute competency test pract process, which is alternate um testing methods, we had 96 for ELA and 298 for math. The number of students who graduated under the portfolio appeals process was zero. We did not have any students um who would uh who graduated via the the portfolio process. The number of students who received state endorsed high school diplomas as a result of meeting alternate requirements as specified in their individual education plans was nine for ELA and 10 for math. the total number of students denied graduation from 12th grade. In this row, you see a dash because with the state of New Jersey, anytime you have less than 10, they do not report out. So when you have a category, the category was less than 10 because as you can see in the very next
031row, the number of students denied graduation from 12th grade solely because of failure to pass the ELA and math NJSLA assessments a substitute substitute competency test or portfolio appeals process was zero. This data is found in both NJ smart reporting as well as our student information system Genesis SIS. And as I shared, I had a lot to share with you and the the uh presentation is now over. This is it. >> Amen. Okay. Does anyone have any questions for Miss Marks? >> Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Marks. Um, moving on to our next presentation. And I lost my place. Uh, which is our building upgrades by Juan Pablo Felis, our director of buildings and grounds. Quickie, first time I'm doing a presentation. >> You will do great. >> In my position, so
032I don't have a crowd behind me like Jimmy had. So do it on my own. >> Um I'm doing a presentation for the building and grounds. Let me get this first page off. Sorry that I'm going to have Miss Partridge come up. Okay, I'm going to have Miss Partridge come up for the first phase of the presentation. Now, coach, which language? That one right here. This is the East Wing Girls Lack of Hope. I just wanted Good evening everyone. I just wanted to mention how this uh project came about and I wanted to acknowledge the district's affirmative action committee as we were looking at the comprehensive equity plan. Um it states that facilities for boys and facilities for girls should be the same. And we we we noticed that um there were improvements that needed
033to be made for the girls facilities, athletic facilities. And so I brought this matter to our building and grounds coordinator and they really were responsive. So I just want to acknowledge him and also want to acknowledge uh the athletic department um Mr. Whiting and especially Mrs. Canistrina. Um so I just wanted everyone to know about the first three slides. So yes, so the beginning of these slides I'm just going to give you a slide presentation. This is my third year of buildings and grounds. So we took this project within house. So basically was removing lockers, doing general renovations on it. If you see on the left, there was panels on the walls. We removed them. So once we removed the panels, we she rocked all the walls, brought it up to date, good conditions. Those
034are the old lockers. The new lockers were wider. So we built platforms for the ones on the left. We built um cinder block walls to make them wider. Those benches on your right used to be lockers used to be on them. So, we made the concrete platforms because um to outsource it was going to be $5,000 and some type of material so the students could sit. So, we did that in-house. I didn't show up. Let me tell you, you're not going to see 50 60 slides. This is basically you have to visually see it because if I blew so many slides, you all would get bored. So, this is the before your left and this is the on the right the completion. We're still needing some panels to install, but that's from an outsourced company.
035But this is the view. This right here, we set a table so the girls could plug their phones. That's missing a mirror we haven't received. This is the door on the right that there will exit to the hallway. Now that's in the east wing. This is a another girls locker room that really was never being used. Used to be showers. We removed all the showers. We did concrete platforms and we had a company come in install the locker rooms. We are still getting on this area is going to be epoxy flooring. Now, stepping out of the box regarding the renovations, I got to tell you that we have a 11man maintenance crew. We have a licensed plumber, licensed electricians, and an HVAC guy. Bringing all these people within our district makes us save money for
036the district to do other projects. So, this is on special services. This always looked like a desert for years. No one can maintain grass. The kids would sit there, hang and play soccer. But I, like I said, I took one photo. We put new fencing. It isn't a regular warrior fence. It's more of a residential heavy duty. So when you pass by it, you you don't get the feel that the kids are in prison that we containing them. The kids enjoy this. They don't even run on it. Even though we have a gate, they're not climbing the fence. They're appreciated because what you see on the left was not pleasant. easy as a parent that drove the kids to school. That's what I saw. So decided to do let's let's do the sad sprinklers and
037we put grape plants in it and it's growing better every year. This is something might be out of the source, but to me that container every time I drove by it was in the dirt and it had holes. We replaced it and we did a concrete pad so when other events are present the track and field they see that that at least someone notices that the containers and look it looks perfect. It looks clean. It looks maintained and you won't even notice it when you drive by it. Now these other photos I'm going to show you is the money that we have sent saved in the district. I'm able to do some projects with the money that I have. So I'm going to show you some. This is Fairmont School. on the left that is
038a ground painted floor for over 30 or 40 years. That affected me as walking to the school as a parent. It was not acceptable. So what I did this summer, the fold on the right, we put new tiles. I also, this includes the principal, assistant principal. We pick out the color in the middle is an H. When you walk up to the high, when you walk up to the auditorium, this was the hallway. When the parent walked in the first day of school, this is what they saw on the left. This is what they see on the right. when they walk to the school in this school this is Hillers same thing Hillers 30 40 years of seeing battleship great on the floors me as a parent unacceptable we painted the walls with the participation
039with the principal Mrs. We decided to build the walls semig gloss. The floors are blue color. I like the idea of the floors being different. You could distinguish different schools. If I keep on doing the same pattern, no one knows what school they're really in. >> So, as a parent, the school now this is Hiller's auditorium. This was last year. The seats were broken. This is one seat. The other seats was losing nuts and bolts. So I decided during the summertime I planned it, budgeted and repaired the whole auditorium floor. There was different patches all over. Made it one complete new floor. Sanded down to the original color when it was first built. And now these are the new seats in the auditorium. >> Yeah. Hill. Yes. And we also installed air conditioning in there.
040That was done inhouse. On the next photo, this is school. This was last year. We had to do the floor. So, we did the whole new entire floor. And while I was doing the floors, I installed had new bleachers installed. The old bleachers were outdated, 50 years old, now within code, unsafe for another person to climb up to. You can't really see the focus of it, but it all has railings on the left, on the right, and on the center. Yes. And the floors were all brand new, all new lighting. This is the middle school. Now, the middle school, the floor on the left, I stripped it down to bare original floor that hasn't been done over 40 years. We got new lines and we installed new bleachers. Left bleachers are home. Right bleachers, closest
041we could get to school color is the guests. So now when they come to the school, it's very representable. If you've been there before and seen the old and seen the new, it's an amazing change, man. It's not big money, you know? It's just saving for it, budging for it, and doing it. And sorry to say that's my last photo of my presentation. >> I wish I had more >> being your first presentation. I think you nailed it. I think you nailed it. >> Any questions or comments? >> Mr. Martin, turn on your mic, please. >> Is this my >> This is uh all this all this work that uh you have done. Is this just you and your crew or do you have to use outside sources outside >> co-op? The outside sources are
042when you build the bleachers that's a company it's co-op company that doesn't want to cover any electrical work we do in house. So the electrical had to be done in house. The um BCT tiles I get those installed by a company to do in the summertime. For the money that we save on our projects, I know I could budget it for next year. So I I do have a budget. I keep eyes on it like it's my own money. So, we save money and I start saving for the next project for next year. But it's a it's a going on. Look, our schools are old. I can blow up 30 or 100 folks. Schools are old. They're breaking down every day. And you really don't see that. Once they're resolved, no one hears the complaints,
043but it's a daily challenge to maintain the schools working, functioning, air conditioning, boilers. We got new boilers. We hired a new HVAC guy. That guy's already saved me minimum 15 20,000. He's only been here a month and a half. We finding issues that we could never resolve at the middle school 56. We resolving it. It was computer issue. We're saving the air conditioner at 23 years old. We're maintaining them. I know the school budget. I know what we have, what we don't have. So, the maintenance department repairs these things in house to maintain the schools open to make sure the kids are safe. to make sure the places are present, pleasant when they come to school. >> I mean, um, green grass, new tile floors, new benches, new gyms, new lighting. They love that. And
044I try to continue doing that within the budget we have without affecting the taxpayers. I mean, we have bigger budgets, but that's above my pay grade, but I maintain the ones that are more visible. >> Yeah. >> More functional, and maintaining the schools open all year round. >> Right. Thank you. >> That's great. >> Great. Just want to uh you know thank you very much you and the whole team buildings and grounds team for all of that hard work um especially at a time when we know you know costs for everything whether you're a consumer or whether we're a district constantly going up. So, it's a huge savings um to our district, to our taxpayers. And also, I can say um as someone who's whose dad uh has owned a flooring um installation uh business
045for the last 50 years, I know how expensive and the type of hard work that that floor installation, the sanding um and and reinstallation, especially of such large floors, such old floors. I know how hard that is. I know how expensive it would have been had you outsourced it. So, I thank you for saving the district that money and for the excellent work. It looks beautiful. >> But I mean, um, off the might be off some of the work like the gym floors, I outsource that with the money I save. >> BCT tiling, it's a massive they have to remove 40 years of paint. >> Yeah. >> With machines that we can't afford. >> It'll take us two months. But that's where I know where I could save what I'm going to do that we
046cannot do, >> right? >> We do other things that >> those little things cost thousands. But all together Oh, definitely. Definitely. And that's why I'm able to do the improvements >> that you know you'll see now. They're not waiting for years. >> But without the maintenance crew, there's no me. >> We We thank you. I mean, it's obvious. >> My guys are awesome. But I can't do this alone. I cannot do this. They have the great support. I have to say um I attended the Fair Mount back to school night. My son was a student at Fairmont, so I was very familiar with those brown floors and I almost like forgot where I was when I walked in the and saw the flooring and it looks it looks really good. So, it's great job. >>
047I love it when I >> think I think everything looks >> I think everything looks great and just having the before and after pictures just shows it. I mean like it it's so stark and it shows pride in your work and as someone whose daughter has contributed to the lack of grass on the middle school right there. Like I noticed it when we went in this year and it was like it jumped out and it it's I mean it's a it's a really good look. It's it's you could tell you have pride in it. Hats off to >> Well, it's a teamwork all the team your team. >> Yeah. I do with the principles. We pick fences. We do it isn't that just me me. It's a group effort and we all get to the
048point and say we're going to do it. So, um, no, I enjoy my job. This is seven days a week, 24 hours, but I do enjoy it. >> Yeah, I take pride in it. >> I want to say that myself and Jennifer went to back to school night at Hillers last week and the pictures are good, but in person, beautiful. The chairs were comfortable, like almost like sleepable. If y'all put they put on a movie for them kids in that school, they going to sleep like so comfortable. >> So what I did is what I'm doing is every time we do an auditorium seat, it's going to be the same pattern throughout because I have extra materials, something breaks, we don't have to call a vendor. Every school gets less me. They have enough supplies
049for the next 20 years. >> 20 years. If something breaks and there's only one vendor, call the same guy because um you start calling different vendors, different things and when I'm gone 5 10 years, who did the who put the seats down? They have enough supplies, >> you know. So, >> beautiful job. >> Great job. >> I think the parents love >> and the presentation was on point. >> Yes. >> Nailed it. Y >> thank you note. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um just before we go into our superintendence report, for those of you who are joining us um just recently live, I did give um just a little uh quick statement. I just wanted to wish our Jew Jewish community, students, staff, families, uh happy Rashashana. I understand that this
050is the second night of Rashashana. I'm sorry. >> Second day. >> Second. I'm sorry. Second day. Thank you. uh second day and you know unfortunately we do we did schedule a board meeting tonight. Um the board meeting was scheduled in advance um a year out in advance and it was definitely an oversight because we were following this district schedule which we were still open. So we do apologize for any inconvenience. Um but at this time I'm going to pass it off to our superintendence report Miss Andrea Oats Parchment. >> Good evening again everyone. >> Good evening. >> First I will share with you the enrollment report. Uh we have a total of 5,110 students. You can see it broken down by school. The residency report uh the number of residency cases received for this period
051were four and four years to date. Uh residency residency verified none. Uh we have in-home visits unverified and as of this state um zero parents have provided proof of residency and zero students were withdrawn as of this state. Uh harassment, intimidation and bullying report. Uh we have two cases founded at um the middle school, two cases unfounded at the middle school. We also have two cases pending, one at Jackson, one at the high school and preliminary determination not HIV uh was for uh the middle school. Also, I would like to just acknowledge Hispanic Heritage Month and the theme for this year is collective heritage, honoring past, honoring the past, inspiring the future. And we as a district will hold a district-wide celebration Tuesday, mark it on your calendar, October 14th, beginning at 6:00 p.m. So
052come out and see our students and possibly our staff present. Um we're looking forward to that. Uh, also kudos again to the building and ground staff and you know Pablo, I think some of our administrators if they're unable to present they might be calling on you to do more presentations. Um, Mr. Feliz. Um also happy Rashashana to everyone who's celebrating and and we know this evening is sacred and we just want to um wish our Jewish sisters and brothers um who are currently probably at their temples just know that uh you are in our thoughts. Sustainable New Jersey recognition. all of our schools will be receiving our a bronze award at um the New Jersey School Boards Association. Um we're looking forward to that and we thank our technology team and all of the teachers
053and all of the staff who made that happen. Also, the HA sponsored a wonderful hot breakfast for our convocation and we just want to thank them uh for hosting that. I want to thank the board members, the community, and um our assistant superintendent for all of the gift card donations. It was a wonderful, wonderful event. We're still pulling um tickets and people are still winning. Um back to school nights. I had the opportunity to visit I had the opportunity to visit uh all of the back to school nights and I have to say well organized, engaged. So it was just wonderful. Uh and I I felt that the parents were happy. So I want to congratulate our principles and all of our staff and everyone who played a part. Even the buildings look wonderful. Um,
054I was very happy. Uh, we were very happy. Uh, sports. I just recently added this because when I left my office today, I looked outside the tennis courts, the football field, the two fields um, adjacent to our building. Uh, there were competitions everywhere. It's so nice to see, you know, the students involved with the sports and the competitions, all of the school buses outside. So, it was uh really nice to see. Um stay tuned. We have many more events. Not just our district event, but the schools will be having events in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. So, please stay stay tuned. I want to thank the high school for uh the cell phone presentation. Um and I'm happy that uh this is going to result in more student engagement. You heard our students uh say
055that uh the Giants, this is hot off the press, the Giants and Ford program, they're coming to our high school October 3rd to speak to students. It's motivational speaking and students who are part of the uh automochanics. They're going to do a demonstration and it's at no cost to us. And I said they probably picked us because we have the best students, the most outstanding students and the most outstanding high school. So of course they wanted to come to Hackinack, right? And uh finally, we want to wish all of our students and our staff, the reason why we're here for our students a wonderful start and end to the school year. And thank you. Pass the mic. Okay, we're moving on to public comments. Public participation shall be governed by the following rules. If in
056person, 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, group affiliation, if applicable. Each statement made by a participant shall be limited to three minutes duration during the public session. 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 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 to questions or inquiries shall be held until the end of public participation. At this time, we will open up the floor
057to those in person for public comments. Anybody here would like to speak? Okay, I see that there are none. Anyone online? I see that there are none. Okay. Um, at this time public comment section will be closed and we're going to move on to our committee reports and resolutions and we will start off first with personnel and our chair of personnel is Trusty Amaranza. >> Thank you, Madame President. Um, before I begin, I would like to make two motions. Um, the first motion uh is to table items E1 and E2. Okay. So, I have a motion to table items E1 and E2 by Trusty Amrazza. Can I have a second? >> A motion. >> Okay. So, Trusty Martin second the motion. Can I have a roll call for that table, please? >> Miss Alen Balutra.
058>> Yes. >> Miss Emmerza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Carol? >> Yes. >> Miss Gilmore? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jones? >> Yes. Mr. Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Pringle, >> yes. >> Miss Harris, >> yes. >> Mr. Stein is absent. Motion passes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I would like to make uh a second motion to uh table item G7. >> Okay. So, Trusty Mahza just put a motion to table item G7. Yes. Can I have a second for that motion? >> A second. Okay. Second by trustee Gilmore. Miss Aashra, can you please do a roll call for that? >> Miss Alustin Valiputra. >> Yes. >> Miss Emmer Hamza. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carol. >> I recuse myself from the >> G7. >> Miss Gilmore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jones. >> Yes. >>
059Mr. Martin. >> Yes. >> Miss Pringle. I recuse myself from G7. >> Miss Harris. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stein is absent. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh thank you so much. Uh so the personnel committee met and I would like to make a motion to offer for consideration items A1 A through AA with the exception of items E1, E2, and G7. Okay, thank you. So, I have a motion from Trusty Arabsa. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> I'm sorry. Who did it? >> Yeah, my was like a new voice. Okay. Um, second. >> Okay. So, we have a second by Trusty Jones. >> Miss Aasha, can you please do a roll call? >> Miss Alustin Balutra? >> Yes. >> Miss Amar Hamza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Carol? >> Yes. But I will
060have to recuse myself from G3, G4, G6, L3, P1 through P5 and Y1. >> You've accused on G3, G4, G6, L3, P1 through P5 and Y1. >> Yes, >> Miss Gilmore. Yes, >> Mr. Jones. >> Yes, >> Mr. Martin. >> Yes, >> Miss Springle. >> Yes, >> Miss Harris. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Moving on to policy and the chair of policy is Trusty Pringle. Um, for policy, um, I want to motion to approve the second read for items B1 and B2. Okay. So, we have a motion from Trusty Pringle. Can I have a second, please? >> I'll second. >> Second by Trusty Amarra Hemsa. Miss Aasha, can you please do a roll call? >> Miss Olston Balutra? >> Yes. >> Miss Amra Hamsa? >> Yes. Mr. Carol? >> Yes. >> Miss
061Gilmore? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jones? >> Yes. >> Mr. Martin? >> Yes. >> Miss Pringle? >> Yes. >> Miss Harris? >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Moving on to curriculum and the chair for curriculum is Trusty Pringle. Okay. For curriculum, I would like to well before I motion if it's okay, I would like to highlight items C23 and C24. Um before I read those um I just want to say um that I'm proud to announce that we as a board and a district have convened as a team to collaborate to come up with our board and district goals. Okay. So C23 be it resolve the board of education upon recommendation of the acting superintendent of schools and acting super and acting school business administrator acting board secretary approves the 25 26 board of
062education goals. Um the Hackasack Board of Education will complete the CSA evaluation by July 1st 26th statutory deadline by the establish by establishing a clear timeline to support accountability and communication. In September, the board will schedule the following deadlines. deadlines for the CSA self assessment, deadline for board members to complete individual evaluations and a compilation meeting to finalize the annual performance report. A June date for the full board to meet with the CSA to discuss the annual performance report. Uh the second is these hacksac board of education will ensure that all documents related to agenda items are complete, accurate and available to both board members and the public unless otherwise exempt by the OPMA to be disclosed to the public prior to any vote. The board will maintain full compliance with all public access requirements
063to promote transparency and informed decisionmaking. And third, the Hackasak Board of Education will make consistent and measurable progress towards earning New Jersey School Boards Association professional development training credits, ensuring board members are wellinformed and aligned with best governance practices. The board will complete the yearly board self- evaluation by June 2026. Um for our board districts, uh the first goal, June 2026, all students in grades K through 12 will demonstrate proficiency in standards aligned learning outcomes as evidenced by district created assessments. Grade K4 students proficiency will be measured through performances on district created standards aligned assessments in reading and mathematics administered throughout the year. Grades 5 through 12 students proficiency will be measured through performance on district created standards aligned final exams in core content areas. Goal two, by 2026, the majority of the students in
064Hackinasak public schools in each grade level will demonstrate an increase in student achievement as measured by NWEA MAP growth assessments in reading the mathematics. Specifically, the average percentile rank for each grade level will fall in spring will will fall level will from fall to spring will improve by at least 5 percentile points. Goal three. By June 2026, the district will increase meaningful family engagement in order to create and sustain positive, collaborative, and productive relationships with families for the benefit of students by implementing a series of multilingual family workshops and regular two-way communication initiatives, resulting in 25% increase in the number of families participating in at least two school events. and a 20% increase in family response to school surveys, reports, report card review, acknowledgement, and other markers of parent engagement. I would like to motion
065items C1 through C27. Thank you, Trusty Pringle. So, we have a motion by Trusty Pringle. Can I have a second? >> A second. >> Second by Trustee Abrahamza. Mr. Aasha, can you please do a roll call? Miss Alustin Balutra. >> Yes. But abstaining from C1. >> Miss Amarza. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carol. >> Yes. >> Miss Gilmore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jones. >> Yes. >> Mr. Martin. >> Yes. >> Miss Pringle. >> Yes. >> Miss Harris. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Um, moving on to, well, before we move on to finance, I just wanted to thank Trusty Pringle for reading our board and district goals. Um, they're they're super important because this is what's what we're working towards as a district. And it took a lot of several meetings, collaboration. Um, Miss
066Oat Parchment met with building principles, she met with her, um, administrative team. I mean, everybody was involved in the making of these district goals. and we are already seeing um some of these goals already starting to get checked off. So um I'm very excited um to see what we end up with at the end. Uh so moving on to finance um our chair is uh vice president Stein but he is not here today due to religious reasons. Uh so we are going to kick it off to trustee Austin Balaputra. >> Thank you President Harris. You're welcome. I just would like to highlight D5. We'd like to thank Joseph M. Sanzary Incorporated for their donation of new backpacks for school supplies. The donation is for Banny Meyer Hillers Elementary School for the 2526 school year. Otherwise,
067I will offer D1 through D19 for approval. Excellent. So, we have a motion from Trusty Alustin Balapucha. Can I have a second? >> A second. Second by Trusty Pringle. Miss Aasha, can you please do a roll call? >> Miss Alustin Bellutra? >> Yes. >> Miss Amar Hamza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Carol? >> Yes. >> Miss Gilmore? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jones? >> Yes. >> Mr. Martin? >> Yes. >> Miss Pringle? >> Yes. >> Miss Harris? >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Moving on to facilities and our chair for facilities is Trusty Martin. >> Yes, I like to motion E1 through E9. Uh pretty much standard. Um that's second. >> Sounds good. Okay. Just uh we have a motion by Trustee Martin, a second by Trustee Carol. Miss Aasha, roll call, please. >> Miss
068Alen Balutra, >> yes. Miss Emmerz, >> yes. >> Mr. Carol, >> yes. >> Miss Gilmore, >> yes. >> Mr. Jones, >> yes. >> Mr. Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Pringle, >> yes. >> Miss Harris, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Moving on to community relations and chair for community relations committee is Trusty Gilmore. >> Good evening. Um so the community relations committee met on uh 911 and um it was determined that uh the original uh date of November 1st would needed to be rescheduled due to um scheduling conflicts. So right now the new date for the community health fair will be Saturday March 21st 2026 at the Hackinack Middle School. Um although we're disappointed that this is not happening um next month, we're still super excited. This gives us more time to connect with partners
069and just make the fair that much better. So not to worry, we're going to have a great fair. Okay. Thank you, Trusty Gilmore. Um on to other committees. Um, I will report that we had our first joint board of education and city meeting about two weeks ago. That happened two weeks ago. Uh, three I can't remember when things happen anymore. I feel like they're all together. Um, so three board members attended as well as some of our administrative team like our acting superintendent, our assistant superintendent, our business administrator. Um, it was a very productive conversation. We spoke about where we can work together to benefit the taxpayers and the students of Hackinack and there will be more forthcoming information as we move along. Um, moving on to new business. There are none and we could
070go to public comments. Our second public comment. So, individuals may address the board on agenda and school matters of community interest for one minute. Is there anybody here in person that would like to speak? Anybody online? Oh, I'm sorry. We do have one in person. Yes, you can come up to the microphone. [Music] >> Um, so first state your name. >> Oh, my name is Dallas Pway. >> Are you from Hackinack? >> Yes, I'm from Hackinack. Perfect. So, my mom, she told me to come here for public speaking, but I got a little nervous. So, instead of doing that, I think that I'm gonna mail a letter out like expressing how I feel about sports and how it should be the same for boys and girls in the middle school, the high school, and all
071the other schools. But that's it. That's all I have to say. >> Great. Thank you so much for coming up here. Thank you. >> I think you aced that public speaking, by the way. Absolutely. >> Um, anyone online? Okay, let's go ahead. >> Hi, this is Hie Silverstein, uh, Josh Cohen's wife, resident of Hackinack. Uh, I just wanted to, uh, emphasize, uh, the importance of Russia Shana in the Jewish community. Um and just our frustration with the fact that there was uh not a day off given uh so that our son had to miss school instead of and had to like make up work rather than being able to just like celebrate the holiday with us at home. Um, I understand that like you have to have a certain number of days on the calendar,
072etc., etc., but it feels like almost every other school of parents that I spoke to in Bergen County had at least one day off. So, I don't know if any attention can be paid to that or addressed for next year. That would be great. >> Thank you so much for for acknowledging that. Thank you. Okay. So, at this time the second public comment section is closed and we will move on to board comments. [Laughter] >> Okay, we'll start off with Trusty Jones. >> It's not always the leadoff hitter here. Is this because I'm the new guy? >> No, I >> seing. All right. >> I used to start on my left, but we'll start. >> Uh, first off, uh, happy Rashashana to everybody that's celebrating um, out there and in here. Um, I want to
073thank everybody for their presentations tonight. Uh, very informative. Um, I was uh, I was really struck by the um, the cell phone presentation and all the presentations were great. So, I'm not short changing to anybody, but uh when my son was in ninth grade last year, and I guess he had one of those pilot classes, his math class, and when I went to back to school night and they showed us where you put the cell phone in, I was like blown away because these kids are so distracted. And it's like not just kids, it's adults that can't control it. Myself among them sometimes. So, like I can't imagine what it's like to teach kids when they have computers in their pocket all day long and alerts going off. I mean, that that it's such a
074a challenging thing. And I know that's an understatement, but I think that like this this program is so so incredibly important. Um, and it's really something that I think if they can if they can learn how to at this time developmentally learn how to get by without their cell phone on them, I think that's going to benefit them so much when they get out into the world post post high school. And I think it's a I think it's a really really really big deal. And I think uh shout out to the administration and the teachers because it's a really really good job. And uh it's about all I have to say. Thank you. Oh, and also one more thing. uh back to school night was incredible. Uh I went to I got the chance to
075go to three of them um because uh one was actually for me to go for my son, but um really organized um and and the grounds looked really great again. So shout out to Mr. Feliz and his staff. Uh but really organized and really impressive uh from a trustee standpoint, but also from a parent standpoint just coming in and uh a lot of people out there showing you where to go. Uh, everybody had kids out there, too, winning you around, showing you, you know, just everybody explaining everything and it was really well organized, really impressive. So, hats off to everybody involved in it. And that's all I have to say. >> Thank you. So, I'm going to switch it off and look to my left and we're going to go to Trusty Austin Balaputra. >>
076Okay. >> I guess change is good, right? >> I echo many of the sentiments. Um, the the presentations tonight were great. Uh, Mrs. Marks, thank you for such a concise and clear uh, presentation. I love the cell phone presentation. It puts my heart at ease um that it seems to be working. Not with like Mr. Mando said. Um, Mr. Feliz, you did a great job, not just in the presentation, but in the work that's been done. I appreciate it. I had the opportunity to attend back to school night at Jackson Avenue at the middle school, and the first thing I noticed was how great the buildings look. um from your maintenance team and the custodians, they did a great job. Mr. Moran and his team, it was well organized, wellrun. The parents knew exactly what
077to do, where to go. Other parents looked very happy at the middle school. Shout out to Dr. Whiting who put us to work. I thought I was just going to stand there and wave and look pretty. No, no, you walk classrooms on the second floor to see if parents are happy. Um so I had a a great and engaging time as a board trustee. Um and I looked at it through the lens of a parent and as a trustee. Um, I appreciate the outreach by the various PTAs from different schools. We've heard from a lot of them. They've, you know, I've been going broke buying t-shirts and whatnot. But, um, it's exciting to hear because having that direct outreach from the PTAs lets us know about the events faster and gets us involved. Um, yeah,
078the shockwinning situation is getting a little dire, but I now have a shirt from almost every school. Um, I appreciated the um upgrade at the middle school especially because my former classroom overlooked that desert looking space. So to see that grass was amazing. Um, I think those are my comments. Thank you very much. >> Thank you Trusty Carol. >> Oh >> flipflop. Here we go. Um, happy Rashashana again to our Jewish community. Um, I want to recognize acknowledge uh Hispanic Heritage Month as well. Um, looking forward to going to the high school and see uh our students and possibly our staff with their presentations. Um, all the presentations tonight were great. Um, cell phone policy. I want to thank uh Mr. Monosano and his staff for um updating us and showing us the um the
079responses to students. um as well as the teachers and uh also to the two students that came up and spoke themselves about the cell phone policy. I will say I have two daughters in the high school and my girls at home live on their phone on the couch on the phone 24/7. Um punishment for them is going outside. So when when the when the policy first came out, it was like um you know can't say that. Hold on. Like the world was going to end. So um but you know um it didn't affect them like in that kind of way. It's actually beneficial to the students and the teachers and and it's going to um as you can see it's helping with their learning. So, I I was glad to see that. Um, also want
080to thank uh Pablo for his presentations. I'll tell you right now, I'm on the buildings and grounds and um myself as well as um Trusty Martin works closely with Pablo and Ali on a lot of these things. And his presentation was Very modest because I I you know, he's definitely got to come back up here and show uh a lot of things that they do do um not only to the uh sports facilities but to every school here. Um Miss Miss Pedway, Miss Pway or Pedway Pway, Miss Pway, thanks for coming up and speaking and um we look we look forward to seeing your uh email, okay? >> And we will get back to you. All right. public speak. You didn't do too bad with the public speaking. Okay, just so you know, you just
081come more often. All right. And um that's it to our to our fall sports. Um I wish you success on the rest of the season and keep grinding. Thank you. >> Thank you, Trusty Gilmore. >> Good evening. Um I want to thank uh President Harris and acting superintendent um uh Andrea Oats Parchman for your great leadership. Uh Jennifer, you work tirelessly tirelessly. I don't know how you do it, but thank you for your hard work. Um because we are really making a difference, I believe. Um the past month I've been out in the community. I had the opportunity to attend two football games on Friday night under the lights, which was amazing. Um I got a chance to go hear the Morehouse band practice, which was amazing. Um, and it was just really nice to
082be out in the community and, you know, the community was out, they were happy. Uh, the weather was amazing. So, it was really, um, a great opportunity to be out in the community. Um, also attended two back to school nights. I went to ECDC for the very first time in my life. Um, and I was, um, really impressed. Um, and, um, the kids looked really happy. I also went back to Fam out as I mentioned and I was shocked to not see the brown floors um and the floors looked really amazing and um uh Principal Adams um has a command of her school and um is doing an amazing job. Um the presentations were really good and I as I mentioned I'm interested to see if uh the test scores go up because of the
083focus that um is now on the teachers and the lessons versus notifications and um the cell phones. So I'm really looking forward to see how that u pans out. And um lastly um you know I want to wish all of our um Jewish uh residents that are celebrating um happy Rashashana and um happy Hispanic Heritage Month. I'm looking forward to the district-wide event. Um last year I really enjoyed it so I'm looking forward to it again. Good night. >> Thank you Trusty Gilmore. Trusty Martin. >> First I'd like to uh thank Miss Pway for coming up. a job well done. This is what we encourage our residents to do. Uh to come up, let us know your thoughts, your feelings, and uh address that to us. And uh that was a job well done. Uh
084we hope that you uh continue on look into your school your and and see uh things that you know you don't like or you like and uh let us know uh uh keep up the good work and encourage your friends and and other adults to do the same to come to the mic and um in person and let us know their feelings. That's what we're here for. also um uh we attended all the board members had attended over the uh summer numerous uh events and activities that was going on uh such as the middle school uh give uh bag giveaway which was great. Um it was uh I tell you that was a lot of fun and watching the kids out there um receiving gifts and um Miss Whitey and her team uh kept everybody
085busy out there and uh and they left uh with something in their hands. So to uh Miss Whitey and her team at the middle school that you do every year, uh thank you for your hard work and keep up the good work on that. Um I'd like to just I want to also thank Mr. Montasano and his administrative staff as well as the students mostly. Uh you guys um uh put that um cell phone uh uh what do you want to call it? Cell phone >> policy. Indeed. Uh together and procedure protocol. Anyone else? >> We are in a library. Yeah, absolutely. No, no, but all all jokes aside, they um the cell phone policy, protocol, etc. Um you guys put that together and um uh from what I understand, the middle schools are going
086to jump on board, which is a good idea as the as the kids move through the district. Um they uh it will be much easier for the administrative staff at the high school because the students will be conditioned on what to do and the procedures on what to do with their cell phones and at the end uh the results will pay off is is just it has it has to get something out of it. And I think that uh this as uh trustee um Gilmore said the grades will go up, the students will become more disciplined uh on uh in their um studies and uh we should see uh big results. So um I'm glad that's in place. also um to um Pablo, our um building uh coordinator. Uh that was a great uh presentation.
087Uh as as um Trustee Carol said, um myself, him and um um Trustee Stein, we're on that committee and we work very closely with you. We want to continue on working closely with you. And as car uh trustee Carol said, that was very modest. Uh there's much much more things that you uh you do that the community don't know. Uh they see it, but they don't know how how much uh work and effort you put into it. And you said like you said, uh when you you and your team put uh this um the projects together, you put it together as as if you're working on your own home. And uh the results really show. And also there's um as as uh the committee we know that there's many more projects to come and uh
088Mr. um and Pablo he will uh uh keep us uh you the community informed of what's uh uh some of the projects are when they completed and I think that's yeah that's it. Um again um thank you and uh have a good evening. >> Thank you Trusty M and Trusty Pringle. >> 50 right. >> Um I want to start off saying happy Rasha Shana. Um happy Hispanic Heritage Month. Also, um, little Miss Pepe, I don't want to keep putting you on the spot, but we're happy that you came out to come to speak out. We want more students to to come out and speak. Um, I can see you in the probably soon coming up here doing the students report. I can see that. I think that you're gonna get better with public speaking. Just
089practice. Don't be shy. I'm shy. Look at where I'm at now. Right. Um I want to thank everyone for doing their presentations. Everything was wonderful. Pablo, amazing job. As we see like this was just a touch of um what he has done because myself, trusty Martin and Trusty Carol are on builders of grounds. Myself too. Um And um we've seen a we've seen a lot of um the work that has been done. So I can't wait for everyone to see all the work that buildings and grounds has done. Um I want to thank uh principal Dr. Sodto um for opening her arms to us at at Hiller School. Um again um myself and Jennifer went there for a back to school night and it was wonderful. The floors look good, the auditorium looks amazing. Um
090the staff seem very happy, the parents and the students. Um yes, and basically that's it. Y'all know I'm not long- winded. Um, I want to um send blessings and prayers for um our students, staff, and administrators uh for a wonderful start of the school year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Trusty Gilmore. I mean, I'm sorry, Pringle. This is what happens when I'm going back and forth. Trusty Amraza, thank you. Uh yes, I want to uh first welcome back all of our students um and wish good luck to our comets, our scholars, our athletes, all of our performers. Uh we wish you a very successful school year. Um, and I want to um thank all of our teachers, our staff, our central office team, um all of our administrators for all that you do in making
091sure that our students have um the best education um a wonderful safe um environment to walk um to study and learn in. Um and so thank you all for all that you do. Um again, thank you to everyone who gave us presentations today. Um it really does contribute to the wonderful environment um for learning for our students. Um and an ongoing thanks to our acting superintendent um assistant superintendent, our acting business administrator for all that you do. Uh there's so much that goes into making sure uh that we are up and running and you know these are very challenging times. um you know uh um just in the current environment um you know we continue to see um you know a lot of of attacks on our immigrant students and their families, our LGBTQ community.
092Um and so we we again thank all of our our staff and administrators um who really work to support um all of our our families. Um, also, uh, am, uh, to echo some of the other comments, looking forward to celebrating the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, uh, in a couple of weeks. Um, and, um, and just, uh, some congratulations to those who worked hard for the sustainable New Jersey recognition. I think that's wonderful. Um, and, uh, I too had the opportunity to attend back to school night at the middle school. Um, and, you know, it's really great to see Dr. Whiting and and her fabulous team um in action and you know how welcomed our our uh students and their families were at the middle school. Um and I heard that that all of the back
093to school nights were were equally as welcoming and wonderful. So, thank you all for for making that happen. Um, and lastly, uh, but certainly not least, um, I want to wish our our, uh, Jewish students, their families, uh, and our own, uh, Vice President Stein, um, a happy Rashashana, a a good and sweet new year. Um, thank you. >> Thank you, Trusty Emmer Hems. Thanks. Okay, so um, I'm just going to quickly get this out of the way. Um, happy belated birthday to our trusty Martin. I know he didn't want that to happen. So, um, get that out of the way first. >> Uh, so from September 15th to October 15th, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. It's a time to celebrate the culture and representation that make Hackinac so special. Um, with 65% of our
094student body being Hispanic. As a proud Latina, Kamet alumni um and board president, I look forward to joining our students at the assembly on Tuesday, October 14th, as they proudly showcase their knowledge and heritage. Oh, I should have told our translator to say it in Spanish. Latina, thank you. Um, now for back to school night. Again, as everyone said, it was a huge success. I want to thank my fellow board members for attending, for sticking to the school that you are committed to. Um, again, it doesn't limit us to go to any of the other events or other schools. But I just want to thank for your commitment. We all said we wanted to be present at the schools, especially our elementary schools, and we were there. And thank you to the administrative team for
095opening up your arms and allowing us to to be there and support you in whatever way um we could have been there for you. Um the other thing, thank you to our presentations today. Um the Hackinack High School um administrative team, the students for their cell phone presentation, Miss Markx for your graduation pathways, thank you for being quick and concise. Um, and to our buildings and grounds team, to Pablo Juan Feliz, whichever name you go by now, uh, we appreciate and we know as part of the buildings and grounds team, there is so much more going on, but we appreciate the the highlights that you gave us. Uh, last but not least, um, we are going to be soon checking off one of our board goals, um, where the majority of the board will be
096attending our Bergen County, New Jersey school board's fall meeting, which is happening next week, where we'll be discussing school finance fundamentals with other um, school districts from Bergen County. I believe that is it for my report. Yeah, that is all. Um, just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight, those of you who are watching online. Um, great kickoff to September to the school year and looking forward to seeing everyone in October. Have a great evening. Oh, before I say that, wait, can I have a motion to close our board meeting? >> Motion by Trusty Carol. Can I have a second? Second by Trustee Pringle. All those in favor say I. I. >> Anyone opposed? Thank you everyone. Have a good night. It is 9:24. >> Where? >> At home safe.