Board of Education Meeting

001Camera crew, are we ready guys? We ready? Camera crew. Where is Makani? Makani, are we good? Anyone know where he is? We're getting the thumbs up. We are? Okay. I'd like to call the regularly scheduled meeting of the Clifton Board of Education for Thursday, May 25th to order. If you'd all please rise for a salute to our flag followed by a brief moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Roll call, please. Mr. Abidrabo. Here. Mr. Awad. Here. Ms. Passford. Here. Mr. Brunziak. Here. Mr. Mejia. Mr. Paris. Here. Mr. Santiago. Here. Vice President Danny. President Smith. Here. We have a call. Vice President Danny will be late. She

002will be attending. And Commissioner Mejia will be absent tonight. He is excused. He is graduating tonight, so we congratulate Commissioner Mejia. Mr. Paris, would you kindly read the mission statement? Certainly. The mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal community partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate, lifelong learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a democratic society in an ever changing world. The Open Public Meetings Act, the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law, was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advance notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Clifton Board of Education

003has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date, time, and place thereof posted at the City Clerk's Office, Clifton Public Library, Administration Building, Senior Citizen, nutrition center on cable tv in the local press on the district's website and mail to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy zero one six eight okay we're going to um change our agenda slightly so we have some presentations tonight um tiffany is tiffany here there you are would you like to give your report first spring sports Spring sports has just ended and I would like to congratulate all of the spring sports on doing great. Shout out to Kyle Rogers for being selected for the senior all-star baseball team. The all-star game will be played at Diamond Nation

004on June 12th. This game will showcase the top senior baseball players in the state. Upcoming events. On Tuesday, May 30th, CHS will have an open house beginning at 6. Parents who have children entering the high school the following year can view the resources Clifton High School has to offer. SCA will have food and merchandise for sale. There will be numerous clubs, sports programs, and other activities. So go to the open house and see what Clifton High School has to offer. The senior prom is coming up on Thursday, June 15th at the Legacy Castle in Pompton Plains from 7 to 11 p.m. Tickets have been on sale this whole week, making today the last day. All seniors are very excited for prom. Games Club provided students who are not necessarily sporty athletes or gifted and talented

005in the performing arts to socialize and have fun. This year, the Games Club has a record-breaking turnout, close to 30 members each week. The CHS Kickball Tournament is coming up on June 9th. Admission is free to all, so come on and support our teams. And if you need more information, you can go and check on the CHS TV Cast YouTube channel, seeing a segment me and Dominic Cicero have made with the cast crew and students. Thank you. Tiffany, the Kickball Tournament, where is that going to be held? In the field? Thank you, as always, Tiffany. Your reports this year have been a tremendous help to the district and to all those that watch this meeting. So we thank you for your reports. We now are going to have a presentation from the robotics team. So

006good evening, everyone. This is the 2023-2024 Clifton High School robotics team, FRC 3314. There's a lot of clanking going on. So the first thing we're going to do this evening is we're going to show you a video about our season. Is Mr. McCunney here? Team number 3314, Mechanical Mustangs. Team number 4473, Delta Prime. On the first link, 2495 extending their arm now. Their teammates 3314 extending right next to them. With a quick one-two punch for the Blue Alliance on the high notes. 70-55, 80-65 now. Advantage 1807 looking to start the last minute with a quick swing. We have a triple blue. We're the red one in the back corner. And there's less than five seconds to balance to win the tournament. And Lamar puts our arm out and makes us balance. So we're going to

007set up and show you how the robot works. And while we're doing that, I will just... Let you know that I've been coaching for 17 robot seasons now and this is the first time we've won an award at the World Championship with my other coach James Hoban So that's pretty amazing These kids did this year. I'm sorry if you're gonna be blocked right there. You may have to stand up to watch All right. So our robot this year it has something called a swerve drive So if you drive your car, you can drive straight and then you turn like this. Our robot can actually drive forward and back and it can also drive side to side with the transmissions that we have. We're waiting for comms. So this is our drive team. Nick is the

008driver. Lamar is our operator. Ishan is our human player. Jacob was our technician. So the two game pieces this year were the cones and the cubes. The cubes you would toss. There were three different levels. There was high, medium, and low. So we didn't bring the scoring mechanism for that, but you can see that we can throw them down. We were also very good at picking them up out of the low and repositioning them. And then when we got to worlds, they changed the rules a little bit, and they allowed you to double score once you had your entire thing scored. So that was called supercharging. And that's what our robot did this year. So we won Southeast Mass week one. And then we drove down to Robbinsville, New Jersey and won in Robbinsville week

009three. And then in week five, we were finalists in Ben Salem, Pennsylvania. And then at week six, we went to the first Mid-Atlantic District Championship, and we won first Mid-Atlantic District Championship, which is Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, all 156 teams. We also won the Creativity and Engineering Award. We won the Quality Award. We won the Engineering Inspiration Award, which is an award based on, as well as the robot, it's also how we go out and we inspire young people and we go visit the other schools and bring our robot around to the other schools. And then at FIRST Championship in Houston, we won the Autonomous Award sponsored by Ford. So we have I'm gonna call out the names of our students. We're gonna do our seniors first because we're going to miss them Extremely

010much next year Before you do that Mr. Smith would like to join you to recognize the students But can you tell the the board and the members of the community a little bit about how much time? these students and volunteers and yourself put in for to make this happen? Sure. So we are a three season sport. In the fall, we meet two to three nights a week and we meet on some weekends and go to scrimmages with last year's robot. So next fall, we'll take this robot around. And then starting in January, January and the entire month of February, we meet all five nights during the week and Saturday and Sunday for eight hours each day to design and build this robot from the ground up. They give us some pieces of it and they

011give us some of the electronics, but for the most part we conceptualize it from this first Saturday in January until pretty much the first weekend of March is when it has to be ready. And this year, we pretty much changed things every week. So between week one and week three, we added an extra set of rollers onto our intake for the cube. And then between week three and week five, we redid the entire cone system on the top. And then between week five and week six, which was four days on the drive home from week five. They redesigned the top and they ran the parts on Monday and they put it together on Tuesday and we put it on the robot and started competing on Thursday. So we have seven adult volunteers that work with

012us that are engineers and professionals from the local area. that volunteer their time with our students every night during the week and on the weekends. Monique, if you would just enlighten the public, while we are so appreciative of all our adult volunteers, and there are students that actually come back and help volunteer as well, but... someone who is so helpful to this program by giving us free space to be able to for these kids to be able to meet somewhere to have the ability the the space to put your projects together and I'm just not sure that the public understands and knows what a commitment and true thanks we have to mr. Jim Holman for for allowing our students to have that space. Without that, there would not be a robotics program. So we're truly

013thankful to you for that and for your dedication. And all of our volunteers, thank you so much. So I'm not sure if you know how football works, but sometimes people walk on to your team. I had three senior walk-ons this year that are actually part of our football squad. that I'd like to come up. Jacob Vasquez, Suleiman Pitts in Nazareth, Aquino. It's very helpful when we have to carry a 150-pound robot around. And then I have my other seniors. We have Ishan Kerr, who's been on our team for four years, as well as Savannah Garcia. I have Sarah Amir, who is our second year. And then two of my other seniors who I don't see here tonight. I have Roman Albano and Dahir Patel. And so now I have my juniors, starting with Vitaly Sugi,

014Steve Belistevia, Nick Halran, Frederick Lin, Steve Malaborski, Brian Miller, and our driver, Nick Rittberger. And then I have my sophomores. We have Marlon Rodriguez. Johan Hickas Bolanas. We have Errol Aguirre. Oh, Aguirre, I'm so sorry. All right, well then we have Renata, and I'm not even going to try her last name. Cheskovich. And then we have Lamar Olive, our lead programmer and our operator. And then for our freshman, Ethan is actually right now down at the orchestra concert. And Nikita is not here this evening, but our other two freshmen are Christia Nahas and Josh Walben. So thank you, everyone. Thank you for letting us present. And we'd like to thank our volunteers who help us almost every single night. First is my twin sister, Larissa. I don't know where she's hiding. Oh, she's over there

015taking a photo. And then we have our lead programming mentor, who I won't lie, we stole from Unclear, Rich Coppola. And then our youngest mentor, Robert Anderson. I have the Alumni Brain Trust, which is Andy, who's at L3 Harris now. We have Jared who's not here tonight. And then we also have Dominic who is our drive coach and from Picatinny Arsenal Department of Defense. Class of 2014. Oh, 2016. Class of 2016. I have another class of 2014 member who's not here tonight. I didn't see him yet, right? Okay. And then we have Kyle Hoban. who is one of our lead mechanical engineers and who is the son of James Hoban, who is our other coach and the provider of our facility across the street. I will tell you that the judges told us that we

016never did anything slow this entire season. And while they're cleaning up, I also want to thank all the moms and dads who drive them to the warehouse every night and pick them up super late and bring us food on the weekends. Thank you, thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not sure how, and maybe Ms. Dutourie got a little nervous or something, but she forgot to introduce one very important person here. Her mom, who is a volunteer. and who helps out with the team all year. So, Mom, we want to recognize you. And so, why don't you hop over there? We'll take a quick picture of you, too, and we'll put that up on our social media. Come on, get everybody together. Folks, this is... The Clifton robotics team this is something that you

017do not see in every school district Clifton has dedicated their time their energy So that these students could be part of a tremendous program in robotics So we Monique we thank you and you forgot to mention Your sister does all the cooking for the team. So I know they're very well taken care of. Absolutely. Everyone at Clifton, we should be very proud to have a robotics team like this. Continued success, and thank you for your demonstration tonight. Mr. Smith, I just have one quick announcement. Mr. Turi, last year you had asked the board for some additional funds to support the robotics program, and the board provided that. And I'm happy to say that there will be additional funds provided next year for your program. Okay, next we're going to move on to our students of

018the month of May, Clifton High School students of the month. Board members, whoever has freshmen, if you would. Oh, they're all seniors. I didn't see the. So let's start on the. Let's start over here. I think you're all over here that I gave them to. Mr. Abidjabi, you can go first. I think they're all on this side of the table. Good evening. I have the pleasure. Oh, yeah, they are. Is this thing on? All right. I have the pleasure to introduce Albarat Jabril. Al-Bara is intelligent, well-spoken, thoughtful, funny, and innovative. He has a number of honors, accolades, and public acknowledgment, but he wants to make him... But what makes him stand out, excuse me, is his excitement for life, his passion for making a difference in the world, his ability to work well with all

019students and staff. Al-Baraat's biggest inspiration has been to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who has inspired him to push himself to his highest potential. Al-Baraat's most influential teacher has been Mr. Henry, because taking his class instilled a work ethic he needed to be successful in high school and helped him enhance his critical thinking skills. Additionally, Al-Baraat credits Ms. Turk. for instilling a passion for service, compassion, and being a mother figure to him. After graduation, Elbera is attending Columbia University as a Kog Scholar, only bestowed to 50 applicants and a Gates Scholar with a 1% acceptance rate. And the following certificate of achievement. This recognition is certified to Albarra Jabril on behalf of the Clifton Board of Education Administration for a CHS honor, sued in the month May 2023. With sincere congratulations on your meritorious achievement with

020recognition by resolution by the Board of Education, the desire to excel is a formula of a lifetime to success. Your efforts have brought distinction to you, your family, and the Clifton Public Schools. Signed by Board of Trustees President Jim Smith and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Danny Robertose. Our next recipient is Kaylee Miller. Kaylee is a curious and dedicated student whose critical thinking skills make her an outstanding student. The teacher that inspired her the most is Mr. Rogers because his class discussions were interesting, thought provoking. And Mr. Rogers always made sure to listen to all his students. thoughts and encourage and engage them in meaningful conversations. Kaylee's biggest influence has been her father, who she now knows will continue to inspire her. Kaylee is a member of our basketball team, lacrosse team, flag football team, athletic

021training club, National Honor Society, and National English Honor Society in the fall. Kaylee is attending Rowan University, where she plans to major in biology and continue to play lacrosse. Long term, Kaylee wants to become a veterinarian and is... and has accepted a spot in the Sherbrooke School of Veterinary Medicine at Rowan University. Certificate of Achievement. This recognition is certified to Kaylee Miller on behalf of the Clifton Board of Education and Administration for Clifton High School Senior Student of the Month, May 2023. Thank you. The next senior award recipient is Mia Garn. Mia is ambitious, hardworking, and friendly. Her most influential teacher is Ms. Barrows because she is kind, patient, relatable, and understanding. Mia's time as a dancer has been an important part of her life because she dedicates a great deal of her time and

022energy to dance. Dance allows Mia to be creative, try new things. test out new moves with all different types of dancers, and let her vision come to life. Mia's grandfather, Manuel Garcia Beltri, has inspired her the most during her life. Mia is also a member of the National Honor Society, a dedicated member of Clifton High School's cheerleading team. Heroes and Cool Kids Club serves as our corresponding secretary for our student council. Mia's current career aspirations are to become a lawyer. or a psychiatrist and plans to attend Rutgers. Certificate of Appreciation, this recognized is certified to Mia Gaunt on behalf of the Clifton Board of Education and Administration, CHS Senior Student of the Month 2023. Senior Tiffany Guerrero. Tiffany is a hardworking student who is extremely involved in the CHS community. Tiffany is a member of

023the student council and serves as the football manager. Tiffany is inspired by her tutor, Jennifer Rivera, who has helped her throughout her time at CHS and has always provided great advice. The teachers that have inspired Tiffany the most are Ms. Huster and Mr. McCunney, not shocking, because the cast inspires her to create new videos and new ideas. Tiffany enjoys the freedom to create. and her teachers encourage her to follow her new ideas. Tiffany plans to major in sports marketing when she graduates from CHS. Certificate of Achievement Recognition is certified to Tiffany Guerrero, CHS Senior Student of the Month, May 2023. Congratulations, Tiffany. Okay, next. Resolved that the Clifton Board of Education accepts the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to recognize the following region and all state ensemble students and commends them for their honor

024and recognition they have brought to themselves, their families, their school, and to their community. Congratulations on receiving the Gold Level Award. So when you hear your name, if you kindly come up and receive your certificate. Mr. Smith, if we could ask our music teachers, maybe Mr. Weissmantel and Mr. Louie, to come up and could you just explain what this means to everybody, please? Maybe tell everybody what it means, but then we want you up here when we call the students. Well, good evening, everyone. My name is Justin Louie, orchestra director from Woodrow Wilson. I'm joined tonight with my... Esteemed colleague, Leo Weismantle, here from the high school choral program. Unfortunately, Mr. Hayward from CCMS and Ms. Barres also could not be here tonight. But needless to say, we are extremely proud of some of our

025highest achieving music ensemble students out of the band, orchestra, and choral divisions. Region Orchestra is an organization that functions for the public school programs for the students, providing an additional opportunity. for these students to audition for a high achieving ensemble. This is in the division again of orchestra, band, and choral divisions at the middle school and high school level. Region one is the northern seven counties of New Jersey. So it leads us to say audition day, which we actually held here, was extremely long. We had hundreds of students roll through for both middle school and high school. And we're happy to say that our students tonight were some of the lucky ones that made it through. So I guess we're gonna start with the high school, I guess right? Yeah, high school choral program? Okay,

026so we're actually gonna start with middle school jazz band Brangle Neris from CCMS. From Woodrow Wilson, Kaitlyn Garris who qualified on region orchestra and all-state orchestra. From Woodrow Wilson, Mina Alborzi for qualifying in region orchestra. From Woodrow Wilson, Emma Bryce for qualifying for Region Trouble Chorus. From Woodrow Wilson, Melissa Garth, also for qualifying for Region Trouble Chorus. From Woodrow Wilson, Sydney Lala for qualifying on Trouble Chorus. This list is very short as the life of a musician is never over. Three of our five students from the high school are in performances this evening and were not able to make it. But our one student, well I will go through all of them. First is senior Sandy Kokuyutla for making it into region, the treble chorus as an alto one. Next we have Mary Necrosis who

027also made it into the treble chorus as an alto two. Thirdly is Paris Frederick who made it into the mixed chorus as a tenor one. As a quick note, Paris was the third ranked tenor one in the entire North Jersey region. Next is Nagin Seydin who also made it into the mixed chorus as a soprano one. And then our sole member that is present this evening is Lillian Martins who made it into the mixed chorus as a soprano one. Congratulations to all our award recipients this evening. I didn't have to tell them they could leave, they already left. Anyone who is still here and wishes to. To leave at this time you're more than welcome to do that or you're welcome to stay as well. Okay, we're going to move back to Public recognition This

028portion of the meeting is open to residents and non-residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter Pertinent to and or directly related to the operation of the Clifton public school district Residents and non-residents are requested if they're in person to sign the register provided for this purpose All speakers who ask to state their names, municipality in which they lived, and subject matter before speaking. Comments are limited to five minutes per person. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. Your questions may or may not be answered by board members. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when

029they are speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the Board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the Board. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the State of New Jersey. The Board bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Ms. DeRose, we start with virtual, please. No one in? Board motion to close virtual by Mr. Abadrabo. Second. Second by Mr. Paris. Okay, now we'll do in person. If you are here to speak to the board, kindly come up to the podium, and you'll

030have five minutes. My name is JL. Sorry, yeah, if you're a student, just say your name. That's it. My name is JL Concepcion. I go to Clifton, Pittsburgh Columbus Middle School, and I'm in sixth grade. And I'm here to talk about the dress code. On May 11th, a lot of girls came in with biker shorts because it was a hot day. It was going to be 80, I think 81 degrees. So a lot of girls came in with biker shorts, at least up to their knees or shorter. And some came in with jeans up to their knees or shorter. And there was about 65 girls that day who got dress coded because they wore biker shorts. Since that a lot of girls have been protesting and boys to try to go against that the biker

031short policy because a lot of girls now wear those type of clothing since is really kind of like trending in a way or More the most like comfortable to wear to school since it's kind of like athletic wear or something that they can use So, you know stay kind of like breathable and comfortable in In the dress code, it stated that it was biker shorts are used as compression shorts, which is, in a lot of students' opinion, like a different thing than biker shorts since biker shorts should be under the athletic wear category instead of compression. I just wanted to say that I think that it should be maybe changed so all schools could wear biker shorts. And it doesn't have to be all the way up high because that can be inappropriate. But in

032my opinion, I think that we should at least have it so it can be past your fingertips and able to wear in all schools instead of being dress coded. And there also have been other statements that There has been more girls who are developed more than other girls getting more dress coded with shorts because it might go too high when they're walking because of their bodies or it just doesn't look right when other girls could be wearing the same thing and because they're not as developed as another girl or like bigger in a way, they don't get dress coded. And I've been like kind of studying quietly around the dress code kind of like. things that go on and i've seen it and i just wanted to kind of state it here so it can

033be heard and kind of talked about in a way and um i was yeah you're doing great I was just saying stuff about that and then how biker shorts should be at least worn in schools because it is kind of used as athletic wear. People use it for dancing, playing games like baseball or softball, basketball. I see girls. Since there's gym every day, I feel like it should be one of the shorts we should use for gym so we're not sweating in tight jean shorts that hurts us in a way. There's also biker shorts probably are one of the most. Like the clothing you'll see in like malls if you go to a very popular store you'll probably see a big thing of colorful biker shorts and maybe pink or white, blue and a lot

034of girls buy them with maybe like a matching shirt. And then I feel like when girls came in that day and then just got looked at up and down and said you're going to the auditorium or you're going to your classroom it probably made a lot of girls feel kind of uncomfortable in a way. because it might just feel like they're down to my knees, you know, they're not really tight on my skin, like, you know, how it shouldn't be a really bad thing since last year. I don't think it was in the dress code. I never got dress coded for that last year, and I used to wear them every day. I just think that maybe it should at least be like kind of modified to maybe just like a different type of part

035for the biker shorts and shorts that, you know, look a little too tight but really aren't when you really get to wear them. And I just think that it would be also right since girls do get a little more dress coded than boys. And yeah, that's it. That's all I have to say. Thank you My my name is Cheyenne. I am also from CCMS and I'm a seventh grader in the school I've been currently analyzing the dress code and people have been getting dress coded recently and I've noticed Girls are heavily pushed upon when I've seen barely any guys getting dress coded around Especially because it's summer more people are wearing shorts and stuff And I've only seen girls be getting dress coded for that things. I know our bodies are very different and it's

036hard to regulate both. But we could still, why can't I wear tank tops, but they can't? Why can they wear shorts like that, but I can't? I think it also needs to be a little bit pushed on boys, still not too much. Because we, yes, we are different. There are different things. It's hard to enforce it. But something should be put there. that's my main point but I also have to agree with JL with the shopping and stuff as It's hard to get anything else in the summertime as that is what's comfy. That is what's popular You're gonna want to wear it more than like jeans The dress code is pretty inconsistent inconsistent when it comes to shorts like how you can wear Jeans shorts that can go up to like here, but I cannot

037wear biker shorts that go up to like here And I think that's really my main point, is it's pretty inconsistent throughout with gender differences, what it says in general, and articles of clothing that are considered the same but are treated differently. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Israat Fahmy, and I'm a sixth grader at Christopher Columbus Middle School, and I'm here to talk about the dress code. And as a student who attends CCMS, I see how many students, especially girls, get dress coded. And a few weeks ago, on May 11, 2023, over 35 girls got behavioral reassignment while others got sent home. all over what they were wearing, which was obviously shorts. And the weather that day was almost 90 degrees, but that's not the

038only problem. The dress code also states many rules which seem very unreasonable. To go to the clothing stores these days, it's hard to find clothes that don't hang over your shoes or to not being able to wear baggy clothes or even tight clothes. These rules make it very hard to find clothes that fit the expectations. And it's not only that, our current dress code was made in 2020. 2016, November 16th, and that has been almost seven years. The style of how people dress could change just drastically, and many styles change and trends. And as the dress code has been almost, it hasn't been changed in over seven years, many girls have to change how they wear, especially with the weather, and as the weather changes, how we... What we wear has to also change. And

039also in 2016, not even CCMS's current graduating eighth graders were in middle school when this was made. This shows how outdated our dress code is. Changing our dress code to fit our current students and how what they want to wear, what is could be reasonable, should only be fair and not only to me but future CCMS students. This is supposed to like show how we should change it and not only how we need to... better for future students, but also for our current students. Because as a sixth grader, when the dress code was made, I was in kindergarten. And our current eighth graders were at least in maybe fifth, maybe fourth grade. And this shows how we need to change it and just to better for our future students and our current students. Thank you.

040Thank you. Good evening, commissioners. When they say someone was dress coded, what do you think of? I would say 99% of people would think of a female in cut-off shorts showing their bottom or butt or a tube top shirt, maybe a lacy bra top. The reason why we think that way is because a dress code is really a code disguised as fair and even, but underneath it all is mostly for the women who end up taking the brunt of the policy aside from your occasional muscle-wearing shirt boy. And I can understand how our cut-off booty shorts would be an issue in school, but what about if they're just normal shorts, like the ones you purchase from like Arab or Colombian kids? They may not meet the two-inch-from-the-knee rule, but they are sufficient in covering areas

041where we wouldn't want prying eyes looking at. Coupled with a t-shirt and Jordans or Nikes, this is a popular style for kids to wear, and it doesn't seem to be a problem unless you refer to the policy we have in place for this dress code. Then the student gets pulled out of class to miss academic time to have either to either put on boy looking basketball shorts or for the remainder of the day to parade around in or wait for a parent to bring them another pair of clothes. Forcing someone to wear something they don't want to is the same as forcing a kid whose parents didn't pay the lunch bill to have a cheese sandwich. It's also the same as groups of kids who bully by saying today we're all going to be silly

042and wear a shirt that has a clown on it and then no one does and the person who's tricked into it has to wear it all day long and endure that non-fashionable choice. For parents and additional burdens to have to purchase this clothing specifically for school because they won't wear it outside of that setting since no other clothing styles are like that and what they like. Given today's fashion trends, the difficulty is finding clothing that conforms to this policy. Many stores just don't sell these styles of clothing for girls. School is a place where kids find themselves both socially and academically. We will have students that graduate and go to design schools, become fashion majors, and influence the industry. Their fashion expression and the compliments they receive are what drive them to forward in the

043careers they choose. We shouldn't be restricting anyone unless it's disrupting the functionality of the school, as according to the Tinker versus Des Moines ruling. So I asked you, does two inches from the inseam or one-inch shoulder straps fall into these categories? If I was speaking to you and I put my shirt like this, Is it all of a sudden that you can't understand me? No one can be educated now? If I pull my shorts up like this, they're past the tip of my finger, do you not understand what I'm saying? Is this impeding the educational environment for students? I don't believe so. I don't think any judge in this world would believe so. I don't think any reasonable person in this world would believe so. I think we can all agree it's a time for

044change for this policy. This dress code policy is dictated by board majority. Our kids are showing up and ready to learn and being turned away. This doesn't align with our mission statement or our pledge to our students for success. Let's work with our students and parents to create something that works for our town. Don't be a follower, be the leader. Thank you. Okay, just for the record, you didn't state your name, but it was Mr. Joe Canova. Thank you. My name is Lydia Canova, and I'm also going to be talking about dress code. So the day I went to school in this exact outfit, I was dress coded because of my shorts. And so I went to school. I went in my homeroom, and my homeroom teacher gave me a letter, and she said to

045give it to the office. And when I went down to give it to the office, then the person at the office I gave it to, said and in the letter it said this student is in violation of dress code so they were looking at my shorts and Mr. Bertolini asked me if I wanted these like baggy gym shorts and I didn't want to wear them because I looked like a boy and I didn't feel comfortable in them so Then I had to wait in the auditorium for the first two periods not learning and Just waiting in the auditorium without any work or doing nothing because I had to wait for a change of pants and Yeah Thank you anyone else wish to adjust the board I'm a lifelong Clifton resident, a part-time paraprofessional in the

046Clifton School District, the Clifton Education Association paraprofessional vice president, and a very uncomfortable public speaker. I found myself getting very emotional at the last Board of Education meeting as the vote was being taken on the budget. Watching the board make a commitment of additional funds to the students of our community was absolutely amazing. I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the 10 full-time paraprofessional positions on tonight's agenda for your approval. Having worked for the district for 27 years, I know how really rare it is to see full-time paraprofessional positions on the agenda. So seeing 10 is truly overwhelming. I hope that with the additional 4% funding in next year's budget, we will see more full-time parapositions on future agendas so that more of us, like those who have been working with students in

047the district for more than 20 or even 25 years, are able to work with them for the full school day. As we know, all children need consistency and continuity to thrive, and most especially those children with whom paraprofessionals work. To be able to greet our students first thing in the morning as we help them get off their buses when they arrive at school, work with and be with them throughout their school day, and wish them a good rest of their day as we get them safely to and onto their buses would give them the consistency and continuity that they so greatly need. Thank you for providing the needed funding to enable more of our paraprofessionals to nurture and work with our students throughout their entire school day. I hope you will not stop with the

04810 on tonight's agenda so that our district can continue to serve our students and community in the best and most effective way possible. Thank you for your time. Well, good evening to everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Counting down the 20-something days to the end of the school year, I can't believe it. It's going to be good. Okay, since we've come out of COVID, the vibe in general has changed. It seems that we're forgetting the importance of treating others with kindness and respect, while we should be reflecting on our own shortcomings, which requires a balanced and empathetic approach. Reflect on your own actions, thoughts, and behaviors to identify areas where you may have fallen short. The self-awareness allows you to acknowledge your imperfections without judgment and helps you to understand how they can impact

049others. Put yourselves in the shoes of others and try to understand their perspectives, feelings, and experiences. This helps you develop compassion and treat them with kindness, even when they might have different opinions or behaviors. Give your full attention when others are speaking without interrupting or judging. This demonstrates respect and shows that you value their thoughts and feelings. Express appreciation for others' contributions, kindness, and support. Gratitude fosters positive relationships and encourages an atmosphere of kindness. Be gentle and understanding with yourself when you make mistakes or fall short. Treat yourself with the same kindness and respect that you aim to extend to others. Recognize that everyone is flawed and learning from mistakes is part of personal growth. When you realize that you have hurt or wronged someone, apologize sincerely. Take responsibility for your actions, express remorse, and

050make a genuine effort to rectify the situation. This demonstrates humility and respect for other person's feelings. Be mindful of your words and actions. Consider how your words and actions may impact others before speaking or acting. Choose your words carefully. Avoid making assumptions and strive to be inclusive and respectful in all your interactions. Remember, treating others with kindness and respect doesn't mean denying your own shortcomings. It means acknowledging them, taking responsibility for them. and continuously working on self-improvement while being mindful of the impact you have on others. Last Friday, CCMS went through, for all intents and purposes, a real lockdown. I will not discuss here specifics due to maintaining security. However, I want to paint a picture of its severity. Listening to police coming on campus with sirens. Watching my kids, yes, I call them my

051kids, frozen with fear. looking at the terror in their eyes, trying to calm their fears with gestures and facial expressions because there was no noise, not a drop, nothing from my students. Listening to a commotion in the hallway, I continued to keep my kids safe. I actually had my hand on a chair, and if anyone who would have tried to come into my room, let's just say they wouldn't do well. Come to find out the classroom next to me the police entered with their guns drawn and had everyone put their hands up and checked the room and cleared it. This was a traumatizing experience for students and teachers alike. What I don't understand is why didn't anyone in administration call personally to check on the kids and their teachers that went through this? We need

052to do a better job. This is difficult times for so many people. and we need to really think about the effect that this has and will continue to have for a little while on the people at CCMS. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Samantha Bass for Clifton, New Jersey. So I'm very inspired by you young ladies. I don't think in sixth grade I would have the guts to get up and defend myself in the way that you are speaking. And I know everyone looks at you like, oh, you're so cute. You're talking and you're public speaking. And I even had that for a moment, too. It's not that you're having a cute moment It's that you're really trying to say how you feel and express how you feel and that should be celebrated and not just

053look like Your cute little girls coming up here to talk about your shorts Now my father is like don't get up there. You're wearing shorts and I was like, yeah, it's perfect for the movement, right? I'm wearing leopard shorts. I got my Crocs on, you know, I'm out of my work clothes and as a past rule breaker and i will admit this mr tijan used to yell at me for my chinese flip-flops in woodrow wilson middle school and i thought i was cute i would change them on the hallway and then you know mr tijan hi and then as soon as i got in my classroom i'd take them off now Being an adult now, yes, that was a safety concern, right? If someone had stepped on my shoe, I could have went down the

054stairs. So many things could have happened. And when I hear that students are getting pulled out of class, you know, I guess discreetly, and then having to sit there for periods of time, where is the safety concern in their outfit? Isn't it an emergency that this young girl... is wearing white shorts to miss school. And I don't think so. I think it's an uncomfortable conversation probably for the student because probably most of the students don't buy their clothes. And if they do, it's because they've worked really hard to be able to afford clothes because their families cannot. And the psychological things of... starting at a young age about your body. And I can say this because I'm a bigger person. I've always been a bigger person compared to like my tiny, honey friends, right? And

055in the 2000s, the dress code and the styles was way more revealing and so bad. I think this is actually very modest compared to the low rise jeans and the other type of thing that was coming out of the low rise jeans if you follow pop culture. And this does have... an impact on both genders or non-gendered people. And I don't want this to be the conversation of, well, this is where we should have uniforms. Now, I think if you want to have a uniform. you're probably not going to go to a public school because in the public school, you're able to express yourself freely. Like I'm expressing myself freely. I got my Billy Joel concert t-shirt on. I got my Crocs on, half in sport mode, half and not. I just learned what that

056was this year. And I have my leopard print shorts on because that's the way I express myself. Now, if you don't like the way my body looks in my shorts, that is your problem. Because I'm not showing anything that is revealing my body parts are covered. And if we cannot educate others that a short is going to, you know, turn you on, then we have a bigger problem. And that should be a different type of conversation that should be occurring. Because that goes into a thing of consent, respecting someone else. If we cannot have those conversations and we're going to just penalize because this is what the trend is, then that's not a good job as an educator. And that's not doing what we're supposed to be doing, which is supposed to be educating the

057youth so that they can be great adults moving on. Because if you learn that now, if you learn respect of someone else, respect of their body, respect of the way I look at you, the way I talk to you, then you're going to be set up for success moving on. And if that can't be done now with people who are grown and educators, then that's failing our youth. So no uniforms are not the answer. Find a compromisable solution that can make these... young adults, because they're going to be young adults at some point, right? Feel empowered by what they are wearing. Because no one should have to ever feel ashamed of their body or what clothes they decide to wear that day because it makes them feel good. There's enough hate in the world. There's

058enough trauma in the world. This should not be added to it by the administration. Thank you. Thank you. Donna Popovich, Clifton, New Jersey. I guess I'm just confused because I came here and I saw this really great robotics which seems like it was like you know 22nd century and then we have a dress code from 1950 with June Cleaver. What are you people thinking? I have worked in many districts. You didn't just work here. I worked here the longest. I worked in a district with no dress code and you know what? Oh my god, we all learned something. It doesn't matter what you wear. Here's what the dress code should be. Let me make it simple, and I have sent this in about 9,000 times to administration. From here to here, you have clothing on.

059That's it. That's your whole dress code. Who cares how short the shorts are? If you have a problem with how short the shorts are, you need to see someone if you cannot control your urges. You are sexualizing young girls. I have been on the end of this and you know what? As a teacher I'm going to tell you I hated dress codes because the only reason I enforced it was because my boss sent a memo out that said I'm going to put a letter in your file for every dress code violation I have and if I find a violation period six, periods one through six are getting letters in their file and since we all like to work and eat. We all did the dress code. I've been the one, off-period one, standing in the

060hall when we had the huge high school parade. All 3,000 students had to march by while we said, you, you, you. And you know what? Yeah, they were girls. Because no one cares how the boys dress. No one ever cares how the boys dress. Because somehow, I guess women can control our urges, but I guess guys can't. Don't sexualize our children. Don't sexualize our young adults. I mean, who cares if a bra strap is showing? And I'll tell you a little story just to make you laugh. We were in a district, and no one was allowed to have a bra strap showing. You know where this is going, Danny. I said to the girl wearing the tank top with the spaghetti straps. Because you could wear spaghetti straps, they just had to cover your bra

061strap. I said, I can see your bra strap. She goes, don't worry. She took it off. You need to update this dress code. I've been trying this for a year. You know, Danny, your favorite student, my daughter, she got dress coded. And they, I know, they used to send her home with the shame t-shirt. And my favorite part about the shame t-shirt is they want you to wash it that night. Like, I got a job. Like, I'm going to do a load of laundry for one ugly green t-shirt. And I'm supposed to send it back in so we could shame another girl tomorrow. I kept it. I donated it. I had a pastor once who was unhappy with the way people were dressing for church. But he had a different solution. Instead of making a

062dress code, he set the air conditioning at 60. People wore more clothing. There's your answer. I just can't believe it's 2023 and we're still discussing what women are wearing, like women are objects. Let me tell you, women in America have enough problems right now. We have no body autonomy. And I can't believe in liberal New Jersey that our students, our female students, have to put up with this. We're here to empower them. It doesn't matter what they look like. It doesn't matter what their body shape is. What matters is what we're putting in their mind and teaching them how to think. How to solve problems. How to make the world a better place. But we're stopping them from doing it because their shorts were too short. There's nothing wrong with shorts that are short. I

063really don't care what they wear to my class. I care what the hand goes up in the air and what comes out of their mouth. And if we're going to penalize girls and make them miss class because of what we're wearing. That is discriminatory. Good evening. I was not really prepared to be up here, but after Ms. Lallama's wonderful speech, it brought back a lot of memories. I remember about six, seven years ago, which is kind of really weird to say, I walked into her class and... Excuse me, could you just say your name? Oh, sorry. Aya Fahmy, Clifton High School student. So about six years ago, I walked up into her class and when we went down the lockdown and fire drill procedures, she did say that she would be there with a chair

064to make sure that no one was to hurt us. And at the time, it wasn't a big issue. And now as we go on, we do see it a lot. Schools all over the United States are, you know, having school shootings and it is traumatizing. But that day, which I don't know the exact date, I got a message from my sister. I just woke up and it was around 10 o'clock. She was about to go to lunch because I know her entire schedule. But I did get a message and it said, I think someone got into the school. And you know like at the moment I was like, oh she's just kidding. She just wants to get out of school. But then she sent me two really traumatic videos of people like police officers walking

065past, children bawling. When I tell you tears, they were hysterical. And I was scared. I went down to my mom and I was like, mom Isra is saying she has a school shooting. My mom did not believe her as well because she knows how my sister is always constantly trying to leave school But we called my father when we were like, oh like we're gonna call our dad over which he works about 45 to an hour away He got here in 10 minutes 10 minutes to her school because he thought his daughter was in danger And then at the end we did get a message from the school saying it was a malfunction. We didn't hear anything We didn't get any approval or any messages besides that When we got home, we picked her up

066early, which was a major thing. There were so many students getting called down. It was like an attendance of the entire school getting called down. We had to go pick her up. It took us about 15 minutes just to get her down there. She came home and she said what Ms. Lallama said, people with guns, police officers armed with guns were walking through classes, talking to the students, making sure no one was there clearing it. And we didn't get anything. Now tell me, would you be safe to bring your own children into a school where they don't have the audacity to let us know what happened? I don't think that's acceptable because that's my sister. And if something actually happened and that was the bare minimum that we got. Honestly, I would really rethink having

067my students come to Clifton High School. Thank you for your time. Seeing none, motion to close. Motion to close by Mr. Abadrabo. Second. Second. Second by Mr. Paris. Okay, we'll move on to the adoption of our minutes of the regular meeting of May 4th. So moved. By Mr. Abadrabo. Second. Second by Ms. Spassford. Discussion? Yep. Okay, roll call on the minutes, please. Mr. Abidjabo? Yes. Mr. Awad? Yes. Ms. Passford? Yes. Mr. Brunziak? Yes. Mr. Parris? Yes. Mr. Santiago? Yes. President Smith? Yes. Motion carried. Okay, our superintendent's report, Dr. Robitose. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Good evening, commissioners. Good evening, members of the community, faculty, staff. And I can't tell you how incredible it is to see students here tonight. It really is. It fills my heart. I just want to, I listened to everything that the

068students said, and I just want you to hear at the very least. that you've been heard, okay? And I want you to know that. So the day that you speak of May 11th, the board received an email from a student, same concerns that you mentioned tonight. That same day we got an email from a parent with the same concerns. I believe May 11th was a Thursday. And just to defend this Board of Education, because this board is responsible for making policy. And it's the superintendent's job through the administration to enforce the policy. So just so you know how responsive this board is, by Tuesday, this board held a policy committee meeting with administration and students from your school, one of which was here earlier. I think it was your sister. I think. At that policy

069committee meeting, again, which happened within three school days, over a weekend, the board members heard the students' concerns, had a really nice discussion. I was able to give the administration some more leeway and some more discretion in enforcing certain things. And the policy committee... has decided to continue meeting, talk to more students, talk to more staff, talk to more administrators, and talk to parents to consider making revisions to the dress code policy. So it's not something that happens, you know, like that. But I want you to know that what you've done is you've sparked something. And I commend you. For being here tonight because it takes a lot of courage to come here and speak publicly At a Board of Education meeting I quite frankly have never seen Sixth graders come and speak at a

070Board of Education meeting. It was really impressive and No matter what the result is whatever this board decides after getting input on this dress code policy never Stop fighting for what you believe in for the rest of your life. If you feel that you are being wronged or if you just feel that something's not right, you should always speak up. And I'm very, very proud of you. And I just want you to know that. So if you want to leave now, you can go, but I wanted you to hear that from me before you left, okay? Tonight really was, you know, like a reality show for all of the great things about the Clifton Public School District. from the robotics team to the region and all state ensemble students representing our fine and performing arts

071department to our outstanding students of the month seniors and their impressive resumes to our students coming and speaking up for what they believe in. You know, that's what's right about the school. So you can criticize the board and the administration for policies, and that's okay. We accept that. But what we won't accept is being stagnant. We will continue to evolve. And we will continue to improve. And there's no doubt in my mind that there are amazing things going on in this district. And tonight was just evidence of that. So congratulations to the robotics team on an outstanding season. There's a lot of bling up here. I got all kinds of bling and medals. And the students of the month, the seniors who are graduating in a few weeks, going on to bigger and better things.

072our outstanding region and all-state ensemble, the musicians and the talent that they have. Congratulations to all of those students. It was an honor to recognize you tonight. I would like to also recognize School 5 for, they were part of a challenge called the Kids Heart Challenge, and on Wednesday, May 18th, They raised $10,107 for the American Heart Association. The students participated in a program called ACES, All Children Exercising Simultaneously. And it's exactly what it is. All the students were outside on the playground exercising. And they were together. They were exercising for 30 minutes, a little longer than I could probably make it right now. with Mr. Silva, their physical education teacher. And then the event concluded with the amazing Mrs. Harris getting slimed for meeting their fundraising goals. So the students got exercise, they got

073to slime a staff member, and they raised money for the American Heart Association. So congratulations to those students at School 5. I'd also like to congratulate some of our students at school number 15 who are members of a group called Girls on the Run. They concluded their season with a 5K run on Saturday, May 13th. The school 15 team and coaches did an outstanding job, and one of our own students sang, Ellie G sang the national anthem at the start of the race. So congratulations to those young ladies. And today I'm also proud that Clifton Public Schools were showcased for our PBSIS framework implementation at the 2023 New Jersey PBSIS Leadership Forum held at Mercer Community College. The Leadership Forum is hosted by Rutgers University in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Education. Schools

0741, 8, 11, 14, and 16 as well as our overall district protocols for PBSIS were recognized and presented to participants from all over New Jersey. And you can see these posters that are up here. These are some of the things that were displayed at this statewide symposium where several of our schools were recognized. Also during the event, the PBSIS district team was asked by the keynote speaker to showcase Clifton's successful experience in deploying the new New Jersey Department of Education sponsored climate surveys. And so we want to thank all of our students, staff, and families who completed those surveys. The valuable feedback that we obtain celebrates the areas. in which we are excelling while further guiding our efforts in improving and meeting our stakeholders' needs. And finally, at our next board meeting, June 22nd, we

075will be recognizing all of the district teachers of the year and the educational service professionals of the year. And I was... lucky enough in 2004 to be named the Linden High School Teacher of the Year. And I say that not to brag. I say that because what I remember about it was we got a nice meal, and I remember the food, and I remember the superintendent having a lunch with all the teachers of the year. Yes, I remember the food, okay? I remember the food. Judge me if you must. But then in 2008, The state passed new efficiency regulations which basically say you can't feed teachers Right. There's only certain there's limited circumstances where you can you can feed teachers with public money. I understand it's taxpayer money and so I've always wanted to figure

076out a way where we could have some sort of meal, some sort of little banquet with our teachers of the year. And as I was riding on my Harley a couple weekends ago, I had this idea. Well, we have this amazing organization called the Clifton Education Foundation. And I wonder if I ask the Clifton Education Foundation if they would consider sponsoring a little get-together. prior to the board meeting next month where we could have Pomptonian cater and we could have a nice little ceremony before the board meeting and feed the staff and so I reached out through Mr. Rose to Michelle Morgan who's the president of the Clifton Education Foundation and their leadership and they took my proposal the entire Clifton Education Foundation voted on it and They are going to sponsor a dinner for

077our teachers and ed service professionals of the year prior to our board meeting next month And I just wanted to publicly thank the Clifton Education Foundation for that because I believe that when we celebrate together With food not joking. I think when we celebrate together with food That's really about family and really about a one Clifton kind of thing So there will be more details to come. Obviously, the commissioners will be invited. We have a budget, but our commissioners will be invited. Our teachers, our ed service professionals of the year will be invited with a guest. Hopefully our principals will be invited. Just have to determine a location and decide on some details, but more details to come. But I want to publicly, and I'll do it again next month, publicly thank the Clifton Education

078Foundation for your generous, generous donation for this cause. And Mr. President, that concludes my report this evening. Thank you, Dr. Robitose. On our district website under the peach jar section, there are just so many activities taking place in our schools and in our city with recreation items. Nobody should have a dirty car because our band each weekend is running a car wash. I went two weeks ago and... Not only did they wash the outside, they did a very good job vacuuming the inside. So if you want to get your car washed, you can support the Mustang Band here at Clifton High School. And Saturday, June 3rd, the Christopher Columbus dance team is sponsoring their car wash. If you would, that's going to be held at Woodrow Wilson Middle School. Oh, I'm sorry. It's both the

079Woodrow Wilson and Christopher Columbus dance teams. And they'll be holding the car wash at Woodrow Wilson. There is job opportunities for students. The Clifton Recreation Department is hiring counselors for their camp programs. So any students that are out there and wish to work for the summer, Clifton Recreation is hiring. Please see the flyer. And again, there are just so many activities taking place. I just wanted to highlight a couple of them. Something very special in the district happening on June the 4th. We have one of our schools, school number 15, that is turning 100 years old. So they'll be having some festivities that day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. School number 15 on Gregory Avenue. So come out and celebrate their accomplishment of turning 100 years old. I would like at this time, so

080one of our staff members has been recognized and awarded an award, and I just felt that the public should be aware of it. When we started a few years back on using virtual meetings throughout the COVID period, Right around that time one of our staff members With the assistance of some students and former students Wanted to find a way that we could broadcast our not only Events in the district but specifically sporting events There are many people that can't get out to a sporting event grandparents that might be in another state and can't get there and whatever, if anyone doesn't have the ability to get to some things, in Clifton's district, you can be sure that it is going to be live streamed. And because of the efforts, the dedication, the devotion of our Clifton

081High School history teacher, Mr. Mark Mecca, he has been awarded the Broadcast Teacher of the Year by Mascot Media. And Mark, we just want to say congratulations to you. Mark, without his team, especially Vinny over there, Vinny coming back from Montclair State to volunteer his time and come and help the school that helped him out and all those that are involved in your program, Mark, we truly congratulate you. There are not many districts that have live streaming. You brought Clifton to the forefront, and this award is so deserved to you. So thank you again on behalf of the district for your accomplishment. And on that, we will move on the agenda. We'll have our first reading of policy, 5337.1, Therapy Dog. Okay, we'll move on to committee reports. Policy is first, Ms. Basford. Thank you.

082Good evening, everyone. Thank you. The policy committee, this was a special meeting for the policy committee that was not our norm. The policy committee met at 104 on May 16th. Attendees were Commissioner Fahim Abadrabo, Richard Mejia, Anthony Santiago, who was taking the place of Mr. Smith, who had a previous commitment. And myself. Administration was Danny Robitazzi, Mark Gingaro, Janina Kuchilevich, Lou Ross. Andrew Jager and Robert Bertolini. Also, there were several students from Christopher Columbus Middle School. The meeting was convened to discuss the current dress code and to get input of the middle school administration and students. After hearing from the school administrators, the committee requested that the administration student representing from the Big Three, which is the high school and the two middle schools, meet over the summer to review the dress code line by

083line. make recommendations to revise the policy and return this to the committee for review the committee adjourned at 2 o 7 and mr. Ross read the wrote the minutes also what was not included in the minutes was that the committee upon recommendation of the superintendent that he was going to make some relaxed measures we were going to discuss them with the board as a whole in executive session, but he is relaxing some of the things and giving the principals a little bit more leeway with the dress code policy so the children are more comfortable in the hotter weather. But we are going to go line by line. So, any questions? We'll go to facilities. Mr. Paris, would you mind reading those minutes? Sure. Facilities Committee met on May 10th. Board members that attended were myself

084and Mr. Smith. Administration was Dr. Arbatozzi, Mr. Gingaro, Mr. Ucci, Mr. Shahada, Mr. Maldonado, and Mr. Doctor. And guests were Mr. Costello, Mr. Watkins, and Mr. Keenan. We started at 3.37. We ended at 4.40 p.m. Items of discussion were, number one, the referendum update. The EPICREC rep gave us an overview of what has taken place thus far in the referendum and what's taking place throughout the rest of the year. There were some board concerns shared concerning the Woodrow Wilson Middle School field. Number two is building and grounds updates. Administration gave an update of projects taking place throughout the district. The admin building having a sewer line replaced due to a collapse in the line. And we're looking to put through insurance for damages. That's why we're here this evening. Number three, signage for Woodrow Wilson

085and Christopher Columbus. Signs were ordered to place around both school fields to alert spectators of possible foul balls. Number four, the CHS exterior bathroom administration informed the committee of the drawing and estimate rendered for an exterior bathroom at the request of the committee. last meeting number five was paving of the administration building which is uh we're going to look at the repaving over the summer uh and number six was the band room administration visited the chs band room to see if any renovations are possible and the architect will get it will get an expert to give a rendering under new business the committee He's looking to do minor renovations in the superintendent's office. That concludes the minutes from the facilities meeting. Any questions? Mr. President. Mr. Arbogast. Through you to Mr. Parrish. For the signage

086for Woodrow Wilson and Columbus on the foul balls, has the facilities committee looked at possibly also doing nests? Yes, that was discussed and is in process. I believe they're on order at this point. So the signs are only short term? Yes. Thank you. Yeah, I think the signs will still stay up anyway. Because the nets are only going to be a deterrent, but there could be foul balls that get over. So we'll have both at that point. But, yeah, the... Yeah, no, the signs will be just because of liability purposes, I understand. But, you know, we need to take our precautions as well to make sure vehicles are not being destroyed by foul balls. Yeah, Dr. Robitose was on top of that right away. We discussed that it was a safety feature, so that needed

087to be addressed right away. So the committee did address it. The administration did address it right away. So thank you for that. Any other questions for facilities? Okay, thank you. Mr. Brunsiak, finance, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Minutes from the May 10th Finance Committee meeting. Myself was present. Commissioner Parris was present. President Smith was present. Mr. Gingaro was present, Mr. Rucci was present, and Mr. Shahada was present. Meeting start time was 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. End time was 5.34 p.m. Items of discussion, long-term nutrition standards. The USDA is accepting comments in advance of the release of the final rules for long-term nutrition standards that will affect all the meals in participating school districts. This could have an effect on lunch sales and costs in the future. Number two, transportation hub, a location has been

088found that can accommodate eight buses and five vans or 20 vans. The board attorney has been in contact with the seller's attorney. We are looking to get a formal appraisal done. Number three was a health health insurance update open enrollment has begun for all employees Business office has sent out communication regarding webinars and all pertinent information new business is The committee wants to do minor renovations in the superintendent's office. Does anybody have any questions? I have a question to you, to the superintendent. Being that the USDA is going to be taking comments about the food and the nutritional standards, are we going to be submitting anything? Or is Clifton going, because it's going to, we have a large district. Mrs. Batsford, I think what we're going to do is have the board pass a resolution

089and send that resolution. I think we have time for that, Mr. Hussier. Yeah, I believe we have through June to do that, so we can have that at the next meeting. Correct. Just a question. President Smith, Superintendent. As part of these comments, are we going to be mentioning by any chance, for example, you have certain students with certain dietary or religious, like for example, for the Jewish community, kosher, for some Southeast Asian communities, the vegetarian options, and for the Muslim community, halal. Is that something that can be mentioned? Because I know when we try, I don't want to say shop around or look into adding that. Obviously, the cost of that type of food was, I think, six times or seven times the cost that we would have expected it to be. Yeah, Mr. Awad,

090you're correct. However, we are now doing vegetarian options. We are now doing halal. I forgot what else you mentioned, but we are now doing that. But as for the resolution, we'll get a standard resolution and then we'll cliftonize it to meet our needs. And of course, when the board sees it, if you want anything added, we can add it on the spot. Anyone else? Thank you. No? Mr. Abadrabo, athletics? Thank you, President Smith. The minutes with that committee was on April 18, 2023. The first one was honoring all county athletes and cheer state champs at BOE meeting. Discussion regarding honoring athletes at BOE meetings. Full athletes were honored at a meeting and student attendance was late. Spring all county teams won't be selected until late May and commissioners will bring this issue back to the

091BOE. Medical issues. The medical specialists at the athletic trains refer many students who are separate from our current team doctor. The athletic director recommended a new athletic medical specialist for a new school year for a board review. And after the contract's reviewed by administration, it will be up for approval during the June 22nd, 2023 meeting, submitted by our AD, Tom Ali. Mr. Avadrava? Mr. Brontiac? Thank you. Did the AD say why he wanted to recommend a new medical specialist? How long has the current one been with the district for? He has been actually around with the district. I think Mr. Smith and Dr. Robert Tosi, I think it's McInerney that's currently now, has been there for quite a while. It's just going out to see if that's somebody you want to stay with or if

092there's another firm that we want to go out to. if I'm not mistaken, professional services, and sometimes it's good to look at other professional services as we go out. It doesn't mean we're going to make a change, but it wasn't a recommendation. It was just going out there and seeing if we want to go with the firm or stay with who we have. There wasn't a particular reason, if I'm not mistaken, and that was just something we were for discussion. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions on athletics? Okay, let's move on to unfinished business. Any unfinished business from the board? Hearing none. Let's move on to education administration. We're going to have EA1 and EA2 read separately. So can I have a motion for EA1 by Mr. Abadrabo, second by Mr. Awad. If you

093would, Mr. Abadrabo. Sorry, I've got to look at my notes. Mr. Abadrabo, EA1. Sure. Thank you, President Smith. EA1, being the month of May, it is Jewish American Heritage Month. We as Clifton have various religions, cultures, and diversity in this town that I'm proud to say that we honor. and it being one of them today during this board meeting for Jewish American Heritage Month. Whereas May is Jewish American Heritage Month established by the United States Congress to recognize a more than 360-year history of Jewish contributions to American culture, and whereas Jewish Americans in the face of unspeakable discrimination and adversity have fought tirelessly to realize the promise of this nation's freedom and continue to teach us empathy and compassion inspired by their parents and grandparents, and whereas Jewish Americans have helped bring out enduring progress

094in every aspect of society, shaping our country's character and embodying the values we hold dear. And whereas Jewish communities continue to confront hostility and bigotry, and whereas determined to confront racism, many Jewish Americans found a cause in the civil rights movement and a call for freedom and justice. And whereas we recognize the history of Jewish contributions to American culture, which acknowledges the achievements of American Jews in the fields, ranging from sports and arts and entertainment to medicine, business, science, government, and military service. Now, there... Therefore be a result that the Clifton School District Board of Education affirms may as Jewish American Heritage Month. Discussion? Roll call please. Mr. Abidrabo? Yes. Mr. Awad? Yes. Ms. Basford? Yes. Mr. Brunsiac? Yes. Mr. Paris? Yes. Mr. Santiago? Yes. Vice President Danny? Yes. President Smith? Yes. Yay to Mr.

095Santiago asked. Thank you, President Smith. Whereas the people of the United States join together each May to pay tribute to the contributions of generations of the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have enriched the history of this nation, and whereas the Asian American and Pacific Islander community is an inherently diverse... population composed of more than 45 distinct ethnicities and more than 100 language dialects and whereas it is imperative for the good of our nation that schools continue to build awareness and understanding of the contributions made by asian americans and pacific islanders and whereas celebrating asian american and pacific islander heritage month provide the students and school community with an opportunity to recognize the achievements contributions and history of and to understand the challenges faced by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. And whereas the school board

096of the city of Clifton, through its core values and implementation of culturally responsive practices, demonstrate our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within our school division. Now therefore be it resolved that the school board of the city of Clifton Officially recognizes the month of May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and be a further resolve that the school board of Clifton Encourages all citizens to support and participate in various school activities during Asian American and Pacific Pacific Islander Heritage Month Yeah, mr. Santiago motion second second. Mr. Abadrabo discussion Seeing none roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Especially for our newer board members. Anyone who wishes to read a resolution, please just notify me and you can read the resolution. So whenever somebody does it, they've asked me to

097do it. So I just want to make sure everyone knows that they can do that. Okay. Let's do the rest. So we have EA3 through EA15. Motion. By Ms. Basford. Second. By Mr. Albedrabo. Discussion? Seeing none, roll call, please. Mr. Albedrabo. Yes. Mr. Awad. Yes. Ms. Basford. Yes. Mr. Brunziak. Yes. To the group no to EA11, please. Mr. Parris. Yes. Mr. Santiago. Yes. Vice President Danny. Yes. President Smith. Yes. Motion's carried. All right, next we'll move on to C personnel. We have quite a bit. President Smith? So we have, yes. For personnel, can we pull P10 for the back? I couldn't hear that. P10. Thank you. Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Yeah, P9 and P10 are personnel items for executive session. So we're doing P1. P1 through P66 minus 9 and 10. So moved. By Mr.

098Abidrabo, seconded by Dr. Danny. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call, please. Mr. Abidrabo. Yes, with abstention on P44. Mr. Awad. Yes. Ms. Bassford. Yes, I'm abstaining on 63. It's a conference that I'm involved in. And I just want to... Out loud say this, I have to abstain on the school security officers. I didn't get a chance, Danny, to talk to you about an incident that happened and I want to bring it to your attention. I don't know if the person's on the list, I don't know their last name, but I have to abstain. Mr. Brunsiak? Yes. Mr. Paris? Yes, abstain on 30, please. Mr. Santiago. Yes. Abstain on 30, 32, 33, 39, 43, 45, 62. Vice President Danny. Yes. President Smith. Yes. Motion to carry. Okay, let's move on to finance and facilities. We have F1

099through F16. So moved. By Mr. Abadramo, second by Mr. Awad. Discussion? Mr. Smith? Yes. Yes, I'd like to make a motion to take item 5, which is the exterior toilets, refer it back to facilities and finance committees just to look and make sure we vet it out. some other lower cost options that might be available to us seconded yeah alan i i read it after you made no motion to me this is not to go out for the contract this is just the architect writing up the writing up the specs that's all i understand that but that's still 27 000 if we go in a different direction we may not need those services okay so there is a motion to table number five so we'll address the table the motion is to move it table

100it and move it back to facilities and finance for some further investigation okay so there's a motion to table yes yes vote is to table no vote is to vote now roll call please uh just a question Can the administration, I was asked this question and I told him I wouldn't answer because I want the administration to answer publicly. Can the administration answer what the approval of the E-Rate Consultants contracts are? I would defer to Mr. Usi on that. Mr. President, that's F10. I'm sorry? F10. That's F10. Right now we're in the middle of the motion. Oh, I'm sorry. Just on that one item. I apologize. Whether it should be removed from the. I apologize. And nine and 10 have already been sent or taken to executive. Yes. They're not part of the curve. Right.

101So this is just the table. Table number five. My apologies. That's all right. Okay. So again, a yes vote is to table five and send it back to the committees. A no vote would mean that you want to vote on it tonight. Okay, a motion the table has been Motioned in second and let's have roll call please. All right do table f5. Mr. Abdu'abbo Yes Mr. Awad Yes, miss Bassford. Yes. Mr. Brunson. Yes. Mr. Paris. Yes. Mr. Santiago. Yes vice president Danny. Yes president Smith. Yes Okay, let's do So we'll do the rest so that's d1 through D16 minus 9 and 10, which are for executive, and 5, which we just tabled. Motion, please. Wait, I'm sorry, 9 and 10, that was personnel. That was personnel. I'm sorry, you're correct. We're in finance now. Did

102you have a question on 10? I'm sorry. I did. Through you, through the superintendent, to Mr. Ucci, or Mr. Shahada, can you just explain what the E-Rite consultants are? Sure. We hire a consulting firm that applies for our E-rate reimbursements, and they get us a significant amount of federal money for our communication lines. There's some equipment involved. There's a lot of... compliance things with the federal government and it's definitely beneficial to have a consultant on hand and we've been working with the Vince LaForge at E-rate consulting for since I've been here and he's fantastic and they get us a lot of federal funds. And can you explain to the public what E-rate means? It's a mechanism for us to get discounted rates with our internet lines, our phone lines, and other network and server equipment.

103Great, thank you. Any other questions? Okay, seeing none roll call, please Mr. Abu-Jabbar. Yes. Mr. Awad. Yes. Miss Bassford. Yes. Mr. Brunziak. Yes. Mr. Paris. Yes. Mr. Santiago. Yes. Vice President Danny. Yes. And President Smith. Yes. Motions carry. You know, I'm sorry. I need to abstain on F-16. Okay, board member comments. Mr. Santiago, you're up first. Thank you president Smith I want to congratulate all the students who received awards today The robotics team was awesome. Awesome. Awesome Congratulations to them another example of the great Stuff that we have here in our district and you can see the effort that they put into that And so I just commend them as well as all the teachers involved and of course their parents I attended the Clifton High School Honor Society dinner, which was awesome. I think

104we have, correct me if I'm wrong, we had like over 800 students, I believe, which was incredible. And my niece was one of them, so congratulations to her. I also attended the CCMS Honor Society, and her little sister was there. You know, just great, great examples of... How successful our district is and their teachers and the effort that our students put in. It's great to see that. I'm hoping to attend the Woodrow Wilson one. And there's just a lot of moving up ceremonies and stuff to attend. I'm just looking forward to attending all those. I want to sincerely commend the young ladies that came up here today. It takes courage to come up and speak. There's a famous survey of ranking of fears, and fear of public speaking was higher than fear of death. So

105I give you credit for coming up. You know, you also demonstrated critical thinking. It was well prepared. It was well thought out. It was well presented. You know, we have adults who come up here and do a lot worse or scream and yell, quite frankly. So I commend you. And, you know, like Mr. Robert Tazi said, we definitely are listening and we are absolutely looking into it. So thank you for coming up. She and and also miss white I believe right yeah kudos to you too. It's not easy But to miss Lallama and to the Clifton High School student who came up and spoke about the incident with the lockdown, et cetera, and the Clifton High School student mentioned her younger sister and her father was here and the malfunction, et cetera. I just want

106to apologize to you guys and assure you that we are looking into that. I'm head of the security committee. I take that very serious. And so I promise you we are looking into that and we will get back to you and let you know. And I think by the time we meet, we will have passed prom, I believe. And so, like my wife always says, make good choices. Just have fun. It's a great time. It's a great moment. Have fun, but be safe. You can have fun and be safe and still keep your friends, but really enjoy it. I think, oh, School 15 is having their centennial, their 100th year on June 4th. I think that's a Saturday. I look forward to attending that as well. And I believe that, again, you know, happy Jewish

107American Heritage Month as well as Asian American Pacific Islander Month. Thank you, guys. Okay, Mr. Abadrabbo. Thank you, President Smith. The Distinguished Honors Dinner was, it's a phenomenal way to really end the district school year in celebrating and honoring not only the students for their achievements, but their parents, whether it's one year, two year, three year, or four year. The success that we see, excuse me, the success that we see where the academic doesn't just end at the classroom, at the door of the classroom, but yet at home as well. Many of those students are athletes as well as academic co-curricular activities, and it's phenomenal to see their achievements. We had WWMS complex ribbon cutting as well. That was... Great to see and a long time coming because if anybody's ever played on that field,

108you can easily twist an ankle. And particularly the students over at WWMS Woodrow get to use it for their gym as well. So it's an all-around Clifton thing. Congratulations to all that were... honored tonight again back to our parents particularly the robotics team who and I gotta say Larissa who is I had the opportunity to watch to watch these students in action on many occasions and particularly when the The American engineering donated some funds to them. And I think some of us were invited to go and see what they were able to do. And it's phenomenal what they do day in and day out. And Ms. Deitri's sister, Larissa, the joke is that she's the cook and the cleanup batter and everything for them. Because she's just there even though she really is not on

109the team, but she's on the team. But their parents being here tonight to support as well. It's great to see our parents support all students and particularly their children. Dr. Robert Tosi, if we can understand a better sense what the communication of that lockdown that occurred that was referred to by Ms. Lallama, I think it's... While we as a district are fond and are proud of what transparency and communication happen in this district, and you do a phenomenal job on communication. But I just want to understand what steps did we take to communicate what happened and what occurred. Because at the end of the day, we want all our staff, and particularly our students, to feel that they're safe in school. That they're able to understand. what went wrong and how we as a district

110can learn from it and how we can particularly make sure our students can feel safe because a lot of our students unfortunately well let's say fortunately come to school for a a safe space and I think that's important to continue that for them for mentally and mentally and physically happy birthday to Mr. Shahada I believe it's today. We're all getting young. Well, actually, we're all aging. He's getting younger. The dress code. So the dress code itself actually was stated that it was last looked at in 2016, which was actually wrong. I was the policy chair last year. It was actually 2022. That's when it was last looked at as board members For the ones who were on the board understand what we looked at how we looked at and I agree that there needs to

111be some change I thought I tried fighting for that last year and many of the board members stated otherwise and I think it's time that we do revisit if I got 30 seconds president or 10 seconds to relook at the dress code and understand that a if a gender specific or let's say our young ladies who are in our district feel that they are being, don't want to say targeted, but treated unequal, then that is something we do need to take a look at and revisit and make sure that they too have a safe physically and mentally safe space to come to school and feel like that, you know what? I'm not somebody that's going to be looked at because I'm just good because, as others said, taking out of the academic classroom takes away

112from the purpose of what they come to school for. So I look forward to more conversation from the big three and not just one, I think, was Columbus that we looked at. So thank you. Okay, thank you. Mr. Awad? No comments. I yield my time. Okay, Ms. Bassford? Yes, good evening. On a side note, Mr. Ussi, through you, Dr. Robitazzi, to the BA and his staff, I've been getting very positive feedback from the people in this community thanking us for the presentation of the budget. They keep on coming up saying how you broke it down and you explained everything very thorough. They were very impressed. They weren't happy with what the board decided, but they understood the need. For what we did and they were very grateful how detailed the presentation was and they said

113they hope going forward this is what we're going to get about budget. So it wasn't one, it was two, it was three. Everywhere I go people stop and say not. But you know what? You guys explained it, what we need, and they're for it. So thank you very much. I had to explain to them why we didn't have to go out to vote because we went over the 2% cap, but you gave me the verbiage to tell them, so I appreciate that. So that's a side note. I was very honored to be invited to the Distinguished Academic Awards Dinner. It was very nice to see a friend of my daughter be the keynote speaker from the class of 2008. And I was very honored to be at the Christopher Columbus Middle School Junior National Honor

114Society and to see that the new mayor got up and spoke. It was nice to see the changing of the guard and how excited everybody was that night. Mr. Gingaro, I have to tell you, your speech really- It was, yeah, it was awesome. So thank you. I'm going to try to remember everything. If you have it written down, can you please send it to me about the bow and arrow? It was really awesome. So thank you. Congratulations to the robotics team. Congratulations to the region state assembly assembles. Congratulations to the students that were here. So the students that got up and spoke about the dress code policy. It's hard to get up and speak, and especially at that age, and be very articulate. They were poignant. They got their point across to us. We have

115heard you. To the rumor that's going around that this is a concerted effort to get the uniform back, I can tell you that this board member, I do not speak for this board. I speak for myself. I will not support that. I will not entertain it, and I will not even be in discussion with it. It's not meant to be freedom of expression lives in the public school. Yes, we do. My personal opinion, my personal view, we have to relax the policy. It doesn't speak to the current. I spoke to the committee. I've been out shopping. You can't find clothing that matches our policy. And the story. And I will bring that every time I meet with the committee going forward. So you have my word that I'm going to listen. The minute the email

116came in, I spoke to the superintendent. Can we have a meeting? Please, let's have a meeting. We need to address this once and for all, get through it. This is not good. We need to look at the students and what they're currently wearing now. Addressing everyone, every culture, every nationality, every diversity, everything we have to take into consideration and make sure everybody's comfortable coming to these buildings every day so they can learn. Not so that they can be criticized for what they wear or the money that they don't have to spend on certain clothing To as well is a lot of issues and we have to take that into consideration We have to meet the needs of the whole not just the certain groups. So that's what we do as a board There is a

117big event coming up in June happy Father's Day to all the dads and It takes a lot to be a father. Happy Father's Day. Thank you Thank you Mr. Brunsiak Thank you, Mr. President. Quick shout-out to Ms. Linda White. You sounded like a pro up there. So I know you said you got nervous when you were speaking in front of people. You just ran a clinic on several others. Other quick shout-outs. A couple weeks ago, I was able to attend with my kids the spring concert choir over at CHS. Right over here and big shout out to mr. Weiss mantle and his students Were particularly stood stood out to me very emotional at the end of the show But was really cool is that his students got him a gift and it was a super

118sized magic the gathering card So I'm hoping it was one of the power eight cards Hoping it was Black Lotus. So shout out to all my homies out there who play Magic the Gathering, other collectible card games, and D&D as well. It was absolutely very cool. Fantastic job by the concert choir. Want to give everybody there a big shout out. Also, this past weekend I was able also to attend with the entire family the 20th annual Lollipops and Roses. That was posted up by Peach Shark and included the Clifton Community Band. And Commissioner Parris is part of the community band too, so it was absolutely fantastic over there. The songs were great. A lot of vets were honored in the beginning of it. Lots of Americana over there was absolutely outstanding. And they recently lost

119a member, so it was a very touching tribute to Joe as well. Rest in peace, Joe. Lots of big things happening this Memorial Day weekend. So we're remembering all the soldiers who lost their lives defending this country. So we'll be thinking about you this weekend. Also, Sunday, weather permitting, Avenue of Flags set up at City Hall. If any of you earlier birds are out there, 6 a.m. It's very cool. I've done it a couple of times. Absolutely beautiful when it's up over there. Only happens a few times per year. Also, there's a Memorial Day Parade from Clifton Avenue Extension over there at Jubilee Park and all the way to Memorial over at Chelsea Park down by the... Allwood Library section. Lots of other happenings within the city. Last shout out to Mrs. Miller, whom my

120daughter sees for piano lessons. Shameless plug for her concert with the Miller Highlights next Thursday, June 1st at the Living Hope Presbyterian Church on Maplewood Avenue in Clifton. Her daughter as well. She and her daughter, I believe they are both graduates of CHS. And they've taught in many people. So lots of things happening over here. Thank you everybody for your time and God bless America. Have a good night everybody. Thank you. Mr. Paris. Thank you, Mr. Smith. I don't know if we're going to see Tiffany in June. So I just wanted to recognize her efforts all year long and really appreciate her representing the students of CHS here to us. I heard a lot of metal rattling. I heard a weird rattling sound when the whole robotics team was walking around. And then when they

121finally went to the other side, I realized it was all the metal around their necks that was ringing. So it was a great sound to hear. Congratulations to all of them. And so much thank you to all the volunteers that helped make that happen. Fantastic program and very proud of the fact that we are not only a regional but also a national force. Congratulations to everyone involved there. Congratulations to all the students of the month winners. To the students that spoke about dress codes, this board has heard you and will react. And I really appreciate the students coming forward and... admire their their courage because it's not an easy thing to do especially a sixth grader um concerning mr brunsiak mentioned uh the community band concert i would like to thank uh mr mcconnie mr

122horn uh mr mecca and all the cast students that helped make such a professional presentation last Saturday. Our veterans really appreciated it. The band really appreciated it. And I also want to thank this board for supporting us and allowing us to rehearse here at CHS and to use this world-class auditorium that we have. So thank you to all of you. I also was able to attend CHS and CCMS's Honor Society. Again, it was great to see some of the very best of Clifton and always amazed at the maturity of our students and the professionalism of the CHS and CCMS organizations for Honor Society. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Thank you. And Vice President Danny. Thank you, President Smith. First of all, happy birthday, Mr. Shahada. And I'd like to say congratulations to all of the students

123that were honored today. The robotics team, the CHS students of the month, and the regional and all-state ensemble students. Congratulations. It really is an achievement. And again, really nice to see students come up and get awards. It's always so nice because obviously that's what we're all about. Board of Education so it's nice to see that in regards to the uniforms I was here when we talked about uniforms and having discussions around that and I definitely have to say that when it comes to uniforms I am NOT for uniforms so you know I do think that it is a public school And again, if you're looking for uniforms, Catholic school, that's obviously where most of the time you see uniforms. And of course, there are some public schools where you do see uniforms, but I just

124think it's your expression. And I will say that when it comes to wearing certain type of clothing, it is difficult to find clothes to wear. I would say even it might be even challenging for some boys because what we're finding in the district that I work in is some boys are wearing like really short shorts and tight shorts that seems to be like what's coming in now I don't know short tight shorts so I think you know we look at like the dress code you know if that's what's out there and that's what they can I mean, I think we have to adjust. And definitely, I think for females, some of the things that are said about that you feel like you're being picked on. I mean, I could see that in a way because

125it seems to be always, even in my district, if you have the spaghetti strap, it's- Like provocative and you know, they might tell you to put something on So, I mean I definitely think that it's a robust discussion that needs to be had and I'm sure that you know It will be you know robust and that whatever comes out of that will be beneficial to the students and you know Because I know miss bassford. Like you said you'll be thinking about what it is that is out there in the stores and I know You kind of like that aspect, so you know what I mean? I'm sure you'll do a great job with that in your committee. I'd like to say Happy Father's Day to all the fathers, especially to my dad, Stanley Qualics. Again,

126he's my biggest supporter. Memorial Day, we know we have to remember to honor those men and women who died while serving. Just want to say happy Juneteenth and to all those students who are in the prom, make sure you stay safe, have a great time, but stay safe. And that's it, thank you. Thank you. To the public, there are, as you know, our referendum projects are underway. We asked administration if they could put something on our website where the public could go and see the progress that's being made on our projects. It wasn't a very easy task to do, but I'm very thankful to administration for getting that out there. So it is on our website, right? Yeah. So if you want to take a look at where we are in progress of our referendum

127projects, please go to the Clifton website and you'll be able to see the progress as it's moving along. People that have seen that have told me how thrilled they are because, you know, a couple years back we asked the public to vote for it, and it takes a while to get these things moving to where you actually see progress being made. So many people had said, you know, what's going on? We approved this referendum. Nothing's happening. Well, I think everyone can see now. There is something happening in each of our schools. So please take the time to go on the website and view it. You'll see pictures, progress that's being made. The bathrooms, the pictures of the bathrooms, just to see where they've come from, the dark, dingy bathrooms that they were to now be

128in the Mustang colors, it's really amazing and great to see. So please take time to go and see that. So we celebrated. One of our projects, ribbon cutting last week, we had our ribbon cutting for our field at Woodrow Wilson. Not only is this going to be our home baseball field, it will also be a soccer field. And I have to tell you, the one day that I was up there and saw... the kids from Woodrow on the field for their gym classes. They came off the field and they actually said thank you. We love the field, thank you for doing it. And that kind of makes it all worthwhile, gang. When the kids that we're representing realize and appreciate what we do for them. That hit home for me. And it was really great

129just to see how many kids they had out on the field and how they had it all laid out for gym classes. So the project is in its final stages. Those that were there for the ribbon cutting, we... Just got some good news about electric so that the project can be finished. So hopefully we'll be updated on that of when the actual electricity will be installed. But we thank. numerous people that helped us get in touch with PSE&G and put a little fire under them to get our electric service for there. So thank you all that were involved in that. Dr. Robitose spoke a little bit about the Clifton Education Foundation. This foundation was... started 1998 i was happy to be a board member when we started this we had a former teacher and board

130member marie hakem were the driving forces to start this foundation and they're turning 25 years old and i'm so happy that dr robitose you reached out to them and They want to support and be part of feeding our staff. So I was very happy to hear that. And the scholarships that they offer our students as well. So great foundation that's turning 25 years old. We will be back. For our next meeting on June the 22nd at this time, we don't know the location we're hoping that we might be back into back at school six that the That the work has been completed But we will make sure that everyone is updated on that to know exactly where we'll be meeting for that for that night This Monday we celebrate Memorial Day. My colleagues, we've all

131been invited to be part of the Memorial Day parade. And the importance of honoring those who have represented and fought for this country, I feel is such an important. task for us to do to show that support and we thank the parade committee for including the board and dignitaries but the highlight of this parade to show that honor is seeing our wonderful Clifton Mustang band lead this Memorial Day parade so I encourage anyone who can get out to come and see the parade and support it and my fellow colleagues I hope as many of us can be there to march in that parade so enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and Father's Day being a very important day as we did in May recognizing all the mothers fathers As well, we wish them all the best

132and thank them for being great fathers to many people. So that's all I have for tonight. We'll move on. We'll move on to new business. Anyone have any new business? Okay, seeing. I'd like to bring it to policy to Municipal Alliance. There's been a lot of chatter and reckless driving around our schools for SELA A and SELA B. I think, you know, we need to bring it to council to the other side that enough is enough. People are, I saw somebody yesterday almost get hit by a car while driving with a reckless driver over by SELA B. And there's been complaints over at SELA A. Looking at social media and people talking so I just want to bring that to the attention of the board that we need to really tighten down and talk to

133our council of Partners on the other side and if dr. Arbatozzi can speak to the city manager see where we are with that in terms of the The various signs they want to put up or the testing because I it's enough is enough. I mean, it's been a few months now and We we need some answers. So I really want to bring that to your attention Mr. President and to my colleagues here today President Smith. Yes, mr. Just a doctor Robert Ozi Piggybacking on for him scommet Dr. Robert Tozzi, how long have we been discussing about this careless driving? For me, personally. You've been talking about this since day one. You have. In fairness, though, to the city, CPD did do the traffic study that we discussed in Municipal Alliance. Mr. Parrish, you were aware

134of that. They did do a study. We did discuss it at the last Municipal Alliance meeting. and they gave recommendations that they were doing to make the situation better there. So we can talk more about that offline, but there was action taken by CPD. There was a report, and there was a discussion at Municipal Alliance. Just my only goal is personally, just one last comment, is that it's not just a school or two. It's a city issue that with all this development that's happening, which is like some people may agree and disagree to development. You know, that's a different battle. Obviously, the more lives we have in the city, the more populated it's going to be, the more chaotic it's going to be. And to be very honest with you, as you drive around Clifton,

135morning or school dismissal, it's like a NASCAR racetrack. So if the simple solution is going to be signs, I think that that's just a waste of money. People know the laws of how to drive, and they don't follow it. A sign is not going to stop it. On a county level, on a city level, you know, we've been fighting for and I've been fighting for is we need speed bumps everywhere. Believe me, humans tend to learn when something goes wrong. So, you know, when someone flies over a speed bump. That little bump, believe me, will wake them up. And sadly, as I feel like most of the offenders that we see are parents, the legal K turns and the U turns, or speeding off, off of Grove Street the other day, I literally almost saw

136a mother and her daughter get ran by a pickup truck. And it's frightening and like our crossing guards are doing their best, but I feel like, you know, it's a one against the world type thing. And as much as we discuss it on the other side, they say, yes, yes, yes. Time goes by. They turn the cheek. And what I realize in this city is people for years complain and complain and talk and talk how inefficient either side can be. But when an election comes, it's the same old, same old. Those people don't show up to the polls, but they just want to go back to trolling on the Internet. And how many times did I say that? One day, God forbid, a student or staff member is going to get hit and something's going

137to happen. And God forbid, we all know the results of that. And what's the first thing I did was to text you. Sadly, we discussed it a week after a week later it happened. Is this community going to learn when God forbid someone dies? Is that what we're waiting for? Is that how we're going to get the reaction on the other side? It's just like honestly it's it's it's it's it gets frustrating when you discuss something for almost three years now and the other side is turning the cheek. I know we have relations that we have to keep but it's time to kind of kick it up a notch and kind of you know be harsher on them because our students are at risk and as we keep developing it's only gonna get worse. When

138is it gonna end? Mr. President, I think we can do a little more on our side too. I agree with you Mr. Wadd, but I think we could do more on our side. I think we have to start educating the parents that they can't double park in the middle of a road, just get out of the car and walk their kid into school. When I went to Read Across America, I actually saw like four or five people actually park in the middle of a street, a busy street, just park, get out of the car and walk the kid and stand there and wait. First of all, if we would have an emergency vehicle that needed to come down that road, forget about it. Wouldn't happen. I really think that we need to start educating the

139parents on, didn't anybody watch Mr. Mom? When Michael Keaton got out said, you're doing it wrong. We need to educate people and tell them, you got to go park. I did it. I used to park five blocks away from the school and walk with my kids to bring them to, and I had six years in between two of them. I didn't have all these fancy carriers and everything. I had to take the carriage, car seat, carry everything. We need to start teaching the parents on our side that you're doing it wrong. We have to start obeying parking and doing things like that. An assembly maybe with the kids, start there. I heard a story the other day, I was in Stop and Shop and somebody told me that a father let the child out on

140the driver's side of the car. And if it wasn't for somebody coming by, that kid would have gone, gone. It was a matter of the person scooped the child up. So how can we fix it or how can we start to address the problem? We can talk to across the street, that's fine, but we have to start over here with our parents. Maybe, I don't know, a PSA. Let the kids do something. Let the high school students film a PSA and put it out on 77 and 40 and get it out there and start really talking about it. Because if we're going to bury our heads in the sand, we're just as much at fault with Not getting anything done on the other side too. So I agree with you, we have to talk to

141them, but we also have to start educating our parents on this side. You're doing it wrong. Basically, that's it. So that's my two cents, sorry. Mr. Baskford. If I may, while I agree that we have to educate our side and our parents and our community, I don't like you using our side and their side, but at the end of the day. There's only one thing that people understand, and it's when they got to pay a ticket, when they have to pay a fine. I think the best, my recommendation to this board is while they're trying to figure out how to go ahead and do this, is that we did this back in the days where we would ask the city had to have police drive by schools during pickup time. And if they're double parked,

142write them a fine, write them a ticket. That's the only way people learn. Because unfortunately, they're going to say, well. Nobody's gonna see me. I'm gonna do it really quick or or they're doing it. Why can't I do it? Well, they just got a ticket. Do you want to get a ticket to? Do you want to pay that $40 $50 fine? So I think that's that that you know, we need to figure something out. We don't have control of crossing guards. That's city side We don't have control over police. That's city side. We don't control of what we put out there That's city side and we can only do what we can do on our end but Initially, we need a partner on the other side to make sure that they can meet us halfway.

143And that's all I'm trying to ask. Okay. So administration will come up with a plan of how we can educate our parents. And we'll reach out across the street and see if we can get a conversation going again with them. we'll try to do that the last um municipal alliance meeting um i had spoken to mr villano and requested that you know it takes time for cpd to do traffic studies at each school but i suggested that we could get on a schedule where they can do you know a few each year and get an schedule doing traffic studies at each building to see if there are other ways that we might be able to alleviate some of the issues. I believe parents know what they're supposed to do. I just feel like it's inconvenient

144sometimes and people are in a rush and unfortunately that's how bad things happen and we're just praying that that doesn't. Okay, so We'll handle that you'll handle that administratively We will reach out to them once again for municipal alliance mr. President we had told them that Yeah, I'm in the middle of talking We had heard from municipal alliance We had told them that it was our goal, that we wanted to have four meetings. Here we are coming into June, and we've only had one since January. So I don't know how far we're going to get with that, but we'll continue to try. So, Dr. Danny. Yes, but we did have one we had to cancel. So, you know, just to say on that. The thing is that, you know, we have done tickets and, you

145know, they did put the police in those areas and they did ticket and it was effective. But, again, that's manpower, that's resources. You know, I would say, you know, There has to be more people that maybe have to go to the open public meeting at that point and speak up and maybe say something because there's only so much. I mean, it's like a senator once told me, she said, well, how many letters do you think we get about, like, if there's a genocide happening? You know, zero. Okay. How many letters do you think we get about taxes and things like that? So where will we put our focus? So I think it's the same thing. I mean, if they're hearing it from our side, and, you know, again, they're doing all that they can. They

146did the study. We had the report. We discussed it. They actually... In the study, and again, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but they didn't find what we stated that we found on our end when they did the study in terms of the speeding. They didn't find all these speeding individuals. It was school nine, and if my memory serves me correct, they did a speed study, but their threshold for action was, I think it was okay if... You had 25% of people speeding. There were people speeding. Yes, but not to the extent. It was a selective state. It was done over a short period of time. Yes. And I don't think it was done in both locations. But there was new signage that was put up. There was enforcement. Yes, it was school night.

147There were enforcement. mostly parents got tickets. Yes. And there was going to be an update to the crosswalk, painting of the crosswalk, et cetera. So there were some improvements, physical improvements, and there was some enforcement that came from it as well. But so it's like, again, I think that, you know, we're talking about. I mean, Mr. Watt, you said that, and we do. And so they actually do come back with things that they do. They'll put out a study or something. They will put officers and give out tickets. But it seems to be for that period of time. I mean, is it sustainable to do that every day, day in, day out? And when you stop. What will happen means human nature people go back to doing something so I think you know Although it's

148good to have the communication With the city and and you know, maybe discuss something that we can possibly, you know come up with but I do think that you know citizens do maybe have to express that that is a concern so that they are seeing that they're hearing that as well at their meetings, that it's a concern. So if there are people that are saying it, that they come, that they speak, that they say it. Because like I said, if elected officials don't hear it, I mean, we have individuals that come up and they speak about the dress code. So that prompts you to say, oh, wait a minute, you know what, let's take a look at that because it's something that is affecting our students. So I think the same thing, if citizens come

149out and they speak, that just adds a little bit more when we go in because we've looked at it. And I mean, what can we do? I mean, I've suggested. I know that in towns like Bloomfield, I know in Paramus, we have like blinking lights and literally those blinking lights go on and people stop so that students can walk across the street, not get hit. They're pretty effective. But again, I don't know. To me, it appeared that the city was not ready to take that step. If there are suggestions that you have, like when we put out the agenda, I think the last agenda, I don't think we had anything from anybody that went out on the last agenda. But if you have any suggestions, I mean, again, bring them up because we're there, but

150we can only think of so many things. So any suggestions that you have, but usually they start with a study, and they take a look in the area, and they'll tell us we'll do a study. although might be a short one that's what they did because we were mentioning school number nine and so they did the study and that's what they came back with so again but the things that they that have worked like ticketing mr. abu-dhabi you said ticketing yes it works but for how long I mean it so I think what miss Bassford saying you know is that to take a look at and Something else like do something else because you know Like what can what can we do not saying not to have a discussion with the city? But what can

151we do? Because obviously we do that and it's a temporary little fix. But then as soon as there aren't officers everybody goes back to parking so I don't know, you know, putting cones out there so that they can't stop there. I mean, I don't know. I don't know if they run into the cones. I don't know. I mean, you know, I mean, but coming up with some suggestions, some ideas that either we can tell the city to explore or, you know, or we can do. Thank you, Mr. President. If you go to a school. the morning or in the afternoon I think administration has done what they can at these schools so yeah there's cones out there's barriers out you know I saw our Woodrow principal out directing traffic because there was no crossing guard.

152They have the process of moving cars in and out, buses in and out. The high school has a whole procedure of doing that as well. So I'm not quite sure on our end that our schools don't have procedures in place. on how this can be followed. I think it's more serious of an issue than just directing buses and cars out. And I think we're looking more at excessive speeding going down these roads. And what the board can do on that, I don't know. I don't know, but I think on our end of areas, I know we've spoken about, Mr. Abadrabba, you brought up about school 16. If we built an area where the buses could come in, get off the road. We looked at school 14. Where we wanted to move the faculty parking so

153that the front parking lot would open itself up So, you know, I think administration is has done, you know They're part of of everything that we possibly Can do I I just think it's more More serious of an issue than Then we could possibly address here. So as you said we're going to need cooperation if not from our counterparts across the street, but from County state and We need to let's let's set up a special meeting and and invite them here to this special meeting and and let's just have that item on the agenda and See who comes see if it's important enough President Smith. Yes when it comes to the county just knowing who we have as leadership We have great individuals and they will listen Knowing that we request they will Our biggest

154issue is right now in Clifton, and nobody wants to, I'll say it because I have no filter. I really don't care. I'm just going to speak what the truth is. The issue is money, not on our end, on the other end, fiscal responsibility. Years of bad spending, years of operating incorrectly put them in a deficit. We could say CPD, CPD, CPD, they're underfunded. The fire department, underfunded. I know it's not our side to discuss it, but it affects our students and our staff. Their responsibility for years, which is technically us, the taxpayers and the citizens fault because we choose to put the same people back over and over again. Some of these individuals, I consider them friends. Fine, but when it comes down to business, when it comes down to my taxpayer dollar, I take

155it serious. The issue is we could come up with all the testing and all the drawing. We could come up with everything. But at the end of the day, someone has to cut a check to get the work done. There's no money. And that's the issue. That's something hopefully they can resolve, they can figure out. But at the end of the day, that responsibility for years is putting a risk to the community. And like I said, sadly, as a society, we don't learn until something traumatic happens. And something traumatic did happen this year, but it wasn't to a max extent. It was something I got. And the issue was the way, sadly, a lot of us operate is we get emotional and tensed up and excited about a certain topic, but then it dies out.

156And the moment it dies out, something else pops up and something else pops up. Our city is going downwards, especially when it comes to traffic. Lucy, you made a great point about Bloomfield and Paramus, but the difference is Paramus has a surplus of money because of just the way all the businesses, everything that goes on in Paramus. They have a luxury on the city on the board side of fiscal responsibility, and they got a lot of money. They could do whatever luxuries they want, but our city and our situation is different. When it comes to federal, state, county, all the way down to municipal funding, you know, we really have to kind of open the books and look at the money. I'm not a numbers guy. Mike and Shahad are the money guys. You know

157what I mean? Thankfully, you guys have been responsible and, you know, you guys are moving the district with Danny's leadership in the right direction. But at the same time, I'm not trying to bash anybody. I'm not trying to talk down because there are good individuals on the other side. But the issue is, I feel like we've been stuck for years on... level one of discussions and it's just a loop around and honestly we're not taking serious. You know, you can have 60 municipal alliance meetings a year. What's the point of sitting online or sitting in a room discussing and nothing gets done? And I see the effort that comes on our side. I'm sorry, I was on a municipal alliance meeting during my term here. I felt like it was a charity case of us

158just sitting there, like, you know, we're blessed to even be sitting and discussing, but nothing ever got done. Can you guys tell me anything major that has ever came out of that committee? Honestly, something really effective. Yeah, we got crumbs here and there, but at the end of the day, enough is enough. And I know nobody wants to speak out because nobody wants to burn bridges. Fine. For me, and I said this a hundred times, there's no point in having a relationship with a person when there's no benefit. And for me, personally, students and staff, that's why I need them to benefit. And if I've got to burn myself for that, if I've got to burn my card for that, fine. It's totally fine with me. At the end of the day, as long as

159I can put my head on my pillow knowing that we're actually being effective, I'll be the sacrifice goat for that. And if I have to start calling people out by their names, I'll start calling people out by their names. I know you guys are very uncomfortable, but you guys know where I stand. I don't have time for BS. I don't have time for that whole chess game, sharpen up your words, and the whole image thing. No, no, no. I'm straightforward. One, two, three, this is what needs to get done. You like it, you like it, you don't like it, you're going to get called out on it. Because people are put into certain positions to lead. In order to lead, sometimes you've got to get down and dirty with it. And that's all I have

160to say is because I know they're fine individuals, and I know their intention is to do the right thing, but enough is enough. I'm not going to let this go. It's been two and a half years, and we haven't, well, we're going to get a sign, a sign, really a sign. I could order one on Amazon. I could put it up. A sign isn't going to do anything. Okay, so is, yeah. One second. I want to talk about. Something that happened a long time ago at school five. We had a big problem up there. Child almost got hit. We got something done because a band of moms and dads got together and said enough is enough. We formed the committee. We had the sidewalk crew. We put cones out. We wore vests. We had hats.

161We had whistles. We had stop signs. We formed the traffic committee. Deborah Katina was the mom that ran it up at school five and she got awarded by the traffic division from Clifton for doing this. And we had drop off down to a science. We could move that school in in five minutes. You couldn't get out on the passenger side, you had to get drive, because you pulled up to the school. You got out on the driver's side to the school. You couldn't double park in the street because everybody would yell at you, whistle at you, and the kids were saying, mom, don't do that. You're embarrassing me. You've got to do it right. And we would yell at them that you're doing it wrong. Start doing it right. That's what I was trying to

162mean about education. We can start that here by talking to our HSAs about the traffic outside the school. Start having the conversation at the HSA meetings. If we don't start that, shame on all of us for burying our heads in the sand. And then we get that group of people to start talking to the other group of people and back us up. We all have to come together as one group, because if we all start rowing in different directions, we're just going to keep on circling around. I have a word for Mr. Awad, but I cannot say it because it's offensive. Okay. We need to start doing something. And we're a group of educators, right? That's what we do. That's our business. So start with education. Start a PSA. Start a campaign about coming to

163school safe. They got a grant for that, but we can do it on our own. It starts small. Start talking about it. Conversation around your kitchen table. Make it a project. Make it a... I don't know, give an award out to the school that does it the best. I don't know. We give out awards for everything. Why can't we have a plaque for that? School safety plaque. That's just my suggestion. I know it sounds bizarre, but it worked up, and they're still doing it today. They still do it up at school five, because I happened to walk by the other day, and I saw the parents all out there doing what they need to do. That's years and years. And I give them a lot of credit, because at least they're trying. It's when we

164stop saying, no, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't. Shame on us. President Smith, if I'm sorry. Okay, so just to get direction from the board. Is the board in favor of having a meeting of the whole? We'll advertise the meeting. We'll invite our friends across the street. We'll invite the county. We'll invite whatever state people we can get, and we'll bring the discussion here. If we don't do that, you know, you have to take a step somewhere. And administration heard what Ms. Basford just said, and that could be something that they meet with the HSA presidents. We have the HSA committee, and we could do that internally on our end. But if we don't step up to the plate, call this meeting, and, you know, take the next step. I know we did

165what we did. We met with them. They said they would put their whatever they did. But like you said, it kind of just got another issue came up and that kind of got, you know, we basically accepted it. And I think if we just get all of us together and try to come up with one solution or a solution or something, shame on us if we don't try. so that is my suggestion to the board that we we organize this meeting we send the invitations out we'll hold it in our boardroom or here or wherever we need to the auditorium and take a movement on it is there any objection from the board of doing that okay dr. Robitozzi you and I work that out okay mr. Abuja Thank you. I was actually going to

166say one thing and then recommend something else. Why I understand the HSAs, okay, let's go back. School 16, School 5, School 4, School 3, many of our schools have the luxury of an HSA. But there are schools that don't have that luxury. There are schools who don't have that luxury because parents are working, two jobs, three jobs. and cannot have that luxury or fortune or opportunity to continue that school five tradition that they created years ago. And that's phenomenal that they do that. But we have 11,000 plus students in this district. If we as a body of nine are not looked at or listened to by a body of seven and their administration, and they're not listening to us, that's problematic. That's problematic. But the recommendation I was going to make, if CPD doesn't have

167the bodies, as many are saying, then you know what then? It's time to call up the State County Sheriff's Department and ask them for their assistance. I mean, the sheriff's from Clifton. I'm sure he understands what Clifton's needs are. And I'm sure if asked, he wouldn't turn it down. So that, you know, those are avenues that maybe we can bring back to Municipal Alliance and say, listen, if it's bodies, It's time for you guys to start asking outside the box outside the city and bring asking the county many of our schools are on County roads and That may be the the Avenue, but I think that I think that meeting it would would start outside the Municipal Alliance and it's a step to what we need to discuss and Not keep hearing. Well, we're gonna

168do a study Takes 21 days to break a habit a study in less than 21 days is not gonna do us anything So and that President Smith, that's a good idea. Thank you So yeah, just so that that this meeting it would be all of us together not just the committee That's why I suggested we do it that way and We'll invite everybody anybody who we feel has And you could send those recommendations to myself and dr. Robotozzi of who you feel we should invite and Anyone and anyone that we feel that can help us Should be part of that meeting small question because we're all if we're all there Does this technically have to be televised? No, we advertise this so if it's advertised at that point It becomes a public meeting and the

169public should be there, you know I know Commissioner Bartlett a while ago posted how Clifton got a grant for Lakeview It's a Lakeview Lakeview intersection, you know, and he's always been a big, you know fighter for that and you know Commissioner Bartlett, you know, I applaud him for you know, the things that he does for Clifton But at the same time, you know one thing I've learned is there's a lot of fruit I don't say free money, but there's a lot of grant money out there And I feel like we need to, all of us, county, city, board of ed, need to all pull our muscles together to find grant money. And at the same time, we do need a solution. The sheriff's department solution, yeah, that's a temporary solution. But at the same time,

170they also got to service the county. They can't just favoritize us for a certain period of time. We also need to fix internally within our city. Because this isn't, I don't look at this as something for, it's a hot topic for a year or two. Our city's getting populated more and more and more by the day. As I see homes going up for sale, believe me, Clifton is a very hot market of a town. My neighbor put his house for sale, the next day I see it under contract. I was shocked. It's not, our cities, people want to be here for a reason. What we're doing as a board with the referendum, that's going to attract even more people. And our community is so diverse and it's great. There's so many great things about the

171city. And I know I'm just stressing on this one thing because this one thing is something, it needs to be a permanent solution because it's only going to get worse. As we see, you know, as everything is going is, you know, we need this meeting and we honestly need answers and we can't let this go. And I know things come and go and stuff like that. But this is really something, you know, I drove Dr. Robert Tozzi probably crazy for two and a half years of me repeating it to him. But I understand when he answers me, you know, it's one of those things where it's like he did his part. He can't do anything more than that. And I thank you, Danny, for that. But at the same time, it's time to kind of

172roll up our sleeves on this one subject, and we can't let it go. Yep, understood. So I think if there's no objection, we'll proceed with getting that meeting set up. And that's our first step of doing that. Okay. Smith, I have something else. Through you to administration, we got an email about the CEA dinner. I will be paying for my own ticket. I have paid for my own ticket for the last 10 years. This will be my 11th. I would have been 12, but we didn't have one year. Please don't pay for my ticket. I'm paying for my own. I don't think the board should. It never happens, so I'm not doing it. Okay. The board's going to meet in an executive session. We have numerous personnel matters. we have personnel 910 so we're going

173to ask the so the board's going to meet an executive session we're going to stay in this room do we have another room set up for the public to wait in we do E102. Okay, so anyone from the public, we're asking you to go to E102. And then when we're done with executive session, we'll ask you to come back in. Action will be taken, so we'll come back here to resume the meeting. And I'm expecting executive session to be a little lengthy tonight, so we'll probably be at least an hour. So if we're longer than that, I will come out and update everybody. So motion to go into executive session? Motion. Where did that come from? Who motioned it? Mr. Abidrabo? Mr. Abidrabo. Mr. Awad. Here. Ms. Baskerville. Here. Here, right. The board met in

174executive session to discuss numerous personnel matters. We'll have a roll call now to be back from executive session. Mr. Abidrabo. Here. Mr. Awad. Here. Ms. Bassford. Here. Mr. Brunziak. Here. Mr. Paris. Here. Mr. Santiago. Here. President Smith. Here. We have a quorum. Okay. Motion, please, on P9 and P10. Motion. Motion by Mr. Abidrabo. Second. Who did it? Mark? Mr. Awad. Mr. Awad. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call please. Mr. Abadrabo. Mr. Awad. Yes. Mr. Brunziak. Yes. Mr. Paris. Yes. Mr. Santiago. Yes. And President Smith. Yes. Motion to adjourn by Mr. Baskard, second by Mr. Abadrabo. No objection. Meeting adjourned. Thank you all.