001Welcome. I need to begin by reading the statement of adequate notice. The New Jersey Open Public Meeting Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Mountain Lakes Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the Mountain Lakes Municipal Building and sent to the following newspapers: The Daily Record, The Citizen, and the district website. Can we please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
002liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Dr. Don. Here. Ms. Foreman. Here. Dr. Hirschfeld. Mr. Johnson. Ms. Kolkarni. Here. Ms. McVey. Here. Ms. Parker. Here. Dr. Sheth. Here. Dr. Sullivan McIntyre. Here. And Ms. Barkauskas. >> Here. All right. We do have executive session. Be it resolved that the Mountain Lakes Board of Education enters into executive session. We need a first and a second, please. We have Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Kolkarni. Thank you very much. Um, all in favor say I. I. >> Be it resolved by the Mountain Lakes Board of Education on this 13th day of April, 2026 at 6:33 p.m. as follows. The Board shall recess into closed session in accordance with the Open Public Meeting Law NJSA 10:4-12b 1 2 6 7 and 8. The general nature of the discussion including matters
003of personal confidentiality rights including but not limited to staff and or student discipline matters and specifically legal matters. These matters will be disclosed in public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer applies. Although the Board cannot guarantee it, the length of the executive session is estimated to be 60 minutes, after which the public meeting of the Board shall reconvene and proceed with business. Action may take place. Okay, we'll be back in about an hour. Thanks, everyone. All right, so we need a motion to leave executive session. I need a first and a second. We have Dr. Sheth and Mrs. Parker. Thank you very much. All in favor of leaving executive session say I. All right, the motion is approved and the Board returns to public session at 7:47. First of all, thank you,
004everyone, for being at our meeting tonight. It's so nice to see everyone out there. I am sorry that we were a little late in coming back, but I promise you we were doing good work for the district back there. So, thank you for your patience. All right, we get to move right in. First for the student government report, which we do not have. Um, then we get to move into a section that's Mountain Lakes School District Student Comments. So, is there any student that would like to make a comment this evening? Okay, I have to read a statement first and then you can get up and say your your statement. All right. Comments and requests from the members of the public. Public comment is set aside for the Board to hear feedback and questions from
005members of the public. The Board will take all comments and suggestions from the public into consideration. If you have more than one question, we request that all questions are asked within the time provided as public comment is not intended for back-and-forth dialogue. If the Board is unable to answer your question at this time, we will explain when and in what format the answers will be communicated. We request that you limit your questions or comments to 3 minutes and present all questions within those 3 minutes. Please state your name and address for the record. The Board appreciates and thanks you for your attendance and participation at our meeting. Now, the way this works is Mrs. Parker is going to keep time. She'll give you kind of a 30-second notice and then that's how we work. All
006right, so please, first person up. State your name and address for the record. Uh, hi. My name is Graham Walter. I live I live at 21 Cliffside Way in Boonton Township. Hello, Mountain Lakes Board of Education members. My name is Graham Walter. I lived in Boonton Township for 5 years and have attended Mountain Lakes High School for the past four. My father and brother graduated from this school and during that time my grandmother served on this very board. While it's not my hometown, I've come to know Mountain Lakes as a welcoming and respectful community. That is precisely why I was so disturbed by the conduct of a member of this Board in a classroom setting just a few weeks ago. On Monday, March 30th, Ms. Sarah Foreman was invited into Ms. Gillespie's AP U.S. Government
007and Politics classes to give a presentation about lobbying and political campaigns. Given her professional background, I was genuinely interested in hearing her perspective. However, it quickly became clear that this was not an objective educational presentation, but instead a platform for introducing personal bias and inflammatory rhetoric into an academic environment. Early in her presentation, she referenced the 2025 New York City mayoral election, describing it as a failure due to the election of what she claimed were anti-Semitic socialists. I feel obliged to note here that she worked on Andrew Cuomo's campaign, one which ultimately lost this race. While inappropriate, I initially chose to overlook this remark. However, she escalated further, displaying an electoral map of that same election and asserting that she could not believe voters, especially those in Jewish majority neighborhoods, supported someone who, in her
008words, wanted the mass execution of Jews. At this point, it was clear to me that this would continue unchecked unless someone intervened. Immediately following the second remark, I raised my hand feeling the need to question her clear bigotry and categorically false statements. When I was called on, I stated simply that I found her language to be harsh and asked her where in Zoran's campaign he called for the death of Jews. In response, Ms. Foreman stated that the phrase from the river to the sea was evidence. But this is a long-running phrase in the Palestinian freedom movement and has never actually been attributed to Zoran Momdani. I pushed back further, beginning to speak about my Muslim great-grandparents who fled Albania under persecution from actual socialists before World War II. As I was speaking, Ms. Foreman interrupted
009me and began to progressively raise her voice saying that she would not be dictated to. As I tried to continue speaking, she escalated into a near yell, stating that she had lived this and ended with the callous remark, "Your family can suffer." To address each of these, I ask you, Ms. Foreman, what have you lived? Did you live what my great-grandparents had to endure? Did you live what my great-uncle had to endure who sacrificed his life so my my ancestors can make it to America for for religious freedom? And for the second remark, I have simply no words. To say something so hurtful in a classroom to a 17-year-old student with absolutely zero remorse is unfathomable to me. To To For such a statement to enter the mind of someone in a position of authority
010in this environment is reprehensible. And it is for all these reasons that I have stated that I demand the immediate resignation of Ms. Sarah Foreman from this Board of Education. I do not see a path forward in which someone who can say such atrocious things with zero understanding of their impact can continue to influence educational matters in an otherwise exceptional community like Mountain Lakes. Thank you, Board members. I yield my time. >> [applause] >> Is there something you would like to add? Okay. Thank you for those comments. Is there anyone else? Hello. For the record, my name is Laura Blandon and I live at 104 Intervale Road. I'm a senior at Mountain Lakes High School and I was present in the classroom during this incident. While I cannot speak for all of my classmates, I
011can say that the exchange that occurred between Mrs. Sarah Foreman and Graham Walter was highly uncomfortable and hard to overlook. Regardless of political beliefs, a professional such as Mrs. Foreman who has worked in politics for years and who has also consistently been speaking to AP Government students in years past should have been able to guide a discussion surrounding a controversial topic with a level of sophistication. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. I understand that as a speaker coming in for the purpose of informing students about political engagement, it may be difficult to remain non-partisan. Still, this does not negate a responsibility to be careful and accurate in the information that you state, recognizing that politics in a school environment must remain objective. More than this, a professional must be prepared for criticism and have the
012ability to respectfully diffuse situations. She should not feel comfortable saying provocative, blatantly false statements about a political figure and then disrespectfully shutting down a student when questioned. Her inflammatory language and conduct towards Graham have no place in a classroom and should never happen again. Thank you. I yield the rest of MY TIME. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE WHO wants to make a comment right now? Okay. Um, so for the record, my name is Grace Fu and I live at 11 Hillcrest Road. Um, I'm a senior in MLHS and I would like to comment on the same incident that occurred in AP Gov. Um, I want to preface by saying that I was not present during the lecture, but I did see how this affected my classmates throughout the
013day. And as a resident and student here, I am directly represented by members of this Board and there are certain expectations that I, as well as I'm sure many others, have for our elected representatives at any level of government. It is my understanding that public school teachers are not allowed to share their personal political views in the classroom nor in any professional exchanges with students. I believe that this standard should apply equally, if not more strictly, to elected members of the BOE. Mrs. Foreman, like all of you on this Board, is responsible for representing the interests of students, of parents, of residents of this town. More than that, as an educator, she is she is responsible for cultivating an environment that is safe and accepting for all students. So, regardless of what anyone thinks about
014Mayor Mondani, there's a level of professionalism that is expected of educators, especially when they're speaking to students about controversial political issues. That professionalism to me was clearly not displayed that day. It is inappropriate to tell anyone to suffer in any context, but it is especially egregious when you consider that this exchange was between an authority figure and a student. I believe that there is a way to have a productive political conversation about polarizing topics. In fact, these can be very valuable, but that's only if they're done right. I'm in Holocaust this year. I took AP Gov last year during one of the most polarizing elections in American history. I discussed immigration with my classmates last year with a classroom where like everyone disagreed with me and it was phenomenal. Um but nothing of this level
015occurred in any of those classes. So, I have two questions for you all. How did this happen and will we let it happen again? The answer to the first, I believe, is Mrs. Forman's conduct. It's not the topic of the discussion itself. The answer to the second question depends on all of you. The Mountain Lakes Public Schools mission statement pledges to ensure that students will be empowered to be productive, responsible, self-directed citizens of the global community. I would like to ask how Mountain Lakes expects to meet this standard if a member of the administration is dismissing students' ideas, speaking over them in the classroom setting, and effectively telling students what they should or should not believe. Part of what makes Mountain Lakes in education so great is that it empowers us to advocate for ourselves,
016engage in discourse with people that we disagree with, and in doing so learn how to tackle complex real-world issues. That means treating students with respect and that means an environment where we understand that the student learns, but they can also educate the teacher. Thank you and I yield the rest OF MY TIME. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU FOR THOSE COMMENTS. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE THAT wants to speak? Not at this time. This is only for students. There will be a public comment time later. Anyone else at this time? Okay. Before I begin Dr. Siegel, is there anything you'd like to say at this time? Is there any other board member that would like to say anything at this time? I think it's important that we say this. We've been talking this year about disagreement. We've
017been talking this year about the courage to say what you think. And we've been talking this year about having a voice. I understand and you've made it clear that sometimes there are things you don't agree with and that you've had the courage to stand up. Opinions are hard. Opinions are personal and they come from experiences. The fact that you came tonight to share your opinion and say you disagree is something actually we hope you learn here. It's not that I agree with everything or disagree with everything from this chair. I don't know if every board member here could say they agree or disagree with everything that was said. But you coming tonight, you participating in the meeting is exactly what we hope you do and you've learned. This is a meeting where you're always welcome
018to come and say what you think. We take what you say seriously. We do. And again, when you come here you are treated respectfully and you are welcome all the time. It doesn't mean we agree. It doesn't mean we disagree. It means that opportunity is open to you. So, for that, we're glad you were here, sincerely. Now, you are welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting and you are welcome to get up and leave if that's what you need to do because we have a lot of business tonight. But there are opportunities again for you to speak later on if that's what you choose. All right. Just one comment to add. I think that a lot of you here >> [cough and clears throat] >> being in AP Government understand um how government
019works. Well, one of the proceedings is a board meeting is very unique in how it's run uh and unlike what could happen in the classroom uh can be a dialogue. A board meeting is not a venue for there to be dialogue. So, the fact that uh there's not a answer to your questions in public doesn't necessarily mean that your words weren't heard or that uh things are taken into consideration, obviously, but this is not a platform in which there is dialogue. That goes for adults, too, by the way. >> [laughter] >> All right. With that in order, can we move on? All right, then. We move on to comments and requests from the ML I have a word. Yes, I did ask for board members if they wanted to have a comment. Sure. I guess
020there's no way to speak with you privately. Speak with me? Yeah. As soon as we break >> recess. If that's what you want to do, you can ask for a recess. I'd I'd like a recess. I would like Robert's Rules of Order about this. There is. So, a board member can make a motion for a recess. We need a second for that. Then we vote if there should be a We then we just agree should there be a recess and then we take a 5-minute recess. So, that's part of our process. So, we have a board member has asked for a 5-minute recess. Do we have a second on that? Yes? All in favor, yes? Yes, okay. Then we're going to take a 5-minute recess. We're going to go back into our executive session room
021and then we're going to come back on out. Motion to re- re-enter the meeting. So, we were at the comments and requests from the MLEA co-presidents. Well, we're still glad you're here. Thank you so much. All right, then we move on to presentations. We have a presentation this evening. I will turn the meeting over to Dr. Siegel. So, this is rather interesting. So, we're going to do a presentation about my evaluation. Uh this is annual process by New Jersey School Boards. The district has adopted uh the New Jersey School Boards evaluation tool for the CSA, which is the central office administrator, superintendent. Um and as part of the training that goes into that process, our school boards representative, Dr. Panera, uh who joined us for one of our more recent meetings to do an ethics
022um review also uh is here tonight to share uh some information about the evaluation tool that I've gotten to know very well over the last 9 years of me working in this field. Um but it this is always good um reminders and for our new board members to hear what goes into this process and for anybody else uh in the audience who wants to learn about how the superintendent is evaluated. So, Dr. Panera, this is all yours. Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks. How's that? It's okay? Terrific. Thank you. >> Great. Okay. So, with that in mind uh that the board is seasoned to a certain extent with this process and I I agree with Dr. Siegel, it's always good to get a refresh. Look it up. How's that? Better? Okay. Thank you. It's always good
023to get a refresh. Uh I was in public education for many years as assistant superintendent and we had to do grants every year, but I still had to refresh pretty regularly. So, um but that being said, it is a pretty straightforward presentation. I will be concise, but also make sure that if you have any questions, we can answer those as well. So, let's jump right in. Okay. So, this is just a reminder um if someone is conflicted, what does that mean? It just means that uh if somebody has a family member who works in the district, that could uh potentially create a conflict, conflict of interest. So, you'd want to check with your board attorney if there's any question about that. Okay. Uh accountability. The law uses the word accountability, but I like to look
024at this process more as a collaborative, sort of cooperative uh way of looking at progress when it comes to goals and and the superintendent's um achieving standards, the six standards that uh are are part of being a superintendent. So, uh I like to use that word. But that being said the law uses the word accountability. So, let me just touch base real quickly on the fact that the law requires that there be an evaluated a performance evaluation of the superintendent once a year that the evaluation is in writing, that there is a meeting to discuss the findings, and that they're based on two things. So, we'll really just touch on the two things that make up the evaluation and that's um goals and typically a board uh works with the superintendent to cooperatively come up
025with maybe three goals. It could be two, they could be multi-year. Um sometimes a little bit more than three goals, but for the most part, that's pretty standard. And then those standards, the six standards I mentioned. Okay? There's further legal guidelines associated with it. So, that's in the 6A series. And that just points out or uh codifies that July 1 it has to be done by July 1, the evaluation. Uh it has to include areas of strength, areas that might need improvement. Don't have to find areas of improvement, but there has to be um you know, that that can be included in it. Recommendations for professional growth, indicators of student progress uh {slash} growth. And then of course, that summary meeting at the end of uh the school year is before July 1 in particular
026is part of it as well. Uh this is part of our tool. So, the New Jersey School Boards Association, who I'm a representative with, um we have a tool. You do not have to use our tool, but I find that uh in the past you've used it and it's effective, efficient. Of course, I believe it is as well. But what is not optional is doing the process itself. So you can either do it as part of the school board's tool or you can do it on your own. You've opted to do it with us, so that's great. Allows for full participation by non-conflicted board members. So all board members can participate. You'll see on the screenshots that it'll look at what it looks like online. And you know, online as you're working through it individually.
027I think it's worth pointing out pretty just quickly that we the school boards doesn't didn't come up with the standards for example or the whole process on its own. The school boards association worked closely with NJASA, which is the New Jersey Association for School Administrators. So you had board members that were involved in putting this process together working alongside with school superintendents association to come up with this process. Okay, so the business the the business administrator is sort of the point person for making sure all the elements are in place. So that includes the district census. It just means the database with all of you entered into it. Yeah, a calendar in place is good. So as the as this process begins, the board president and the superintendent can get together and talk about what
028when the superintendent can have the self-evaluation completed and when the window would open for the board members to complete their part of it. And then ultimately when that summary performance evaluation meeting would happen. Via that link and I can make sure that you all have this presentation. You can click on that if needed to see how to set up that census. You know, have all the board members information in there. So that's really a business administrator slide. This is a quick look at what's involved. So it's highlighted there and I'll just move up the steps quickly because it's reflected in subsequent slides as well. But we're at that highlighted point really in a sense today. So the pre-conference just means that the expectations are established. It's it's not etched in stone exactly what that looks
029like. Every board does it a little differently. So you can set up mostly setting up the calendar maybe deciding if you want the board in advance to see what the superintendent what the goals are and any progress that you might want to include in advance, but that's all up to you. The bottom line though is this sort of starts the pre-conference because we're all getting on the same page with what the process looks like. And then the rest can be worked out between the board president and the and the superintendent. And then it just goes up till you get to the final July 1 meet up before July 1 having the meeting to to to sign off on the the evaluation. Yeah, those appear in more slides, so I'm not going to stop and go
030through all of them. The goals assessment. So this is that first part. The evaluation has to be based on goals and objectives. So as I said, there's usually three to five goals for particular district. These are the district goals that are done collaboratively with the board. And then once those are established, um there's an action plan that the district typically puts in place and then reports out on it throughout the year. So that's typically how the updates are made. And then by the time the board gets to the the evaluation phase you've you're pretty familiar with what the goals are obviously. You have a sense of where you're at, but there's more that the superintendent will provide you via the self-evaluation. So here's an example. This is a screenshot of what the goals look like.
031So let's say you have three goals. This would be one panel that you would see in the online tool. So up top there you have a description of the goal. So what would happen is the superintendent would put the language in that describes the goal. And then beneath that insert comments of his own in this case and talk a little bit about um maybe how the goal has been achieved and what evidence there is of achieving those goals, progressing in those goals and then the the board members as they log in, they can review what the superintendent has provided and then they provide their own comments. So superintendent gives a self-rating I've achieved or made satisfactory progress or little or no progress. And then below that the board member will do the same thing and
032provide comments as well. And so we just do that for each goal. That's half of the whole process. Example of what it might look like if the superintendent was if the goal was to improve safety and security of students and staff, the superintendent might put comments such as CSA reports. So the CSA is the superintendent out monthly at board meetings on the progress made towards district goals. Attached is the yearly action plan for district goals. In this case, it's hypothetical 23 through 24. Additional evidence can be found in the attached standards link. So that's what I was referring to when I said the superintendent can say here's my rating, here's the evidence of why I've rated myself that way. And then below that under that under that same goal, the board members have the opportunity
033to provide their own comments. I'll just read the first one. The superintendent and BA have done an excellent job of incorporating the security measures that were recommended by the security expert. Thank you. And then the others might be from other board members. And then ultimately in the case of this hypothetical district, there are eight board members. Seven said the goal was achieved. One said it was satisfactory progress and one said there was little or no progress made. But that would be what the evaluation of goal this goal would look like. Then there's the standards. So we've talked about the goals. That's pretty straightforward. Then there's the standards. There's six of them, but they come from a professional organization and they were established some time ago. 2015. They're the ISLLC standards as they like to call
034them. That's the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. That's a good one. And those standards are what we hope to see our superintendents, chief school administrators achieving, working you know, working to excel at. So these are the six standards: mission, vision, core values, governance, ethics, professional norms, operations management, curriculum instruction learning, community of care, equity and family engagement, professional capacity, community of school district personnel. So those are the six standards and here's what that's going to look like. Now that looks like an explosion sort of on the screen, but it's actually not as complicated as it looks. These again go standard by standard. So at the very tippity top there in the middle it says standard one mission, vision, and core values. So same process. The superintendent will provide information, evidence as to progress or attainment
035of that standard. And then the board beneath that has the opportunity to rate it at a performance level of either exemplary, proficient, area for growth, unsatisfactory or not observed. Okay, and so those boxes along the side are just sort of tagging what all that information is. And again, it's a really good idea for the resources to be very clear because as much as a lot comes through a board meeting as you know, you've already been through a big portion of a board meeting today. And so um it's it's great when superintendents provide you the reminding information. So if it's a link to some information, I find that you know, the more that you have to work with as evidence goes, the more you nod your head and go oh, that's right. We did do that.
036That was great. You know, that's exemplary. So that's how this one works. It goes standard by standard. So each individual board member sees this screen individually and works on their own to do that. Standard by standard. So you do six of those. Then there's the compilation of the standards. So again, if we're using the word you were using the number eight as far as these board this particular hypothetical board is concerned, here's standard two. There are seven indicators of what goes into that standard. So there's a whole bunch of numbers there. Let me keep it simple. Um Each of those numbers going down each column is what one you know, how many board members rated each of those indicators as exemplary. Let's just jump down to the bottom and keep it simple. If you average
037that by seven each of those columns, you're going to find that the board assessed this standard for this hypothetical chief school administrator as exam you know, one exemplary rating for this standard, five proficient, two said area growth, none said unsatisfactory or not observed. Okay, and so this what does all this mean? It gets compiled within the tool. So then I deliver, provide to the board president that compilation and a couple of handy dandy documents that are helpful to have including a template for the final annual performance report. So the compilation of board members input is processed through our tool. Again, I I pass that forward with some more resources for the board president. That's shared with the rest of the board. And then there's an annual performance report that comes out of that with majority
038rating. So it's not necessarily consensus so much as what is the majority of the board feel about whether it's the goals or the standards. In the conference, there's also minority minority ratings, comments that can be verbally shared. So there's the working towards what the majority of the board members feel and then there's the option at the final conference for the minority opinion to be shared, but that's not part of the written majority report. Hopefully that makes sense. Okay, this is the process. So as you know, if you're talking about anyone's performance or evaluation in a school district including the superintendent, you have to rice them. In in a nutshell that just means that they have to let they have to be told 48 hours in advance that their performance or will their yeah, their performance
039will be discussed in a meeting and that is done in executive session which means closed session. The board president or designee would begin drafting this majority opinion. The board gets together to to discuss that without the superintendent. That's where the rice comes in. The annual report is developed and then maybe the final one. It depends how each board does it, but the final report before meeting with the superintendent might be discussed again as a board and um Yeah. So this is what the template looks like. So I can provide this and what it it's pretty straightforward. I think that's the beauty of it. District goal number one is rated. This goal has been achieved satisfactory or satisfactory progress or little no progress and supporting remarks. So in that case now it's not an individual board
040members remarks. It's based on your conversation as a board what the majority opinion is and then either the board president or a designee would have to reflect that in the supporting remarks. And do that again for each goal and then the same thing for each standard. Then when it comes to strengths and growth areas for assessment, you might remember from one of those you know from the law it says that illustrating what strengths and growth areas are is a good idea. So the superintendent's strengths can be noted in one box on the template and say you know a number of more than one standard can be marked as being an area of strength and then conversely there's another box there where it might be be decided that and there would be supporting remarks for that
041suggesting why there there strengths and then as I said the bottom one or the additional one if there are standards that could use some professional growth and improvement. That's not always because something was lacking. Sometimes it just means that there was a focus on certain standards maybe one year and then the next year even the superintendent could say, "I'm really going to focus on that." But again, it depends on the dynamic that you have here. Okay, sort of winding down now. The sum summary conference. The non-conflicted board members, we always have to say that and the superintendent meet to discuss the evaluation in executive session again. Personnel matters are not public matters. So that process is completed in executive session together. Again, the majority of total not Sorry, the majority opinion would be expressed and
042then verbally if there were a board member or two and there was a minority a minority comment or something that wanted to be shared verbally, it could be done there, but it doesn't go in the official report. And then the minutes reflected the executive session you know that that the annual summary conference was held. I think the next slide reminds me of the other thing I wanted to share. So yeah, so who keeps a copy? You know, it's it's a confidential matter the evaluation of superintendents that work with school boards. So when we the compilation is done, I hand it over. I don't review it the way when you do the board self-evaluation, I participate in that with you and [snorts] that's a great opportunity to do some brainstorming and talk about you know board
043goals for themselves as far as professional learning is concerned. But when it comes to the evaluation of the superintendent, that's a you thing. It's between you and your superintendent and I don't participate in reviewing that. What we do do though because it is residing with us is we hold it until December 1 uh December 31st. So each year we purge all of that information and it's important I guess to keep that in mind because if we were talking about your board self-evaluation compilation, you know we that sticks around for a while and we have that. But if we're talking about the superintendent's performance evaluation, every December 31st we purge those because it it's confidential and it's not really our place to have that. So who does keep it then? Of course, the superintendent will want
044a copy and the board attorney keeps a copy. That's the best way to manage that. Okay, considerations. This is just reminders of a couple things. Just the process of going of reviewing the goals throughout the year. We know that this process for evaluating the superintendent isn't like something that's done in a window of six you know six to eight weeks. It's part of you know you're always evaluating the how the district goals are are going and so there's constant progress updates. So it's not really a one-shot deal or a once a year event. It's throughout the year. It's a review of performance over a full year. Progress updates and two-way communication are critical. That's again just how you're you know working side by side to attain goals for the district. There's that system to retain
045the evidence. We talked about that. And then it's the responsibility of all eligible members to fully participate. So all that means is we really encourage all board members of course to participate who are not conflicted and that means going into the tool and if you have questions contacting me or talking to your BA and finding out you know what you need to do to complete it. Then we also encourage not just necessarily putting you know the the numbers, but also the remarks. The remarks can be super helpful for a superintendent to be able to review. And since you're all pretty seasoned in using this, we went through that pretty quickly, but if there are questions, I can answer those either tonight or at another time. A couple of comments for for the board. But first,
046thank you for coming. This is always important that you you give us this information to kick off the process and get our [clears throat] heads thinking about this. Just for the board as a a point of the way we typically done this process. Once Dr. Siegel completes his portion of the evaluation, I usually send out an email to all of you basically saying, "Okay, go into the tool and and get started." I we we pick a deadline for that and sometimes I I send you a few emails to make sure you're hitting the deadline. And then thanks to Mrs. Parker, she begins compiling all of that data into a document that we get to review before we present it to Dr. Siegel. So unfortunately the the process is timed. We all have to kind of
047work within this. In a general sense, general sense, if Dr. Siegel could complete his portion by I don't know the end of April-ish, we would then have most of May to get that sort of compiled and done and typed and Jen does a Herculean job with that and then we could in effect use the second exact session to present this to Dr. Siegel at the second May meeting. That's always the target we have so we don't have to have a special meeting. If we find we have to adjust, we adjust. But that's using your framework. That's the timeline in the process we typically used. Does any board member have an objection to that or a question on that that we should try to revisit? Yes, I know Miss Parker, you don't have a choice. You're
048writing it. You have to write it. You have to write it. There [laughter] is no I want to I kid. No, you're the designate. Is there anybody Dr. Siegel, does that sound kind of like that we could work within that timeline? All right, everybody else okay with that? All right, so look for emails and then once you get that, go into the tool and start looking at all of that good work that Dr. Siegel has put in there for us to review. But I do appreciate the the point that you made. This is an ongoing process. The evaluation isn't just one moment. It's looking at all the collective work that's been done by Dr. Siegel leading the district throughout the year. So that's what we get a chance to kind of really get a good
049comprehensive view of and and reflect in a good conversation back. So that's the plan. Sound okay? Yep. All right, then thank you so much for being here. That was fantastic. My pleasure. Okay. All right. All right. Okay, then we can carry on with our agenda. I want to wait for Dr. Siegel. The There is no board president report this evening. So I move right on to the superintendent and assistant superintendent updates. Sure, this is a few reminders about dates. This Thursday, April 16th, the high school will have a delayed opening. Only the high school and that is due to the special election that is taking place. The voting currently resides in Mount Lakes High School. For the previous special election for the primary, we did close the whole district to remain consistent and then recognizing
050that this was going to be a disruption to the learning environment. We stuck with the high school only. So the high school on Thursday, April 16th will have a delayed opening in recognition of the election and and really the theory behind this is that the voter turnout typically in the early morning can be high and that's the time when the student and the traffic is and it's just a little harder for us to manage. We are trying to work cooperatively with the bureau to move the location and as we've said publicly before, our goal is you know for safety and security purposes and just this the school is not the best environment to conduct voting. It is a disruption to learning. So we are working actively with the bureau to see if there's an alternative
051location, but it can't be made made for the special election moving forward. So we will better hopes for next year. Also just a few other updates related to Dr. Panera's present information about the CSA tool. We will do a district goal update first May board meeting. So a lot of the information that is contained in the evaluation will be part of our review and I think it's really important to understand that while superintendent is responsible for overseeing all of our district goals, there are many other people in the team stakeholders, staff, students and administrators who do a lot of important work towards the completion of those goals. So we will celebrate that there. We will also have our in June our end of the year recognition ceremony for students and staff for key accomplishments over
052the year. And then most directly and also really critical point, we are targeting April 27th which is our next board meeting to do our official budget hearing. We did our preliminary budget earlier in March. The county is still reviewing our budget. The county is behind reviewing all the budgets. Hopefully we will be ready to turn this around. Our finance committee is meeting tomorrow night to review plans for how we're going to discuss the budget. But that that's another good meeting to come to if you're interested to hear about how our budget operates and as we've talked about in previous meetings that this is a very challenging year with all of the costs that are on health care in particular to work within the constraints of a cap budget. So that will be April 27th. So
053and that covers School business administrator too. >> Yes it does. Thank you. Okay. So we're moving on to approval of minutes. Yes. Was there an opportunity for comment? On on what? I just wanted to talk about that how the the school administration has been asking the bureau >> Oh so on on on my report you mean? Yeah. Okay. Yes. Is that okay? Yeah yeah I think so. Um so Joanne what we're talking about is that just to catch you up. No no I'm not it's fine. Just that part of Dr. Siegel's minutes uh touched on the fact that we're having delayed openings Yep. uh for voting. Um and I just wanted to make it clear um to anyone who might watch or listen to this that the administration has been asking the bureau we've been
054requesting since December November for them to find an alternate site uh for voting because it's been so disruptive to the educational process needing to have delayed openings. Um and so far they've said they are unable to find any other site or have voting in any other place. Um meanwhile tons of towns have it in all kinds of facilities that are not schools and in fact I think our um state representative uh Bucco is has it um potential legislation to require voting to be in venues other than schools because of the safety issues and the disruption. So anyway if anybody has any pull with anyone in the bureau and they could you know express to the bureau that it might be better to have voting elsewhere so that we don't disrupt the schools and educate education
055educational process that would be helpful because we're we seem to be not getting anywhere. So I'm going to make one small little like that all that's true except that we are talking with the bureau and they are we have been in discussions and meetings with them and they are looking into alternative locations and we'll see what they come back with, but we're we're waiting. We're kind of in a limbo stage awaiting for them to have some other meetings with other locations and we're hopeful. So We are hopeful. We are hopeful. Sorry I didn't realize we were hopeful. We are hopeful. We are hopeful. So I just want to clarify that that we are they are looking at it. The last information I had was not We had some productive meetings so I just want to
056be clear. We're always hopeful. But but motion 10 we're also approving the June 2nd use for another election. Yeah they can't do it due to the rules like regulations surrounding the elections everything it's too soon. So we're looking at it for next school year. Yeah there's no possibility to move the location. There's no decision also since you brought that up on what the status of school Audrey Zact is yet. Okay. We got a lot of students in the audience so I want to make sure that's clear. >> [laughter] >> Don't get too excited yet. But but I do I I I think it's important to say that you know the the shared services committee which is comprised of board members and town council members sat down and and this was a good conversation. There was
057a real willingness on both sides to try and figure this out. It's just not happening as fast as everyone wants it to happen. So we remain hopeful. That's a good way to say that. We have a meeting next week. All right. We do. We have a meeting on Monday. >> been asking for really years. Yeah but we there's a renewed spirit of cooperation here. Let's let's say that a renewed spirit. All right. Hopeful. All right. I'm sorry I walked out Dr. Panera. Are we on the the Approval. Approval approval of minutes. All right. Here we go. So we have two sets of minutes to approve. We need a first and a second in order to move these. We have Dr. John and we have Dr. Shep. Thank you very much. So for the March 2nd
058So here's what we do. You can vote yes you can vote no you can abstain. All right. So for March 2nd the regular session minutes all in favor say I. Everybody say no. Any abstentions? Okay then the executive minutes all say I. Anybody say no? Any abstentions? Abstentions. We have Dr. Hirschfeld abstaining on the executive session only? >> No everything March 16th. Are we at March 16th? No sorry. Sorry I thought you were at the next date. I thought you were going Are are you are you a yes on both regular and executive for March 2nd? Okay. So now we're moving to March 16th. So regular session minutes all in favor say I. Anyone say no? Any abstentions? There we go. We got one Dr. Hirschfeld. Executive session all say I. Any no's? Any abstentions?
059Dr. Hirschfeld thank you very much. All right. Then we move on to comments and requests from members of the public on agenda items. Does anyone want to speak on an agenda item? Okay. Then we move on to are there any communications to share at this time? We're good. Okay. We our Boonton Township representative is not here this evening so we'll hold the Boonton Township report. That means we get to move on to committee and liaison reports. Are there any committee reports to share at this time? Okay. Miss Kulkarni you get to go first. Thank you. So we had a policy committee meeting on May March 20th. It was quite extensive so just bear with me. Lots of notes coming off of it. We had several topics that we discussed probably the most important and the
060one that as we have a lot of students here today would be interesting for you guys is the use of generative AI. And how we how school systems how school districts should be sort of putting some guardrails around how it's used both by students as well as by by staff frankly. And so we met with Mr. Santos. He presented at the meeting and he's made a lot of progress with the school administrators to really come up with a policy that suits our district. It's still very much in work. We'll have something presented to the board probably in May or June. At which point we'll have much more clarity around exactly what path we want to follow. So that was it was a really good good discussion. And then what we really want to have happen
061and this was a suggestion that came out of our committee is that when it's formally adopted it should be presented to students as well as staff so that everyone this is want to do this with as much transparency as we possibly can so everyone's comfortable with where we're headed. Um So that was sort of the first topic. The second topic was around tutoring services. And where a lot of students are using some sort of tutoring service that's very normal. Um we reviewed this this was part of just a cyclical review that we do. Um and we're just wanting to tighten up the policy I think to establish more clear and ethical boundaries around tutoring. So very much a work in progress. Um Um we did agree that tutoring cannot take place on school grounds. So
062on school grounds it has to be instruction from the school. Tutoring needs to occur outside of that. Um and we we discussed very openly about how we would actually enforce that and how how it actually gets put into practice. Um so we're still in the process. Dr. Siegel is going to be refining some recommendations for us for the policy and then again it will be reviewed at a upcoming meeting. Um we continue to discuss the e-bike plan because as you some of you might know um the governor the prior governor of New Jersey before he left office put into place probably some of the most stringent e-bike policy and the use of e-bikes. And so again, that's a big topic that the administration is still working on and we're going to discuss that more in
063the meeting actually the end of next week. The end of next week. And that was really the the discussion. So lots of meaty topics were covered and more to come. Thank you. Any comments or questions there? Thank you very much. Dr. Seth, did you have a report or committee report? I'm going to apologize cuz these are not my notes and they're Dr. Siegel's notes, so it's twice as long as your notes. Special education also met on March 20th. Dr. Laceration gave an update on Lake Drive enrollment trends. We have 123 students spread out through all four schools with most kids being Lake Drive followed by Mountain Lakes and Briarcliff and then Wildwood. We have 96 that are itinerant um students. Dr. Laceration is expecting that 123 number to increase. However, 10 students are graduating this
064year, so no idea where the number will be in September. Um she also talked about how to plan for like 5 years in advance to look like what the staffing situation is. So she's constantly thinking to how to best keep it well staffed and she's doing a great job in my opinion. Um she did make a quick comment on the itinerant services of request for that is higher than what we can provide. So there was some discussion on how to can we increase um to service those communities that need it. Um Mrs. Di Giacinto, director of special services, also spoke. Um she talked about how there's been fewer referrals for special services um due to the new literacy targeted intervention in second kindergarten to second grade and the early intervention is actually helping to decrease
065the need for special services. Uh Wildwood is also moving towards an inclusive classroom. So this includes providing professional development to teachers to design their teaching plan to teach all students. And the data shows that this model is actually working well for all students. Um Panorama, um that social emotional platform we talked about at the last meeting, that um now the counselors have been trained. Um there's a letter sent out. I know it was the high school, but I didn't know if all the schools also >> district. No, the the whole district got it. Um the students at at least at the high school had theirs on right before break, but I didn't know >> And the middle school. And the other ones, okay. Elementary, too? Elementary is this Wednesday. >> Okay, that's it. All right.
066All right. And that's it. And then the data's going to be presented at the end of the year. That's it. Just uh on Lake Drive, our numbers are 127. We've we've kind of gone back and forth. We There were a few students who left the district and then we did add a few two coming right out of break. Okay, good. All right, thank you for that. Any comments or questions? Any other committee reports? All right, we have on this side. So why don't we go Dr. Don and then Mrs. Foreman. Um I just have a quick update on long-range planning. We we met um as a committee since the last board meeting and had an external consultant come in and do a presentation on you know, his proposal. We're planning to do a 5-year long-range
067plan and um you know, the consultant would come in and facilitate the the workshops and things like that. Um I don't want to go into too much details because we're going to meet again and uh come come up with a recommendation to the full board. So I'll have more details on what that next steps are, but just wanted everybody to know that this is um moving um in in uh progress. So for that is made. Thank you. Comments or questions there? Mrs. Foreman. Um I just have a quick facilities update. Um the path, as everyone got the email, um has been paved and um in a couple of days we're going to be able to walk on it, which is very exciting. And um it ties into just a reminder for everybody to come out
068on um the 24th at 6:00. It's our ribbon cutting for the new field, which is going to be very exciting. It's at the actual field um April. April 24th, yep. Um it's at 6:00 p.m. And so I know it's been just such a long slog just to get this to where we are today. And so to be able to officially open the field is great. And there's a couple of other um extra things that are kind of going on right now with um some of the fencing and just some of the way that the steps and um the landscaping and all these other things are all kind of coming into place, but just everybody should know that we are completely moving in the right direction with that, which is fantastic. Um and also one other
069quick update, too. Um we should have some more information at We're having a facilities committee meeting, I believe, next Friday, I think it is. Um and after that we should have a good update for everybody about what it looks like um for some of our um plans moving forward for how we're going to tie in some of these bigger long-term projects together and you know, facilitate more of a smooth um with co-curricular and some other committees to just We're going to work We're going to discuss that at the next one, but just a heads-up to everybody. I may be asking for ideas. Okay. Comments or questions there? Other than a collective VI field, but okay. So we have that. Anyone else any other committee reports? How about liaison reports? Dr. McIntyre. The MLEF spring bingo
070night is coming up on Thursday, April 30th um at Rockaway River Country Club. Um so I hope everybody comes out and supports that. There's different levels of sponsorship available. Um the bingo night in the fall was a lot of fun, so I hope you all come out. And uh just as a reminder what MLEF does, um the organization last year issued 22 micro grants and 12 standard grants directly to teachers. So they directly help the education of all our students and support teachers' projects that they might not get funded otherwise, so it's a great cause. So help support. Thank you. Comments? Questions? All right, how about any other liaison reports? All right, then. We'll move on. Oh, oh I'm sorry. Jen, I know the MLA. Do you mind if I just the alumni association. They're
071they're they're raising money for Flynn Field um for certain um embellishments and then also the um scoreboard, right? On the main field. On the main field. Yeah, so you can get your paint name on a paver or on the wall. So that I think that's the alumni association is is organizing that. So >> to the list just cuz I just pulled it up. It's the it's to have the renovation of the back stairwell from behind Briarcliff school, stone recognition wall with donor names on it, bleachers on the hill, which is an exciting thought. Um and then the replacement scoreboard on the main field and a new walkway. And also I heard some trees, which is exciting. Not trees that are like on anywhere proximity to mess up the field, but just landscaping trees. So another
072way to support Thank you for adding that in. That was important. [laughter] Thank you. Not messing up the field. All right. Okay, any other comments or questions? So otherwise we are going to jump right into the report and recommendations of school business administrator, please. Yeah, so I'm going to read through these. Mr. Brennan's going to take roll call when we get through the motions. Um as a point of process, we'll just go through the fact that we have our presentation of the bills for March 13th through April 1st, our budget transfers, our treasurer's report, board secretary report, um and all of the travel and related expenses for reimbursement. Um that is for an adjustment for number five here for 26 27. Um for those that are minor, we we are working with an interim BA.
073Mr. Brennan was with us for three days a week um as we uh looking for a search for a full-time BA. Um Mr. Brennan is new here, so we're There's a lot of work that goes into making sure that these um necessary budget transactions are taking place and Mr. Brennan has been extremely helpful to make sure that we're doing everything accurately, um legally, uh and on time. So that is reflected in the first uh few items here. And then we have our other school business at number six. These are um our recommendations for our support services bill rates for the fiscal year 20,000 20 2027. And this includes um extraordinary services for one-to-one paraprofessionals and our auditory impairment program, which is the Lake Drive program, and all the rates um that are related to itinerant
074services and extra services. So this is for 27 26 27. We also have discussed a number of different rates for tuition related to Lake Drive. Um and all of this has been reviewed carefully uh with the finance committee. For professional services, number seven, we have um are working collaboratively in partnership with John Gron, um who is a social worker retired um from the education system. Um does work with training around social emotional development and and improving staff culture. And this has been allocated services that we've worked with our Wildwood staff. And this is a really good deal and and Mrs. Ricci, want to thank her for finding this partnership and our teachers have found this to be advantageous so far. We have travel conferences expenditures, few of those here on number eight. Under fundraising, we
075have a few fundraisers for Lake Drive and one for The high school one is in lieu of a previously approved learning edge. The high school this year was planning to go baseball team was planning to go to Florida. It did not work out. So they're adjusting which fundraiser they're doing for the type of fundraiser that they need, which is different than going on Florida trip. We have our facilities use here, including the primary election and use by the Lakeland YMCA for soccer club. That covers all rather abbreviated business report. You know, this is a two-month two board meeting month. Thank you very much. We need a first and a second in order to hear this. We have Mrs. Foreman and Dr. McIntyre. Thank you very much. Any objections to hearing these motions together? Any comments
076or questions at this time? Roll call, please. Dr. Don? Yes. Mrs. Foreman? Yes. Dr. Hirschfeld? Yes. Mrs. Kolkarni? Yes. Mrs. McVeigh? Yes. Mrs. Parker? Yes. Dr. Sheff? Yes. Dr. Silva-McIntyre? Yes. And Mr. Barkauskas? Yes. Thank you very much. May we move on to the report and recommendation of the superintendent, please? Okay, on the personnel side, for the board members, you might remember from our last meeting, we had some cleaning up to do in how our staff are being assigned. So this, where it says position created and modified, reflects a staff member who works in multiple buildings and that was not accurately reflected. It is a technicality, but it is important as our when we're audited for our personnel that we accurately reflect for position control where each employee is employed. And this is an easy
077oversight cuz employees move. Like some employees work at Lake Drive and for the district or Briarcliff and the high school. And those things happen routinely. It does have to be adjusted by a board motion. So that is number 11. Number 12, we have the appointment of a power professional for Lake Drive. We also have the reappointment of leave replacement [snorts] science teacher and that is in that is for just for the duration next year. Also, and this is a big thing and you all received this in your mail out and will be included as an attachment. All of our staff appointments for the 2026-2027 school year are included in the backup A and that includes all certified staff, all administrators and all itinerant teachers. At the next meeting, we will be looking to and that's
078non-tenured and tenured staff. And then at the next meeting, we will look at our unaffiliated staff, our custodians and power professionals. The evaluation cycles are a little bit different timing-wise. And you can blame me for this cuz I did push the district to move forward the the pace on some of the evaluations. That could be reflected in my evaluation if you want. But it has created a little bit of a stir here to try to get things and and the thinking is that we want people to know when they're if they're coming back early in the season so that, you know, they can have a opportunity to look for a job if they're not reappointed and it gives us time ample time to hire replacements. But our staff appointments are all included as attachments. We
079have one hand carry personnel. We had a retirement over the weekend. This is a custodian. Chungway Lee, who is a night custodian, is retiring and that is effective June 30th of this year. And we also have leaves of absences. We have adjustments to teachers on leave based upon the time of their leave. And we have a hand carry with an extension of a COLA leave for the duration of next year. That is a teacher. For athletics and extra services, we have an appointment for that is retro. That was not submitted on time at Briarcliff for the musical instructor. And then we have additional compensation for staff members for various responsibilities that go on, especially at the end of the year. A lot of our teachers serve as chaperones. You get there's a whole page of
080this. We can a lot of this can be attributed to the eighth grade wonderful trip to Boston, as well as something new that we are providing, which is a STEM night at Wildwood, which staff members and high school students will be facilitating for our younger students. That's a new initiative. And then we have a lot with kindergarten screenings. We also have in the hand carry additional compensation and this is something that is hard to prepare for, but it is participation in the national DECA competition that is up for approval, as well as the chaperones who competition at the end of April. Substitutes and volunteers, we have several here as we typically do. We have the field trip that I just referenced, which is the DECA field trip. We have two other high school field trips
081that are referenced here for March, the end of March and April. Some of these, like the debate championship, the announcement of that didn't happen until after our last board meeting, so that's why that is on a retro. We have tuition reimbursement for staff who are getting um advancement towards a graduate degree, credit reimbursement. And we have the very big announcement here that was discussed in curriculum committee, but one that followed last year's announcement of the adoption of the units of study in reading grades three to five under Mrs. Ricci's leadership here and the work of the teachers at Wildwood. This was reviewed at our last curriculum committee meeting. And then under our HIB incidents, these are incidents that were reviewed in the March meeting during executive session up for approval here. And that concludes the
082superintendent's report. Thank you very much. We need a motion, a first and a second in order to hear this. We have Dr. Sheff and then Mrs. McVeigh. Thank you very much. Any objections to hearing these motions together? Any comments or questions at this time? Mrs. Parker? I make this I think each year when we approve the eighth grade Boston trip. Mr. Alvares is smiling cuz he knows it's coming. I just wanted to say thank you to all the teachers who are willing to go on that trip. I'm not entirely sure who took over for Mr. Minturn. Is it you? Oh, well, a special thank you then to Mr. Lee for organizing and picking everyone's hotel rooms and placing them in it and dealing with the conflict of that. But my hat's off to you because
083that's not a trip I don't think I could go on that. But anyway, I hope they have a great time and I'm quite certain the seniors sitting here cuz I think the year before you didn't get to go, but you guys got to go to Boston. Yeah, so. I'm sure you still remember it. Anyway. Well said there. We all support that. Any other comments or questions? Roll call, please. Dr. Don? Yes. Mrs. Foreman? What are we approving up to? What number? Everything. Everything? I have to abstain from 20. But everything else cuz I wasn't in exact. Dr. Hirschfeld? Oh, I have to abstain from 20. From exact? From exact. Everything else, yes. I wasn't there. I was there late, but I missed this part. Mrs. Kolkarni? Yes. Mrs. McVeigh? Yes. Mrs. Parker? Yes. Dr. Sheff?
084Yes. Dr. Silva-McIntyre? Yes. And Mr. Barkauskas? Yes. Thank you. Any unfinished business? Any new business? Any pending legislation? Nope. Then we move on to comments and requests from members of the public. Is there anyone who has a comment at this time? I need to read the statement and then you can go up. So could you give me just a second to flip to it? All right, here we go. Comments Public comment is set aside for the board to hear feedback and questions from members of the public. The board will take all comments and suggestions from the public into consideration. If you have more than one question, we request that all questions are asked within the time provided. Public comment is not intended for back-and-forth dialogue. If the board is unable to answer your questions at
085this time, we will explain when and in what format the answer will be communicated. We request that you limit your questions or comments to three minutes and present all questions within those three minutes. Please state your name and address for the record. The board appreciates and thanks you for your attendance and participation at our meeting. Again, Mrs. Parker will keep time. Eileen Zyko Walter, 21 Cliffside Way, Boonton Thank you for allowing me to speak and thank you to Graham and his friends for being here and supporting him and free speech. I'm here as a proud granddaughter on of immigrants and a distressed mother. My child was verbally attacked in his classroom by an adult member of this board and the district's response thus far has been troubling. I did have a call from Mrs. Berkowskis,
086but I have not heard directly from Mr. Siegel. Save being by Mr. Mangili that his advice was I should I should reach out to Ms. Foreman and perhaps it wasn't as bad as my son made it out to be. What Ms. Foreman said was bad enough, but this response so much worse. Due to time I won't read the email I sent to the board and school administration, but I have a copy if you'd like to enter it into the record. As an adult, parent, and board member, Mrs. Foreman's biased words are inexcusable. To speak to a 17-year-old who is intelligent, empathetic, and above all respectful towards adults and the many people he interacts with across religious and political spectrums daily is not okay. And as no apology has been offered, I echo Graham's request that
087she be relieved of her duties here immediately. It sounds though like she is not going to that's not going to happen based on her little presentation now. I will finish with no one should have to share their grief for others education. But our family has suffered through generations. I suffered. I was often followed home in second and third grades by classmates who threw dirt at me and epithets such as dirty Muslim pig. I never thought my child would have to suffer such hate speech at his school, especially not in a community our family has lived in for over 35 years and at a school his grand her his grandmother has a scholarship fund in her name. I hope we can all agree that no one should suffer and anyone wishing others should is not fit
088to be a board member. Her statement and the board's implicit support of these run counter to the district's stated goal number four and the board's stated goals number one and two as seen on page 12 of your agenda. Do they mean nothing? If so, it's shameful that this is the lesson your graduates will take away from their time here. Although it's clear they did take away a good education. As my nanny would say, e me lart e me lart, which is Albanian for higher and higher, which is where we look when faced with a challenge. Now I ask, will you do the same? Graham and his classmates clearly will. THANK YOU. >> [applause] [applause] >> THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE WHO WOULD like to speak at this time? Hello everyone. My
089name is Elizabeth Festa and I reside at 32 Condit Road in Mountain Lakes. Uh unfortunately, I'm unable to speak directly about the incident that occurred at the class as I was not present. However, I can speak to the character of Sarah Foreman, someone who I've known personally for over 10 years. During that time, Sarah has demonstrated a consistent commitment to the community. She has served along me on several local boards including the Mountain Lakes Educational Foundation and Lakers Sports Club. Where significant need of leadership and participation, Sarah stepped down and forwarded herself to going into a position on this board which for a very long time many people didn't want to serve on. Uh Sarah has reportedly given her time and energy of service to others and her participation in the AP Government class was
090rooted in a genuine desire to contribute to students learning by sharing her professional experience in public service. Her intentions were thoughtful and constructive and she was not seeking conflict, but rather an opportunity to engage and educate. While I understand and respect that individuals may have differing perspectives regarding what occurred that day, it is important to recognize that forming conclusions about someone's character based on a brief interaction does not provide a complete and accurate representation of who they are. Sarah Foreman is a dedicated member of the Mountain Lakes community and a strong advocate for both the schools and our students. It is very unfortunate that the circumstances have led us to this point as a long-standing record reflects a sincere sincere commitment to serving others. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you for
091those comments. Is there anyone else that would like to speak at this time? Hi, I'm Jennifer Kite. I live at 109 Hanover Road. Um I would actually like to echo a lot of what Lou said. I've known Sarah for a long time at this point and what we've worked together most on is things for our children and for the students here at Mountain Lakes. Everything from the turf field that we're all going to um that we're all going to be able to get to enjoy in the next over the next week or so. These are things that Sarah has done um to really benefit our entire community. Um again, I wasn't there. My children weren't there. I don't know what happened in that classroom, but it's disheartening to hear and it's disheartening that this is
092the venue that has been chosen to really go out really to um have this conversation and this discussion when it sounds like it might have been better suited in a smaller, more intimate environment. Sarah's done a lot for our community over the years and I'm sorry that this is kind of where we're at at this point. That's it. Thank you for those comments. Is there anyone else that would like to speak at this time? Okay. Any comments or questions from the board? Okay. And at this time, seeing as we have no second executive session, we can have a motion to adjourn. Dr. Hirschfeld and Mrs. Parker, all in favor say I. I. I. And the board adjourns at 9:20. Thank you everyone for being here.