001A productive way I call the meeting to order. This is the Palisades Board of Education or special regular business meeting on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. The meeting started 6:40 6:49 p.m. at the Early Childhood Center, 274 6th Street, Palisades Park, New Jersey. Everyone, please stand for the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Anthony Lytell? Mr. William Park? I feel okay. Okay. Mr. Griffin? Mr. William Park? Present. Mr. William Yu? Here. Mr. Anthony Lytell? Yep. Mr. Sergio Galvis? Mr. Anthony Lytell? Present. Mr. William Yu? Mr. Sergio G- Mr. Carl Bell? Present. Mr. Sergio Galvis? Here. Mr. Carl Bell? Here. In compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act, I hereby
002state that notice of this regular meeting has been provided to the public by a written notice dated January 15, 2026. The meeting notice has been emailed to all staff members at the district's three school locations. Communicated to the record filed with the Borough Clerk of Palisades Park posted on the district website. Before we move on to the work session um we need to go to close session for very short apparently 5 minutes to discuss the legal matters. Excuse me. So sorry. I don't know if I can talk. >> Is it going to be long? It's about 5 I said it started 5 minutes 5 minutes. Oh, all right. Thank you. All in favor? I Thank you. We'll be back soon. Thank you for your patience. Oh, look what you did. Sorry, independent. This is my
003bad, independent. No, I'm not Sorry, I I don't think it was It's better. I can't hear you. I will go back to him. He's got to use the bathroom. She's not going to mention it. I thought it was my kid at first. Oh. No, no. No. No, no. The parent Molly out. slash the subsidiary I don't like the noise in here. Don't you say something here. I'm doing good. Thank you for coming. Thank you for Thank you for coming. May I have a motion to close our close session and open to Open our meeting to All in favor? I So now the first discussion is approval of board minutes. We have four approval of minutes. That is two for the March 20th. Yes. One is for March 20th. The other is April 2nd also for
004the recreation and presentation. Do you have any minute corrections, any other discussion needed? If not, reading and ground. This is a third year is not work now. So, that's the meeting. So, we read the agenda. We have a three concept agenda for tonight for board approval. First one is PPA year ending carnival. I don't know. over two and J Korean American basketball association invitation tournament. Number three, board of Palisades Park recreation. Or take there is a many days between 4 5 6 7 8 9 days. So, Palisades Park will um recreation department is requesting for the I'll just read the information. Favor job that the Palisades Park for the recreation department recommendation of the superintendent approves the request of the board of Palisades Park to use the Palisades Park, Junior High School field, and Minneboho
005Elementary Elementary field for the following dates and the times for the public viewing of key hub soccer games. So, it was the last of days. I'll just read this information. Do you have any questions? Any discussion? Education next education. Mr. Justin Jones is not here. We have a long consent agenda on the education. It is 33. Do you have any questions? No. Next define is Mr. Jimmy, could you read the agenda? Uh yep, so we have 13 consent agendas for finance. Number one is staff members visiting workshops. Um professional decision workshops on the district and the SCA workshop for 2016. Cost is $2,200. Number two is approval of April payroll. April payroll April 15th April 30th the following amounts. Number three is student activities account. Board of education upon recommendation superintendent accept financial reports. High
006school members of school activity accounts for month ending April 30th. Number four secretary financial reports March 2016. Upon the recommendation of superintendent accept secretary unaudited 2015-2016 financial reports which are being reflected in the district's financial activities for the period of March 2016. Number five is ratification of board secretary monthly certification 439 items March 2016. Number six is transfers March 2016. Number seven is treasurer's report December 2015. Eight is treasurer's report January 2016. Number nine is out of district contracts 2015-2016 SY. And number 10, New Visions Academy agreement for 2016-2017 school year. Number 11 is approval of food services. 12 is acceptance of New Jersey High Impact Tutoring Cohort 3 grant. 120,000 dollars. Next. Number 13 is tax levy payments. Number 14 is tuition reimbursement. And 15 is approval of amended payments. Thank you. Any questions
007on this question in finance? Madam President, if I can just make a comment. Sure. I want to personally thank um Sylvia Alfaro for helping during the transition while our new accounts uh bookkeepers coming on. She has been tremendous help in preparing tonight's bill list. She's uh helped me, helped the office to ensure that our vendors got their payments. So, I want to publicly thank her on behalf of the board. Thank you. I have already heard from Grace regarding that news. Um yeah, I know Sylvia is going to step in for the office, too. And everyone has been overworking. And so, when uh the new bookkeeper is stepping in? Tomorrow. After [clears throat] our meeting. So, I yes. Thank you for Miss Sylvia for helping for your for your work. And any [snorts] other questions questions
008in finance? What's the the number 13, tax levy? That we were just expecting this amount of money every month as is stated. Yeah, equally divided amongst the town. Okay. Thank you. That's Next. What's the now? We have three consent agenda. Mr. Young Park. The personnel, we have uh 13 agendas today. Number one, resignation of the staff. Number two, home instruction teachers. Number three, approval of student teachers. Number four, option two after school program. Number five, request for leave. Number six, approval of side bar letter of agreement. Number seven, reduction in force for the 2020 and 2027 school year. Number eight, creation of administrative positions and appointments. Number nine, appointment of personnel. Number 10, creation of position. Number 11, appointment of personnel. Number 12, appointment of personnel. Number 13, appointment of personnel. That's all. Thank you.
009Any questions? Okay. Oh, wait. Um yeah. So, we're No. Deborah, you shouldn't get I don't You want to vote on this? Because we're getting rid of this position, is that what's going on? Yeah. I I I tried my best. It's a little complicated day. I tried to sum it up in a board update. Basically, the district currently has five supervisory positions. Under the budget process, we needed to reduce to So, the proposal is to with the three remaining positions, create two director jobs, which are 12-month positions. Because overall, we will have two less administrators. At least two of them will go to 12 months and we will have some extra time to make up some of the responsibilities that will be shared amongst the team. >> [clears throat] >> One will remain as a supervisor
010of uh early childhood as well as uh student support services. And that particular position, 60% of it is paid by the preschool grant. So, basically, you have five admin positions being reduced to three. And two supervisors were veteran tenured teachers, so they do have rights and they will revert back to their teaching positions. So, this complicated language accomplishes all of that. So, the supervisor positions do not have a similar um What is it? Um funds coming in from the state? Well, only one, the the preschool receives funding directly from the state. The others were were district funded. >> [clears throat] >> Any more questions in personnel? If not, next is policy, Mr. Sweeney. Uh there is three consent agendas for policy. The first one is policy revision 13.3 first reading results of policy board of
011education first reading and the updated policy use of facilities cancellation number two bylaws number 9325.1 remote participation first reading that policy board of education approves first reading of proposed bylaws 9325.1 regarding remote participation of board meetings through electronic communications and number three is bylaw 9325.4 voting methods first reading policy board of education approves the first reading of revised bylaws voting methods regarding board voting procedures abstentions and virtual board participation. Thank you. Do you have any questions? Was there I've I've been working with the policy committee and our legal counsel and we've been updating once in a month and the last two versions just came out last minute so we printed out and if you need time to understand or this language I can wait to. Yeah, I think I'd rather read through it. Uh but
012the policy is two reading even if we have there there is possibility that we will have some final amendment for revision in next month for second reading. Any other questions? I just want to like to recognize my special thanks to the June Bean the chairperson of policy committee and Mr. Albert there our legal counsel to help develop this policy amendment. Thank you. Yeah, it's it's been a lot of work, actually. Next, negotiations, and Mr. Reva. There is one item, number one, ratification for memorandum of agreement for the GPSA, via the result of the Department of Education for the recommendation. And then, it was a memorandum of agreement between the board and the school supervisors association, covering the period of July 1st to June 30th. Thank you. Do you have any questions? Any questions? So, this
013is I just want to make it sure for the Department of Education that so, starting July 1st, 2026, only one person will be applying for this new contract. This is correct. Yes. Yes, and and this will also cover retroactive pay back to 35 people. For the whole five supervisors. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> And you said we'll have how many assistants for the GPSA that will only encompass one person? Sure. So, so, um the five supervisors that I spoke about earlier, uh they were working without a contract since uh June 30th, 2024 is when it expired. Negotiations have gone on for for quite some time, and we have reached reached agreement and resolution. Um a lot of the the terms and conditions were actually negotiated um last spring. So, basically, what this does is
014the board, if if they accept the proposal to approve uh this MOA, basically, it gives retroactive raises to the current five supervisors. And then, going forward, there will only be one supervisor on July 1st, but that person would then receive the increase for next week. Do you have any more questions? For the discussion? That's the new business. That's a That's a long passage, so I'll just read the title and the last two paragraphs. It's a resolution urging relief from rising public school employee health care costs. So, basically, like all the uh local school board, we are impacted by the health care surcharge, as many of you are aware of our budget implication that the starting 20% is up this year. So, the Piscataway Board of Education is actually the district that we are uh declaring
015affected in our budget. So, uh other school board members and school board districts school board uh school districts are How are you going to asking the state to for the better measure of the consideration of this kind of challenging issue. So, this is the second from the last passage. Be further resolved that the Piscataway Board of Education in the county of Bergen urges the governor to engage in meaningful engagement with the Board of affected uh stakeholders to develop and implement critical long-term reforms to the state system of delivering health care to its public employees in order to generate meaningful long-term savings and build for the reserve that are currently on this resolution be forwarded to Governor Phil Murphy, State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher, >> [snorts] >> State Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Assembly Coughlin, Assembly Speaker Craig
016Coughlin. And Senator Gordon M. Johnson, Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver. Assemblywoman Ellen Park and the New Jersey School Boards Association. Do you have any questions? So, I have another new agenda for the new business. Um That's one reason that we need to check the validity of the validity of um this agenda before we start the one session. New business. The non-partisan school board election is in November. Not right now, but because of the severity of the recent of noxious episode politically targeted innocent [snorts] board members and other citizens, the board will discuss the episode in detail in this new business. I would like to discuss about text messaging sent to former Mayor Tony Vaquin on Saturday morning, May 16th, to four board members and the mayor mayor's running mate council candidates for the primary election. Most of
017people, especially if they are elected officers like myself, would not like a voice about the false news about himself or herself because of the nature of the how the rumors spreads from the initial news release. In the belief that the public deserves and has the right to truthful and accurate information, especially if it's about the governing body that constitutes the public education, the Palisades Park Board of Education will address with the utmost seriousness the issues of political smear campaigns and the dissemination of fake news targeting school district officers. School board members are entrusted with the governance of public education. Any acts that tarnishes the reputation of Board of Education members through fabricated narrative will ultimately be regarded as an obstruction of the school district administrative and legislative functions. If the reputation of the school board
018members are tarnished, the legitimacy the legitimacy of the public education related matters we have approved will also be affected. So, I will read the text message just for the parts and not all because we [snorts] think they're fake and false. And then I asked formerly asked to the people on this text messages um whether they want to respond by email. So, they sent me a written response I'm going to read. So, it's about May uh basic things Saturday 52 a.m. in the morning. Mayor Fulop sent a text message to 13 people including nine board members. Good morning, Board of Ed members. Hopefully you are reforming the school system. I thank you for your dedication. There's a lot of work to do. I have a question or a big concern. I have reported that Councilman Me
019ran over to you or Sue Chong struck a deal with Mr. Barteracho to help stop Me with this election in return for consulting job for the BOE. I would like to hear from the BOE if this is true. Giving out jobs when the BOE needs to create classroom for the cutest schools. Sounding wrong politics. I hope this is not true and just a rumor. By the way, Chairperson Chong, last time you visited the council meeting with your board members to talk about school and Christine is talking about was interesting. But next time, make sure you are not breaking the sunshine law. Cannot come together more than four members including you. Thank you. So, I responded, "Mayor Kim, you shouldn't know that you are doing that what you're doing now. Incriminating innocent person who never did
020or engaged actions at other governing body who broke covenant mistake issues to be corrected into the council for school tax levy. All your allegations against the mayor board, you'll be responsible as I'm 100% aware what I have done for BOE and the community. I understand your desperation for your election, but this is not acceptable. For the board members, you are aware of it and had a resolution passed to meet all members to talk with the mayor and council. Two members will participate in the meeting from other local association group. So, I sent separately to avoid your claims. When on the podium, all members followed and I didn't stop them to stand there. We didn't discuss all the business. And Mayor John P. Kim said, "I'm just asking questions to John for the fiscal session." So,
021I replied, "Would you please call people who named the board to your mayor and council meeting so we can talk more in I'm confident I'm confident to prove. And he replied, and I'm just letting you know that all the board members [clears throat] should be together to talk about BOE business in the right So, I'm just reading one more line and then I'll stop here. So, I replied, "I'm very concerned with what you're doing to BOE members on Saturday morning." So, since uh This met after this message, I come back for 1 hour, but the next day I got more messages. I just stopped him and um I sent Mr. John P. Barnabas Kim and Mr. Tom Matarazzo for your response. Uh for their response if they would like and they could not just respond
022if they prefer not to. Uh if they prefer me not to mention out their name, I wouldn't. But they both four of them want to go straight forward and confront the mayor. And uh so Tom he didn't respond to me in email, but I see him here now today maybe if you'd like to respond you could. Um I didn't speak to any of these any of these people that I mean before or after about this kind of matter. And so I have two responses. One is Mr. Barnabas who and one is Mr. Tom Maturach. But they're all unknown people and they're all former board members, too. So Tom Maturach who replied on May 19th as your citizen, I refuse to be treated as a political pawn. That's what he said. And Mr. Tom uh Mr.
023Barnabas who replied, "Dear sweet Tom, [snorts] unfortunately, I haven't been in Florida Orlando from last weekend until Friday morning on personal business matters. Reading your text, I thought that Mayor Ford truly does not your life how much he has a vulgar election campaign hurts the party with so many good innocent people. I believe he harbors the foolish thoughts that way that because he's such a low quality person, others will also run their elections in the same low quality manner. Mr. Matarazzo and I have maintained a friendly relationship through the Board of Education for the past 16 years. But, we have never once exchanged any request or favors. Our relationship is simply one of trust based on mutual honesty and refinement. I simply do not want to even mention Mayor Hopkins' name anymore. Thank you for
024listening. Now, best regards, Palisades Park. That is a response and I'll ask Mr. Min, would you like to respond as well? Uh if you could serve me a minute or so, I'd like to Yeah, well, it's not public participation, but yeah, but you can you can answer it now. That's the Uh sure. Uh hello everyone. Uh my name is Sung-Jae Min, as you can see over here. I'm here as a capacity of resident of Palisades Park, council member of Palisades Park, Mayor candidate, Sung-Jae Min. Uh what I want to what I the the reason why I came here, right? I could respond through uh council uh the president's uh email, but I want to make sure this lives on the uh the record, minute record. So, I have not made a separate deal about the
025uh consult consulting job. This is old tactic. Right now, the mayor is actually misleading the people and the board member here, which they have to be respected. But, the election is right at the corner right now. So, mayor is misleading a lot of different people, hurting people right now. So, I am actually making this as a record. If if if I'm becoming a mayor, right? If this truly happens, right? I'll step down. That's how much I feel about this concern. So, that's my bottom line. That's my whole point. So, this is false rumor. Please do not Please do not believe this Believe in this rumor, please. Thank you. Thank you. And also just note that the mayor um it was in his uh asking that he could just join at this meeting tonight. So, we're
026all welcome You're always welcome to anyone who wants to come in our committee. So, we're expecting him to be here, but I don't see him now, but So >> I actually expected him to show up here. I actually had this conversation. Okay. Thank you. Do you have any questions on it? Any more questions? Any members? I am a little concerned that this turned political. Yes. And it shouldn't be. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. I think it was fair to do that president of the president of the mayor. Um it's not appropriate. I agree with you. Sorry if you you think about that way. I thought of it, too. If we It's kind of [clears throat] used to disseminate it in the community. It's my duty as well. But I can't always avoid to speaking in in
027public, too. And this kind of thing will just continue to be come up by one with our meeting security. So, I don't take it as a political issue. Whenever get this kind of words I get in here, so just because I'm a board member, but I'm not an elected officer, then I will speak up. And if this is a matter I can discuss again next board meeting. If you have a concern, please address that to us, too. So, remember, we have to close our board session and then open the regular session. I make a motion. All in favor? Second. All in favor? Aye. So, regular session is started with the board president report. It is with the deepest regret that I announce the news of the sudden passing of Mr. Kevin Lee, a former member
028of our Board of Education, Board of Education. Despite his demanding schedule as a successful accountant, Mr. Kevin Lee served our school district from 2021 to 2023 with a pure heart and without any pursuit of personal gain. We express our sincere gratitude for his dedicated service, through which he tried to help our administration with a transparent and effective school finance system. We hope that he may now rest in peace. Anyone knows about Mr. Kevin Lee? Some of you attend the funeral. Yeah, it was a sudden news today. Yeah, I heard very sad news. So, I went to his uh viewing events on in the funeral home last month. Uh and the next one is memo um Mr. Forney District to your attention, there's nothing to do with what I mentioned about in your business. These constantly
029the intense intensity of the mayor election campaign has recently been heating up. We all ask the stakeholders within the school district to ensure the students' right to learn in an educational environment are not compromised by political propaganda or campaign activities. And my last report is Memorial Day parade shall be held on May 25th Monday. And the lineup starts at 9:30 p.m. And I will relay emails or other messaging to see if you're available to participate the parade. If we don't have uh at least a few people available that day, we might not work. Then the advisory board join in the parade because we have to hold the banner and we need a few people at least to hold the banner. Okay. So, next. Report on district wide attendance. Mr. Arbono. Sure. I just have three
030things. First, um to formally announce the last day of school will be June 17th. Uh and that is for students and staff alike. Um also that day is our high school graduation, which will be at 6:00 p.m. Uh all board members are are invited. And if you are interested in in joining us, please let Miss Lee know and we will have seating for you. Uh the other graduations here at the ECC, um on June 16th, they do we do little differently. It's not the entire school together, we do it by class and it takes course over over the entire school day. Um but uh those board members you're welcome to join, but that is a long day. Uh and Lindbergh is on June 15th at 10:00 a.m. And that'll be the uh graduation for our
031sixth graders moving up to seventh. >> [clears throat] >> So again, if you'd like to attend, please uh by all means let Grace know. Um additionally, I just thought I would mention that um an update on on facilities. Trane Technologies is the company that installed our HVAC system at the high school. Um the good news is that they uh started up the chiller on Tuesday. With this heat, um it couldn't come soon enough. Um however, uh it did not cover the entire high school building. There's one part that they need to install and they assured us it would happen by the end of this week. So, we weren't fully air conditioned unfortunately at the middle high school, but many classrooms had relief. Others uh still have some old window units that were not really powerful,
032but but at least um kept people somewhat comfortable. And uh if there is some warm weather ahead, last two three weeks of school, we anticipate the high school will be fully air conditioned. The [clears throat] plan is then once the system is up and running and we feel it is it is reliable and it's testing, uh we will remove window units over the summer and those in very good condition will be reinstalled down at Lindbergh to either replace older units or potentially air condition some additional rooms. Um the Lindbergh building is is a very difficult building to install central air. Um it is construction of it almost 100 years ago is very very expensive to penetrate. There's concrete, there's reinforced concrete and brick. So, we probably will continue and make recommendations into next year for
033more window units because of course temperatures do seem to be increasing every year of course and and and some of these heat waves are coming earlier and earlier. Uh one other good news on on on this topic is is that the over the course of the the project, the warranty parts and labor for the Trane equipment did expire. Video and I though we met with our architects and the Trane company and insisted on on a one-year extension because until it's fully operational, you really don't know what may be needed. We don't anticipate problems, but we were happy to hear that Trane extended our warranty for parts and labor for an entire year. So, we will test it at the end of the school year or the summer of course and into the fall and even
034early next spring and it'll be fully warranted through that time. And after that, we will have a normal service contract with Trane. It's a very sophisticated system, but we are excited to provide comfort, you know, to our students and staff up at the upper junior senior high school. Um also, I just want to mention that it is we spoke about it on the agenda just briefly, but um you know, last month we we had to approve the budget and and I want to thank the board for supporting the maximum allowable tax levy in the district, which was 6.74. And I know that's not an easy thing to do um with all the other expenses that that our community and and and the country is dealing with. The crisis of gas and crisis of food. Uh
035but the school district experiences all of that, you know, inflation and and and pressure as well. And and we have a resolution this evening on health, which went up nearly 32%. But also you have to consider last year it went up 14%. So, it's going up disproportionately and it's putting a tremendous amount of pressure on our district. So, unfortunately as as we did present, you know, through the budget process and and those slides and and and presentations are are, you know, certainly posted if if anyone in the community would like to view them. Uh went into a lot more detail, but part of closing the budget gap, unfortunately, was reducing some positions. And we're a small enough district where I thought it would be necessary that anyone potentially affected by a reduction in in in
036their position, I did meet with every every individual personally um who was affected by this. And uh just to sum up, we we did reduce two administrative positions district-wide. We will have 12 less teaching positions from this year to next year, one less clerical, and also uh less uh of our part-time cleaners. We are keeping our full-time custodial maintenance workers um current level at nine. And then there will be some additional reductions with our paraprofessionals through the agencies that we partner with. Um and notice to those people will will be um you know, shared very soon within the next 2 or 3 weeks. We're just looking at some final details. On a positive note, we're we're we're trying to look for efficiencies wherever possible. We are currently working on uh a self-contained special education class
037at Lindbergh. Um we're happy that two of our students who who may have needed to be placed out of Lindbergh to stay here, you know, in their home district, which families are very happy about. And we also may have a student from another district joining us here at Lindbergh. And that, first and foremost, is I think what's best for children, right? Educating them here in their home district in the least restrictive environment, but also financially it is it is much better for us. Um, because, you know, the cost of sending children out and the buses and transportation is quite expensive. So, you know, we can use that money. We're not trying to save money, but we can use those those resources that were being sent out to educate children here and provide a high-quality program.
038So, that program, um, if all goes well and the parents consent, um, we will have that on the next agenda in June for the board to to consider approving. Uh, you do have to formally approve creating the special education program. Uh, so that that is something of a positive. And then it also saves some jobs. And also, the last thing I will say is we had a few retirements. We We tried as much as possible to make some of these reductions through attrition. Uh, in a way that, you know, would not hurt people, but we did need to go by seniority and state tenure laws, and we did abide by all of that in in all of the reduction decisions. That was all I had for this evening. I should do When you look at
039the air conditioning Lindbergh, is it the ductwork and all those things that those weird rectangular blocks I don't know what to call them. Like the standalone units? Not the the window ones, but the ones that >> You're referring to the split ones. Yes. That's good. Was that explored at all? Uh, that I don't believe. Um, again, you know, I I only started this year, but Emilio and I have been talking. We we are going to present to the board a recommendation to do a full thorough facilities evaluation next year. Um we think it's well First of all, you're required to do that every 5 years. So, it is time. And then, architects and engineers would do a thorough examination of the buildings. You know, I I have some experience with facilities, but by no means
040am I an expert. So, bringing in our our architects and engineers uh firm to do an evaluation is really the way to go. Then, they would present their findings to the board, and we could talk about, you know, what priorities we might want to try to address next year and and in the years ahead. So, that is something certainly we can talk about. What are the options at the middle school? Yeah, maybe there are some more affordable options. Do you have more questions? So, the middle school is the only school that doesn't have a lot of vents or AC expenses. This is correct. We we have a good number of window units, but there is a good portion of the building that has window units. Sure. What areas doesn't have one of them? And the
041auditorium doesn't have the gym doesn't have Yes. The gym has window units. Thank you, Mr. Albano, for those updates. Next on our fourth agenda, first order of business item to approve is approval of board of minutes. March 25th, April 2020, April 22nd, 2026, proposals, special business meeting minutes, and executive meeting minutes, regular previous meeting minutes, executive meeting minutes, four minutes for approval. Any other motions? I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. I'll just abstain from the ones that I was not here for. Yeah, as long as actually Mr. Monday I could be wrong. As long as you even if you didn't participate you read all the minutes and you trust all the board members and the explanation what was done on the past the meeting when you didn't attend still you could you
042could vote. Is that correct? That's right. I will abstain. So, full meeting minutes were approved and passed. So, briefing and ground we have three consent agenda for both approval tonight. We have motion. I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. Education, we have only one consent agenda of grade three for both approval. We have a motion to approve grade three. I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. Next finance, we have 15 finance agendas for both approval. We have a motion. I'll make a motion. Second. Secretary, please call the roll. Mr. President? Yes. Mr. Rayford? Yes. Mr. Graham? Yes. Mr. Williams? Um I. Mr. Yunker? Yes. So, we're fine at the sergeant's roll call. What's on there? We have 13 agenda for approval. I have a motion to approve for some next 13
043consent agenda. I make a motion. Second. Um who is to vote for? Mr. Chair? Yes. Mr. Raeford? Yes. Mr. Chambers? Yes. Mr. Youngear? I had lost track. We're doing policy and personnel. Personnel. Uh I. Mr. Yunker? Yes. The old personnel agenda is uh Next is the policy. We have three three policy kind of revision. What is the agenda for approval? I have a motion. I make a motion. I second. All in favor? I'm going to abstain. So, we still abstain. One, two, three, four voting members. I yes. So, this is a first reading. We will revisit with a second reading next month. Next negotiations, we have one agenda for negotiations of October. I have a motion. I second. Um Do you know what the motion is? Um Negotiations of It's for October. All in favor?
044Yes. Mr. Reicks? Yes. >> [snorts] >> Mr. Junior? Yes. Mr. William? Yes. Mr. Hancock? Yes. So the memorandum of agreement for the KPESA the ratification for the memorandum of agreement for the KPESA has been Can I have a motion to close our regular session and open it to the audience participation? I have a motion. Second. Wait, do we have to do this again? We can do this. Oh, okay. Sorry. I skipped. I thought this Sorry. Sorry. Uh yeah, we go back to new business. We have one new business agenda for October tonight. It's a resolution urging relief from rising public school employee health care costs. I have a motion. I make a motion. Second. All in favor? All in abstention? Thank you. I have a motion to close our regular session and open our meeting
045to public participation. I have a motion. Before we close >> [clears throat] >> Before we close, before we close, I'd like to recommend to the board we had um a board meeting scheduled We have a board meeting scheduled on June 17th, but that is high school graduation, so there is a conflict. All right. So, I would Aaron, maybe you could help us with this. I I think we may need to act to amend the board meeting schedule and the following week, June 24th, we also have a meeting and we would conduct all of our June business at that at the June 24th meeting that cancels the the 17th. I don't believe we need a motion to do this. We can just take this. And yeah, I mean, since we're out here, might as well to
046cancel June 17th meeting and reschedule it with June 24th, regular board regular at the close out of the year meeting. Okay, so let me let the other members know. >> [clears throat] >> So, may I have a motion to cancel our regular scheduled meeting on June 17th? I have a motion. Second. All in favor? I. So, next board meeting would be June 24th, 6:30 p.m. Thank you too. I I forgot I forgot about that, too. Um all right, may I have a motion to close our session regular session and open our open our meeting to audience participation. I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. So in order to conduct its meeting properly and efficiently, the board has adopted prior to the following procedures to properly participation at board meetings. Any individuals desiring to
047speak should give his or name, address, and group if any that is presented. The presentation should be as brief as possible, but no more than 3 minutes for each speaker. The board vests in its president or other presiding officer authority to terminate the remarks of any individual if he/she deems it in the best interest of those present to do so. Good evening. My name is Alex Contreras. I have served as a teacher of education at each elementary school for the past 4 years. I'm here today because I was forced to resign after my contract was not renewed for the upcoming school year. This This decision is extremely frustrating especially considering that I have never been written up or faced any disciplinary action during my time in the district. What makes this situation even more concerning
048is the inconsistency in how staff is treated especially by our principal in Lumberg School. There is a fifth grade teacher in the building who has had multiple reports of alleged student misconduct whether it's on school Sir, I asked you not to discuss or share com- issues of other personnel or other employees in a public meeting. It's not the appropriate place. I am just discussing things that are going on in the building that I want to share. That is my experience within the building. As an I haven't mentioned any names. I haven't directed anything. As As an employee of a public institution, there are certain limitations to what one say, uh, work without potentially uh, facing things like discipline from an employer. Uh, the public comment section of the public board meeting is not the appropriate
049place to air grievances about personal matters affecting yourself, uh, much less your coworkers. So, I'm not going to tell you that I'm not going to The time is yours, but, well, you've been, uh, put on notice. So, my last sentence in speaking yet they will remain closed for the following school year. It is widely rumored that this individual has a family member on the board, which raises serious concerns about fairness and accountability and whether appropriate action is taken by administration. Um, also, when I was asked for specific reasons as to why my contract was not being renewed, I was told to look at my past observations. Uh, sorry. It's about the negotiation matter at work, too. No, no, no. >> uh, I This is I'm just stating why my contract was not being renewed. I'm
050stating that when I was given reasons, when I was given reasons, I was told to review my past observations. Uh, a majority of my past observations were positive, um, but then there was an observation that I received that was biased. Upon reviewing these observations, I realized that one of them seemed to be falsified. Why do I know this observation was falsified? It's because, as far as I know, teachers aren't supposed to be observing on lunch duty, and that was the period that was put on my observation form. I tried to bring this matter to the union, but they told me nothing could be done. And this is when I submitted a formal complaint to the New Jersey Department of Education investigations unit and the school ethics commission, in which I was informed that this matter
051will be reviewed will be reviewed and the appropriate steps will be taken. Um I hope that bringing you these concerns forward the district will take meaningful steps towards greater transparency, accountability, and fairness. Most importantly, I hope changes are made to ensure that qualified dedicated teachers are supported and retained. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Any other questions? Director, speak. Is public? Um My name is Amy Pierce. I live on Central Boulevard. How is it that you guys came to a agreement for teacher contracts but now you're getting rid of so many teachers? And um Mr. O'Banner just started this year and was given a contract with the teachers and took almost 2 years. Any other questions? Any public? My name is Valerie Samaya. I'm a teacher at Lumberg. Um quick question. About the aides
052that are are the paraprofessionals that are going to be contacted within the next few weeks. Are those part of the um ESS employees or they school employees? Thank you. Okay. Thank you. What else you like to say? My name is Magdaly Rodriguez. I was a teacher at Lumberg Elementary School. I actually resigned a few weeks ago a month ago. Um I wasn't going to speak tonight, but I just want everyone to remember why we are where we are. This is for a school system. This is for children to educate them. Different things that I'm hearing, things that are ignored with questions from a parent, from a teacher. I've been to other board meetings, and there's just such a lack of regard for for finding answers or just I don't even know the right words. It
053It's very frustrating, and it's hurtful to walk away from this district because of the parents and the students that I have met, and also people I have worked with. And I come sit here today hoping maybe, I don't know, maybe there's some sort of response, maybe there's a difference in the tone. It's the same thing I've seen in the last 4 years. And I urge you to just think back to why you took this position. Me myself, I became a teacher to educate children. That's my one priority. And again, I have put my all into this job. I have worked to get tenure, and I'm walking away not because I was asked to. I made the decision to leave because this district is showing me the priority is not with the kids. We're We're not
054looking out for the kids. We're focused on whether ego or just other things that again, is not focusing on improving the students. What's your name? I'm sorry. I'm getting to Magdalene Rodriguez. And for any other person person to speak? Then may I have a motion to close our audience participation? I make a motion to close our public participation. All in favor? So, most of our answers that the Mr. Abanum is the best person to answer. And I just have one question to Mr. Rodriguez that what was your best questions on most all the questions that not being heard. Same, I rather not answer. You are not responding what questions you are not I know you're feeling like you're not being heard. Correct. Not answered from us or school administrations. Mr. Abanum? Sure. I think the
055[clears throat] first question was about the teachers contract. It did take two years. Contract negotiations are challenging. Um there was eventually a settlement. The contract now is has been fully executed. Retroactive pay was issued to every uh single employee in the PPDA bargaining unit. Um but [clears throat] there there are challenges when when you are dealing with rising health costs. Oh, last year 14% and this year 30% um and you're raising taxes around 2% you know, but last year we went up 3%. This year we went up 6.74% but that is the biggest uh bargaining unit. Um and and the district needed to be thoughtful about what it could afford. And there there you have to consider Of course you want to pay all of your employees more, pay them competitively, but But, can the
056district realistically afford based on its revenue? And this year we we learned that there is quite a challenge because our expenditures outpace our revenues. So, therefore, even with the tax increase, which which was um a pretty uh significant one, it still wasn't enough and and and there needed to be layoffs because you cannot legally overspend your budget. You just can't do it. You have to be within your budget. So, that is the reason for the layoffs. Um the reason for, I guess, me receiving a contract is it you know, when when you're independent, right, not part of a bargaining unit, uh for you to work, you you need to be um given a contract. So, um I'm not sure if that [clears throat] answers the question, but yes, if if you want to employ, whether
057it's a superintendent, business administrator, anyone independent, you have to offer them employment with a contract. Um the next question is um paraprofessionals may be reduced. Um that that is a decision that we are working very closely with our special education department. Um we're doing our best to maintain in the primary grades and at the early childhood center classroom power is is required at the uh preschool. And we that is state-funded, so there [clears throat] is no impact to the local budget for those paraprofessionals. We do get full funding. Uh but kindergarten, that is the local district's funding, but we do feel very strongly about trying to maintain a paraprofessional in every kindergarten class. What we are looking at are are one-to-one aid or two-to-one aid or three-to-one aid, but that is not a budgetary decision.
058That's a committee on special Education decision. So, when the Committee decides that a child may need a paraprofessional to support them throughout the day, the Board and myself and our business administrator play no role there. That is strictly Committee on Special Education. If they believe a child is in need of a paraprofessional, we will 100% support that. But, our projections are that we may be able to year over year have about nine less paraprofessionals. And those are are employed for the most part through ESS and one other agency called Therapy Source. So, does that answer your question? I believe so. Yes. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you. I think that's it. >> Or I'm certain now. Thank you, Mayor Hope. Motion to close August past station and we want to the closed session discussion. And
059the motion. I second. All in favor? I. I. So, probably we are going to go closed session. It might take 30 minutes. You can remain here or you can leave. It's up to you, but we'll be back in 30 minutes. All right, about 30 minutes. Uh and the purpose of the closed session is to discuss the legal matters labor uh labor contract matters and legal uh matters and the Board that we believe may take action upon the term. Right. Thank you. So, probably we'll see you when we are coming back. Have a good night and thank Thank attending our meeting tonight. Thank you. Good evening, by the way. I have a motion. Oh, I'm sick. Sorry. I have a I have a motion to close our closed session and open it to public. I make
060a motion. A second. All in favor? I. I. Have a good night. I I adjourn tonight. Oh. Motion to a- We have a motion to adjourn the meeting tonight of tonight, May 20, 2016 regular meeting. Yes, I make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you, board members and Mr. Arredondo. Thank you for having me tonight. >> [laughter] >> All right. That was a