001foreign good evening in accordance with the open public meeting uh adequate notification this reading 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 I hereby call to order the regular public meeting Monday December 19 2022 in the High School auditorium at 6 15 p.m PO is probably the C uh 6 17 P.M um this thing we do a roll call please yes Mr Goodman president Miss Maury present Mr Oates president Mr Powell president Mr Rodriguez president Miss Somerville present Mr James Vickery present we have a quorum thank you stand for the pledge please [Music] one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all let's remain standing for a moment foreign Board of Education determines it necessary to
002meet in executive session on Monday December 19 2022 to discuss legal Personnel student-related matters HIV reports negotiations and 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 session Mr Powell thank you Mr Goodman uh thank you all those in favor say aye aye any opposed and there are none it is thank you all and we'll head back to our foreign so missing will you do us a roll call please to get us started back okay it's 7 53 we're we're back to public session um roll call Mr pendez who is absent uh Mr Carroll president Mr Coleman president Mr Goodman president miss Maury present Mr Oates president Mr Powell is absent Mr Rodriguez
003president Miss Somerville present Mr James Vickery present we have a quorum all right um so we will start with our Hackensack High School chorus good evening everyone the Hackensack chorus has been really busy in the last week or so the first thing we did this month was the tree lighting ceremony in downtown Hackensack that was in the single digits of December second thing was Winter concert Winter concert which was last Wednesday then Thursday we went to Kessler Rehab where we were caroling for the staff and the patients and then after lunch we went to the rotary clubs of Hackensack and maywood's annual holiday luncheon and we sang our concert program for them and we did a little sing-along there as well um tonight we're here singing for you all and then on Thursday we are
004going during the day to the hospital and we'll be caroling there for the staff and the patients and after that we will all collapse thankfully it will be time for the break after that um so we have two of our Winter concert selections to perform for you this evening enjoy [Music] bells on the Sledge [Music] songs [Music] [Applause] [Music] la la la la [Music] la la la la la la la la la la la la la la there [Music] do you hear them [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] together [Music] like together [Music] there's a birthday party please [Music] foreign [Music] let's go [Music] we're fighting all along [Music] together [Music] with you together [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right thank y'all great job we're gonna have to give y'all an agent because y'all are staying
005busy so Dr Whiting and Miss Cowman y'all are up next so this is with the Fairly Dickinson University girls exploring engineering program [Music] good evening Hackensack Community my name is Dr Joy Dorsey Whiting and I'm the very proud principal at Hackensack Middle School and I am d Cowman stem educator at Hackensack Middle School first off happy second night of Hanukkah to all those who celebrate two weeks ago Hackensack Middle School participated in computer science education week focusing on the need for gender diversity within the fields currently this growing industry has a Workforce of 80 male and 20 female we learned that when women are included the outcome for everyone improves and the potential of society will not be reached unless more women pursue computer science tonight we're here to celebrate a program that encourages a
006solution to this macroeconomic issue and we are super excited to honor the graduates representing Hackensack Middle School from the girls exploring engineering program held at Fairleigh Dickinson University this competitive program accepts 25 female students in grades seven and eight from Bergen County out of the 350 female students enrolled in 7th and 8th grade at HMS five students were recommended based on their grades in science and stem classes and overall positive attitude and drive to do well I think that deserves a round of applause [Applause] after being accepted the female scholars attend class every Saturday at fdu for a semester taught by college professors and graduate teaching assistants in class the students explore Hands-On engineering and computer science workshops designed to help explore engineering careers and cultivate self-confidence and enjoyment in engineering and Technology throughout the
007program there is a focus on civil engineering electrical engineering and computer science and so tonight we are peacock proud that five of our Scholars graduated from this very prestigious program and we're here to share their accomplishments with our community and give each student the praise she deserves we would like to call up each student to receive a certificate signed by our district superintendent Mr Sanchez and the Board of Education president Mr Scott James Vickery first up we have two students who aren't able to join us this evening but we would be remiss if we did not call their names and acknowledge them at this time the first is Ivy Wang grade eight who could not be here with us please give her a round of applause and next is Madeline patances who also could not
008be here this evening [Applause] but the highlight of this evening is that we have three phenomenal Scholars who are joining us this evening Jenny Nala Gonzalez grade eight please come forward [Applause] before next Nelly Acevedo grade seven come on down Nelly congratulations and last but certainly not least Maya Allen Duffy grade seven come down Maya and for Maya we would like to make note that for the first time in six years where Hackensack Middle School has participated in this program Maya was our first scholar who earned an extra distinction by winning the custom bridge design award congratulations Mike special Thanks goes to the parents and Guardians for your support we cannot wait to see where the feminists land in years to come as a society we've got more work to do but we're putting in
009the effort and the future is looking bright congratulations again to our HMS Scholars this one okay thank you foreign so now we're going to move on to our 2022 New Jersey exemplary education educator award Dr Galliano thank you and good evening first I'd like to thank Ms platy and the High School chorus for doing a wonderful job as they always do and congratulations to the girls um in engineering program at the middle school um it's very valuable and we love to honor our students but I'm here today um to honor uh someone who inspires and works with these students and help them reach their full potential um again I'm Dr Galliano last year as an administrator in the district and all throughout New Jersey administrators are asked to nominate teachers who um demonstrate exceptional teaching
010and Leadership abilities as well as are a positive impact on their students their community and their families um so at last year I nominated one of our wonderful teachers Mr Brad Allen who became through the nomination of 2022 exemplary educator of the Year given by the New Jersey Department of Education out of all of the nominations they receive only 181 Educators in all of the state of New Jersey received this award to his a big honor um I it's a pleasure to nominate Mr Allen and the hardest part of the whole nomination process was to write the um a recommendation because they limit the number of words so Mr Allen does so many things that I was like okay I can cut this out but no that's important I'll add that um so I'm going
011to read the nomination but in no way is this the only thing that Mr Allen does to inspire our students um I had I had to edit it was a lot of editing but here it goes okay um it is a great pleasure and an honor to write this recommendation for Mr Bradley Allen for the 2022 exemplary educator award Mr Bradley Allen is the ultimate professional that goes out of his way to make sure every student in his class learns and appreciates everything about math if you stop one of his students in the hallway and ask them about Mr Allen they often say he is their favorite teacher they will tell you they always hated math and Mr Allen made math make sense and fun Mr Allen is a type of math teacher you want
012your child to have in the fifth grade Mr Allen is well respected amongst his colleagues and supports his colleagues throughout the Hackensack Public schools Mr Bradley Allen goes above and beyond to make Hackensack Middle School and the Hackensack Public Schools a better place one example is the annual Hackensack Middle School camping trip the Hackensack Middle School camping trip has been a time honored tradition in Hackensack for over 55 years Mr Allen has taken the lead as camp director for the past 15 years the camp allows our students to experience the outdoors and bond with their classmates while learning about Forest ecology rock wall climbing archery boating boating water ecology and much more the positive impact Mr Allen has on our students Learning Community cannot be measured he is loved by his students respected by his
013peers and admired by his administrators respectfully submitted Dr Galliano so congratulations Mr Allen as a 2022 exactly educated foreign speech speech [Music] and next up um we want to say uh a thank you and a not a good Bob but we'll see you around to our smiling board member and we his tagline is are smelling realtor but we're going to say our smiling board member um and I'll read it uh Ira came on in 2019 through 2022. this is in recognition for your dedicated service and commitment as a board member of the Hackensack Board of Education and offering invaluable leadership and support to the staff student parents and citizens of Hackensack some have monuments of stone some have books written about them some attain Fame on the field of battle some are renowned for their
014statementship some acquire greatness through Commerce all of these shall pass away those who serve our children live on in eternity their work shall never die we appreciate you and we thank you for your commitment to our community our specifically our school Community you have done great work and we appreciate it thank you oh my gosh yes good morning from me to you thank you foreign [Music] so because [Music] on Facebook music but yeah [Laughter] [Applause] wait a second isn't the pants [Music] thank you very nice there we go [Music] [Applause] stay down here guys come on down everybody [Music] this reminder [Music] all right thank you everyone for coming out tonight surfing on the school board has been a privilege and an honor however I really need to focus on my real estate business at
015this time which is why I decided not to seek another three-year term during my tenure here I believe this board has accomplished much good for our kids we allocated funds to make significant building improvements including everything from boilers to lockers to a brand new field at the middle school amazing tennis courts are from a courts were an embarrassment we hired our current superintendent Mr Robert Sanchez we weathered the very challenging storm called covid making extremely tough decisions regarding virtual learning and trying to figure out how to manage in school learning when the time was right no matter the choice it was very difficult for parents and families and some of our choices were popular with it best 50 percent of the community yet as a board we stood behind our superintendent I am proud to
016have been one of the trustees that helped navigate this really challenging time I was honored to walk across the First Street bridge at two graduations giving me quite the rush as I was witnessed so much Brilliance and Excellence within our graduating seniors witnessing these seniors complete their Hackensack Journey as they move on to their next adventure whether it be community colleges universities trade schools military service or ivy league universities has been almost as Joyce joyful as watching our elementary school children performing in their very first opportunities on stage the evolution to have watched has been fabulous to be a part of I have made friendships among my trustees and administration Personnel that I will maintain for the long term being a school board trustee is a highly responsible position and I took every minute of
017it very seriously I started my term just as my real estate business began to take off at this time I really can't manage both effectively however I intend to follow the activities of this District as it becomes even more important within the Bergen County School System to my fellow trustees to the administration and teachers to all the parents and especially the students I wish only good things for the future may this future board be successful and accomplish greatness and make significant strides towards the betterment of our student students academic careers and even more importantly to their social emotional Wellness thank you very much for what has been a really exciting ride [Applause] thank you all right so for our last presentation so we have someone who has consistently come to our board meetings and they
018will when they there's something that need they need to address with us that may be a hard topic they will and when they need to provide encouragement to us they do but they consistently um show up even when it's hard when there may not be accessibility that's easy when it may be a long walk or a long haul and they show up with candy that encourages us every time and um with a lovely note on it and some some nights when nights are long and hard um it's what gets us through those long meetings so we want to say thank you to you as a board um for loving us through this hole several years of those that is served and we are thankful for you miss story um and we appreciate all that you
019do for us thank you foreign will carry that to your car I promise sales thank you [Applause] foreign [Music] thank you for your patience with those presentations we have a couple more a couple more um this parchment and um I'm not sure who else with you maybe it's just you oh there she is oh all right then following her will be uh Mr Sanchez with our safe return plan presentation good evening everyone religions I want to First congratulate Miss story and all of our girls exploring engineering participants Dr Whiting and Mrs Cowman you should be really proud and to our High School chorus on their melodious Renditions tonight and to Mr Allen on being awarded the New Jersey exemplary educator award and all the best to you trustee Goodman awesome so tonight I am going
020to present to you uh this is another um report it's only a report of our 11th grade students who are currently seniors and it's the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment results so all grade 11 students last year and 2021 2022 um took this assessment [Music] and okay this assessment is this presentation is going to be very short so the table of contents we just have two sections District analysis and a demographic analysis so this first slide just Compares our students performance to all the students in the state who took the NJ GPA and as you can see in the first column uh it shows how many students in our district took the the assessment the ELA assessment 447 uh the district uh the percent of students not passing and look at the state first look
021how close we are to State 66 of our students this was a new exam also 66 percent of our students not passing compared to the state 61 of students out there the district had 34 percent passing the state 39 percent passive and mayor we had 456 students take the test 71 of our students did not pay us not passing and 50 of the state not passing hey I think we had 29 of students passing and 50 percent of the state students passing um and we'll just go to the next Slide the last row just gives a combination this slide is just what I just presented to you but in bar graph more the next section is a demographic analysis and the next few slides will report on our subgroups first by race second by gender
022and third by program so by race and Ela you see in the first column it shows you the number of and I'll just show you the pattern I won't read every single one I'll let you look at it um Asian population 22 were tested 30 not passing 64 passing um black 88 tested students not passing which is 77 percent not passing 23 passing Hispanic 177 students 68 not passing 84 students 32 percent piercing and if you look you can see the same results for mayor if you just read across and where you see dashes means that we don't have we have less than 10 students and so just for privacy purposes we don't put that number of students let's see and this bar graph just depicts what I just shared with you and you can
023see in red the number of students not passing agreement number of students passing by race then we'll move to gender I think I've just depicted this way the bar graph is easier shows you the number of females not passing compared to them those piercings and males and I think I'll do the same for program these are students free and reduced lunch shows the number not passing and the number passing 504s English language learners special ed and General Ed and now I've shared with you the last time some of the things that we are doing in terms of intervention so really it's the same things that I shared with you before because it's the same subject areas so this is our response we have multi-tiered systems of support for ELA grades 8 through 11. the reason
024I put 8th grade in Middle School because of the transition so we're really um trying to work on improving and starting in eighth grade and even in the lower grades these are some more interventions and our teachers really I really have to give our teachers a shout out and of course they're working and grade level meetings that they meet in their professional learning communities they look at data and they are trying to work together to figure out how do we enhance what our students are doing with our teaching practices so these are some of the things that our teachers are doing and for math the same thing we have intensive and strategic interventions in addition to core instruction and I will tell you that uh the basic skills classes or whatever you call them it's
025not skill and drill our students are receiving a high level of instruction um also we have a new math program I shared with you the last time for algebra one we know algebra one is important and this illustrial illustrative mathematics program is research based and it will address some of the areas where our students need further support and that's what reasoning and modeling and this program really addresses that and again it's not just a program it's our wonderful teachers a we've done walkthroughs in the middle school and in the high school and we are seeing some good things in the classrooms and that's my report our report [Applause] Mr Sanchez is going to do our safer return plan presentation thank you okay good evening everyone um it's that time of year again when it's time
026to do the update on the safe return plan [Music] so just wanted to take a moment to uh go over this with you um so school districts must periodically but not know less frequently than every six months through 2023 review the safe return plan as you know we continue our dialogue with the health department and monitor the state of transmission throughout the throughout the district and throughout the community and we take all of those things into account [Music] all right so this presentation is just intended to provide a summary um it's not the entire plan the entire plan is up on our website it was also shared with you via email and everybody had opportunity to comment on that plan [Music] and of course please note that this plan is subject to change based off
027of Trends anything going on in the state with the Department of Health New Jersey Department of Education or any gubernatorial executive orders so if you noticed of course the plan is much reduced as it has been in the last couple of years so just these are the critical elements of the plan so the first thing is uh have to do with the universal and correct wearing of mass um Hackensack Public Schools continues to be mask optional um as with regards to physical distancing the district will continue to follow the guidelines of the Department of Education Department of Health and or any gubernatorial executive orders meals if necessary the schools will Implement layer protection prevention strategies to help mitigate the spread of covid-19 again as required by New Jersey Department of Ed New Jersey Department of
028Health and gubernatorial executive orders I'm hand washing students and staffer continue to remind it to hand wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds sanitize their hands frequently after using the restrooms blowing their nose coughing or sneezing hand sanitizing stations have been strategically placed throughout the buildings with regards to cleaning and maintaining healthy facilities including the Improvement of ventilation or classrooms and other occupied areas we'll be routinely cleaned and disinfected with EPA registered products for for use against arms covid-19 and while custodian and maintenance staff is uh trained appropriately um HVAC equipment is regularly inspected repaired and replaced as required as you all know with the capital funds District funds esip funds and the Esser two and three funds um the district isn't is beginning to install new classroom unit ventilators
029and upgrading other HVAC systems in all classrooms for improvement ventilation and fresh air exchanged you know throughout the district these projects continue to be approved on board meeting agendas throughout the year contact tracing no longer is no longer really required in the way it was in the past so to support and prioritize uninterrupted full-time in-person learning schools May transition away from case investigation response model to a routine Disease Control model according to the New Jersey Department of Health this model focuses on more responding to clusters of cases outbreaks and evidence of ongoing transmission and less on individual case investigation and contact tracing so in the individual contact tracing the district will provide cohort notifications when exposures occur individuals and families can then take additional precautions based on individual needs with regards to Diagnostic and Screen
030testing parents and caregivers will strongly be encouraged to monitor their children for science of illness on a daily basis as they are on the front line for assessing illness in their children students who are sick should not attend schools schools will continually educate parents about the importance of monitoring systems symptoms excuse me and keeping children home when ill covet testing will be available made available as required by the New Jersey Department of Health recommendations with regards to vaccinations to Educators staff and students if eligible we will continue to share where vaccines are administered and seek opportunities for students and staff to be vaccinated should the need warranted appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities with respect to health and safety protocols accommodations for children with disabilities are and will continue to be made according to their
031IEPs finally describe how the Lea will ensure continuity of services addressing students academic needs and students and staff social emotional mental health the district hired three instructional coaches for the elementary schools to support teachers in addressing learning loss and two additional social workers to support student social and emotional Wellness the district continues to offer training for educators to support student and staff mental health the district has expanded enrichment intramural sports and extracurricular activities at all schools describe how the Lea local Education Agency sought public comment on the plan of course as mentioned before at least every six months a Google form that includes a link to the plan is shared with all stakeholders to obtain public comment on any annual sections of the plan and finally describe how Lea ensured that the plan is an
032understandable uniform format of course the district has followed the suggested template provided by the New Jersey Department of Education and the safe return plan is accessible in English and Spanish on our website parents with disabilities will be provided with an alternative format accessible to that parent upon request and that is it for the report so thank you [Applause] all right Ash you're up all right let's add the cherry on top of everything today all right so good evening everyone I'm here to report on the exciting activities happening at Hackensack High School this month um tomorrow December 20th our guidance department is hosting instant decision day for our seniors nearly 20 schools are participating offering students the opportunity to be accepted on the spot and waive their application fees as well as instant scholarship offers this
033week our student council is hosting a spirit week to get our common community in the holiday spirit the days include twin day dress like your favorite holiday movie character day and more I wonder how many elf look-alikes we're gonna see on Sunday uh December 18th HHS senior and a great friend of mine Gene Petrella was honored at the New York Jets game by the super Football Conference as one of their young men of the year Gene was honored on the field before the game and his name was featured on the Jumbotron we are so proud of him last week our music department hosted our annual holiday concert featuring performances from our chorus and band as you guys saw it was truly a magical evening on Wednesday December 21st our contemporary Studies classes led by Miss
034Harrington will be hosting coffee hour during this time students in contemporary studies will share their projects and research in front of their peers in the library finally our winter season our winter sports season Is On The Way We wish all of our winter athletes me included good luck this season on their Adventures thank you guys so much thank you thanks Ash hi Mr Sanchez [Music] okay once again thanks Ash for that wonderful report um all right so moving along as we head into a much deserved winter break I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a joyous and restful holiday season surrounded by family friends and loved ones this past week I had the pleasure of attending many of our winter concerts and it truly was a joy to watch our students perform in
035front of their families and friends we have really we really have a talented bunch of youngsters exciting things that can continue to occur at Hackensack Public Schools on tonight's agenda the board of education is voting to approve the architectural services for the design of this very high school this Fair High School auditorium and girls locker room Renovations the auditorium renovation will provide our Performing Arts students with a state of benjam that is suitable to their talents and provide our school Community with the venues they can be proud of the board is also slated to award construction contracts for the long overdue renovations to the field house and fitness center at Hackensack High School these are improvements alongside the girls locker room renovation track replacement that was approved at last month's meeting and recent bleacher refurbishments
036will make our athletic facilities one of the shining stars in Bergen County it's hard to believe that this month 10 years ago 20 students and six staff members lost their lives in Newtown Connecticut leaving their school community and entire nation devastated the horrific event serves as a reminder that is imperative that we do everything we can to prevent incidents like this from happening in our school Community we stay informed we train vigilantly and we follow the best practices shared by the New Jersey Department of education's office of school preparedness and emergency planning regarding School Safety and Security yet we can always use assistance in these areas to that end on tonight's agenda the board of education is voting to approve the addition of our new school safety coordinator who is going to help us in
037this endeavor in this ever so important Endeavor please allow me a moment to introduce Mr Harry Ruiz Mr Ruiz foreign superintendent Sanchez board president and members of the board uh and the hack attack Community I want to thank you for this opportunity Mr Sanchez tonight as you open up with uh students first as I call it right it's great to hear the the enjoyment and the excitement that your student liaison is presenting and um that that's what brings Joy with me being part of a community that is looking to provide the health and safety environment as Mr Sanchez was indicating and I'm honored to be here today and I want to thank you for that opportunity and it's an honor to be here thank you thank you Mr Ruiz [Music] [Applause] so moving on another
038area of importance being addressed tonight are the contents of mathematics and business please allow me to introduce to you Miss Jin Park who appears on tonight's agenda as the new supervisor of math and business Miss Park would you please come up to the microphone and introduce yourself good evening hi my name is Jen Park and I am very very grateful for this opportunity I look forward to working with our teachers and our administrative team and after seeing all the presentations tonight I'm even more excited and honored to have this opportunity so thank you again thank you Miss Park we too look forward to working with you in the future as I reflect upon the last few years I recognize what an honor it has been to be your superintendent and work alongside our Board of
039Education staff students parent and school community at large to help every student achieve their fullest potential over the past couple of years together we have faced numerous challenges from navigating school closures hybrid learning and food insecurity to the current academic social and emotional challenges that we have seen in the aftermath of the pandemic the challenges of many and we have a lot of work to do yet I remain hopeful for the future I am hopeful because as a school Community we came together when it mattered most why should I expect anything different in the future now on to the enrollment report our current enrollment is 5168 students and a total of 18 HIV investigations were completed this past month that concludes my report I wish you all a joyful and safe holiday and a happy
040New Year see you all on January 3rd thank you Mr Sanchez uh now we'll move on to our public comments um so if you have public comments tonight uh there's a sign in sheet each statement uh shall be made or limited to three minutes please all statements um to the board uh if you'll make them to me and uh if there's you know anything that we can respond to that will be made um the responses will be given at the end if we um can do so or I will give them at the end if we can do so uh so we public comments are open foreign that's better well I was gonna talk anyway because I'm the first one that signed in however with what you gave me is most incredible thing I've ever
041had I've never had anything like that and I just wanted to wish you all for all your work and for all your time and all your energy and it doesn't matter which side you were on for almost anything the fact that you give of your time in yourselves to help our school system after 41 years of teaching and 12 and a half years of still being involved I am delighted to help you the little bit that I can but the fact that you work so hard is a wonderful wonderful thing and I think I refer all his years and hope that he does very well in his work and wish you all a wonderful holiday we all deserve it much better and happier New Year for 2023. thank you [Applause] hi cousin Gaines first I
042wanted to speak in my capacity as one of the vice presidents of the hea this is a statement from the entire executive committee during the October Board of Education meeting three of our ATA members bravely spoke about their experiences in the classroom and what they needed from Administration in The District in order to best serve our students and Families at the following meeting superintendent Sanchez and the board attorney admonish those teachers for speaking in a move that can only be seen as an attempt to intimidate them into silence every school stakeholder has a right to speak their Truth at these meetings that's what they exist for this is also true for Association members no staff members should face intimidation or fear retaliation for advocating for their students especially after years of exhausting the chain of
043command and having their concerns fall on deaf ears as those ESL teachers and World languages teachers did on behalf of the hea executive committee we would like to remind all of our members that when you speak on behalf of our students in our profession the rest of the association stands alongside you we request an apology to those teachers in a clear statement from the superintendent and board that discourse at these meetings is not only acceptable but it is invited so we can all work together in the best interests of our students thank you now in my personal capacity um I wanted to ask about the new construction project manager position I got an email that was the first I heard of this position I don't know the salary I didn't see a posting I didn't
044hear a vote so I'm confused as to how that's happening I don't know what the salary was but if there are any other high salary positions that haven't been posted that I might be eligible for I'd like to be considered please if you don't mind but I'm just curious and I'm hoping that someone could shed some light on that I checked the last Personnel agenda it wasn't there I checked this Personnel agenda still not there so don't quite understand it um I also wanted to speak quickly um coincidentally about time to speak at meetings um we used to have more time actually um there aren't a lot of long-standing members on the board right now but um trustee Powell and trustee James Vickery at some point in time at the beginning of your tenure on
045the board there was a second public comments section um in Fall of 2019 it was voted away that second time and I think that uh in the spirit of trying to encourage more people to come and speak and participate and to hear from the public I would love to see a motion to reverse that I think that it would be a healthy thing I just wanted to comment very quickly on I don't have a lot of time left but I just wanted to ask about or make a statement about teacher turnover very briefly um the data that was shown earlier was disappointing and I appreciate Miss parchment's um optimism in that presentation but it was disappointing to hear as an educator and as a stakeholder in this District but it's not just on grade level
046meetings and trainings and things like that I was talking to a parent just last week and they mentioned that their child is going on their third math teacher for the school year this year and the parents said and I thought it was bad last year when they had four science teachers so while there are things that can be fixed and things that can be um remediated I think that we need to do a little bit of a better job trying to figure out why it is that people are leaving the district they aren't leaving education they're leaving Hackensack and what the actual impact is on our kids the learning loss was not limited to covid it's extending into the in-person school year and we need to be much more aggressive much more aggressive it's not
047just about throwing money at people it's about looking at why people are leaving and what are the quality of life things that are contributing to that there are lots thank you good evening everyone my name is Olga Victor and I am a resident of Hackensack my children are beyond the Hackensack School District but I am here representing close friends and um families that have brought to my attention the misbehavior of some of the trustees here in this board let me bring up to your attention a couple of things I've become aware that um there's been some misbehaviors um from the trustee Marlene Somerville apparently she stormed out of a meeting because people in the meeting disagreed with her this is unacceptable second of all I understand that trustee Lance Powell screamed at the president of
048the board don't know the details of that conversation however I want to ask the board a question if our children misbehave in the schools if they disrespect our teachers what is the consequences of that behavior we can we can talk about that right that can be a long conversation so what do we do when trustees misbehave what is the consequence of misbehavior for them nothing that is totally unacceptable the last thing that I want to bring up apparently uh trustee Lance Powell has not attended to any of the board meetings right zero um if I can be corrected um business administrator may sing maybe you can look into the attendance part of it but as I understand he does he's not attended any of the meetings right there's been a word uh mentioned in some
049of these meetings about oh we're passionate and that's why we behave the way we do no that does not speak to Passion being disrespectful being not present to plan the future of the children in Hackensack that is not passion so my recommendation or the voice that I'm presenting here of my friends and family I would say to these two trustees please look and see what are your passions because it's definitely not what I understand that is here go and look at your passions someplace else and let the people here take care the children of Hackensack thank you hopefully hi I'm Pedro Del Vecchio I'm a general ed teacher at Fairmount and I'm here to advocate for some of my students um I've gone up the chain my supervisors are supportive and understand the issue as
050students personnel and central office really really think it comes down to a policy issue at this point um so just a little bit of background ESL students in our district are typically students who speak some conversational English and are therefore able to receive instruction in English they receive support from an ESL teacher for 40 minutes a day every day to increase their their expertise in English but they're basically taught in English then we have another group of students who are bilingual students because they're not even conversational in English um in several of the schools we have a bilingual education we have bilingual classes at Fairmount and I believe at hillers Dr White can you correct me if I'm wrong there is no bilingual class we know that the school's bursting at the seams there's no
051place to put a bilingual class I understand that but I have students who have declined Services they've qualified for bilingual education and have declined that service because as brand new immigrants to our country they don't have a car they bought it apart or rented an apartment in a community not knowing which school had what services and now they're stuck and in my class I do my best to accommodate the student who doesn't speak any English but they're missing out on math instruction that they should be getting in their native language social studies Science music art the law requires that they have access to all those things the law requires that they have access to those things in their neighborhood School here's the hard part it's not like special edits when possible right so we're in
052compliance because presumably it's not possible I think it is I think if there's the will to we can have a bus pick them up at pillars or Fairmount and bring them to Parker or Jackson where there is a bilingual class for them so that these children are not slipping behind and missing all the education they could be getting if they happen to have rented an apartment in the right neighborhood so I hope you'll consider it thank you good evening Donna West hea president uh Hackensack resident Hackensack employee congratulations and thank you to the akasek high school choir all of those who were recognized this evening Mr Goodman thank you for your time and this story my forever preschool teacher just love you still um r-e-s p-e-c-t sounds like everything that was mentioned tonight ties to
053res p-e-c-t respecting the children their families the staff custodians administrative assistants building leaders each other and the community and So Christine alluded to the fact that because we are constantly hearing from some people um that Hackensack has a teacher shortage we don't have a teacher shortage we have a teacher retention problem ask a scene already alluded to because somewhere we've lost the ability to show res p e c t I'll show you something very simple we have things like at Parker right now and probably some of the elementary schools these 10 days of Joy wear your pajamas that's why I don't have my hea shirt on wear silly socks you know Jean days things like that things that will just you don't understand we are probably the easiest people to please I mean we get
054out of a staff meeting five minutes early Sorry Miss Whitaker I didn't get your trouble five minutes early and we think we've hit the lottery telling you it is little things that mean so much parent-teacher conferences Hackensack Education Association we're not asking for you to reimburse us we have the money we bought lunch for all the schools nothing from central office nothing to acknowledge that we were going through parent-teacher conferences none of those things that just say that we're not invisible that we matter and we just want to be respected because I'm telling you we already know what teaching entails it is not an easy job we don't enter it for the money trust me but when people are choosing to leave Hackensack and go somewhere else where they are taking pay cuts something's not
055adding up I'd like to talk about safety we're having staff members that have been assaulted by parents I'd like to talk about the cleanliness of the buildings and I am not trying to throw the custodians under the bus but they are overworked and they need help we are having an increase in pests problems um more so than I would even like to publicly speak I'm almost done Chromebooks I just got a new student I don't have a Chromebook for her where's the money for the Chromebooks because we need them hey tutor 90 something thousand dollars for our program and the one that was coming to Parker school she quit on day two so now we have the regular tutoring teachers who are now trying to pick up the hay tutor children see what I'm talking
056about respect it's too much um and that's kind of it because I could I could go on but please look into how do you look at us as individuals treat us as individuals and recognize that we will do anything for these children if you just tell us and show us that we matter thank you thank you suppose yeah hello my name is Rodney Lane I called in last meeting and I voiced my um concerns and disappointment with the comments of the board attorney and the superintendent so I'm the one that called in I like to put a face to The Voice I've been here 26 years five months long time seen a lot been through a lot I love Hackensack sometimes I don't think Hackensack loves me one of the things that I would like
057to do um I'd like to double down on what um my union Brother Casino game said about an apology because I felt that those teachers were blatantly pointed out to a point of humiliation point of intimidation that's something that you just can't have here and the boldness to do it at a board meeting in front of everybody watching in front of everybody listening is something that was unprecedented that I've seen here so regardless of place of origin regardless of native language family relationship political affiliation or even one school district that you went to as a child I think we all especially our members our AGA members our nja members there has to be a level of respect and Equity to each and every one of them regardless [Music] and in in closing I would like
058to uh welcome Mr Harry Ruiz the Hackensack Public Schools I had no idea that this man was going to be here every rule has lived seven houses down for me in Dover New Jersey we grew up in the 1970s together his brother was one of my best friends I spent many times playing Atari over at his house eating his mother's cooking I had no idea that he was coming I just saw him here tonight um he's a good man and uh as far as Dover people being in Hackensack he's the second in the history of Hackensack if he can average what I did he'll be here for another 26 years and five months so I would like to uh welcome here welcome to the family thank you for your time I just wanted to put
059a face to The Voice and I speak from the heart and it all starts with treating people with Equity that's something that we talk about here we got to start practicing what we preach do we have anybody online foreign [Music] yes we can go ahead hi um hi my name is Patty Burleson um please excuse my voice um you'll try and Rally from the flu so like Mr Sanchez does please keep those kids home okay if they're sick um I I teach a fair amount School third grade and like Mrs Del Vecchio I have concerns about our bilingual children I have one student who does not read a word of English and I just got one who does not speak a word of English not even she cannot even write her name and um they
060were both advised to go to Parker school but their parents are unable to get them there um we need to do better by these kids if we want them to succeed we had bus scene how was something so vital done away with especially as the increases as the need is only going to increase um my other concern is I don't want to give my fingerprints to enter the building [Music] um I feel you're crossing a line of privacy and obtaining personal biometric data without informed consent established need or clear and established safeguards it's not as if it's no big deal as it can it opens up a range of personal risks that can't be retrieved should any such database be compromised only recently we were sent to the frequently asked questions about the system and
061it's supposed safeguards this policy should be paused not through as there are other more appropriate ways to accomplish the same outcome money and effort should be better spent on this increasing could be better spent than on this increasing surveillance and micromanagement you got our fingerprints and vetted us when we were hired not about safety it's about attendance if there is truly a problem with staff and properly signing in those concerns should be addressed with them rather than collecting everyone's fingerprints or biodata without consent um once we swipe our ID at the board at the door honestly we should be logged in we've already entered the building to go to a second location to then give Prince a Superfluous I understand schools are having long lines waiting to log in now we feel disrespected when you
062go to such links to show us that you don't trust us thank you foreign [Applause] Logan near us uh hello Anthony Ziza I am vice president of the Hackensack Education Association and I am a parent uh of a student at Parker school and a parent of another student who one day uh be a student at Parker School uh I'm calling today to uh reiterate some of the things that both cassine and Donna have said about teacher retention and I think both as a you know vice president of the hea and as a parent this is something that should be of extreme concern to the uh board and to fellow parents uh here um there's something to be said about institutional memory about staff that has been in this district for for many many years um
063and one of the things we've seen over the past couple of months is the slow trickle of teachers away from Hackensack and again as Donna and Casino have pointed out these are not people who are leaving teaching they're people who are leaving Hackensack they're choosing as Donna pointed out in some cases to take lower paying jobs in other districts rather than to continue here it would be easy to say these are people who you know don't have dedication to the district but the reality is they do in fact many of the people leaving are alumni you know they're people who went through the Hackensack Google system they're people who you know have bled blue and gold their entire lives and they've reached a breaking point where they can no longer um you know be here
064and that should be of great concern and it should be the canary in the coal mine for this District I will use um as a example the Hackensack High School math department you know we've lost uh about four people to other districts just in the past uh four months we we've only been in session for four months again these are Big career teachers these are not newbies these are not people who are just retiring these are people who are choosing to leave this District this District that many of them love because they grew up in it and you can't replace that kind of institutional memory and we've had meetings with them we've talked to them we know why they're leaving you know they are leaving as has been said they don't feel respected they don't
065feel that this is a situation that they can tolerate anymore and I think that it's imperative for us to work together the hack attack Education Association and the Board of Education because we're all stakeholders in this and I will say as a parent as somebody whose children will be one day going through all of the schools here whose child is a special education student one of the areas where we're already hearing Rumblings of um people who are reaching their Breaking Point reaching their tolerance this is something that we should take as a crisis an immediate crisis to be dealt with and I really encourage you to reach out to the other stakeholders and it's time to set up some sort of retention committee to work on this extremely critical problem thank you definition foreign health
066and safety coordinator at teacher at the Hackensack High School I'm waiting to see if my time is starting there we go all right so um I think uh what you've been listening to all night is uh is very concerning for the entire Community um the fact that we are you know losing individuals and teaching musicians and other positions as well um creates a an incredible stack in crisis which ends up jeopardizing just about everybody who ends up stepping the foot in the buildings um you know we have essentially a a very weakened state of things um we don't have a certified staff or certificated staff in front of the classes in a lot of instances um we don't have people to monitor students in a classroom to provide them with education which has long lasting
067impacts and effects we don't have bodies in the hallways attempting to basically move students along and directing students where they need to go we have some of our most vulnerable members in the district without people to care for them or to nurture them to educate them and prepare for them for things that are down the line I mean you've heard that we've had learning loss and it's not a coveted thing anymore it's because of staff and concerns you've heard of uh issues with uh cleanliness and sanitization that's a direct result of Staffing concerns we are largely understaffed as a district um and I know that the the requin is that we're trying to do the best that we can at some point we have to look at ourselves and say the best that we can
068is not getting the job done we need to have people in those positions as soon as possible there has to be some kind of uh public and observable effort something that is transparent something where we can see the action in place to not feel supervisory positions but rather the positions that help these students you know make it through the day and it's safe and secure manner so as we end up listening to the public concerns and concerns of many teachers and concerns of many of the uh stakeholders in our community we have to place an incredible emphasis on making sure that there are certificated bodies in the building people qualified to do the job so that everybody can kind of make it through the day solid thanks so much oh hi um my name is
069hi my name is Stephanie Shaw I've taught at Hackensack High School for 23 years in the English Department um so there's a couple of things that I want to speak about um I think one of the most disheartening things as of late is the idea of buying new equipment to track the teachers I was recently sitting in a PD in the library they closed the library for this PD and they were talking about how do we get kids to read and I said we could put books in these kids hands but we don't have the money for that we don't have the money to buy classroom libraries for the students uh we don't have money for um you know more band members or you know better programs but uh we have the money to fingerprint
070teachers and then and you wonder why teachers are leaving the district we are demoralized it's embarrassing I tell my my friends who have you know degrees and different jobs and they're like wait you're going to get fingerprinted walking into the building and how embarrassing is that as a person with multiple master's degrees I'm in charge of hundreds of students a day and I have to fingerprint to walk into a building you don't trust me that much and the idea that you're taking this money away from students so that you can track US it really is it's embarrassing it's not putting the children first and it's not for anybody's safety because people walk in and outside the high school all the time there's no safety going on so it's really something that you should think about
071where are we putting the money why don't we trust the teachers how can we're not better serving our students and these are the things that you really should be thinking about and everything so that's just essentially what I want to say thank you for your time and take care foreign good evening can you hear me yes we can oh this is Antoinette um hazel resident of Hackensack member of the hea I would um like to address the board I must make you aware of many of the complaints that currently exist because here we are again our short staffed with teachers instructional assistance we are being pulled in various directions making us less effective in our assignments this is causing a major strain on us physically and emotionally thus lowering the overall morale in the buildings
072and as educators if our professional obligation is to help students we are not really effective in anything this year Additionally the continuous miscommunication and sudden changes and schedules and unfairs only making situations worse and when we sing short staff I know of plenty of teachers not at hillers other places there has been teachers that have been pulled for the last three weeks every single day so how are these creatures are supposed to um their special education teachers um go through and make sure these children are meeting these children needs also with covet and flu and RSV rising and we're being pulled in all different directions in every classroom you don't think that we are going to be sick as well so we need to think about hiring Subs again or making um right making the
073um I'm sorry or even um bringing in Subs I know we have long-term Subs but we need to have some type of substitutes because it's not fair to the people that are being pulled in every direction especially the special education teachers the resource room teachers social workers everyone so we need to think about that especially with all of everything that's going around thank you and have a good night good evening can you hear me we can okay good evening everyone my this is Shawna Shortridge I'm a resident of Hackensack I just want to thank uh Mr Burak I want to give Mr Burak a shout out um for every game that we've been to um he has been I believe he's a custodian at the high school he's been the only custodian there cleaning up
074after us after the games he has been very pivotal in making sure the ice machines are full and um oftentimes we ask him well my husband tries to help him he's the only one there and he says that's because no one else wants to take on the um the responsibility of working overtime even with the extra money because the custodians are tired I wouldn't give a special shout out to the custodians that um their mom and I know the custodians of Parker were extremely hard as well there are times that I have to go to the restroom and Mr Hunter is kind enough to stand at the door while he's taking out the garbage just so I could run to the restroom I'm kindly asking that we look into the air ventilation system in our
075schools um too many kids are getting sick and the teachers as well a few of and as you can tell I'm also under the weather a few of the a former parent bought a air purifier for my classroom last year and that's something I've been using but it's just not helping I had four students out today with the flu and it's only a matter of time before the entire class it's update so I'm just asking that we keep it the custodians in mind as well when we're Staffing they're tired they're overworked there are about four of them I see two of them in the mornings at Fairmont and two in the evenings it's a lot of classrooms to clean bathrooms it's a lot to maintain so um we all wear many hats you all wear
076many hats those of you are sitting on the boards you have other jobs that you're also taking care of so just just keep in mind um the custodies as well and again just a shout out to Mr Burak or his tireless tireless efforts being responsible not just for sweeping and wiping the table but the table is in but he's just there all the time at every game I don't know if you ever see the stands it's as messy as they come um I believe he's retiring soon I don't know when but it's said to give people their roses while they're around so um this is a special call for Mr Burak thank you have a good night foreign good evening I sat there my name is Joy Dorsey Whiting I'm the principal of Hackensack Middle
077School also a resident of Hackensack 28 years as an educator and also a parent I sat there contemplating if I was going to say anything because I have multiple perspectives but I must say that although I can appreciate what the hea is saying about what may not be right there's also a lot of good that's happening our administrators my colleagues work tirelessly to make sure that our children get the best because they deserve the best we don't often hear how hard working our teachers are going above and beyond but also our principles we are on the front line just as our teachers are they're early they're late making home visits calling homes we understand that there is a deficit but there is also a position of Hope and if as a district as parents as
078Leaders if we don't decide to look at this district from a hope perspective we will have a problem I stand before you as a parent a parent of a child who graduated last year from this high school a parent of a child who's a sophomore of resonant for 28 years I've been working here and I do have institutional memory the teachers aren't the only ones Hackensack is a good place it can be a great place and it is we are doing our very best so in the midst of all the negativity I could not sit any longer without saying that there is good happening our teachers are working hard our administrators are working hard our parents are coming out we are doing activities and programming yes there's room for improvement but there is also a
079perspective of Hope and if we don't have hope we'll be lost that's why I needed to say that my colleagues my my colleague principals Mrs Whitaker at Nelly K Parker Mr Chris Moran at Jackson Avenue School Dr Judy solo at Hitler's School Mr Jimmy Montesano at Hackensack High School myself uh who am I missing Mrs Whitaker at Miss Patrick Wall ecdc my colleagues deserve to be applauded and lauded for the work that they do and so I'm standing here on behalf of them thank you [Applause] anybody else in the room all right [Music] so that's the end of uh public comments thank you all so let's uh approve our minutes be it resolved at the Hackensack Board of Education approves the regular minutes and closed session minutes of November 21st 2022 as submitted can I
080have a motion thank you Mr Coleman uh Mr Carol seconded all those in favor say aye aye aye all any opposed say no that passes thank you so we'll move into our resolutions Mr Coleman thank you Mr President I move for the approval of the following Personnel actions 8.1 uh a through X upon the recommendation of the superintendent thank you Mr Coleman May the motion can I have a second a roll call please yes uh Mr bendez who is absent Mr Carroll yes Mr Coleman yes Mr Goodman yes Miss Mori yes Mr Oates yes Lance Powell will be voting via telephone Mr Powell Mr Powell yes Mr Rodriguez yes Miss Somerville yes Mr James Vickery yes motion passes thank you uh there is we have no uh first or second readings in policy so there's
081nothing there tonight uh moving on to curriculum Miss Marty yes thank you and good evening um so for curriculum we have a couple items here that I would like to highlight um so for C6 the Hackensack High School students are going to participate in the Capitol Hill Challenge and the stock market game starting on January 30th 2023 it's a partnership between the Hackensack Public Schools and the Securities industry and financial Market Association students will learn about the global Capital markets and the importance of long-term saving and investing or C7 it is the approval of participation agreement and memorandum of understanding from Drew University to work collaboratively on diversity equity and inclusion with the Hackensack High School black student union and Latin American Student Association uh just a quick recap of that program the students will
082meet for Community projects once per week on Thursdays from four to six beginning in late January through April early May participating students will receive vital training and experience and Dei and conflict transformation along with a certificate of completion from Drew University there will be a field trip to New York City and DC it will also be possible consideration for high school students to receive college credit for C8 it is the approval of job shadowing and work-based learning experiences within the surrounding communities where pupils classified as eligible for special education and related Services um certain locations like Ikea Walgreens Aviation Institute of Maintenance and Starbucks and there's more for C15 Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and Jackson Avenue School are to participate in the child hunger initiative power pack program 30 students will be supplied with meals
083snacks free of charge for students enrolled at the school over the weekends and or extended breaks each week a bag with non-perishable foods items or Foods or items will be delivered to the school containing food for two breakfasts two lunch two snacks and a can of vegetables and fruits uh c19 is the approval of the updated Lea plan for a safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of service I'd like to bring forward promotion C1 to c21 for your approval thank you Miss Murray she made that motion can I have a second if you missed Somerville um a roll call please [Music] is absent Mr Carroll yes Mr Coleman yes Mr Goodman yes Miss Maury yes Mr Oates yes Mr Powell whole thing remotely by phone he said yes yes thank you Mr Rodriguez yes
084Miss Somerville yes Mr James Vickery yes motion passes thank you um excuse me under financing budget [Music] um um let me think ing yeah [Music] um Chris can you do that thank you well I move upon the recommendation of the superintendent our resolutions D1 through B12 all right um so Mr Coleman moved and Mr Rodriguez seconded phone call Mr Mendez was absent Mr Carroll yes Mr Coleman yes Mr Goodman yes Miss Maury yes Mr Oates yes Mr Powell voting remotely for your phone thank you Mr Rodriguez yes Miss Somerville yes Mr James Vickery yes motion pass all right moving on to buildings and grounds uh Mr Rodriguez thank you Mr President I'd like to bring forth uh E1 through E7 now I'd like to highlight again as uh superintendent Sanchez uh mentioned earlier E3 which
085is um the Improvement of the Hackensack High School auditorium renovation and the girls black room renovation um foreign all right oh wait a second from Mr Oates Mr Mendez was absent Mr Carroll yes Mr Coleman yes Mr Goodman yes Miss Maury yes Mr Oates yes Mr Powell voting remotely via phone Mr Powell thank you Mr Palmer Mr Rodriguez yes Miss Somerville yes Mr James Vickery yes motion passes thank you and moving on to community relations all right uh good evening everyone community relations we met a couple weeks ago two weeks ago uh this discussion we recapped some of the previous meetings we have talked about the communication gap between the schools and parents and administrators we had commented that we think that's getting better it's an ongoing issue to make sure that we keep parents
086engaged it seems like the people on committee were satisfied with how it's happening this year so far again that's an ongoing issue that we have to stay on top of about making sure that parents are informed about everything that's going on and they know where to direct their attention if they have a need but the main focus of discussion throughout the meeting was school safety and uh particularly at the high school with um disruptive behavior and a certain number of students that always seem to be the ones that are I guess you could say getting in trouble or causing a lot of the problems and discussion talked about we just talked about uh what used to be here and creating and like alternate programs where a student that wasn't meeting standards and mayor be having
087a lot of disciplinary issues but tardiness or just being disruptive as a whole to reintroduce what we used to have I think we used to call it the Bell or the building or some kids would go to as an ultimate program but we're discussing about how we could bring that back but yet also incorporating the restorative justice piece so it's just not getting rid of all the bad kids out of the general population so we don't have to deal with them it's also about restoring them and hopefully bringing them back to addressing their needs as well it may not be the regular school day it may be more trades it may be more internships but the discussion we were talking about was again how we used to have it here it years ago that we
088stopped doing it uh if we were to bring it back what would it look like how could we do it not just like a long-term detention not just like getting rid of the problem kids so that we could focus on the good yeah that's part of that to correct or disruptive behaviors but also restore them and bring them back just so we're not getting rid of them together so that was the basis of a lot of our discussion um now hopefully that's something we could revisit we're going to talk about it again kick it around uh also with that the community relations is going to have a link on the board site with all the members in there is also going to be a space for a Google form so if you have any needs
089questions or you have any comments it's another Avenue to get in touch with somebody on the community relations I will be the one to I guess answer it and direct you and help you out with any questions or concerns you have uh but that uh was our meeting and again I want to thank everybody for that the part of the community relations and uh there's nothing to move forward there's no emotions to make but I I do uh I want to thank them for their input and hopefully something can come with these discussions to again better this District um there's nothing really to nothing though to um move on I do want to just reiterate it's in in thinking about it it is a space for kids that and and on on you know all
090levels that um may not be in the right space to be included with their peers at this at that moment but it is not also not a Dumping Ground um you know um it is not a a space to just be getting rid of of kids that that are hard um it is a placement to have kids and it may not be that they are appropriate for the peers it may not be the safest place because for their peers to be around either at that moment but what what it what the is being envisioned is a place for for them to go um to be to get their education but also to have that uh that social and emotional health but also um that restorative justice piece so that that they can get back to
091their peers as quickly as possible um so those are all the pieces as as that you know as it comes together um so thank you uh Mr Oates for that yeah the next steps the next because you said yeah do you have any any well really the the purpose of the community relations committee is to bring up issues like this yeah the community the communities committee has no no that's why I'm asking here so I was gonna make a motion historically it's what the program was how the program was set up you know what the terms are and then we can kind of sort of move forward and you can lay out the timeline and the plan I always hope I was going to bring this up a new business I don't know if that
092was the right way to do that or not but I was going to bring up a new business that we do directly yeah I think it could go in this section okay just to say like there's Mr Lane does this would occurring right those guys may have historical perspective on what the program was right how the program worked how the program operated so is it just you invite them to one of your meetings they can give input and feedback on what it should look like what the structure should be right because again they're going to be the architects of making sure that this works your students want to get a place so I'm sure somebody in 28 or 30 years should have some historical perspective to be able to give you guys feedback yeah yeah
093and so adding on top of the historical perspective also reflecting on the values that we have set in place today with our anti-racism work and our restorative practices models so adding all those pieces and then maybe reflecting on what we you know the program as it was in our history so if you would like to make a motion this would be the time I'll make a motion that we uh look into establishing an alternate program and investigate him and see what it would look like and how it would be and how it would function asking the superintendent asking the superintendent to investigate or propose what that would look like second so yeah the motion that we can work with um this thing does that does that um sound like a motion that you can I
094can I can you repeat it so I can write it down and read it out please make a motion for the superintendent to explore explore good work good word good word an alternate program an alternate program right alternative education Alternatives alternative education alternative education program okay alternative education program I think you can probably leave it at that or do we need to go further understand I mean that's all right alternative to what in terms of what the objective is I'm hearing safety is really important we should just enumerate a little bit clearer well the motion is for Mr Sanchez to go back and pull the information on um Ira on what the program looked like before right because we had the program in place so we can go back get the information from the participants
095that are here right that may have that historical perspective and then be able to come back at the next board meeting and present exactly what we think the program is going to look like right out you know what the objective of the program is going to be okay trustee Marlin I I've confirmed with the board authority that this is enough for the for the language so we can move forward with the motion okay so Mr Oates made the motion this Summerville seconded the motion um all in favor say aye aye any opposed with no I have seen this morning I have seen pardon me Miss Mori abstain yeah thank you thank you okay so now moving on to Old business anybody have any old business that they need to bring up much okay any new
096business anyone like to would like to bring up all right board comments let's start with um all right good evening everyone thank you so much for being here with us on a very busy week I'm sure for many um I would like to thank the Hackensack High School choir uh they sang beautifully um congratulations to all the girls in the stem program keep reaching continue on that journey I hope it continues all the way into High School I'm also looking forward to participating in the Nelly Kate Parker make a gingerbread house a multicultural holiday experience I'm looking forward to that to attending that this week congratulations to Mr Allen on earning the New Jersey exemplary education award educator award um to Ira it's been a pleasure getting to know you here on the board you
097will be missed and I really hope you continue to come to our meeting and still continue to be a voice for our students in Hackensack uh to miss story um a story I've known you forever um my mother still talks about you you were her first um she calls it American teacher and she says you were delightful you were so helpful to many parents who were just like her fresh new um to the country not having many resources and you helped her and you still continue like you said over 41 years still here and we appreciate you and we value you so you know that um and you know she was my preschool teacher too um to the Hackensack Middle um thank you for hosting the first award assembly since uh covet had happened I
098didn't get to attend but my husband was there took pictures and I saw how beautiful and how um Lively it was the students looked so excited and there shy to probably be there again in person I didn't know what to expect but um thank you for bringing that back um in person I'd like to thank Ash for his student report and um you know I want to also thank all the Educators for speaking out advocating for each other and expressing their concerns I also want to acknowledge um what Donna had said about it's the small things right um we're not a lot of people are not asking for much especially during this time we're just asking to be acknowledged or just just be a thought of thought right so whether like um it was mentioned
099a five-minute earlier dismissal whether it be a lunch it's the that appreciation especially during um these tough times I've heard many numerous deaths and just very sad tragic um stories and we need to remember remind ourselves that when people leave here they have families they have personal obligations that they go to where sometimes when you when you clock in that's all you think about as a student that's all they can't think about is just teaching so let's just remind ourselves that yes like that's why they said there is hope and I and I firmly believe there is hope there's a lot of good happening um but thank you for voicing and thank you for speaking out because we wouldn't know don't keep that inside we wouldn't know what you're feeling unless if you speak about
100it um so I really hope with all that being said that we keep the positivity going we start the new year off right and I wish everyone a safe and healthy um holiday season and break thank you everyone good night thank you Miss Somerville hi um wait good evening everyone so uh Ashley's not here he's left but um ash good job um he said he didn't wear the hat out of disrespect had a bad haircut so he was kind of dealing with that told him I'd pay for the next one right and introduce him to my son's Barber so we'll see where it goes from there um Mr Ruiz uh welcome the math teacher I'm sorry I missed the name in the announcement forgot to write it down but welcome to both of you uh
101hopefully you guys are bringing positivity to Hackensack so again thank you guys for coming on board and you know better things to come in 2023 um Miss story thank you can't thank you enough I since I got on the board in January you've been nothing but positive right a ray of sunshine and it's always good to like you're the first person I look for when I kind of sort of come in I want to see what I'm not a candy eater but I'm always curious to see what you have in the bag like maybe there's something in there that I can watch through to eat so you know keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to your activities in 2023 right but this is the least honestly this is the least we can
102do for you so please enjoy it and if you ever need anything you know we're always here to support you so please let us know right thank you very much um to all of the teachers and Educators that came forth um you guys seem today like it's a really like it's been really rough right and it's been really tough and everybody looks like the struggle is real I can't say that I 100 understand right you guys don't reporting to us we just kind of get the feedback when you guys come to these meetings but I'm asking you guys to please turn up show up right regardless of how difficult it seems sometimes show up keep coming because that's the only way we're going to get some change and that's the only way we're going to
103get results right from you guys coming here I know it's repetition I know sometimes it's cumbersome sometimes you may feel like you're not being heard we didn't hear you we're not listening to you and I know it is tiring to keep coming back to the microphone over and over and over and over every single month repeating the same thing right we need transportation we need backup we need you know we need help we need assistance but again repetition is good you know reminders are good it holds us accountable it holds the district accountable it's good checks and balances so again I'm asking you guys please keep coming back to the mic keep bringing it until you guys get the result that is needed right the action that should come come from it so I'm hoping
104for that I am not a person to address the art of um personal destruction I don't believe in it I don't Champion it and I don't promote it but I am only going to answer one thing today because I do not like things that are said in mistruth I much prefer for somebody to approach me ask me a question and get a response from me right just tell me we may not agree I can agree to disagree with you we may not see eye to eye but I always respect the truth because at the end of the day I give as good as I get to approach the microphone and said that in order for me to storm out of a board meeting it would mean that I would have to get off the stage
105in front of all of you and walk out of the the building because this is a board meeting we were here I think I want to say maybe in September we finished a meeting early and I left the room for the meeting to come in here to sit with the audience because we still had like 20 minutes to finish and we were just sitting in a room waiting so if that's the incident that's been mentioned that someone stormed out of a room in the meeting I guess interpretation is from the person who's seeing it from that is their perspective but this was an executive committee meeting we were not in the public in front of anyone so I am trying to struggling really hard to figure out how that was somebody storming out of a
106meeting and where that conversation came from I don't believe again in the art of personal destruction I do not try to ruin other people's reputation and I don't appreciate when something is said that is not true right come to me and ask me a question if you have it and bring me facts facts are your friends and anytime you come to me and you say something I will be more than happy to tell you the truth again we don't always have to agree we don't always have to see eye to eye but there should be no politics does not belong in a school board we are a political body we are here as representatives of you guys and we're here to do the best that we can for you guys and the students it should
107never ever be any sort of a political affiliation political meaning for us to be sitting here to be having that conversation so I am telling you from today starting a new day moving into 2023 if there is ever an issue or something that you do not appreciate if you have a problem with something that I may have said or an action that I may have done that you think May in some ways have been disrespectful to you or to somebody else please pull me aside I am here and say I don't like it I didn't appreciate it and I'll be more than happy to address it with you but I will never be a person to sit here and say something to you that is not true or something that I do not firmly believe
108I can always be corrected and I can always have a different point of view than you and I can be wrong plain and simple but I do appreciate if you step to me and tell me something instead of again doing the art of political debate and in closing I Mr Powell may be on the line and he can defend himself but I am a little puzzle as to say that Mr Powell has never attended a meeting and then you say that Mr Powell yelled at a meeting and was disrespectful the two things are indicated to themselves they do not go together so again when you step to a stage and you need to say something please guys we are we have enough issues in Hackensack right we have enough stuff that we're dealing with the
109struggle is real and we're all sitting here day in and day out trying to do the best we can everybody is trying to do their best they can and at the end of the day that stuff that petty stuff that in consequential stuff nobody needs it it has no place being here so I will never call anybody out if you come to me and you have something you want me to say it like I said the last time tell me something and I can ask the superintendent on your behalf to perform an action but you come here and you give me an innuendo you give me an inference you give me something that just may be accusatory I'm not presenting it to anybody because I have no business ruining anybody's name or anybody's reputation just
110based on an accusation and I would appreciate the same courtesy so again in closing everybody it's a really long day you guys come out here you know day in and day out whenever we have these meetings I appreciate your point of view I thank you guys for listening you guys take care please be safe this holiday season everybody enjoy your evening good night good night it's a reveal uh thank you Mr President [Music] um thank you again this story for supporting us and coming to these meetings notwithstanding the candy that you know I really shouldn't be able to do but uh you are real Sunshine whenever you show up no matter how acrimonious these meetings may be uh we love that you're here for us to this parchment uh once again it was a very
111sobering presentation um I I see that there's a lot of work to be done um it kind of hurts to see these numbers and and particularly the demographics that are struggling the most in our district particularly the demographics in our district I'm trying again I don't want to lose my voice I'm not sick but I had a a procedure today so I'm losing my voice but um but yeah it's just just uh when breaking down the demographics it was you know very hurtful very disheartening and I I hope that there's a brighter future in store for us in our Stu and our students um thank you Dr Whiting for the presentation on on the uh the GE program I know Mikey and I's daughters were in it last year and it's it's really an extraordinary
112program and I I'm glad that Hackensack is participating in it now I know in the past it was just Teaneck so I'm glad that we're taking part in it now and I look forward to uh a very bright future for our female students to get into stem and congratulations to Mr Allen I know he's not here Ira thank you for all your service it is a service this is a volunteer job we you know we take a beating for nothing and he took years for the three years and I guess you're tapping out but good luck to you um of course wonderful job foreign I would just like to end with you know I remember before uh Brian Stevenson wrote his book just Mercy which should be required reading in our schools if it's not
113already but I admired him before that and I read his book before the movie came out and in the book he discusses a several people that he also uh exonerated from a death sentence along with Jamie Foxx but uh when reading his book you realize you know this guy at the Harvard Law School is doing it could be out there making you know gobs of money I went to Harvard Law School yeah they're making good gobs of money but he had a calling he had something within him that he wanted to do good on this planet he wanted to save people he wanted to leave this planet in a better place than he found it and I know I'm not necessarily built that way but some people are he had a calling and our teachers
114are administrators have a calling you're doing this for all the right reasons every one of us can look back and identify more than one teacher that changed their life I can think of several in my life that made me see things see the world differently change my perspective on things learn things that I never thought I wanted to know and I hope at least coming from me that you have all my respect for the calling that you've answered and that you're continuing to answer Ms Whiting you one of my kids now you'll have another one next year um Shortridge again my my respects to Mr Barack and all the uh people that work in the school do the cleaning it's much appreciated the short ridges also one of my kids teachers and I'm just very
115pleased with everything that I'm experiencing with the teachers in the school gains I hear you're amazing I hope at one point one of my kids will Avail themselves of one of your classes but uh if it's respect that you're looking for and you have it for me and I'm I'm pretty sure that you have it from this entire board and I know that this teacher shortage is a national problem 300 000 teachers and staff shortage throughout this country we're not immune from that but you're right we have to do whatever we can to keep the good ones let me go to some tech company or or pharmaceutical company going there headquarters it's you know ping pong tables and free espresso or what have you but I know it's not going to happen here but we
116have to do whatever we can to show our appreciation try to keep you here try to keep you happy it's not only good for our kids it's good for you it's Community it's good for everyone's property values to have a great School so I I commend you and I look forward to all the good things that this next year is going to bring us I know this meeting started out very positively I know we had some bumpy road but this was one of those meetings that you look back and you're you're very happy to be a part of this community and part of the school district um there's a lot of good things happening a lot of improvement yet to come but I like the direction that we're heading in and I look forward to
117our wonderful 2023. thank you good night comments by fellow trustees I'm not gonna go over everything they said because they powerful stuff they nail a lot of it but you're right I look over these notes of the public comments with everybody that spoke and respect respect respect teacher retention teacher retention like we have to do we have to acknowledge that and make the changes necessary knowledge minus action equals zero we know this but we have to act on it that's our job as a board to put the teachers in a position to succeed now I always up here a lot of times I'll I'll stay I'll say the number of students we have 5168 those are our bosses but our staff I don't know the exact number of Staff we have about a thousand eight
118hundred nine hundred I don't know that's a problem I should know because you are the people that we need to put in a position we need to give you all the resources you ask for somehow it can't be everything like trustee Coleman said the espresso machines and the Ping pongs we got it that's I probably I get it but we do need to work harder and better to make you guys in a position to inspire a life of learning for our students and if you're not getting the respect that that that that's Troublesome there is a teacher shortage I get it that's it's Nationwide but listen almost like I always reference movies I'm a lot of movies like Zorro zoro's one of my favorite movies Antonio Vendetta's and he talks about the training Circle there's
119nothing outside the circle there's nothing and a circle gets smaller and stolen that's Hackensack man that's us that's our school district that's what I care about I don't know I don't care doing Morris County I really don't care I care about what's happening here with our staff and our students we have to think outside the box to put the students in a position to succeed that means put the staff in a position to succeed social emotional everything mental I get it we look just a common reference the uh presentation by Mrs parchment and those numbers they're very very alarming very sobering we have to come up with something we can't just keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting better results we can maybe it starts with teacher respect how about that
120maybe we start there think of something new I I really like again trustee Coleman said this is one of those meetings where I hope it's the old ripple effect throw a pond and a throw a rocket a pond and watch it reverberate this is a powerful meeting not just from Chorus and holidays and presentations but this was a powerful meeting and I hope we produce change comes from it um I took a lot of notes I'm not going to hit on all of them my hands door it was a long night uh but miss story real quick uh you are a ray of sunshine thank you not just for what you mean to us but what you've done in this district for the past 40 plus years really appreciate everything um uh trustee Goodman it
121was a pleasure and an honor to be on this board with you for the past two years I've learned a lot from you your presence Your Grace always thank you so much we'll never forget I'll never forget you brother your friend for life um quick shout outs uh the band yesterday performed at the Jets game or they did a phenomenal job I was cold out there they did a great job shout out to them uh coach Brad Allen with the exemplary educator award uh I've learned a lot from him I've coached with him numerous teams with the youth 8U 9u 10U we had some great times together and I really appreciate its coaches and teachers like that is why this place is special so shout out to Mr Howard um and also I think there
122was another award given a Governor's educator award at the at the Middle School Miss patasi I think I saw on Twitter what an award every school has it right every school so I just saw a Miss Potosi so shout out to the governor Awards winners um again let's put them in a position to succeed foreign like Dr wedding said we got a lot of good stuff happening here there's a lot of good stuff Happening Here there's the buildings and everything's changing we got a lot of construction progress but that's that's just window dressing man if we don't get to the heart of making these students love learning and get better and prepare them for a life then uh we got to rethink our strategy a little bit there's gonna be rough weather coming up everybody
123have great happy holiday it's icy out snowing out stay off the roads check your neighbors feed your pets everybody love one another go comments [Music] thank you um all right good evening everyone and thanks for coming out here Marlene made a really good point with respect to the fact that and and that trusteos just said the same thing with 501 5168 students we should fill more seats at these meetings the words that we heard tonight are very humbling now it's really important especially the r-e-s-t-e-c-t [Music] everyone should always be kind everyone should always be respectful we shouldn't ever have to be reminded of that so that's a really important point that uh that Mrs West brought out because I think that's very very important for us uh Miss platty in the chorus they were amazing
124they just started off the night so so beautifully um I just love hearing all these fantastic voices the harmonies um the the economy of the two different Melodies that they were singing at the same time they did a really really great job um Dr Whiting and Mrs common thank you very much uh for for what you have done with the girls um amazing here for to to be able to congratulate Mr Bradley Allen this is out of uh there were only 180 New Jersey exemplary Educators in the state that's pretty significant for us uh it's a story it goes without saying that you are indeed one very very special person um I have a neighbor in my building that knows you very very well for a long time she's always spoken very highly of you
125and I had the same the same respect and uh and fascination of how amazing a person you are so I it's really really wonderful for every that you do so much for all of us and the whole community uh it's great to hear our students report to Ashraf Salem and his enthusiasm is always wonderful Mrs parchment your report is very sobering uh it obviously means we have a lot a lot of work to do although I do question the validity of the test if the state of these tests if the state did so poorly as well and I think that needs to be looked into because it's not that our numbers were that terrible I mean the numbers were terrible but so were the states numbers so I question the validity of of these tests
126if the numbers in the state were also really dead uh welcome Mr Lewis and once again I I appreciate the opportunity that I've had over the last the last three years I wish everyone a wonderful healthy holiday season uh and I would like to make one comment with respect to Mr Powell is still on the phone so he's going to make some remarks after me but I would like to make a comment about um the remarks of Olga Victor uh and and I've not missed a board meeting except for when I was and I was out with covid um she made remarks saying that she had heard from people and insinuated or basically said that Mr Powell has not been in any board meetings uh if you missed three consecutive board meetings you are not
127a board member anymore you get you get kicked off so it was very interesting that she made that statement that she had heard from people all she has to do is look at the tapes and see all of our recordings Mr Powell has been at our meetings so I was a little bit distressed by where she got her information so other than that I wish everyone a really wonderful wonderful holiday season be healthy stay safe and if I make can I put Mr trusty Powell okay trusty pal you're next to Pal Ma can you hear me yes we can thank you thanks to all and I'll just figure back to what you just said I think I'm one of the few board members that I'm nearly Miss intermediate so thank you for really speaking up
128for me I've been on the board uh I'm the longest serving member on the board right now I have maybe one meeting for family reasons but I've been to pretty much everybody not sure where that came from that's on a very suspicious and malicious but like you said a record speaks for itself I've been to pretty much far from everyone I've been to pretty much all the boys so thank you for standing up for me and thank you for making the correction thank you I appreciate your as always okay and uh thanks to it want to participated and attended our appointment meeting tonight thank you for all the presentations our teachers thank you to sliding thank you to his parchment congrats of course to our student for giving a report taking a story I'll use
129two words to describe you you're simply wonderful and I just want to thank you for everything and uh just thank everyone for coming out I want to thank our administrators technology or technical crew tech crew a custodians or administrators staff everyone our students and families without the students and families you know we're now free so I just want to thank everyone for keeping our school district clicking it's not easy but thanks again and I want to say thank you a personal thank you for serving with you Mr Ira Goodman I have a few words for you you're a wonderful person superb individual I've learned a lot from you you're a true team player a true team player I'll emphasize that your wonderful human being I will miss you I'm sure the hacking facts called history
130will miss you and Jerry I will miss you dearly and sincerely I do with all my heart I do wish you all the best in all your future endeavors I am quite sure you'll be successful in all you do because whatever you touch turns to God I will learn from you and some of the things I've learned from you I will put it into practice of the member and a better person because I've truly learned a lot from you I want to tell you this you're leaving us but you leave an empty spot in the community and in my heart you are a brother to me you're a driver to me you're concerned family I just wanted you to know that you're considered a part of my family just for the type of individual that
131you are and it was really an honor and a pleasure Sir with a wonderful human being like you thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you I just have a couple of words before I tell everyone I wish you a happy holidays for the holidays I want to tell everyone just be grateful and thankful for making a tourists difficult and challenging year and years that we've been to recovered we're here so let's celebrate with our family and I have something I just want to touch on job not just for our kids in the district but to all of us in the world especially Matthew said mental health I just want to touch you that for a minute as we go off during the holidays mental health is real mental
132health does not discriminate and I'm speaking from my heart because about you know trainers that I've been gone through rough times never quit solid battles are real it's like being in a crowded room but you're feeling alone it's like crying out for help or feeling maybe too embarrassed to reach out for help I want to say to everyone today please let's try to help each other to his difficult and challenging times stop cheering on each other life is a journey we are only passing through we're not here to stay and while we're here let's leave a legacy behind of goodness and kindness and love that's how we will be remembered not to provide but for kindness and love and empathy that we show to each other and I just want to close my faith as
133you go to the holidays so you keep your not as fortunate as that check on someone when you can it's okay to not be okay people are dying internally behind the scenes and yet we hear from fighting each other every day life is short and like I said it's just a journey if you haven't told someone you love them tell them now call them now text them tonight and tell them you love them and just reach out to someone if you can help someone to Reality by giving to them and sharing and caring please do because there's so many people that are hurting emotionally physically psychologically physiologically and mentally let's come together and help each other and basically the time of giving and sharing and sharing and I just want to say Ira again thank
134you for standing up for me you're a true Soldier and to all the people I've actually said I'm here to serve I've been serving for a long time and I've always been at your meeting and I've continued to be up to all the board meetings and for whoever is spreading that I will call on you to stop it it's malicious it's dangerous it's not cool and like I would say the record speaks for itself I've always been here to serve you and serve our kids and when I can't serve anymore I will humbly walk away but while I'm here I will continue to work hard and just the last thing my schedule has changed during covet and I've told the president and all the board members over and over I worked 11 to 74. it
135was okay for me to be at meters late my schedule is now 17 to 7 A.M that's the ship I work that's my job it pays my bill to take care of my family and that's a shift I've been given to work so I have to work around it to be on the board and I try my best so that's the reason why sometimes you may not see me around a lot but I'm always there chicken and do it best I can once again to all my board members I love you all thank you and be safe and happy holidays Merry Christmas Happy New Year have a good night and be safe thank you all thank you Mr Powell Mr Carroll good evening um I'm gonna be brief I have a lot of notes but
136I'm going to try to be great it's getting late um Miss West Mr Gaines Crystal vacchio all the other teachers that spoke tonight we do hear you we do listen um but apparently we have to do better we need to bring morale back to you guys and I personally do respect everything that you do Mr Vecchio your dedication I personally know and I'm sure all the teachers in this District are dedicated to what they do and um I'm Die Hard Hackensack born and raised and I will do whatever I can to help you guys and I'm gonna be honest a lot of times when I come here I don't know what's going on until you guys do speak so I appreciate you for holding us accountable and um again we got to do better um
137High School chorus thanks for coming out they did a great job I've been to I try to get to every function I can so I've been to a few um concerts winter concerts and they've all been pretty good actually really good um congratulations to Mr Allen on his exemplary educator award um congratulations to the young ladies with the engineering stem program that was outstanding and five that's a lot so that's great right am I right that's great see how we could um the story front row right in my face every every every month love it we appreciate you thank you my dentist appreciate you and um you are you are truly truly a pleasure um let's go uh congratulations to um oh our uh athletic director Mr Gordon lighting making uh the 50 most influential
138and influential people in New Jersey I believe and Ira only been here a year but it's been a pleasure sorry to see you go but yes you're still around you're still around I appreciate you and um everyone uh happy holidays and be safe and good night thank you have a lot of noise but I'm really gonna try to keep it as brief as I can I want to just uh generally recognize everyone who is honored and congratulate them I have a lot of notes as well but I have three words that kept coming up uh retention respect and fingerprinting for some reason I want to dig into that um but we you know I do want to reiterate with some of the trustees here said that you know we do appreciate you guys coming up
139sometimes it's hard to hear [Music] things that need to be fixed but that's what we're here and like uh you know trustee say said before we do respect you you know uh you know I hate to lose Educators it's any educator um because it's a tough job you know I want to shout out Mr Gaines you know my he teaches an elective that's very early in the morning and my daughter chose to uh to take that elective and she comes home to me every day talking about the debates and what she learned and I um how engaged everyone is in that class uh and I would hate for any teacher to lose that passion because we need more of that um you know most of us here are parents uh kids in the district uh
140we get to hear the perspective of our children and like that you'll see said you guys need to come so we can hear your perspective as well um I'm open to a you know retention kind of committee I want to know why why why why are you guys leaving let's you know I I want to dig into that as well um uh welcome to newly appointed staff this park Mr Ruiz pleasure to have you guys my real sunshine first person I see when I come in here always makes me smile and then prepares me for the the rest of the night so thank you uh trustee Goodman I can't say enough I admire your fairness your grace um you know your positivity always no matter what I mean he was physically injured and just never
141you could never tell just be made positive and energized and uh did a pleasure to work with you um that's what I well one more thing guys you know there was there was a quota that said that we should give our give flowers to those while they're alive and here and I gotta say that tell the people that you love them that you love them um often because you don't know when they won't be here uh I have a safe safe and happy holiday and have a good night thank you for sticking around um so I'll say you know thank you to the course they um set the mood for the night for sure um Mr Goodman we started this journey together and so I'm thankful for your positivity and um you're continued continued effort
142to um as we set on different committees to to get people to be thankful for things as we moved through that journey together so I thank you for your your hard work um congratulations Mr Allen one thing I can say is you know he's the the sixth grade camp camp director you couldn't pay me a million dollars to take six credits into the camp for a week um I think that's an unbelievable like a task and job that he does [Music] um Dr Whiting and um uh we we appreciate the the girls exploring engineering that's such an amazing job and then the young ladies that he presented us tonight um were for not phenomenal young women so thank you for that hard work uh so the student performance data that that we looked at um
143[Music] it it was hard to look at and to look at at where our students are but that doesn't mean that is where we will stay it doesn't mean that um you count us down and out it means that we have some work to do it means that we target certain areas to to focus on harder and it means that we figure out a plan of action and we attack it hard we absolutely can do it um I will say for me personally um and Mr Sanchez hey I released that's got to be on the same interesting Chad um sorry buddy um one for me personally one correlation that I did draw was I was looking at the data so this is a kind of a data driven request um so we this we we
144keep hearing about the ESL ell the whole busing type situation but then when you look at the data even above our special education the not passing numbers was that ell group right so like that says something to me so I just request that you look into maybe um just looking at the numbers of students that we're even talking about at their respective schools to even see just let's just start with the data and just see what are the numbers we're going to be talking about because even to look at things so if you just get data from each school on how many kids we're talking about so that we can know what we're even looking at I would appreciate that if I may have before you continue with your report or your comments excuse me
145I just wanted to add um you know obviously a decision was made a couple years back to have a Continuum at the schools that's why uh Parker school and Jackson Avenue School have the Continuum K through four with the bilingual programs there is ESL at uh Fairmont school and there is ESL at Hillard school um what I can say to you is you know the busing situation that's something that can be looked at but that falls on the courtesy busing once you offer courtesy busing to one you have to offer courtesy busing to all so it's not as simple as let's just get one bus because that there's a slippery slope with offering courtesy bussing but what I will say is that obviously we will look at the data we're going going to you know
146continue to dialogue with our teachers I'd like to comment to Mr Lane and Mr games there was no commentary that was made that was to admonish teachers the chain of command really is a policy that exists it's for a reason um the teachers at the middle school they know I went to see them the very next day and I had the same discussion with them I mean listen we we're not here to punish anyone we're receptive to it my my point in any of those comments was really just as simple as I have to be aware of a problem so I can take action of it and the first I heard of any of it really was at that board meeting and that was really my point but I didn't say anything out of the
147norm of what a chain of command policies speak to right go up the chain and we find out and we're happy to sit down and talk I sat down with the ladies at the middle school I was happy to do so I continue to be happy to do so moving forward we're putting things in place um you know things won't happen overnight as you see we hired a couple of uh you know teachers um and this is very well this very agenda we still have some shortages we have we hired a bilingual sorry a bilingual math teacher we hired a Spanish teacher which is going to help them we continue to you know try to secure those other positions quite frankly the numbers are growing exponentially at the at the ESL bilingual programs in our
148schools and you know quite it snuck up on us but again I didn't know about it until it was brought to my attention but it was brought to my attention at a public venue it wasn't brought to my attention going up to its command I'm happy to talk to anybody anybody that's that's met with me I will talk to anybody and try to you know brainstorm of situations you know to try to make things better so um with that um oh and Mr games Mr eshok was hired in the November meeting it's in the B section okay thank you attack ing documenting device for these issues so if the change is growing somewhere else sir I know that they have not being alone that's not their fault and I don't disagree with that you know
149did not do their part that's all I'm saying yeah they actually reach you sure yeah and I'll say this it could have been as easy as an email to me and say listen I've tried and I haven't gotten a response [Music] things [Music] you know the exact time okay and if you go if you go back and look at Boardman it's the comments I made at that meeting um at the previous meeting are are very similar to comments that I've made in the past about the point of when we come to board meetings of course we welcome all comments but this board really has no authority to act on anything all they can do is refer things back to me and that's why we have a chain of Commandments but I thank you for that
150[Music] okay Mr Lane thank you all right I was having a conversation with Mr Mr Gaines I gave you a response you gave me a response back you continuing public comment is now over [Music] president Victory okay back okay um so if you'll just get numbers so that you know it'll help to think through it um okay y'all throw me off a little bit okay let me get back to where I was um so it wasn't so that answers a couple of my things that I was gonna talk okay so that deals with the posting project manager okay so in um so uh the the one other thing that you talked about was uh the public comments the two sections uh this is the last meeting obviously of this year that a new board member
151will roll on and that's something that I think that we can with the new board kind of formulate next next year that's something that we can bring up to have um that conversation to start that conversation back so I appreciate you bringing that up um so um so again like like my uh board members were talking about um is this whole teacher retention situation and um I I do you know one of the things that I've talked about all year is bringing the right people to the table and um I think one of a mistake of many districts in this country is having the wrong people at the table when I say the wrong people it's usually a um central office personnel and or strictly a more of a a homogeneous group of people at
152a certain level as opposed to a very wide group of people at the table that are in the schools you know um that are specifically teaching a certain you know a certain group or whatever and so maybe a teacher retention group um and quite frankly it made me need to be a um a a staff retention type group um because we have um there are lots of positions that are are um that we're losing at times um but it is concerning because um teacher you know I know we we hear about a teacher shortage and that is very real but teacher shortage does not equal teachers you know um wanting to get the heck out of Dodge um that's two very different things because it is concerning when they are staying in education they're just
153going to another District that's very near [Music] um because we have a lot to offer here um so we have to figure that out um uh I want you to know I I hear the fingerprint stuff I don't I don't want to I don't feel comfortable touching on that I think that's something that other that I just want you to acknowledge that I hear it I'm going to pass that off to Mr Sanchez I'm this is a social cue I hear it so I want you to think about that and how you might need to deal with that [Music] um this and then um and then this uh West uh um other things that and I know that that y'all meet um Mr Sanchez and the union and however y'all do that um I I
154request that that y'all might bring up the other issues that that y'all were she was talking about past problems um Chromebooks hey tutor all the things that she said that y'all can address um from that end [Music] um the story through the highlight of our board meetings we thank you for um challenging us when we need to be challenged encouraging us when we need to be encouraged um your calling as a teacher has extended to your to a calling in retirement and we are thankful for you um and we look forward to next year on a personal note I um I thank you board members for allowing me to be the president for this year um this is my last meeting as the president uh and I appreciate uh the time that you allowed me
155to be president in January 2nd or fourth whatever day it is it's soon um will be time for elections and and um we will see what happens then but I'm thankful for the time that I did get to serve um the community and the board and our students in this way so I will let you make the motion to close the meeting this time I'd like to make a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting can I have a second Mr Oates all those in favor say aye aye thank you this is not part of meeting Miss Allen I saw you in ShopRite you sat there our kids are best friends and you failed to tell me that Tamaya was gonna be here today oh we're gonna have a conversation please do not leave the building [Music]
156[Applause]