NPS BOE Business Meeting August 2015

001in accordance with the open public meetings act njsa 1046 at SEC adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertising and Star Ledger El noeva Ki Haiti progress and L Americana newspapers and by distribution to the administrative offices of the newerk public schools copy of the meeting notice was also forwarded to City Hall for posting this is a board business meeting for Tuesday August 18th 2015 roll call flag salute flag salute sorry [Music] flag of the United States of America the stands Nation God indivisible liy andice for [Music] all roll call Miss basball Richardson here M Carter here M vona here Mr Hassan present Mr Jackson Mr Lewis present Mr rashidi Mr singer present chair Pell present cor is presid madam chair thank you very much um I would like to welcome everyone present

002um here today um I am excited to have the first um meeting for the 202 2015 2016 school year um welcome once again to all board members um we are delighted and excited to start this year fresh and working ready and working for our children here in the city of newk thank you to the public for your attendance and let's start this meeting with the committee's report let's first start off with Mr Donald Jackson why not good afternoon Madam chair of a board colleagues and more importantly residents and students of north public [Music] school operations committee meeting started promptly at 5:30 p.m. uh first topic was school cleaning update overall between 65% and 75% of school were completed uh two Sat days ago support staff was sent to 19 summer school sites to get caught

003up in cleaning uh but staff will also added to the schools management of facilities management must check schools and Report progress of cleaning at the schools principal F about surveys and any concerns were given back to the individual managers du correct and change managers must have answers for the problems and solutions to correct the issues uh another issue were repairs I asked where repairs needed throughout the district um answer from the district was a late start because of the budget materials at that point we're coming in and the district is looking at the project plan DM trade workers are coming in and we help accelerate the work any work that can't get completed will be scheduled for a later date Roofing uh contractor will come in and look deeper into the problem uh the main

004projects that were being focused on now were for health and safety concerns and essential repairs uh we went back to the budget question uh and the budget is and it was reported by the district the budget is assessed uh buildings and project base uh the project start at a zero base and they do not have a a specific amount uh based on need and money set aside trade preems uh the district had two months uh worth of benefits uh excuse me two months worth uh two months budgeted for straight pay overtime and this was based off of historical data throughout the district uh board member Phill singer brought up an issue of a lot of garbage at First Avenue School and uh garbage was piling up at the area the district responded with they're going

005to look into the matter and it's a possible issue with illegal dumping uh we were also advised by our public and safety director Mr Eric Engle that uh our security working with no police to identify person dumping at our schools uh board Marisa Lewis um raised the issue that the grass needs to be cut and Loans at schools need to be cut as of 812 2015 all loans and grass at all schools were to be cut that was directive given from the director of facilities and if that had not happened please report that issue to facilities immediately to myself and I facilities Mr Maris Lewis board member also raised the issue of the fence around play High School uh the question was was the fence going back up response was that the fence might not

006go back up as we were talking about the topic the issue of trespassing uh was came up uh I asked for Mr evil to explain uh trespassing and what the uh statute is it's a fourth degree it's a crime of the fourth degree um and the requirements are the same as any other U requirements for any other problem uh we move to public safety issues um we have some that no major incidents there was one incident where were taken at Spencer uh a week from our commit meeting uh the number of computers were unknown and the dollar amount in damage was unknown as well we did ask for a list of burgies in the dollar Mountain District we were advised that that might be hard to get and uh this was also asked for buildings

007that are online and offline buildings that were closed have been bized and so dollar amount for the damage that hadal buildings we've been talked about vacancies and security and there were 19 vacancies um and we also got into Civil Service uh district is waiting for a civil service list and it will fill those VES off Serv we also got uh into the safety corridors conversation um the district completed a map of uh the safe travel passage for this school year that that was then submitted to the north police department and the district is now waiting for the nor Department to approve or make recommendations to the travels then they will submit that back to the district uh we were supposed to have a copy of that um by I believe this meeting or our next

008public meeting if not we will definitely have it at our next committee meeting board member Marisa quill Lewis asks do we have a security shortage uh our security director mle informed us that we are at a substan number now and we also got into a conversation on how Personnel or security Personnel allowed to schools uh told us there are several ways and strategies one is the layout of the building the age of students and that's how permanent guards are assigned Then There came the point where if there's an incident that Ares at a school additional Personnel might be assigned in morning or evening for uh uh dispatch that school has needed um some concerns around Staffing may be solved with cameras adding cameras um and again allowing the Personnel to dismiss and um beginning of

009school and after school times just in case there fights incidents such as that uh Mr pH singer board member ask a question that some schools have school AIDS sitting in the front either with security or in the place of security guards and they are actually signing people in to the school and uh assuming the role of security ask need to sign those person to school uh one school was mentioned and that was a hog Street School we uh we ask the district can we have a refresher course on the road of School Aids security guards personal AIDS and that sort of thing and make sure that our front doors are staff with security guard Personnel uh Mr Phil singer board member also Rose the question of permanent security guard andm security guards um there was

010an issue stating that there were permanent guards that were laid off versus PRM guards that stayed with the district we then got into the conversation of how we the Staffing levels of security guards we have 10 employees or security guards we have 12 month employ security guards and we have RS uh board member Mar Lewis also Rose issue of security guards me to Young working in high schools uh the notion was made that no guards 121 would to work in the high schools we then discussed the email that was sent out um I myself I didn't receive it until the day of the Comm was sent out by a Community member um discussing the broken glass in a classroom at Arts High School it was a and studio um I make sure that we added

011that agenda item to the agenda Mr Bart gave us an update uh that the glass came in to replace the broken glass and the classroom was cleaned and as of our committee meeting the issue was resolved and the room was the issue was there was a delay in ordering the glass receiving the glass and then sending it to the school uh Mr B said that they will work on uh situations like that to have Supply shipped directly to the school instead of having it sent to warehouse location and sent from the warehouse location to the school um our next topic was EIP and we actually have Representatives tonight from our facil department and from the company called right told you here to give us a presentation essentially what's going to happen is and they probably

012explain for me but from what I gathered is that in April of 2015 the BPU Board of Public Utilities approved the $8.6 million energy saving plan for the district what happen is we'll make Capital project repairs and and in essence will save money um after making making our district better energy efficient thank you very much board member Jackson the floor is now open for a discussion all Mr Jackson thank you for the report uh I actually have a few questions uh first do we know uh do we know whether or not our schools will be 100% ready for the start of school board member mran uh I was assured that uh our schools will be on target as far as cleaning for the first day of school um I don't know if I mentioned this

013in Pia but I also advise that we have um we have additional Tradesmen going to the school that needs they are work they have enough money for overtime and we also have custodian staff going into the schools um over time as well uh cleaning our schools so I was assured by our C Department that we be on target uh also on RFP number uh um District's proposing to spend $ 22,92502 ENT projects at these sites and if we do uh if you could report back at a later time you might not have it now if you could just let us know what the status of those particular projects are um if they've been uh in progress uh since last school year or these uh new projects that have just uh Arisen and uh are bringing

014these calls forward to us and Mr R the last question I have is regarding uh item 11.2 which is uh the resolution for sustainable Jersey for school for schools I think it's obviously commendable that the district is uh going down this path to uh make the district more uh green um we've had these presentations as as board members in our training so I just want to know uh how will the district engage students um in that process because sustainable Jersey they they kind of uh uh mentioned on on numerous occasions that other school districts throughout the state that they partner with the districts to um bring in some type of curriculum in some instances and also teach students about stem uh and I just want to make sure that our students are being exposed to

015those opportunities as well um uh I was going to make a point on the uh scaffolding but I'll let you finish on the sustainable okay um I will report that back to committee but I do want to also touch the scaffolding as well uh we talked about that I believe two committee meetings ago uh we did have a conversation some of the scaffolding projects um have been up for uh quite some time in the district and to my understanding and correct me if I wrong but some of the scaffolding has to be that we actually have up in these are projects that have addition some Madame chair yes good evening Madame chair board members members of the community uh Mr Hassan I wanted to provide a point of clarity that some of the projects where

016I think possibly all if I'm not mistaken are related to SDA projects is that correct Mr B so they are dependent as a former Finance chair and former board chair you know they are dependent on the sda's project schedule so yes some scaffolding has been up for a length of time long enough to now be in disrepair and the district has to incur the cost to replace that scaffolding to ensure safe environments so that's why I asked the question and I said emergent projects because the SDA is responsible for the emergent projects not the district but um I think you know obviously Mr Jackson brought up a good point in you also that we've had these projects in progress for quite some time so I guess at this point my my question to Mr Jackson

017and his committee is is there anything that we can do collectively as a board to better support the district or better support your committee so that we can get uh these projects completed or at least some more some more progress on them because they're they're costing us an enormous amount of money those funds can be redirected towards our classroom to our students and towards other critical resources that we need to sustain this District uh agreed Mr Hassan and I will report that back to and come back with thank you sir Vice chair Lis you a question M Wilson said I was just going to touch on that a little bit cuz that's part of finance committee too but is there any other board members that have questions is there a motion to approve Mr Jackson

018report move Mo second Mr Lewis uh second by Mr Hassan all in favor this is a motion to uh approve the report operations report by Mr Jackson all in favor I any oppos or abstain motion carries next next committee we have program and instruction Chair by Miss Anthony Bas richardon good evening everyone the program is and instruction committee um met on August 13th the meeting U was called the audit 5:39 p.m. the meeting lasted approximately 2 and a half hours so I'm going to a summary rather than all the discussion that took place during that 2 and a half hour period and rather than reading the agenda I'm just going to actually go right into the agenda items for you so the first uh we are the the minutes from the June meeting and our

019next order of business was a review of the field trip policy there is a manual that is used to guide uh how field trips are selected and all the processes that have to do with student phone on field trips in our district so we uh over the summer had actually reviewed that manual and we came back to the table with some some projected changes to that and uh some of those Chang changes have actually been okay by the district we don't have a uh uh anything to show you at this point but I'm just going to talk through what our conversations were so after reviewing the current field trip procedures manual the committee moveed to revise some of the current policies by expanding the criteria for selecting field trips to include trips that encourage and

020Aid in the development of physical fitness and social emotional growth because we know that physical fitness can directly directly impact cognitive development and academic achievement and we believe that allowing age appropriate recreational activities will benefit our students so saying that basically that was not allowed in in the manual that existed up to that point so we moved the to basically remove restrictions on field trips by the elimination of the following Clauses from the field trip procedures manual and okay the first one was all trips will be denied if the trips involve swimming exposure to water or water rise and activities so the committee expressed that not only the access to water and safe recreational setting should not be prohibited but uh it was uh expressed by Miss Carter that the district should have an Outlook

021uh a future outlook of included swimming in the curriculum the committee did however call for two safety measures one is a clear ban on the use of swimming pools and hotels on overnight field trips this policy does already exist but the committee has requested that a separate form in addition to the regular trip permission form be signed by parents and students acknowledging the prohibition on the use of swimming pools and hotels during overnight trips and this is a preventative measure particularly because hotels different from licensed recreational facilities do not have lifeguards on duty on duty we also recommended a ratio of uh one adult for every seven students rather than one adult for every 10 students on field trips uh where there are two recreational centers that have water or water so basically um and

022we had uh we we went through a lot of discussion about this we also talked about our policy for parents attending field trips and and I'm sorry for uh parents or um basically parents or Guardians so at present the policy is that uh parents can only attend field trips if they're attending to their own children for medical reasons and we uh as we're asking for some advice uh on legal on this because it was a consensus of the committee that this is probably not the way it's done in other communities and that it does this policy uh doesn't lend itself to good parental uh and Community participation so those were two U two of the major things that we discussed there something to sorry okay um so this to be very clear what our our

023intent was to remove the following the items from from the all trips will be denied if the trip involves swimming exposure to water or water rides and activities wish to strike down NPS will not acove field trips to amusement parks motorized amusement rides or arcade such as six FL Park Hershey Park fun Etc is the second item that and NS will not approve field trips to restaurants diners Boos cafes Medieval Times Applebees Arabian Night etc etc and food items cannot be purchased as part of the field trip we basically feel that these experiences when correctly planned and correctly supervised are experiences that Aid in Social and emotional development uh of our students so moving right along and we are we are awaiting um basically U feedback from the district on some of the aspects that

024are legal but for the most part uh the district has agreed to the changes that we have proposed so we will be that uh within a short period of time uh hopefully within within in the next month with a revised document next we move to the projected resolutions for uh this for this school year um one is the professional development for school leaders and teachers uh for board members that's item 8162 81 this is I think the old system 8189 uh professional development in curriculum and other areas and 8190 expanded learning time so we had a lot of uh questions on these items basically the scope of work uh that each vendor was doing uh whether they had done District done business with the district or what they projected Co or and uh whatever the

025proposal was that they gave to the district and uh how many students they would be servicing and what the students and what the services would do so we actually just received most of that information this afternoon so uh just and our meeting was just on uh Thursday so we did receive information today but we have not had enough time to actually look it over and to examine the answers to those questions so the qu the questions that we had they were not really questioning anything uh about the vend that we thought was um suspicious or not um anything that we wouldn't want for the district it just simply that we didn't have the information that we thought that we would need to make make decisions so uh you know taking the time to read the

026information we got today we will be better uh able on next Tuesday but at this point there there are no voting items that we believe that we Cann not vote in favor of we next uh talked about the purchase of the ACT test that's another uh item and uh we talked about how the ACT test uh the timing of the test how it impacts on students how it is used how it will be used uh as a possible alternative for students in terms of the graduation requirement for testing uh that it is not at this point being used within our district to place students uh class next we talked about cleaning and reconditioning of uh athletic band clothing and Equipment that's that's another renal contract I don't remember if there was any particular uh questions

027on that and pending is in athletics a list of programs and games for the upcoming school year and this will probably be deferred until September next item on the review of the current curriculum basically we are not only as you know good board members but we are also oblig be qac qac regulations to approve review and approve our curriculum each year so we are in the process of doing that and Dr Perkins has very graciously um come up with a plan that we believe is a workable plan where each month we will take the time to closely examining area of curriculum and to then bring that to uh the table to the board to the recommendation for passing that particular area of curriculum and that will allow all the board members uh the committee first

028and all the board members to really uh be very clear on what our curriculum is what books are being used uh in each uh in each area of study in the district uh the these curriculums will also be posted online and not um Dr Perkins you can correct me if I'm on is we're not waiting until after they or approve that these curriculums will be uh posted on online in time in there and uh the committee recommended that every document that's updated that the date of the update be included in the document then moved on to talk about qac res so um we didn't go a lot of into a lot of detail into qac because qac is actually going to be the subject of the superintendent uh report that's going to be given next

029Tuesday at the at the regular board meeting so we did look in particular at one area within program and instruction where we did lose points and our question was was it because of the I compliance to educate the individual education plan compliance for uh our special needs students we're all aware that we have had an ongoing problem in terms of being in compliance so um what we are looking for is a formal detailed response from the county viwers so that they can tell us exactly what was missing so that we as a board can be sure that we are following up with the district to make sure that when we have our 6 mon are in compliance we also talked a little bit about the district Improvement plan that um this is act du by

030the superintendent for October 1st and we talked about the need for the time on that and next item we move to uh the Maran a bing Center um for those who don't know this Center was opened in uh 2008 and uh we asked for an update on the programs and other issues regarding the Student Center so Sarah Cruz came in she made a presentation on the Student Center I'm going to have to really summarize it because this is a long discussion aome so uh one thing uh major issue that we talked about was uh attendance that um M Cruz said that the attendance is now up in the student center and I know last year we actually um asked to look at the attendance cheats because um for a couple of years the attendance at

031the Student Center had been going down so M Cruz said that the attendance is up this year we talked a lot about the busing because uh there were initially six buses given to the district uh from the Nicholson Foundation to be used for the student center and right now I think she said there are four buses being used but the purpose of the discussion was the fact that initially students would be picked up at their high schools and then taken to the student center from every high school and then at the end of it even this is after school program they would be brought back to their home dropped off in front of their house I last year that was modified so the students are no longer taken home and uh they dropped off at

032school near their home or some uh agreed upon their Public Schools building and the committee U was in agreement that we believe that they that bringing students home to their home is a very important part of recruiting keeping students at the student center and uh ensuring their safety that that's why the program was developed that way in the first place um you talked about uh funding we talked about how much the district was and I don't have these numbers in front how much the district was putting in uh to the Student Center that there's also um a grant from Victoria foundation and another small Grant small Grant was but um and then we talked about how that money is used so initially when the Student Center opened the funding had the funding from uh grants

033had to pay for food for the students because legally the district did not pay for food for students over 12 years old that changed so now um the money from Grants doesn't have to pay for food for the students so it can all be used for programming so we're very interested in what's going on with the programming and Miss Cruz uh she's prepared a very detailed uh chart for us showing us what all the programs are that will be going on at the Student Center this year we had questions about two programs in particular that had been dropped and uh we wanted to know why so one of those programs was a double dutch program which is an awardwinning uh nationally award-winning Double Dutch program and uh Miss Cruz said that it was dropped because

034of the student participation but upon further investigation uh she said that the program had only been in the student center for 3 months and our feeling was that 3 months to give a program to develop with people Dr and the other program that we asked about was the mik It Up program um many people are familiar that the mik It Up program was basically a PR program at the Student Center for Student Center and um was a is a performance group and gave show I think be once a month student center and they are no longer at the stud Center so that question was asked but MCL uh I'm not saying it was on purpose because there was you know some very um involved conversations going on but she did leave without asking without answering

035that particular question okay so I'm sorry it was yeah in terms of the grants for the Student Center in addition to what the district pays $10,000 grant for stem programming from PS and $60,000 uh Grant from the Victoria foundation and the district uh puts in approximately $340,000 and what I did have I'm not sure M Wilson you might know does that cover uh the operations uh you know what that $3,000 okay so that that would be question yes absolutely and we also have questions about um whether there student input into choosing the programs that are going on now um and what's going on with the television with the television Studio said that there's upgrades being done to the telis studio and I'm going to um move on to the next uh to the next topic

036which is uh summer school update we do not have our final numbers however um we were told that um the uh of a weight list of 605 students 599 of those students were involved after being on the weight L we had questions uh earlier I think in May and June about the waight list so the vast majority of those students were placed and we are waiting waiting dat summer school which I believe Dr September it's either September or October that's it pending the input from the board um next item with special education and uh we will in September be sharing updated lawsuit information as part of our report the last topic the last topic uh was the football camp so there was discussion about the fact that uh in the past that our football players

037were trained at a particular p that they not be going there this year that they training for the football be uh basically uh in house this year and for this year only and we had a lot of questions about that and information from Dr Perkins was that given the um inability to reach a uh contract or an agreement with the camp that it was the consensus or it was the opinion of the actual football coaches to do the training uh in housee this that ends that ends my report thank you very much Miss Bas richon the floor is now open for discussion does any board member have any questions no questions is there a motion to approve Miss B second that was Miss Carter Mr Jackson motion to approve the uh operation I'm sorry the

038program instruction committee report as given by Miss BAS move by Mr Carter and second by Mr Jackson all in favor I any opposed or abstain motion carries report approved thank you very much up next we have Miss T Carter for personnel and policy committee good evening everyone um our meeting date was August 11th 2015 those who attended uh board members were Ariana pillo Donald Jackson myself NPS members Vanessa Rodriguez Kimberly casanov Lissa Andrea and Elizabeth uh the committee meeting started at 5:35 we went over the vacancy report so there are 124 vacancies across the district um for teachers and two VP vacancies I receiv received the list so I broke them down by school so you all can have a feel of what the vacancies are per school so there's one at Bard High School

039seven at barent steam four at nor leadership academy one at Fastrack four at University one at science two at Arts High nine at barer Arts and Humanities six at Central High School 12 at East Side five at shabaz four at weekway two at technology six at Early Childhood three at Eagle Academy five at nor vocational seven at girls Academy five at American history six at Early College High three at abenson a 5 at Ann Street 7even at Park Elementary one at Avon one at Belmont Ryan 11 at Luis Muno moram four at Camden three at Chancellor seven at Cleveland five at Elliott four at First St three at Franklin 16 at William Horton five at e I'm a flag eight at Hawkins seven at Hawthorne six at Lafayette one at Lincoln eight at McKinley nine

040at Miller three at Mount Vernon three at Oliver Street 10 at peshine four at Quitman one at Ridge Street one at South Street one at Raphael Hernandez no I apologize six there one at South 17th Street two at Harriet tman six at Speedway three at Roberto C three at Early Childhood school West three at Sussex seven at Early Childhood at B yeah seven at Early Childhood Center six at Wilson Avenue six at Ivy Hill five at Spencer 13 at 13th aveno 13 at Carver and eight at the Early Childhood Center at Annex um the principles are currently interviewing candidates Delhi to fill these roles so this report is as of today um principles have just gotten off of vacation so I was told that they will be working throughout the month of August to get

041these spots filled we then went over the separation uh report there were 65 resonations 23 retirements um 109 total 24 nonrenewal 15 elimination of positions or reorganization 63 layoffs and seven discharges there were 79 uh Civil Service layoff titles um that took place the Staffing updates we talked about the layouts as I said um we talked about the positions that were affected I'll go over those as well there were two accountant positions three administrative secretaries five clerk ones one community relations specialist one data entry machine operator one Early Childhood specialist seven keyboard clerk ones One keyboard and clerk one bilingual 13 keyboard and clerk twos two keyboard and cler 3es one management Assistant two management Specialists one sec two secretarial assistants um one senior three senior accountants one senior data control clerk one statistical typist

042one supervisor telephone system 23 teacher aids seven technical assistant technical assistant 3 and one technician Mis NPS confirmed that all employees impacted in the Civil Service layoff who were enrolled in the New Paths program will receive $37,000 in total rewards in tuition and living subsidies in order to pursue an Associates or bachelor's degree or a certification program the board members requested a list of all titles that were impacted in the reduction in force a list of vacancies of nine teachers at the schoolwide level and an updated vacancy report which we did receive this morning which is the numbers I just gave you the committee also discussed new hires the committee discussed critical new hires within the district Science Park High School the committee discussed that the current principle is an inum principle which was recommended

043by the community I brought up along with uh my board member Donald Jackson that we were told that the selection of the principal at Malcolm X shabaz there was no Community input um I had heard from some members in the community that they weren't happy and that they had a put input with the selection of the last principal we were told that there was input input was requested and received through the Alumni Association uh the board members also talked about the list of we wanted to know the list of critical hires within the central office we wanted a new hire Report with the title and placement and we wanted a biography for the current principal of Malcolm X shz High School and we wanted to know who was involved with that we also talked about

044the wwps matching the committee discussed the placement process put in place to match the ews teachers to the current vacancies within the district we requested a breakdown of employees who are currently in the wwps pool we also asked were there any teachers Force placed and we were told no um we also were uh we asked about why there were certain teachers who were placed in one turn who were already a teacher in a turnaround school and they replaced in another turnaround school which since did that make um and they said that was a part of the contract which they provided us with the contract from ncu so we discussed the uh contract uh Miss Rodriguez has agreed to invite the director of Labor Relations to the September committee meeting to brief the board members on

045the new ratifications of the contract we requested a copy of the ncu contract which we received a few days ago um so all board members should have that if you want to look over it and the language of what it says um we discussed the committee discussed the district's effort of promoting Talent within the district promoting within and that's what was said that promotion happened within the only one who was hired outside of the district was the principal for Malcolm X shabaz we also talked about the New Jersey Q act the committee discussed the recent scores which we were scored at a 60% um we said that we wanted to be a part of developing a plan so myself I will talk along with Miss Rodriguez to schedule time outside of our board meeting outside

046of our traditional committee meeting so that we can have a Comm a meeting just around how we can uh strategize to improve our QX score the board members also requested a list of each School each district school with the current Administration and the team members that are in that school there's one thing on the minutes that I'm not sure about it says the restorative practices um I don't recall speaking about that so if you can speak on to what that says on this report yeah the question was posed in place of the guidance counselor positions a few years ago that were the title um of attendance counselors what was done with the attendance councelor role and in that process what we discussed is that there was a movement around restorative practices and so in that

047we have multiple positions at the school level including guidance counselors who play a significant role around attendance as well as teachers and um that was part of the conversation I said that probably get more detail around that specific role and the work around restorative practices at a different uh committee meeting and I'm sure any of the assistant superintendents can speak to the work that's happening in schools around that as well okay and our meeting um adjourned at 6:30 thank you very much Miss Carter the floor is now open for discussion Miss Pasco Richardson Carter said that M rodrig said that no Force plac yes okay so I'd like to ask a question there's no for placements then could you please explain um what is how are the teachers being placed the ones who um the

048turnaround schools who didn't sign off to um you know to do the um additional time as well as what is the fate of we still have a lot of teachers who are so if there's no for place so so we don't we so here's the process in terms of teachers who um do not sign the Ewa they automatically and they this has been been communicated since the early spring that they would automatically go into the ewpsm match so each teacher has the opportunity if they're choosing not to sign the Ewa to interview with other principles at other schools if for whatever reason they don't solidify a match then we work closely with the assistant superintendents and principles to match teachers to positions based on their certification and content area we don't refer to that as

049a forced placement because it is a conversation and dialogue with principles where they're saying yes I have this vacancy I know this teacher I want this teacher and then the teacher's place the teacher at every opportunity is given um you know access to F finding a mutual match prior to our placement process with asps and principes so we don't refer to that as Forest placement because there's opportunity throughout the entire um process for them to find a match and more often than not what happens is the teacher chooses not to do that and as so they're choosing then to allow us to match them to a school I also want to bring up when I mentioned that point it was also said that they were not allowed to stay at the school cuz my question

050was if there's a spot at Carver and you're at Carver or if there's a spot at h and you're at Hawthorne why not stay there if you're an Effective Teacher um so they weren't allowed that option either to stay somewhere moved to other turn turnaround schools so at what point at what point is this matching process now specifically how many teachers in either from the turnaround schools and how many teachers from the U from the current um pool have not been so number are we looking at So currently we're looking at 120 individuals in the wwps poll and we're still going through the process of matching um teachers and Educators to vacancies so we have been doing that process all summer working collaboratively with the principles and the networks to ensure that they are placed

051and matched based on their content and subject area and we're still continuing to do that process so there that is as of today but we know that in the next week we're also going to make more matches so those numbers start to fluctuate we also know that as people retire or resign which some individuals wait and notify us right as school is beginning we start to see other vacancies come up which allows us to them make more matches between teachers in the ews pool and our vacancy we may have teachers who are in our wwps pool who may not match up with a vacancy because of either their certification or the content area of the vacancy so what is the logic then of not tracing uh teachers who need a certification into a turnaround school

052um I mean just into a vacancy yeah I mean it may be I'm interested yeah some some of the individuals who are still in the pool um it may be because they don't match up by certification or subject area it may be that they're currently on workers comp they're just not here they're on a leave it also may be that they're they were rated ineffective for 2 years in a row and will be served with 10e charges so there's lots of different reasons why people may still be in the ewpsm is what is the harm in placing a teacher uh who um from a turnaround school who you took out and put in the wwps pool what is the harm to the children in the district of placing those those teachers into a slot where

053they are certified because it sounds it feels very punitive and it doesn't feel like it is a decision that is made in the interest of children to be clear like an answer yeah no to be clear the the folks who are left in the so in other words we've already placed those teachers those teachers are all in classrooms the people who are left in the pool are left in the pool for the reasons I just articulated so I'm sorry if that was not clear all of those teachers who did not sign the Ewa and were rated highly effective effective even partially effective were placed into positions okay I have another to bring up I know during a meeting we discussed the principle at Hawthorne um that missing in the minutes so I would like that

054to be added but I would also like to know a update um because I've been hearing different things so if we can have an update on the principal at Hawthorne well with all due respect we can't discuss individual Personnel matters I'm not asking for individual Personnel matters I'm just asking generally what is the update with Hawthorne for with with the title of principal yes I was told that there was a principle placed everywhere and so what I'm saying is that's missing out of the minutes and so I would like that yes uh Henry Grady is the principal of Hawthorne and he is at Hawthorne this year thank you can we add that to the minutes um our discussion of yes we can I think the question was posed at a different meeting and so that's

055why it wasn't in this okay but we will we will add that okay Mr chair Lewis Mr Lewis what I don't know if I missed this but um we S as Prince I mean teachers did we hire any new teachers this year yes so why how many we we hire so when we do hire new teachers it's mostly around hard to staff subject and content areas in other words we don't currently have enough teachers in NPS that can fill those vacancies so we have uh less available teachers in our MPS staff around science math and bilingual so we're always at um a place where we're we have fewer available teachers for those subject and content areas than we have vacancies so we're always looking to staff in those areas and we're always hiring around those

056specific three areas so my my question is this um if we have individuals in the ewp pool who Once Upon a Time inside the classroom um and it's certified by the state to teach why are we hiring folks before we giving these individuals uh first priority so that we can lower the number of folks in our ewp yeah that's a great question the qu because they're not certified if they're in the ews pool and they don't have the certification in math or science or bilingual then they can't fill those vacancies and that's part of the reason many of the teachers who are left in our ews pool are there for um a number of reasons one including that they do not currently match a vacancy so their certification we have excess teachers for the number

057of vacancies we have so for example if we have 10 math vacancies but only two Math teachers in the wwps pool then we can only match those two to the two of the 10 vacancies which would then leave us still with eight vacancies that we need to fill and to ensure that we fill those vacancies and start school with as many of our vacancies filled we would have to hire externally to ensure we have enough teachers in those placements so so my question is this we're paying for professional development right um and our job is to we try to lower our cost of of um as much as possible ew people should be one of the main things we should be focused on because it's costing us a lot of money to pay folks um

058who's really not doing nothing um and we have professional development and each month the district come to this board and asks us to vote on contracts for professional development so if these folks are not certified or need some type of development in certain areas to put them back in the classroom shouldn't that be our Focus uh when we talk about spending money in this District yeah we do provide every teacher including teachers in the wwps pool with professional development and it is you know their certification that's something that they would need to want to do if they want to expand their certifications and add a math certification we are all for it because we have a huge need for Math teachers bilingual teachers and science teachers so we are happy to support teachers who want

059to go for their certification in those areas but we can't place a teacher that isn't certified in those areas into those positions until they've completed the certification process in that subject or content area so in in order to ensure that we have teachers and vacancies filled for this beginning of the school year we are put in a position where we have to recruit externally for teachers and we have good Partnerships with ruers Montclair State University CN Hall you know other universities where we look to have them support us in identifying strong Math Science and bilingual teachers who can fill those vacancies throughout our schools so I completely agree with you um I no Mr Jackson oh I'll I'll let Miss um go first because I'm of thank you um so we were talking about the

060professional development and all so do we know with timing in advance like because if we have time to interview people and have new people come on board do we have enough time to let the other teachers don't know that don't have placement like do we give them enough time to become certified because I feel like we should give them enough time so that we can feel that in-house rather than you know having to go outside again when we have people not doing anything so we are consistently throughout the school year talking and communicating with our e Any teacher in the wwps pool so that's one second if teachers want to become certified it's a broader process I think it's more than just a year they have to get the right credits and I think that

061we've communicated that we have great need in the area of math uh science and bilingual so that is something we've communicated consistently around our Recruitment and when there are um vacancies and talent match and transfer period and opportunities for interviewing in mutual match we communicate that there's an urgent need around these areas so if if you have a dual certification we consistently ask the teachers who have let's say Elementary certification as well as a math certification if they would be willing to teach in their math certification because that is such a huge need so we do provide that opportunity at the end of the day it will be upon the teacher if they choose to get the certification and how we communicating that information to them are we just hitting them with an email every

062you know so often or are we actually doing the you know the Outreach to those individuals so that they are you know aware of it we do do email is one way but we do call a lot of our teachers in the awps pool to try to have one-on-one conversations we also send surveys to them which they complete about what they um feel they they're they're best qualified to teach based on their certifications and we work closely with the principes who work with them in the schools because all ewpsm work closely with these teachers and many of these teachers they've hired into budgeted positions once they've had a vacancy that matches their content or subject area and the ews has specifically this year I think decreased significantly in the number of teachers that we have

063in that pool so we do work very closely with them at different levels and in different ways okay so my last question and I'm sorry to bombard you um how many teachers did we hire for this school year do you know have an idea yeah external it's very few I don't know the number of hand but we can get that for you okay thank you very much with that can we also have the resumés of those who were hired um District wide external external teachers resumes District wise not just teachers within a central office as well you want resumes of every single new hire yes and their national origin I I don't know if we allowed to provide Miss uh Carter you're looking for resumés of all new hires from what period let's say March

064March which is the last fiscal year yes okay so from March to currently okay um can I ask that you give us some time that will not be available for next week's board meeting but give us some time to gather that data for you that's fine and I think there's some also I just need to qualify that uh pursuant to the Oprah law we do have to redact whatever might be personal information on there so once we pull the resumés my office will go through it so so that'll be an extra a little shorter time longer time for just the review uh but we'll work as quickly as we can to get that too okay and in addition to that I know the board we requested um which I read in the minutes um a

065breakdown of who's in the ewpsm area years of teaching race gender um and how long they've been in the wwps pool as well as can we get a date in which we can get this report so some of that information we don't collect and won't have readily available for you so we can we can go through what we we can go through what we do collect through the application process and what we do have and that we can provide to you for whoever is currently in the ews pool but I also want to stress that that number consistently keeps changing we are still working to place as many of those teachers as possible so our hope is that there'll be fewer um before the first day of school School in the actual pool fewer fewer

066teachers so we can collect it for who we have okay um but we won't be able to collect all the details that you're requesting is we just don't collect that information when we'll be able to get that report it depends it depends on um what information we have and how long it takes to collect I can't give you uh time at this moment can I ask that since we are in the process of placing wwps that uh staff and depleting that pool that we give you that information as of August 30th which is just about when we're ready to open schools because otherwise you get a snapshot at this moment in time and it's going to change because but at that point we anticipate that we will have processed all the people that we can

067possibly hire and have placed them and then you get a true picture of what the wwps pool is going to look like so I would like that report but in addition to that can we also have a report of those who have been in the wwps pool from its Inception so we can just get a background of who's been in the pool yes yes are you asking for who's been in the pool the are you asking just to be to understand the request is it of the people who are currently in the pool no I would like to know or everybody who's been in the pool over the last four years that as well we may not still have access to that information cuz once we place someone into a budgeted position they're out of

068the pool okay so there's two reports that I would like have to check to see if we can actually still pull that because in the system they move from [Music] ewpsm now I'm in a budgeted position there still should be record budget and see if we can pull that but I'm we have to look at that in terms of the employees record and stuff so if you're talking four years worth of data that's going to take a little bit of time can I also ask that you submit that Quest those requests in writing so that we have Clarity on exactly what you're looking for and please put uh periods of time that you may be looking being at thank you Miss Pasco Richardson yes uter I would like to respectfully add to that request that

069we uh reive the reason that each person was in the ews pool of course not any any other board members yes Mr Jackson um through the chair of the Personnel committee which I also sit on um this is going to actually change gears a little bit can the office talent and the office of personnel conduct a impact study on the elimination of the position of department chair the reason why I brought that up is because this this year um if I'm not mistaken marks 3 years uh since the title was eliminated so to speak and those persons who were serving in the prop chairs were respectfully then changed into Vice principl and we have schools with population less than 700 they are over six Vice principls and a principal um at the time I believe

070the excuse or the reason was that the district was in financial hardship or whatever have you and the district's Financial State hasn't really changed much since then and with that being said did that move save the district money or did it cost the district money and since those people are now able to continue because they served in that position for quite some time um I wanted to know committee respectfully if we can investigate the impact of that move and say so if I may um Mr Jackson um we'll provide any and all information that we are um allowed to by law without question what would be most helpful to us is if you could articulate in writing the exact questions that you've many of them you've referenced right now in your explanation rather than use

071the word study if you would really give us a list of the questions because that will narrow our scope as to how we look at this and also to be able to provide provide definitive answers to you rather than in a macro level okay also U Miss Luke from my office which your familiar with can be very um should be very helpful and also helping to identify um how to word the question so we can in fact go right and excise the proper information for you and do it as expeditiously as possible okay thank you and let me add since we now have a board relations office can I ask that uh you send your questions to your board chair and copy the board relations office so that we can track and ensure that you

072get the responses and responses are received in a timely fashion thank you um Miss Rodriguez um I have a question and this just came up after our meeting after the meeting I was approached by a couple of teachers that um aren't happy with their placement of school I do believe in the importantance of consistency and being happy where you're being placed um some teachers they're not happy with the the school that that they're currently in now my question is because I know the importance the importance of consistency and how um it affects a school culture a school climate or or the actual school and make it a more inviting and friendly school and everyone is expected to know what to do because instead of actually um the actual school and the administrator feel welcome um

073with the school that they're in I feel that it will weaken the school instead of actually strengthening the school therefore my question is do you feel that a school with a new um Administration a new leadership a new staff will strengthen the school culture or weaken it Madame chair with all due respect U Miss Rodriguez um I mean that that's an opinion a personal opinion if there's a specific question that you want to ask we will U most definitely answer it empirically with data um but that is a personal opinion that you're asking Miss Rodriguez to advance M Madam chair yes M uh Madam counsel uh I think uh her title uh professionalism as the chief Talent officer could warrant her to answer that question because as a chief Talent officer you should know what's

074the best practices for a building if you are the one in charge of Staffing the building with with with all due respect um Vice chair Lewis um I'm not disputing the expertise that um comes with the title of Chief telling officer what I'm asserting is that if there's a pointed question based upon data and upon empirical information the district has that's within the purview of what the chief telling officer can answer what we're what you're asking in with all due respect we can agree to disagree here is a personal opinion so if there are question specifically based on statistics and data we'll be more than happy to share that with you as we have tried to um during the entire course of this meeting Madam chair yes question so um to that point I [Music]

075think uh my question would be uh based off of the district's policies and past practices um for turn around and renew schools in within this District have those policies and past practices yielded the EXP expected results that the district has projected over the last 3 years anybody can answer that's a question that we can answer I don't know if we have the information today but clearly uh it might require uh a look back at at the data to give you a complete information and answer to that all right my next question is um the next question I have is in regards to uh the wwps pool we've had a we've had a lot of uh discussion about it tonight um one thing we didn't we didn't talk uh here is the anticipated cost um for

076the 2015 2016 school year for the E WPS pool I'm as a board we've had some discussion with uh new superintendent as well regarding this matter and there has been some obviously some uh changes that have been made uh to the budget and the district strategy to reduce the uh the the the Gap that we currently have um but we haven't really received any any data or any numbers or projections regards to the wwps pool so that is agreed and when at a point in time when the pool becomes is less Dynamic let let me say this at a time when the pool is less Dynamic which we just talked about with Miss Carter let's say August 30th which is a point where we should be fully staffed in school if we are going to

077properly and successfully open schools at that point the individuals in the pool will be clearly identifiable and therefore the cost associated with them should also be clearly identifiable okay uh um mran any more question I have one more question um I don't know if you want to call for order but I do have another question uh the question is in regards to professional development uh we talked about that a lot and uh I would like to know uh through the cheer of our Personnel uh committee um if we could be provided with the the number uh the amount of professional development uh hours and hours uh that has been uh provided to uh our teachers who are in the wwps pool who have had a rating of partially effective or ineffective over the last two

078years on once again I will ask that these questions be submitted in writing so that there is Clarity right and our process is going to be that questions be submitted to the board chair copy the board relations office so that we can ensure that we are tracking them and ensuring that answers come back and items are closed for the board thank you Miss Carter I was just going to ask that you also copy me so that I can make sure in our next meeting it's addressed TR I'll send them straight to you um I stand corrected the appropriate committee chair should be copied thank you Miss Carter any more questions because we are in the the Personnel committee and we have new faces in the back of our board members I would like each individual

079to introduce himself along with their title starting with I will introduce them for you we have hakha Taylor raise your hand Miss Taylor who is a special assistant in the area of facilities Miss Taylor has been with us two years two and a half years one and a half uh we have they don't have microphones we have Elizabeth galber who is a deputy chief of staff in the area of talent and has been providing board support support on ssot Miss gelber how long have how long have you been here since February uh who else is new I think those are the only new ones the lady at the end in the glasses is actually in fact our Labor Relations director uh lorett Asante Esquire Miss Assante how long have you been with District almost 10

080missions director yes she is thank you very much Miss Filson um nobody motion is there a motion to approve Miss Carter's report move Mr Le second M Mr s this a motion to approve the Personnel committee report as delivered by m Carter move by Mr Lewis second singer all in favor I any oppose or abstain motion carries report approved appr next we have our vice chair Lewis which is the chair for finance committee good evening good evening our finance committee uh meeting started yesterday uh at 607 p.m. the committee was informed that the district have decided to accept the board's correction action plan for the Tiffany Hardrick audit uh which consist of the board asking general counsel to request the entire total payment of $ 12,155 to be returned to the district also and and

081that um corrective action plan the board have asked for the dismissal of Vanessa Rodriguez Chief Talent officer to the district and also ask for the general Council to asks for a legal criminal investigation uh in this matter due to this uh due to the new superintendent coming our budget is still being worked on uh that was that's what was told to me by the ba is it still work in progress um the scaffolding we talked to it um through the operations committee but also came up in the finance committee just brief to let you know there's six scaffolds uh in the district bernet Street School is the district website I mean the district warehouse Maple Avenue School shabbaz High School War Street school and North vocational and our on in our operations committee mean also

082the finance committee was informed that there's two caes that's associated to this there's a first time call to set up the scaffolds and then there's a yearly call for each scaffold we also discussed the resolution of the health benefits uh which is about 117 million board members was uh had concerns about RS was there RFP advertise for the bid of this and if so when Madame ba informed us that there was no bid du to State Statute we don't du to State Statute RSP don't have to be put out even though the district plan to do so the district is also proposing uh to ask from the ask for 3.5 million to cover cover our funds our costs such deal that we couldn't cover such as our from our balance fund which is to cover

083our Charter School payments employment without placement and unfound positions questions that was asked about this was what is a unfunded position um I also as also ask through email uh what what what how much how how much are we saving by the recent layoffs and how is it affecting the dist the Departments and which layoffs occurred the board ALS I mean the committee also talked about the energy saens plan we talked about the schools that will be implemented in phase one will be in Arts High School oh excuse me phase one of the phase one would be in six of our schools ours high school baringer high school George Washington Carver Malcolm X shabaz technology high school and weekway high school some of the questions that I refer back to Madam ba for further discussion

084was to ask how much are we cutting from our school's budget how much are I see that how much uh what is the cost of all Consultants up to date are there any non-budget payments how much cuts are we are how much Cuts will our athletic department in care how much oh where is the title money Title One money being used for this meeting was adjourned as 7:45 yesterday p.m. yes yes please Vice chair Lewis I just needed to make one clarification if I may I was not able to attend uh the finance committee meeting with respect to the cap pursuant to the ofac report uh regarding a former assistant superintendent Tiffany Hardrick um the district as the board is aware did submit a cap to which the uh board did not um approve of

085that cap subsequent to that the board has submitted a revised cap that had different uh qualifying information I have been in touch with um the ofac uh committee as well as with the commissioner's office because upon information and belief which has been confirmed by the Commissioner's Office the district has never been in a position prior to this whereby we cannot fulfill the statute the statute obligates the uh board to submit meaning the the district to submit a cap that's been approved by the sabb um by the school board pardon me and uh with respect to the the fact that we have differing opinions on this which I do understand uh there is no meaning of the minds I needed to seek guidance because we have a statutory requirement to submit this to the ofac uh

086committee as well as uh the board is aware to post this on our website the advice that I was given and I was not given this advice prior to the finance committee meeting to give this to Miss Wilson is that um I've been advised to submit the cap that the district has prepared along with the cap that the um the board has repaired which differs from our cap that the district submitted about 2 months ago uh this will be both given to the OAC committee and they will uh render and address uh both caps and give uh give some type of uh guidance further to the district um barring the fact that I understand that there is no ability for us to agree upon one cap whereas in Prior instances we have always been able

087to at least modify or compromise uh there's no position here I think that will actually um be able to meet that particular Spirit of the statute so I just wanted to inform you that the district does not um agree to the cap that is submitted by the board um but we are submitting both caps and again that's upon my uh request for guidance as to how to fulfill the statute requirements and that's the position that the district will uh submit and take to the um to the ofet committee I have a question Miss Carter um may you Maris repeat um the contract you were speaking of what contract and you said that they didn't have to go out I wasn't clear on that part that was the uh health benefits and so can you repeat

088you said that the district said that we don't have to go out to bid for that due to the state statute they don't have to go out to bid so it's my understanding that you do have to go out to bid it's not to the term of the contract can exceed five years so if council could I'm going to take that one miss cter pursuant to 18a 18a 5 A-10 mm okay uh the statute indicates that insurance coverage or Consultants associated with insurance are not required to be publicly bid they are um that's just what the statute actually reads and I don't know if anybody has their statute broke I didn't bring mine so that that it is not subject to the public bidding laws it is an exception based on that statute now what

089Mr Lewis also indicated in his report that is that item is on the agenda this evening and the district does intend to go out to bid because it is good practice we are not required to do so but it is good practice every s several years to look at the marketplace and based on our size and based on our Activity thank you Council based on our size and based on our activity we uh would want to look for pricing so let me read the statute into the record and it is 18a 18 a510 Insurance including the purchase of insurance coverage and consultant services which exception shall be in accordance with the requirements for Extraordinary unspecifiable services and if you look up extraord we are not saying I want to be very clear that this is

090an extraordinary and unspecifiable service but based on the way it is written in the statute and if you look under unspecified Services you will see that it is not subject to public bidding okay I was asking it based off the local public contract law MH um which I was looking at 48-11 d4.2 where it says unless an exception is provided for under section 15 of PL 1971 c198 permitting a longer contract duration contracts awarded pursuance to section five of Po 1999 c440 may be a term not to exceed 5 years um and then it further goes on in 40 a-11 through1 15 um that insurance including the purchase of insurance coverage insurance consulting or administrative Services claims administrative services including participation in a joint self-insurance fund risk management um is not to exceed the term

091of not more than 3 years and so if it hasn't gone out to bid shouldn't it be Miss Carter the statute that governs school districts is 18a for education so that Trump's statute that you're referring to okay I have a question or comment let me just make um a question regarding the same topic actually the same resolution which is for all board members resolution is 8619 health benefits um whereas I have a couple of questions um I do understand that um we have not gone out to bate for a couple of years and we are going to to do so I believe is for by next year but item number e which is brokerage Concepts which states at no cost to exceede $2.7 million and item number F supplemental fringe benefits at cost not to

092exceed 19.2 and then has you know a lot of numbers and then 117 um I am unsure what what the numbers are for for 17 for line number F but I also want to know who um is brokerage concept what do what they what do they do what services have they provided to the district for us to pay them $2.7 million all right so let's talk about that brokerage Concepts is a third party administrator which Services Local 3 which is the Food Services Union and local 617 as required by their collective bargaining agreements brokerage concept currently managed is temporary disability prescription for gpp and vision for their members the unions that I mentioned the district Bears the cost for the actual prescriptions the administrative fee for employees in local 617 is $578 cents per employee

093and local 3 is 709 per employee let me also indicate that this was a contract that has been in place prior to State takeover and has been continuously in place so that's what brokerage Concepts provides you wanted to also talk about the supplemental French benefits F the supplemental fringe benefits fund is a third-party administrator for n members where that particular Union handles their visual dental and prescription for their members separate and distinct from all other union members um the district Bears the cost for the actual claims for all prescriptions and the cost for services is 30,000 a month that too was in place prior to State takeover Mr Sante have I missed anything okay because um this has been in place prior to State takeover and because um it has not gone out to bid

094I do not feel in good faith that I should vote for these items because um is a third party and is the the revenue or the profit is not going to the state it it is to to my um good faith to pull these items from this resolution because these money that are that will be allocated should go to the classrooms and to their students and to the books because this amount of money we do know for a fact that if we go out to bid we may have somebody who you know who will come back with a cheaper rate therefore I recommend and I don't know if the board would like to um to also assist with this to pull these items out out of this resolution which is line number enf Madam yes

095M Mr Lis I I just uh because of school starting within the next two weeks I just highly you know on highly ask that we at least try to table this to you know next week pick it back up because I we got to think about our employees Who coming back in two weeks we have to make sure that they insured um and I'm I'm a person who have a family who who work and I wouldn't want my benefits held up because of something that uh the district dropped the ball on this is something that we was going to talk about it should been talked about in June when everybody was home and you know we could have talked about it then but right now 2 weeks until everyone come back to school we shouldn't

096you know uh put our employees at in that type of danger or risk Madam chair Miss Carter I mean Miss Crystal um okay let me just go back a little bit but I just want to put on the record um I understand that in our budget we have line items and I'm sure that this is a specific line item so it can only be used for something in that area um I'm pretty familiar with that but I also want to say that it is very important that we put items out like this with such you know being that it's such a large number we should be putting it out for bid because it makes it competitive and it gives us the opportunity to see what other prices are out there to benefit the district itself

097um although I know that that there's a line item for it I'm not saying that we're taking that money and putting it somewhere else but if we can pay L by going out to bid we don't know unless we give it a shot and being that we are responsible on voting on items like this I think it's important that we continue that practice not just specifically on this resolution but just anything that's this large amount of money um so I think that's really important um I also want to say that not only should we put it out to bid for the finance part you know the whole large sum but also you're saying that this has this company we've been using it since we've been under local control I mean that's a long time so

098there are other companies out there that can make this competitive so I think that's even more of a reason for us to put it out for bid and lastly to Mr Lewis um I don't disagree with you because we all have families and insurance and all that stuff is very important so I don't disagree with that but had the district provided us with this information prior to then that would give us the opportunity to vote on things in a timely manner um I my limited time here on the board as a new board member I've had an issue with us receiving resolutions stuff for us to approve with a short timing or something coming up like okay the contract is about to expire we need to do this right now whereas if we're given ample

099timing then we can research these matters and voice it out not only to the people that are in charge but also let the community know that we are looking into matters and we're not just approving it because our backs are put up against the wall because that also puts us in a position of being irresponsible because we're just voting because we're being obligated to because it's affecting other families or whatever teachers or or the students um so I just want to put that on the record because I've been saying it since I came on the board we need to receive thorough information we need to receive it in a timely manner because this right here is not I don't feel like it's acceptable for us to just vote on it when we know that it

100should be going out for bid so I just want to and I I just appreciate that that is acknowledged Miss Miss Wilson can I provide let me provide some points of clarity um we have indicated as a district that we will be going out to bid so it is our intent this is a large bid this is uh an item that is complex in terms of the it requires negotiations between the represented classes or unions and the district you cannot just um change providers so we would have to get bids or get proposals that in turn are going to allow us to show that one the uh services and benefits provided are equal or better and that we actually have a savings so that is going to take some time because this is not subject

101to public bidding we have not bid it every year at this point the resolution that the board is considering tonight is not the awarding of a contract it is an annual resolution that you will begin to do as you are now transitioning to financial control this is the first time that you are seeing this resolution as something annual so we have health Ben we have uh health insurance prescription Vision Dental whether you table this resolution or not those vendors will remain in place at the costs on the resolution because it is not the awarding of a contract at the point when the bid occurs there will be a discussion for awarding of contract once negotiations have occurred should we be making changes so it's not last minute it is an annual piece it is not

102something you have done in the past because the board did not have Financial control so what we are beginning to do is as part of our transition to make sure that the annual things that a board does are done in the timely fashion that are that is required and that we do the things that we should be doing so there are some things throughout the year that you will be doing at the appropriate time and that is one of the pieces that on under my office we are managing through board relations so that is why you are seeing this particular resolution it is to indicate for as you note the resolution says a one-year period now let us talk about the services can just hold from Madam chair if I may um our director of

103Labor Relations Mr Santi wanted she has information that also Bears upon the further clarification if we could if she can address the um the board at this moment yes thank you um General councel in terms of the supplemental can you hear me in terms of the supplemental Fringe um sorry benefits um that is that is contractual so um we B we really the district has to negotiate that with the teachers union if we wanted to go out and basically have another third party administrator that's a contractual piece um the contract expired just last um this June we're going to be commencing negotiations and so that will be a topic for negotiations but in terms of the cost the bulk of the cost is actually to pay the claims the prescription claims the district is self-funded

104so there the millions of dollars is not really going to the third party administrator brokerage concept of supplemental Fringe it's really going to pay actual claims because we're self-funded and because we're self-funded that's why we need a third party administrator so that's a legal you know that's a legal another legal provision we can't we can't be self-funded and also do the administration so that's why we have third party but we do hear your in terms of brokerage concept they've been a you know third party administrator for 617 and local 3 four years so as SBA said that we will go out for bit on that but I just want to point out that if this is tabled that will put a hold on paying actual prescription claims for a large population of the district thank

105you now what repercussions will we have if we just take out the item brokerage concept and leave everything as is can you just clarify that that statement you say take out the item what do you mean by that remove brokerage item remove brokerage concept instead of um voting for the whole entire items a let's vote for a to d and then F and take out e so you're you're you're stating what's the consequence if you table is it item e item e uh well as Mr Santi said fourth we are in contract with third- party vendors um the district should not be and it's our fiduciary responsibility to not be in breach of contract most importantly health benefits for prescription benefits these are not just state but they're Federal statutory obligations that we carry what

106I would ask respectfully that the board consider consider is to bifurcate the need for the RFP which we all acknowledge is necessary and if I can have just one further note on explaining even that further we are the largest as you are aware School District in the state of New Jersey our withdrawal of the state um where we're in a we're in a State Health Benefit pool our withdrawal would have significant impact as you might Envision and just uh extrapolate to that pool so there is a tremendous amount of lead time that is necessary to go out for RFP to also even give proper notice and prepare the state if we pull out so to speak of that particular plan um without question everyone is looking at this from the fiduciary responsibility standpoint but specifically

107for the purposes of this evening if we do not move forward with current existing contracts as we have in the past articulated here that puts the district in a breach of contract and more importantly with items such as healthc care I think I think everyone clearly understands you know without question the uh importance and significance of not disrupting or having any of that possibly terminated from any employees U benefit package question Miss Bas Richardson had a question and then Mr um Hassan so my question um my topic actually goes back to the cap so if we finished with the other discussion or when we're finished with the other discussion then I would I ask that I speak at that time Mr Hassan so my comments are in regards to uh you know what we're talking

108about now with the insurance the benefits one you know I feel like uh as a local uh School District uh we should not have to be the foundation for the state's infrastructure in regards to their ability to provide uh health benefits or Services throughout the state of New Jersey so you know with the comments that were just made by General Counsel I would then ask asked well what percentage uh do we actually contribute to the to the funding um of these uh benefits throughout the state um been communicated that it would it would uh be a grave impact that we would have pull out but what other uh school districts that are under State intervention are also funding this this um pool uh for the states insurance and health benefits um again our focus should

109be to do what's in the best interest of our staff and our employees and for those uh within the north public schools district not for everybody in the state of New Jersey I think that's what we should be leading with and those that should support all the action that we take in regards to this and everything else that we do here within this District Miss wison no answer was that is that let me see if I get clear what your question is one you want to know what is our percentage of participation that's something we're going to have to investigate cuz I can't answer that I don't know that answer right what general counsel indicated was that the state health benefits plan for those of you who might remember was created a couple years ago

110MH right at that point in time we were asked well not asked basically told to participate right so we are in there there are districts surrounding districts not State operated and not Urban who were also made to put be put into that plan because it was more cost effective for the entire set of districts there have been districts who have pulled out over the course of time there have been districts who have been added over the course of time health benefits is something we have looked at in this District since I first got here almost 19 years ago so it is a topic that has been up for discussion a health plan is determined based on the uh claim history of the district and every time we've looked at our claim history I want to

111tell you that we stand pretty high up on the list we have good claim history right in terms of the number of claims the types of claims Etc um which also affects the rate you pay so there is a need to look at health benefits it is a large cost driver in our budget there is a need to look at it and there is a need to seriously consider if there are savings and the benefits offered and services offered are equal to what people have today we drive cost based on on our volume the largest group of our employees participate in the NTU so the to do something without bringing along one group or the other does not drive the ability to drive savings so when we do it we have to be sure that

112we are using our Collective size to manage and to drive those savings so it is going to take a process we are going to go out for bid and we think that we might be able to realize some savings the truth is yet to be told and yet to be seen MH so I have one more question you might not be able to answer this now I'll try so with us being enrolled in this particular plan uh who benefits more from that relationship not Public Schools or the state I don't have an exact answer but what I can say to you what I can say to you is cuz that requires some analysis and some stuff we don't have access to realize I'm we are not going to have access to other districts claim history

113right but our people who have you know asked for our claim history have and we've analyzed it over the years that's where I get my information but I can't speak to others I will say that we benefit because we're part of a group so we drive price okay they benefit from our size which helps them Drive price thank you Miss F I'm sorry I just need Clarity um so you said that we were we're at the deadline um I didn't get your I didn't understand your name I'm sorry my name is lorett asan Miss Loretta I'm sorry um you said that we need to that we will it'll be a conf like kind of like it's bad if we don't vote on this now because the term expired yes because we won't be able to

114pay we won't be able to pay but that means because are we at an expired date right now like this that's my question yes no no the ENT contract she what she was referring to is that we're not expired on the health benefits but the n's contract has now come to an end okay so because you have to negotiate health benefits that will be incorporated into the discussion and negotiation with the Union in terms of what we negotiate for the next contract period which would then allow us possibly to change health insurance providers okay so my last question it says in the resolution that it says provide coverage from July 1 2015 to June J 30th 2016 mhm so we we're already doing it then right because it's August 18th today yes we have health

115insurance in place but it's an annual piece that you would normally do annually so you do it your first meeting of the Year okay so the fiscal year okay so is there any way that we can be like being that we know that this is an annual thing and it takes time to put all the other paperwork together that you mentioned earlier which I totally understand and I thank you for explaining it to everyone but if we know that this is an annual thing that comes up isn't there a way that we can speak about it prior to the current like the fiscal year begins so that we can have Clarity on all of this in the future yes you would this is the first year that you have Financial control so you would not

116have spoken about it before as a transition this is the first board meeting at which you can speak about it in turn whenever you are going to transition health insurance or any kind of large piece like this you would want them to transition at the start of your fiscal year to realize the maximum amount of savings so we would put a bid out we would look for that bid to take effect for July 1st of next year prior to July 1st first you would approve the contract the provider should we choose to change plans would then have to convert all our employee records right new prescription cards have to be identified enrollment period needs to occur doctors need to be selected all of that so you would see that happening over the course of the

117year right so I would say that that's at least 5 to 6 months I'm going to defer to my labor and my HR expert 5 to 6 months for a district our size to work it through including the negotiations with our Unions that's correct thank you any other board members I have a question so what was your recommendation Madam chair to pull out line item e and so so if we pulled out line item e that is what would stop the payment of coverage yes okay yes just for the record that would stop the the payment we would be in a breach of um contract more than likely the Unions would seek to sue the district which they rightfully would be able to do so and same applies for line line item F benefit yes

118yes the same is with the supplemental Fringe benefit because they're pursuant to Collective bargain agreement um benefits I appreciate everyone's feedback but again Madam chair it's basically we're forced to vote on it because we don't want to affect everyone else but at the same time we don't want to cause all this friction towards the district as far as a suit and stuff like that so what my recommendation to you chair is that and and I don't mean it just for this specific resolution I'm just saying it because we're discussing this one is that if I understand we're in a transition period but if we receive information with ample timing and we have Clarity on a lot of this stuff it would make it easier as the board on voting on items because it's we're for

119we're basically up against the wall we need to vote on it because we don't want to have all these other issues that everyone at the table has mentioned so I think we need to really look into that especially in a time like this where soon we'll have local control and we want to make sure everything is up to par okay any other board members have questions so what's the end result leave it as is we have no other choice but to vote we're also not dealing with the agenda yet you're not dealing with the next week's agenda yet so you don't have to make this issue yet I just uh quickly madam ba when did you expect this going to RFP if I that might resolve I I think Miss fca's issue is that this

120has kind of been presented I know the finance committee but she's looking for a little more lead time and this is kind of it's kind of sudden so I think if she mapped out like the process mapped out for in addition to the I don't have a process map for when we would go out to bid but as I indicated before it is at least a six-month period my procurement director is in the audience the labor person and HR am I saying something that is incorrect so it's going to take us a couple of months to put together the scope so that the scope is clear so that when vendors respond we have a clean and responsive bid which allows us to then make a selection and make it in a timely manner have the

121contract come before the board at the simultaneously we need to do the uh negotiations right and then come before the board with a full package so that we can begin to implement for a July first because if I'm going to count savings I want them from day one of the fiscal year does that provide Clarity yes it does and I'm very well aware of how tedious this process is I'm very familiar with it so I'm willing to provide any help I can to expedite this when we do start working on it because I am aware of everything you just detailed so thank you good thank you for volunteering to be our advisory our I'm sorry our board member who will assist with this process Miss Bas Richardson yes we are if I may I'd like

122to direct two questions uh to The General Counsel miss hitchock going back to the topic of the uh corrective action T regarding the New York internal audit units investigation of former nework public schools assist assistant superintendent Tiffany Hardrick I remember a few month ago when this topic was on the floor for discussion um that you said that you were going to see additional um restitution from Miss Hardrick up to the amount of the uh net that she had paid uh that she had repaid one amount to the district and that you were going to request an additional amount that would then bring that total to the net amount of the money that she was paid so I'm just is wondering um if she has made any additional restitution to the district since that initial P

123yes all uh net proceeds have been paid um copies of that check have been maintained in files um with um our uh SBA as well as with our um HR department um I can take a recess and go to my office and actually um get a copy of the check if you like the check was sent personally to my office I viewed it it was deposited uh upon information and belief we received that I believe it was around the beginning of July but all proceeds net have been tendered to the district as repayment okay thank you so uh basically um we left the um finance committee meeting yesterday with the understanding that the uh corrective action uh the corrective action plan that uh we the board had uh submitted would be um presented to the

124state by the district and now I understand that you're saying that that is not what is happening and we're clear on that but my question now is on the question of process because basically we the board have a commitment to pass a corrective action plan the due date on that was initially to have been uh 30 days aftering the report and that was extended and then extended again we on that okay so to get back to what what I heard this evening I heard you say that you would submit both the cap that the district proposed and the cap that the board as an entity um propos as two separate documents as two separate caps to the state so my question is how can you submit anything to the state when we have not voted

125it one way or the other if we have a if we have an obligation to actually approve a plan and I think whether we vot it up or down that a plan has to be brought to us at our voting meeting next week for us to vote up or down so I just want to be clear if that's the process because when you said you would send them up I didn't now vote on the first so what the process is no I would never submit that I I could not legally submit that without a vote what has to be submitted and this is very um Spilled Out um very specifically in statute it has to be uh the vote a record of the vote which means that a record of the minutes would have to

126be attached to that and then of course the actual resolution and again just to be uh clear in my explanation um part of the reason as to why there's sort of this conundrum of this occasion um for the first impression with the district is that as the board is fully aware the board does not yet have personnel with respect to a restoration of the qac areas so therefore the cap does include um a uh component that speaks directly to personnel and again I sought guidance because I was not going to interpret um on my own uh valtion what I could not at at all uh understand that the statute would provide for this exception so that was the guidance that was given to me but no this would only be submitted at the point that

127a is taken and I meant that to be uh in present I mean uh future tense not current so uh the fact that we are actually at this point unless there's some further negotiation next Tuesday that we are actually going to be in position in possession of two separate resolutions will we then be voting separately on these resolutions or what process can we expect to well what I'm going to do and um well strike that what I have informed the state of is that as you recall think it might have been about 2 months ago Miss Rodriguez may have the actual date the state the district submitted a cap that was presented to the board I believe it might have been about maybe two to three months ago that is the cap that obviously was

128not satisfying to the board and that that was revised we are not seeking I mean without question that would be voted in the negative the reason I'm submitting uh I've been directed to submit the cap that the district has actually uh prepared is for for background information and for completion of just their their actual analysis the cap that I presume and I don't you know want to speak for the board obviously that you will pass will be the cap that you're submitting which is the revised cap so that will be the cap that will have the minutes attached to a vote uh with respect to um being submitted to the ofac uh office um it was very clear in records prior to now that the board was not going to pass and I I'm not

129trying to paraphrase here but my recollection upon uh information and belief was that it was um there was no intention that the board would vote on the cap submitted to the actual from the district if that is a mistake of my interpretation then clearly um we can I can submit for the vote uh the cap that the district has in fact also prepared okay so this is getting a little bit convoluted to me so there was the first it was the first cap that the district wrote and then um basically after the initial presentation okay back and revise that corre so am I hearing that that cap was then submitted to the state nothing has been submitted to the state because by Statute nothing can be submitted without a vote of this board so no

130I mean we we clearly have postponed and again with all due respect to the board that request of postponement has been at The District's uh request we have documented it so that there is at all no uh attribution of delay on this board we have provided the letters that substantiated that the delay was requested by us and that it was approved so with respect to the cap there has been no document whatsoever that has been officially submitted on behalf of this particular ofac report clearly there's been a lot of paper exchange here but nothing has officially been submitted because until hopefully next week the board has not voted on any cap thus far however there are there are two caps there is the cap from the district and then there is the cap that the

131board is submitting so why are not both of those being submitted to the board for the district will clearly we can submit both uh and we will submit both and then of course the board would vote accordingly as to each cap thank you okay Miss Hitchcock Miss sorry um so what is our current Z line because I know that we've postponed this several times so as of right now where do we stand with that deadline the last request that was made from our SBA to Steve Hoffman was to request an extension for the next uh public meeting which would be the meeting occurring next week okay thank you is there a motion to approve Mr Lewis's um so move report second Mr Assan who's second this is a motion to approve the finance commit report

132it's deliver by Vice chair Lewis moved by Mr second by Miss Carter all in favor I any oppos orain motion carries report approved next we have the review of the agenda for the public meeting I don't know if the two caps as discussed by Miss basball Richardson and Miss Hitchcock are on the agenda as presented to the board right now you would have to add those two items the uh cap for the the cap as identified and approvable by the board is on the agenda which is the ofac cap board recommendations we will now be looking to add the district cap in addition um I sent over uh yesterday uh board resolution solution that is not put in the agenda which is the Hal to the one nor Universal Enrollment I would like for that

133to be included uh that was we received it and I know Mr Reed has been working with you to format and stuff so once it's in the right format we will add it to the agenda for next week uh uh are we taking votes to modify the agenda do we need that Council yes we so then let us follow the proper practice are there any other additions or comments on the agenda before we do that no okay so can I have a uh motion then to uh accept the agenda for next week with the additional cap as set forth by Miss Wilson and the additional resolution as uh set forth by the chair second Mr Lewis on the Move second by Mr Hassan motion to approve the agenda all in favor I any oppos or

134abstain motion carries agenda approved for next week next item on the agenda Public particip public [Music] participation you voted [Music] uh we got to vote on the computer I've been reminded all board members should be voted on the computer Phil fman register ladies and gentlemen this is the public participation portion of the meeting as a reminder time limits for all uh speakers are enforced there is no sharing of Grant in of speaking time to others speakers must be present when their name is called speakers are required to give their names and addresses the public participation portion at business meetings limited to 10 speakers on a first come first Ser basis examples of unacceptable behavior that are not permitted include but are not limited to naming District employees and engaging in personal attacks slurs excessive loudness

135calling out yelling generally disrupted Behavior attempt to disruptive meeting or inciting others to do so public participation at board meetings is intended to allow individual members of the public the opportunity to address the board and the administration on issues of public concern not as a forum for two-way dialogue with the board members or District officials the superintendent dese or Madam chair May respond to questions either at the end of the session or responses may be provided at later time the superintendent design chair May interrupt any speaker or terminate any individual speaking privilege if the comments are disruptive or obscene an individual may be cautioned at a personally directed statement may be slanderous or defaming and the individual may be liable for his her statements attempts to hijack or filibuster the proceeding repeated interrupting or badgering

136the board members of District officials repetitive truculent speech or disregard of the rules of the quum are not tolerated and May subject the individual to removal from the meeting if necessary the meeting may be adjourned the first speaker is is Miss Kathleen Witcher next speaker is Louise rry good evening my name is Louise rry and I reside at 40 Washington Street in East Orange New Jersey um good evening good evening thank you madam J and to the board members um I was um an employee of new republ schools happily for 16 years 12 of those years I served as a substance awareness coordinator and I'm quite sure you where in 2010 our department was eliminated at that time it really took me through a lot of changes because I actually adored my job I L

137working with the kids and I love what we did uh since that time what came out of that whole situation was a program which I have founded and that program is called The Academy of unlimited possibilities and what it is it's a program that is designed to develop character and skills to enhance social and emotional Learning and Development in our youth um so the Academy of unlimed possibilities which the name I chose it took time for me to choose that name okay I'll hurry I want to get this through I wanted I wanted to expose our children because working in that uh capacity for 12 years I know what our children need I know the behaviors I know um the consequences that they suffer I know the knowledge that they lack in term of a

138lot of decisions that they make so the academy is is a is a program that was going to address those issues uh it will bring them to an a realization of who they are you know in terms of the importance as a person it's going to address character development in terms of of honesty Integrity respect all of those things that our kids need it will give them a chance and a platform to express their greatness that's a part of our program where they can bring their talent forth um so out of this uh because what happened was I had a chance to do a survey with some seventh and eth seventh and eighth graders is that me again seventh and eighth graders on values and morals and surprisingly I was I found that so many

139of our our youth they are not aware of of is that me of the values and morals that they should have in growing or to navigate through this life so I would like for my Pro I did bring a package for you to see um hopefully everyone can take a look at it it's six modules I would like for this program to be considered to be a part of the district and I would I would like for it to be looked at further by a committee um I would I would love to have my program in the nework public schools because these are our children and I know that this program would benefit our kids okay thank you very much thank you next we have Miss Sheila monu then then we have Mr Jimmy whites

140good evening um my name is Jimmy white um I reside at 63 Sherman Avenue nor New Jersey District 47 South for cool um there's a couple of um issues um that that strikes some out first first of all um I'm I'm starting to learn some some things that's going on here I understand that you guys represent the district yeah yes um for the superintendent the the problem with that is we we have a lot of issues involving contracts help um teachers being uh not being placed placed in um in schools and um just staff staff development issues Healthcare issues but the but the man that's in charge isn't here we have the biggest um budget as said as we all repeat it time and time again that Miss that that man isn't here Mr surf

141isn't here and we always asking I've been I said in the meetings in the back where the board members continue to ask these guys questions they represent they always say we don't know or we don't have the information so I wonder when is the board is going to say you know what I'm tired of asking these guys questions I you know what I think y'all should do I think y should give them a letter for the superintendent to sign to give y'all the information that y'all need because all the I don't knows you know it's not helping our students it's not helping us whatsoever so so they they coming and they just get they they the represent they they're like the community relations department of a company you know they're going to call they going

142to listen to you they're going to talk to you to the community but you're never going to get to the CEO but the difference between our district and other school district cuz I was just in Cranford and my um my niece and I decided to go to that uh to that to that school livon Avenue school and just to see how things work and that's if they had a a problem with their teachers receiving health care or 20 vacancies that superintendent would be there because those are million doll issues those million doll issues need a million doll man sitting there and that million dollar maners they answer question so we get five people up there to saying they don't know and our board is is accepting this is accepting this you know for I guess

143for the past four years and I guess that it's time to stop and so he's going to show up next week to to um have um this do this political grand stand and say you know what this is my plan but when we needed you for a plan when we have a mil million doll problems sitting right here at the table and our board members aren't getting um documents when they supposed to get documents Etc you're nowhere to be found and you're going to leave that meeting probably early and say you got somewhere to go like every every other person who comes in our community and um say they in charge so I'm just basically I'm up here I can I can talk about what's in the budget as far as 6 months as uh

144as far as um what was it 60% as far as Kack is concerned qack qack is concerned the state is in charge what I what I fell understand the state is in charge why aren't we holding the state accountabil accountable for our results they the buck stops with them they seem to say no to a bunch of different things but soon as they say you know what I need I need y'all to cut some items then you have to cut items but when y need something to be improved they nowhere to be found so I think the board need to step up and say you know I'm tired of y'all stay in your book I'm tired of these five people coming here and not having any answers and I guess this not the time for

145me to say this but I am running for school board next April and from that from this point on I'm not going to take us getting Community representative to say they don't know cuz that's what these guys are saying I'm tired of you you cuz she had great questions her her her report was a great report it was filled with numbers it was filled with everything you need from the breakdown of from every school of what where the problem is and they and she couldn't get any answers Miss Wilshire was sitting here she retired 4 years ago 5 years ago I believe it was just a little bit when I left Mich B High School in 2006 and they could pull it if they had a problem with her they pull up her resume from

1461980s or 1970 when she started working but you can't find one resume for current teachers since March I find that hard to believe you know so you know we taking these answers but that's why I was in the back I was telling her you know speak up you know don't don't you know tell them that that that is unacceptable y'all know y'all can get the answers you know what I think stop stop asking Mr White thank you very much go to the state put in an Oprah request and get your answers from them because they're not they're going to sit there and say they don't know and and that's their job that's what they Mr White thank you very much your time is I'm not going to sit in that seat for 3 hours and

147listen to all this so he's going to pay good pay them good money I might might add for them to sit there and give you the a don't know cuz that's in our neighborhood thank you very much um that's you know just my perspective on it and that's it I had a bunch of questions but that's that's what it is oh but I would also like to thank you very much also like to know why aren't we using best practices within our schools every school that's successful have smaller classroom sizes we and I was I was in Cranford today Mr and they 20 students per class we have what 28 to 35 that and y'all evaluate our teachers in in failing circumstances like how do you do that then you lay them off and then

148she tell you they have no certified teachers what about all the teachers they laid off that Camy Anderson laid off that was certified why and ask them do they still want to work I bet you they still want to work your point is understood and say she don't know that where the talent is but she was there the whole four years when Cammy Anderson laid off all those teachers is there to to answer your question and your question Mr thank you very much I'm sorry thank you next we have I do not have a last name but it's John John from ncu then we have Mr Lucius [Music] Jones happy summer board members you know it is been a major major major Summers and as the new commissioner has said of the board uh we

149have some winners and we have some losers that's what he said at the state board meeting that New York is going to have some winners and some Lo losers board members I come to talk to you today very briefly I hope but please set the clock for five minutes I hope that is done because that clock been doing everything but on time okay M Mr President the clock said correct Mr Jones the clock has been set for five minutes very good my my concern goes back to when Ivy Hill school was created was developed Ivy School Hill school has had four principles and it's only been open since what uh 200 what 9 2008 we've had four to five principles our last principal we were told our last we last told at ivvy Hill that

150we were going to be a repurpose school and then they snatched the principal out and she met with the superintendent at that time and uh uh uh and uh uh the chief to Talent office to a part of an investigation now I come up here today and I hear Ivy Hill don't have this many teachers I hear University don't have this many teachers and Arts High don't have this many teachers why do I have a problem with that personally cuz those are all the schools my kids go to and I have a major major problem with that because last year my daughter who had chemistry took chemistry half a period and and and in some type of biology the other half a period and went back to chemistry because they didn't have a teacher we

151have major major issues here in this district and the cause of those issues could be because we got people who should be involved in Talent working on the budget and they don't know nothing about a budget it's not a part of their job description to know a thing about the budget but they are turning around here working on a budget and we don't have teachers in the classroom and then we turn back around to to bring more insult we have on qack rated high in 80% I don't know 80% 90% for finance but my opinion is that we won't have Finance board members because they don't want y'all voted on nothing they're having any power so what they intend to do it take Finance away from you because they spent all of last year screwing

152it up amen just screwing it up making sure that you when you do when you get assessed for qat you will not you will find that the score for finance if allowed will drop to 60% Patterson board and Jersey City Board said what the only thing better than local control is local control so you can we can sit here and we can dance and we can FID over and we can do all these different things but I am sitting here telling you that the kids in the schools are hurting they're hurting they don't have because of lack of books lack of planning lack of resources turn around school repurpose School reorganize School renew school they just pull they just going inside any old bag and pulling out any word they can come up with we

153got a match for you want to be go to this school a match you want to go for that school then Miss Rodriguez said you got a match to go for that employee to that school or match they matching all over the place but nobody being match with nothing it sounds like to me organized chaos networks all over the city Ivy Hill has four elementary schools each and every one of them has a different assistant superintendent what did that tell you they don't want the community organized they don't want the parents talking to one another and they want us going into four different assistant superintendent because they want to cause chaos for us but I have found my way through all of this mess that's why I can get up here and speak the way

154I speak today because there are nobody training the parents at the schools we don't have any workshops there's no parent engagement I don't know where the title money one money is going so that's my job this year to go out there in that West W and organize every single parent we can and train them to come right back here and engage so I look to see so when we've packed the room we want to make sure that every single board member and every s District employee that need to know we'll know that the parents will be empowered because we took the steps of saying with going to start with Grassroots to train the parents what they should know and what they should do with it cuz it doesn't make sense for me to know as

155much as I do know and don't share it with the rest of the world thank you have a nice day thank you very much Mr Jones next we have Miss Freda Barrow good evening good evening good evening board members my name is Freda Barrow I live at 20 Irving AV norc New Jersey um as I was sitting here I just uh typed some things that were on my mind I saw there weren't too many speakers on the list and um here we go one norc is one hassle for families like mine my granddaughter is a first grader with an IEP at George Washington Carver Elementary School our neighborhood School her brother would have been able to attend that same school for prek if it were not for the one norc enrollment plan this September my

156grandson would have to be driven to another location instead of our neighborhood school with his sister as it should be that's my family's Choice secondly I am an elementary school teacher who has been at George Washington Carver Elementary School since 1999 on September 1 I will be at Hawthorne Avenue School the only reason reason for this to my knowledge is because I opted not to sign the Ewa the extended work agreement I did not sign because it is clear that by signing the Ewa I am aware that this document is subject to changes that are not indicated the Ewa also states that the employee is aware that they will not be protected by parts of collective bargaining agreement between NPS and NTU it does not indic at what parts I recently found out that the

157school I've been assigned to is also a turnaround school with an extended school day none of this makes sense to me and to date no one has been able to provide me with an explanation as a community member and an educator I am deeply concerned that these changes will not benefit the school's population or the community it is painfully obvious that we we need local control immediately thank you thank you very much Miss barl next we have Miss Cole Denise Cole 2 care renue apartment 5D in North been to attending these board meeting for the last 3 years and I see new faces here I see people sitting over there and people that been sitting there and he with the suit and tie never have an answer to any question he can't give you a

158policy or procedure and I've been sitting here for the last four years and all the vacancies you said like really really I've been coming to the board means these same vacancies existed under Hassan rashan the same vacancies before school ended last this semester that we were still did not have permanent teaching that were qualified to teach in all our classes and that's when before that you all just got voted in we ended the school year not being fully staffed now we going to begin the school year again not fully staffed don't look at me crazy rashan Hassan cuz you sat there and you know I'm not lying this is not tolerable it is sad that you guys sit here and you read that and you honestly believe anybody over there going to give you information

159cuz I've been sitting here for the last four years and they ain't came back with no information each time you ask I gave them a list of questions all of you matter of fact but y'all didn't get it personally because I was told by head counsel Miss Hitchcock to give it to the lady that was at the public meeting so that everybody could share this was back in April or May my questions are still pended I didn't even get a response by letter say saying we got your questions cuzz I submitted it through head councel to be disseminated down to the superintendent and to every board member I still didn't get a letter but I did get a call a couple of months ago by um I can't say Mr Travis and then I got

160a call the other day by Mr Travis and said he was still working on the questions along with somebody in her office so I got I did get two phone calls eventually and he wanted to know where I stood Where I Stood on my questions and I told him I stood Where I Stood last year because just because surf came don't mean my issues change because I've been coming here and to listen to your reports and these new people faces sitting up here she ain't new he ain't new he's not new I've never seen her and she been here for 10 years and I've never seen the guy in the middle so at the end of the day we got people sitting here that because surf is now supposed to come to the next meeting

161they all of a sudden is interested really I am shocked that this elected board keep allowing them to come here I want Mr ran to lead a group of nor Public School parents like he led them 100 Charter School parents to shut one nor down to shut the Board of Education down until he can get pable answers to his questions cuz he asked good questions sometime in reference to newk public school but I bet you if we took that 200 $26 million going to the charter schools and said we not giving that money to them cuz we going to replenish our north public schools I bet you here lead 100 parents so when is these elected board members going to Le 5,000 parents to shut this border education down to kick surf out of our

162town to get Miss hcock and Miss Wilson to do what they're supposed to do with our budget for our children I'm tired this is nothing new I'm tired I'm fed up I'm frustrated I don't I mean like I'm not going to get an answer I know I'm going to sit here and I know in three more months I'm still going to be Mr Travis still going to be telling me they working on my questions so at the end of the day I need some help and I don't know who here can help our children cuz I stand here for parents I stand here for children and all five Wards I stand here for ESL who not speaking English students the special needs students who not being served in Charters nor Public Schools this is ridiculous

163and at some point I agree with my North Ward person who stood up here and talked we now have to organize board elected board if you want to be sitting in those seats and some of you only sitting here cuz two Council seats going to be free and if you think I'm going to even tell anybody to vote for anybody on this board to sit in city council when all you keep doing here is coming here asking these people for the same questions since you've been elected and you ain't got no answer and you haven't taken a proactive stand for nor public school children you're wrong pay attention nor Community must now begin to pay attention we need to look at all these faces sitting up here that ain't doing nothing that's getting paid the

164big money to not doing nothing he still ain't get me my answer that I last asked the last board meeting about the school program he Sid stepped it he Sid stepped it he Sid stepped it and we PID for children from charter schools to go to our north public school system when they're a whole separate district and people from different districts must pay to go to your summer school but yet they attended our summer schools free he told me it was because they were nor residents but I called Trenton personally and Trenton said charter schools are a separate District so if you're a separate District how did you go to our north public school system for free and we didn't collect money where your answers to that Mr Hassan rashan get me an answer next

165board meeting you can do it next board meeting but at the end of the day I'm going to shut this down by saying we need some answers and we need some legitimate answers and some legitimate action thank you very much Miss Cole Next we have Miss Marin Robinson good evening Meen Robinson 428 Doyle Street Elizabeth New Jersey good evening a special education teacher at Central High School highly qualified special education teacher I've been in the district 14 years I've only had one unsatisfactory evaluation I didn't come to speak uh tonight I just wanted to listen but I want to say um because I've accomplished my mission and my goal and I feel good about that uh I'm going to respond to Mrs Carter uh in the ew uh PS I'm going to give you my

166name and my number and I'm going to share some information with you about wwps because you have been misled in some of the stuff not all of it but some some of it um I don't think I can talk about me because I think that's against their policy but you and I can talk so I'm going to give you my name and my number and I want to I want you to call me and if you need any help or anything like that two of the things that come into play with principles and and teachers being assigned is favoritism and belonging to clicks okay if they want to pick up you pick you up they'll pick you up if they don't want to pick you up if you're not a part of the end crowd

167of their clicks they won't pick you up okay okay so I'm going to share that with you thank you thank you very much Miss Robinson that's it that's it yeah so we have a public disp Madam chair next item on the agenda old new business old new business is the next item on the agenda board member Basco Richardson yes U when I was coming in uh to the building today I noticed that there's a picture up of a new St rep however I don't remember hearing anything about a selection process or anything so just like to as to and when student Miss daring I hope you're not trying to leave you almost made it Miss daring not quite um we did go through a selection process Nancy can I I ask that you give a

168brief report so we opened the window for applications back in March and we did not get a lot of participation from students so we extended the deadline and we still didn't get it so we extended it again and the bottom line is we had at the end of May of the mon about and as I said to Vice chair leis you know the process we had students Representatives on the interview panel and we didn't have an opportunity at this time to extend that offer to board members okay oh VI lewiis I I want to thank m d for her hard work but I think I think we have um she she outlined a a issue that I have the issue I have is our children are not motivated to be in this role anymore and

169I know when I was in high school I was in ARS high school you know we used to compete to get our names in hat or whatever to try to be a part of of the student rep process or a part of the Miss U Miss Balden had uh a board she had the student rep and then the student rep had a board that he that he or she reported to um because there was two representative from each school that was appointed to meet with the student rep so I just think we need to find ways to make it more motivating and entain you know you know make it more of a student desire to want to be a part of because it's hurting to hear that a process that you know was in place

170when I was a student here and we we fought to get that position it was like you know a real election process and and now that our students not even interested in it we we have to reink this whole process I don't know Miss students in every school that would be honored to sit on that Bo as go to find out how she reach can I just say that they do that that's unacceptable the process is the process and the process was developed by a former student board rep and so one of the things that will be different in this coming year is that that we have a student Leadership Institute where we will have an opportunity to reach out to more students in all the schools and so if students are not aware they

171can't you're right if they're not aware they can't participate but we do have plans to expand the reach and start earlier may I ask what was the no Miss Bas had a question I'm sorry B richardon you defer okay Miss Carter I was going to ask may I ask what was the process of recruitment um as well as selection I don't know if I missed it sorry the process is the same that it has been every year we send out the criteria to the principles and we send it out through the student Leadership Institute and interested student Supply and so we had seven participants this year and how was the participant selected they're nominated by their peers Miss Pasco so I just want to um one out of the seven but the process has um

172changed over the years the initial process was uh a large uh student uh body of uh student representation from every high school and this goes back to um 2008 and before that there were student leaders identified in every High School by the coaches by the teachers in that school and they formed the student leadership they came together and met on a month basis and from that entire body student representative was elected I think it was probably um I don't remember exactly what year that that was change to more of a selection process but you know I understand that there are always you know difficulties in these processes but I would simply like to suggest that a more open and a more democratic process be used whereas a larger group of students can elect their student

173rep because if we don't do that then what we're doing is failing to develop Civic leaders failing to teach our students democracy as imperfect as it is and failing to prepare them to participate in the adult world so I would simply you know hope that moving forward that there's a more a broader reach more inclusive and a democratic process and we can certainly look at that um again I asked earlier I understand that they're nominated I wanted to know how were they chosen from the district how did you choose the one of the seven there was an interview process that included a panel of students and one administrator and then I also um wanted to know was the board made aware that you were looking um for students so that we could have engaged the

174community um ourselves to help put the word out there through means at which um we're able we may have more access being that we live here we may be able to contact and connect with our students um that's a good point I thought it was and I'm not going to say that I can definitely remember but I do remember reaching out to some board Le aons back then to make sure that you all knew when was Back Then it's back in March but you know now that I'm hearing this and I know that this has been a a concern for a while but uh we will certainly take your comments and your concerns under advisement and we will revisit the process uh this coming year thank you um just for the record um Miss Zing

175um the board was not aware um that there you know was a a selection process going to be taking place and um there's one thing that that you had mentioned that in May you extend it um one more time and at that point I was the chair um of the board and fortunately I didn't even know about it um Mr Mr Lewis uh who who is the student of what school his name is Nathan dos Santos and he's from east side he will be presented to the public in the September meeting that me Mr singer happy Madam chair Mr Jackson good evening again I'm going to be real brief uh want to submit on record um if we can have an update and a report of the oneor enrollment and or Family Support Center and

176that update should be given by a representative or the person running that department um I had the opportunity to visit the center I also plan to visit the center again next week while I'm on vacation and also make a few School visits um but I think it is important that we get a formal update from um that department uh it would have gone great with this meeting but if we can have that at our next public meeting thank you very much Mr Jackson Mr Lewis I just want to um a second what Mr ja just said and also so um the L the um I also had a few parents that went there and also you know mentioned that they were sent by board members and the staff there one don't even know our don't

177even don't know our names or they don't respect the fact that we send somebody there um I had an incident I talked to Madam B about it um where one of the persons that supposed to be directing down there laughed at a parent when he said they were sent by me and said why did I send them there why else will I send them there for you to help them I told them who to ask for and let them know that I sent them for help one of the parents didn't she barely spoke English and she was highly offended one that I sent to there and and he laughed in her face and second L he didn't help her he passed off to another employee who then indicated to her that he couldn't help her

178so I I think it's very discouraging when we send people down there and they can't get help and we send them to individual get help and then in return we as B have to turn around and get the superintendent involved and then when the superintendent get involved things happen it get handled we shouldn't have to go to the superintendent every time we want something to be resolved we are elected board members and we need to be respected as board members in this District that's all I'm going have to say for that for now any other board members can we can we get a response from uh or Assurance from a district a cabinet from the superintendent's office stating that someone will be able to report on the enrollment center we are the superintendent is absent

179tonight because of a previous engagement he had a personal one yes uh prior to his taking this job so that is why he is not present yes um we have been discussing the district report and from if memory serves me correct an enrollment piece is included uh yeah I'm hearing from my team that an enrollment piece is included and an enrollment center update and report will be presented at next week's board meeting okay Madam Madame VA with all due respect um I'm asking that someone from that department particularly the department head um as I know to be Mr Ruben Roberts who runs Den Roman Center if I'm mistaken please correct me um if he can come and present uh and the reason why I'm asking is because you know again department heads should be able

180to report out on their departments um I spoke with Mr Ruben Roberts we had a good conversation um so I think it it would be um it would be um not necessarily pleasing but um you know a duty for Mr Roberts to come in and report to the body of the board in a formal matter let me say this superintendent surf is new to the district I am unsure of his presentation style or wishes um I will say that it will be included in his report and we will ensure that the appropriate staff are present to respond to questions so he may not present it I can answer that at this time okay and and with also with that being said um I'm going to also request that all executive staff report to the next

181public meeting um we already no general counsel ba yes but I'm also asking all assistant superintendents and assistants uh ACC company uh the next uh public meeting uh we appreciate your request the superintendent will direct his staff as is appropriate wonderful thank you I would like to make um a request regarding the enrollment center um I do know for a fact that we have um schools and classroom sizes that are over its capacity I just wanted to know um in a school and per grade um how how many students we have um in the classroom how many students are we over enrolled and also what is going to be the the protocol to accommodate these students that are over involved in the classroom chair Perillo um school districts start on September 3rd or the Monday

182after Labor Day uh there is a practice in this district for late registration in terms of classes so I would say that to get an accurate report two weeks into the school year might be a better time for us to be able to tell you what our class sizes look like when everything sort of Settles down if you remember and note the actual account of children on Roll is not actually taken by the state until October 15th for that very reason so I'm not saying no we would not provide that information but I think it is best to wait for the district to settle and get things in place there is probably going to be some type of audit that our staff will do as we have done in years past so I will defer

183that request please submit it in writing and I will speak with the appropriate parties on staff to determine when is a good time to take that count okay Mr L I still um I'm waiting for my update on Pathways um we I know know that Mr tanian is not in charge of special education so I'm still looking for that update Mr Lewis for in June okay Mr Lewis and all board members can I ask for your patience and I will ask that starting today all requests be submitted in writing to the chair whether you've submitted them in June we're in a new fiscal year we're going to start from today I have an office of board relations all of you know that I have been assigned to work with them and in order to have

184proper practice proper protocol we will submit our requests to the board chair and we will submit them to the office of board relations I will point out Mr Reed and I will point out Miss galber they will both be working to ensure and tracking those requests the reason I'm asking for requests in writing we are in a board meeting it is a public entity public activity if we are answering questions sometimes we might miss the gist and the content that you are looking for when they are in writing there can be no mistake and we will track them that is the request I am making respectfully to the board Madam chair so Mr Le so I'm emailing to Madam chair right now update on the pathway special education also we need to update on what's

185happening with transportations for special education also we need to update on the IEP audit as well thank you one other piece that I will request respectfully is that we provide some sort of specificity to our requests so that it is not Broad and general I understand what an update means but an update on Transportation I can clearly tell you what Transportation we're offering the fact that our transportation bids have been done things like that but on special ID um an update on special ID is a little bit too broad I would like some more specificity please the more specific excuse me Mr Louis I didn't mean to interrupt you the more specific we can be on our requests the more timely the responses can be by staff and the more direct and focused those responses

186can be and the more satisfactory our level of service to you will be so you said more specific with special education so what I'm talking about is vacancies I'm talking about services that been cut I'm talking about Title One Title One fun funding and what it's being used for and the where this money being reallocated to and I'm also talking about where did the money from uh Berlin go that was supposed to be allocated for those children who attended Berlin Madame chair yes the request will come to you in writing and it will be submitted to the board relations group correct I would think M uh Madam SBA and Mr lo I think some of that sounds like a flowing discussion it might be more appropriate for curriculum if I'm not mistaken the curriculum committee

187closed I think if I remember correctly probably four to five years so tracking those dollars is going to take some time over several fiscal years it's not a request that I have at the spur or tip of my fingers br Berlin was two years ABC is ABC then Berlin so it's only two years Mr Miss Wilson um I have a question regarding the support center which is the statement that was issued by our superintendent can you please