001Good evening everyone. We're about to get started. Please stand for the flag salute. I pledge algiance 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. In accordance with the open public meeting act NJSA10 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 finally notice with the city clerk I hereby call to order the regular public meeting on Wednesday June 18th 2025 in the Hackinase High School auditorium at 6:17 p.m. Mr. Gastra, can you please do a roll call? Yes. Miss Alustin Balaputra, present. Miss Emmerza, present. Mr. Carl, present. Miss Gilmore, here. Mr. Martin, present. Miss Pringle, present.
002Miss Harris, present. Mr. Stein, here. We have a quum. Thank you. Okay. At this time we have a special a special presentation which we had stated in January that for the beginning of our reorganization meeting we would have the Hackinack High School chorus come out and sing the alma mater. And at the end of the school year we were we also wanted for the chorus to come out and sing the alma mater again for our students who are graduating. So please join us in singing Old Hackinad. Yes, please stand. Thank you. for the morning. football and he says Thank you. Thank you, Miss Thank you, Miss Plotty. and the Hikasak High School Chorus. Okay, at this time we now have the presentations of the New Jersey Seal of Biiteracy presented by our director, Mrs. Marcela
003Monloa. Thank you, Hackinack Board of Education President, Mrs. Harris, and board trustees. My name is Marcela Monla. the beaming director tonight of multilingual and world language education. Thank you for allowing us this opportunity to acknowledge this year's recipients of the New Jersey State seal of biiteracy in the Hackinac public schools. The New Jersey State seal of biiteracy is an award given by the New Jersey Department of Education in recognition of students who have attained proficiency in at least one language in addition to English by high school graduation. and the New Jersey Department of Education established this seal in 2016 and Hackinac has been participating for that long. And uh it's established to help students recognize the value and benefits of bilingualism including cultural understanding and social acceptance so important at this time in our lives.
004This honor is designated on a student's high school diploma and identifies graduates who have prioritized the study of other languages and cultures. In this day of prelim proliferation of AI, the commodity of humanto human communication is ever valuable. The act of one human being saying your culture is important enough to me that I'm going to learn your language. I'm going to travel to your part of the world and I'm going to become a card carrying member of your community. That's a powerful step in bridging people together across differences and in eradicating some of the deep divisions that exist in our world today. Jersey. [Music] I can't say it in two languages. Um, Give me a second. At this time, we'd like to acknowledge and also congratulate our two advanced placement teachers of Spanish and Italian
005language and culture, Mrs. Soraya Gonzalez and Mrs. Kalia Teada, as well as our multilingual supervisor, Miss Angelina Martinez, who opened up opportunities this year for even more students to acquire the seal. On Friday, June 6, we celebrated these students in a special breakfast for them. We gave them the state seal because the state gives them a certificate. We gave them their medal, their pin, and their graduation cord. But tonight, we wanted to do it in front of you. We want to present them with our Hackinack certificate to show them publicly how proud we are of these achievements. So, please join us in acknowledging the student who has earned the state seal of biiteracy in English and Italian. You'll see it Rodriguez. Is she here tonight? And now, please join us in acknowledging the students who
006have earned the state seal in Spanish and English. There's quite a few. There's 35. Michael Carrio here. Margarita Castro, Jocelyn Cordova Castillo, Jennifer Ganang, Rudy Gonzalez Galisio, and Jerry Wartang, Tamantha Hector, Ashley Eera Cortez, Elwin Jigisupa, Eric Ludy Saka. I'm I'm going to just say the names and just give you a little break from the applause and then we'll give them one big round at the end. Joskay Marte. I'll clap. John Matut, Brian Meada, Mira, Alan Morales, Kayla Ooa, Diana Ortega, Gabriel Palasio, Karen Patino, Diego Perez, Kos, Samantha Kito, Karina Ramirez, Iet Roas Benitez, Ivonne Roas Benites, Kaylee Romero Angara, Isabella Salariaga Ramirez, Erica Tenisaka, Marcelo Tesaka, Fernanda Vasquez, Andrea Jascari, Lema, Jennifer Junganola Ortega, and Karen Celada. If any of you are in the audience, please come join us. David was there. And then
007we'll take Thank you. Congratulations. Okay. So, at this time we are now going to continue on with board vacancy interviews. So that the public is aware, there were only two applicants that submitted for the board vacancy. The board vacancy is until our next reorg which is January 6, January 7th. Um and unfortunately out of the two uh applicants, one withdrew their application on Monday this week. So our two applicants were Rosie Garvin and Michael Jones. And Rosie Garvin had withdrew her application. So, at this time, I would like for Michael Jones to please come up to the podium, please. Hi, how are you? Hi, Michael. Uh, so the way this works, uh, we have three trustees that are going to ask you three questions. Those three questions were already sent to you by our board
008secretary and we are going to begin the first question with Mrs. Trustee uh Austin Balaputra. Good evening. I'm sorry, Trusty. Make sure that you're speaking into the mic. Tell us about yourself. Test I can hear you. Thank you. Tell us about yourself and why do you want to serve on the school board? All right. So, uh, my name is Mike Jones. Um, I've lived in Hackinack for the past 22 years. Um, I have three children in school in town. Actually, I have a 15-year-old in ninth grade. Uh, I have my 11-year-old is in sixth grade at the middle school, and I have a year and a half old that will soon be in the school system. So, uh, they were all raised in Hackasack. Uh, so I've invested in the in the school, obviously. Uh,
009and, uh, I just feel, uh, you know, I saw that a vacancy opened up and I thought maybe I could help out. Um, I do have some experience volunteering in town. I've coached little league. I served on the zoning board for the past 12 years. Um, so I I've I've always kind of like being involved. I love the city of Hackinack. Uh, this is my home. I'm not going anywhere. Uh, I built my business here. very own Hackinack Brewing and uh we've always kind of supported uh the kids in general. We've done a lot of fundraisers uh for all the different sports uh stuff for the library. Um there's probably not a tricky tray for 30 miles that we don't have a gift basket in. Uh so, but we've always, you know, with my kids
010being in the school system, I've gotten a chance to meet a lot of people in school and there's a lot of great teachers and a lot of great people that we've met. Um and and really uh you know if I can be involved and I can help uh I always feel like uh it's my duty to serve. So that's it. Thank you. Second question will come from Trusty Gilmore. Hi Mike. Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. Um my question is what perspective will you bring to this board? Um, well, you know, obviously, you know, having having kids are in school, again, not to not to bring that up again, but having kids that are in school, I I I see it from that angle. So, I see it as a parent. Um,
011I see a lot of things in this town as a local business owner. Uh, I had to uh I opened my business kind of I worked at the hospital for for 19 years also. I was at Hackinack Hospital from uh 97 to 2016. So, um, I've seen a lot in my roles in healthcare, but as a as a small business owner, I think I've learned a lot. Um, you know, I opened my business in 2019 and then this global pandemic hit, so it kind of immediately hit me with a bunch of challenges. I got to be honest, I didn't really know what I was doing when I started. Um, and so, and now it's like, uh, I had to navigate through kind of some of the craziest, uh, ground that I could get through. And
012um it it it caused me to be creative. Uh I had to do things to I had to do things to raise money. Uh we had to get creative and think outside of the box. Uh I had to apply for a lot of different grants. You know, a lot of things became available uh at that time. And listen, as a guy that started brewing beer, you know, 15 years ago, that didn't really qualify me for figuring that stuff out. So I had to learn a lot of stuff on the fly. So there was a lot of pivoting and uh you know, but I learned a great deal in that time, you know. So, I think uh you know, my experience as a business owner in town as well as a resident in town, um being
013on the zoning board as well kind of gave me a glimpse into into a lot of the way that the the city works for better and for worse. Um you know, we can always get better. Um but, you know, it's uh I think that I think that kind of those three things and and I mean, honestly, I just I love this city, so it's if if I can serve, I would love to. Like I said, I don't mean to not to sound corny, uh, but I saw a position open. If I could help out, I would love to. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Third question from Trusty Pringle. Hi, Mike. Good evening. Um, do you understand the time commitment required? I believe so. Yeah, I know it is monthly meetings and I'm sure
014that there's probably subcommittees as well. Uh, also any research that you have to do at home on your personal time. I mean, I'm on the zoning board, so I mean, we spend a lot of time researching projects that come in front of us. Um, you got to look at everything from a lot of angles. Um, so yes, I do understand that there's a lot of time. I think what helps is because I have my own business, I do have some flexibility. Um, I don't have, well, let me back that up. I don't have a 9 to5. It's more like a 24-hour thing, but I have flexibility in where I can spend that time. Um, so I do understand that it is a u, you know, there is obviously um, time that needs to be spent
015on it and I I'm prepared for that. I mean, that's something that's it's it's important. I mean, it's our kids, so it's Yeah, I'm I'm aware at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Right. Excellent. So, at this time, Yep. We'll have you go ahead and um, have a seat. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Appreciate it. So even though he is still the only candidate, we still have to go through just a quick discussion. Um go through the motion and then we'll do a roll call. So any discussions, anything anyone would like to say or add. I'll just start off and say looking forward to working with you, Mike. Welcome aboard. Anybody else? Okay. Um, so at this time, if someone can bring forth a motion. I'd like to make a motion. Okay.
016We have a motion by Trustee Martin, second by Trustee Carol. Um, all right. So, let's uh Miss Aastra, can you please do a roll call? Miss Alustin Balutra. Yes. Miss Emmer Hamza. Yes, Mr. Carl. Yes, Miss Gilmore. Yes, Mr. Martin. Yes, Miss Pringle. Yes, Miss Harris. Yes, Mr. Stein. Yes, you. Motion passes. Thank you. Congratulations, Mike Jones. You are now our next floor. Our board attorney just notified that um Miss Aostra, our board secretary, will contact you to get your information, give you um information about fingerprints, background check, and then your appointment will happen on July 24th. Yes, I think 23rd or 24th. Okay. Thank you. Congratulations. Okay. So, at this uh point, we do not have a student report, but I do want to thank Chenica Thomas, who was our student representative uh for
017the full year. She did an amazing job. I know she's very busy with the end of the school year activities. So, good luck to her and good luck to the rest of the students getting ready for graduation. Be it resolved that the Hakasak Board of Education determines it determines it necessary to meet an executive session on Wednesday, June 18th to discuss legal, personnel, student related matters, HIV reports, negotiations, and other confidential matters and be a further resolve 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? I'll offer. Okay. Motion by trustee. Can I have a second? A second. Second by trustee Gilmore. All those in favor say I. I anyone opposed? Okay. Uh so just so the public is
018aware, it is 6:37. We should be back in about an hour. So give it about 7:40. Okay. Thank you. Remember those days?