001was all right [Music] okay the new jersey open meetings public meetings models the new jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which time any business affecting their interests is discussed and acted upon and according to the provisions of this act and board of education policy 0162 the board of education of the bureau of bound brook has caused notice of this meeting to be posted in the board office and at founder high school and mail requests to the courier [Music] i pledge allegiance to the plan of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with treatment [Music] okay at this time i just want
002to thank everyone for attending tonight's board of education meetings we respect the fact that youtube uh all took time out of your busy schedules to come to this meeting the recent recent events at the high school have challenged us both as individuals and as a school community the last week and a half reignited our commitment to creating a welcoming environment for all students it has shown us that we can do more to elevate student voices and lead meaningful dialogue around social and racial justice issues in our school buildings and it proved to us that boundary students are the next generation of leaders who will challenge inequality and build a better tomorrow this work this reflection will ultimately make us all stronger let us start by being clear about our principles every student regardless of race
003gender sexual orientation ethnicity and ability is valued for our students in the room tonight your voice matters and we are listening the board administration and staff take concerns about discrimination and inequity very seriously and we acted swiftly last week when it became clear that we needed to address these concerns we as a board met promptly and dr gallagher met with students to hear directly about their concerns in a peaceful and instructive manner that won't be the last meeting dr gallagher is implementing student roundtables to foster open dialogue on an ongoing basis and high school administrators will meet with student leaders regularly starting in the new year the board will develop a committee to meet with high school students to identify policy changes as well two-way dialogue is key so we can work together we want
004our school community to know that work around diversity equity and inclusion started long ago often behind the scenes we will do a better job communicating what's being done what's ongoing and where we are headed and we'll aim to get more voices especially students at the table for upcoming initiatives last year the district supported the creation of the black and brown cultural alliance and the social justice club in in 2015 the pride club we've added a racial justice and literacy course to the high school curriculum and delivered lgbtq plus acceptance programming to students through a partnership with the trusted high tops organization the district also has invested time and other resources to engage professionals from nationally recognized organizations to trained staff and administrators on how to support all students the respected dr edward fergus and representatives
005from richard hall community mental health robert johnson foundation and safe and sound have provided mental health and racial equity training and we have been a partner in the new jersey council for excellence through equity for the last three years these experts have supported us in efforts to increase academic performance engagement and the future success of students of color the district's strategic plan approved by the board in 2019 also led to the creation of a district equity leadership team and the district wellness leadership team these teams are a diverse representation of the school community and are leading efforts to increase student voice we look forward to continuing this work and we hope our students will continue to use their voice voices and influence to champion equity and inclusion please know the school district and board of
006education are a partner in these important efforts the events of last week have reinforced the need to build even stronger relationships with our students and families to strengthen our approach [Music] at this time we have the superintendence report at this time i'd like to bring up dr s [Music] um [Applause] congratulations [Applause] um [Laughter] [Music] i'm just gonna go right up to death [Applause] [Music] our first two of them is edward lopez [Applause] [Music] and we also have adam [Applause] good evening everyone our first recipient is chanette margaret brown [Applause] our next recipient is patrick cruz martinez [Applause] is [Applause] and our final recipient [Applause] the community middle school is proud to recognize student of the month haley perez felipe [Applause] and the community middle school recognizes ariana bridgers [Applause] [Music] good evening crusader citizens
007of the month is in recognition of them and students demonstrating positive crusader citizenship traits such as responsibility respect kindness integrity cooperation tolerance and or perseverance our first recipient is awarded to ayanna brunson [Applause] second recipient brian hernandez bill [Applause] our next recipient martinez [Applause] last but certainly not least the ottoman fair garcia [Applause] for a first gen [Music] as a teacher assistant online she goes above and beyond by helping with the rival dismissal buzz student plus beauty lunch coverage stuff coverage more she's always willing to hop out with me with those shimano that she does she's always coming up with great ideas and ways to improve her school in the classroom she supports the teacher and group as a whole while working with individual students to help them learn daily youtube she has a great
008rapport with our families and is always available to just keep going on the arrival of dismissal this is constantly thank you so much for your hard work and dedication to our students very lucky to have you as part of our staff and team congratulations [Applause] this is lafayette is done for the month of december as mrs lynette capello it is hard to detail all that mr cattle does for lafayette because it truly would be too many things to list aside from assisting with arrival and keeping dismissal organized efficient and safe mrs capaldo runs lunches assists staff as needed delivers our priority bags and lands a hand to anyone in the front office or anywhere in the building who needs it it's not all the tasks that mrs cataldo completes that make her our gym it
009is the fact that she does each one with a smile on her face and makes it known she enjoys being with us and helping everyone as she says when you love what you do it's not a job mrs capello thank you for always being helpful times and so motivated each and every day [Applause] good evening again this schneck is a total team player for a grade level team but as well as a team smaller she's a dedicated teacher who plans accordingly to carrying out concise structured 21st century lessons this year she's working closely with her partner teacher building a report to meet the needs of all of her students a change in the schedule and section right before the school year needed to start mrs ducey did not complain she just said what do we
010need to do to make this she contributes to all grade level and faculty meetings she's very helpful to her colleagues and shared materials and ideas with the team mrs bushinka shows up every day giving her best to all of her students and staff this month's gem of the month is [Applause] tonight [Music] hello again the community middle school is proud to recognize sue bennett as this month's representative kim award recipient mrs bennett is in her fifth year teaching language arts at the community middle school for students in grades seven and eight each time i stop by mrs bennett's classroom students are hard at work when mrs bennett leads a guided reading activity it's immediately evident that she has a unique ability to bring stories to life mrs bennett knows when to pause when to deliver
011thought-provoking questions and how to envelop the listeners in the story mrs bennett's love for reading is evident it serves as an inspiration for her students mrs bennett's contributions inside the classroom are equally matched by her efforts outside the classroom and in the community throughout the pandemic mrs bennett was a regular contributor an active participant in the valve room school district food bank mrs bennett helped secure a donation from outside groups and often volunteered to help with food shopping this year mrs bennett assumed the responsibilities as co-advisers to the cms student council a few weeks ago mrs bennett organized the first school dance in almost two years admittedly i wasn't sure how it was going to go but with over 150 students in attendance it was evident how much our students and their families have missed
012the events and social gatherings which play a vital role in school life mrs bennett has already begun planning a winter dance a spring eighth grade formal and the end of the year sixth and seventh grade move up dance mrs bannon has scheduled and organized multiple fundraisers and bake sales throughout the school year last friday mrs bennett and the student council hosted a board game night which as most parents would agree is a welcome change of pace from the world of video games mrs bennett is an inspiration in the classroom a leader in the faculty room and a generous benefactor in the community on behalf of the cms teaching staff i would like to thank sue bennett for her contributions and for bringing fun and social opportunities back to the middle school [Applause] all right good
013evening again it is an honor to recognize mr kevin thomas for going the extra mile award for the month of december mr thomas is a hardworking teacher who has gone above and beyond working with our freshman this year he consistently holds students accountable and sets clear expectations for his class although the start of the school year has been challenging mr thomas patrols the freshman hallway classes reporting issues that he sees additionally mr thomas has been a huge advocate for the athens program and its implementation in our school which includes attending avid summer institute this year he has taken on teaching the avid elective class for freshmen teaching him organizational skills and after last year how to be productive students returning to in-person instruction he integrates wicker strategies which incorporates teaching and learning methodologies in the
014critical areas of writing to learn inquiry collaboration organization and reading to learn furthermore mr thomas is presented in our faculty meeting on implementing an interactive notebook in the classroom which promotes students learning by giving them an opportunity to enhance their writing skills organize their learning connect their prior experience with new material and learn to acquire their knowledge in ways that will make them lifelong learners mr thomas epitomizes our slogan of limitless and instills great and growth mindset uh in our students on a regular basis it is for these reasons and among others and whose economist deserves to be our general congratulations [Applause] for the district jail award um he was nominated by a staff member so i will read what she wrote i would like the nomination tomorrow for the gym award he went out
015of his way helped me achieve my job and members of [Music] and the importance of it he has been truly remarkable and a part of a wonderful team mr demarco is the best director or boss i've had i cannot express to you in an email how much he has helped me out i so this month's report goes to mr demarco [Applause] [Music] [Applause] all right we're going to take a we're going to take a five minute break um it was just to give you a little bit of a refresher of what's in the audit yeah could you yeah i was going to say i don't know if they can hear yeah you don't know is that yeah thank you sorry um yeah so our the audit is actually comprised of two documents there is a
016large ground club and there is a smaller small management report um the large book which is your capper it's actually broken into four main sections and i just want to highlight a couple of those sections the first one's an introductory section it's a little bit smaller of a section it talks about a little bit of information about principles the uh information of the district a little bit about your consultants your advisors and that type of thing there's a large financial section which talks about all of our auditors opinions our financial statements and all of the notes that relate to those financial statements there is a third section which is labeled the js which is actually a really informative section it's called the statistical section it's 10 years comparative data it's a really good source of
017information it has 10 years comparable data of not only the district and its finances but it also has information about your enrollment your the uh town of foundry county somerset there's a lot of good information in that document and then lastly there's a single audit section which is talks about all the important requirements and your reporting for those the separate small book is our report to the board which details all of our comments suggestions recommendations and things we found during our while while that being said that's a very large document the biggest highlight of the document we only refer to is what we refer to as the audit schedule c1 that c1 is actually your budget it's a cross block of your budget it's about a um 14 page schedule that basically walks you through
018all of your finances and gets you to the end of the day when we say what is your financial picture so the district ended the year was just a little over 6.6 million dollars in what we call fund balances which is that is then broken into several different components of that money about 2.7 million is in a capital reserve which is set aside for future capital projects you have an additional 950 000 in a maintenance reserve um there's an additional 250 thousand eight sixty nine set aside as an emergency reserve then you have some additional excesses which have been utilized to support the twenty budget that you're in right now and that was about four hundred and eighty two thousand new this year in this number is an additional 260 thousand dollars which due to
019the accountants changing their formats we now were reporting their unemployment as card under a fund balance picture where previous years it was no longer was not included and then you have about 585 000 of encumbrances which are unpaid bills that carolyn specifically here leaving you with 1.3 million by 555 of what you refer to as your unassigned free balance so another few financial highlights about 3.3 million dollars worth of federal state and local grants went through the district in the during the school year of 2021 that there's still a large number of grants that are going through the districts now even more than usual as in you're getting all of your cares act money your sr funds there's going to be a lot of grant funding flowing through the local district and so we just
020want to be everyone to be aware of that um your food service fund actually has a fund balance of about 830 000 which is actually an increase of about 85 000 from last year that increase is contributing to largely the change in the federal funding of your lunch program all students are getting an old federal reimbursement on their lunches or before you've got portions of it or um a reduced lunch and or like so you actually know the state change that model of federal government um as for the management report we have a few recommendations in the report this year and i have them sort of there are five of them in the report but i've broken them into three different two groups because three of them go hand in hand together and the other
021two go together so there are five um one of the first three that are moved together really relate to the record-keeping um payroll agency we have some analysis of agency balances that need to be detailed um we've continued to make modifications and expenditures large number of adjustments are being made to the budget going on on a cycle meeting adopting the budget we're constantly changing that budget doing a lot of transfers so we have to work on making a better budget to begin with so that there's less adjustments and bank reconciliations also should be reviewed monthly you currently have your treasurer school monies whose does reconciliations independent of your business office but those recommendations on his bank reconciliations are a number of reconciling items that keep carrying month after month so we're just suggesting that he
022get cleaned up then the other two that sort of go together are the areas of transfers um there are two rules of transfers any budget transfer that's greater than 10 in any specific category requires county superintendent approval not all instances where those approvals obtained and then lastly related to your preschool education program there's a third level of oversight on that program alone any transfers or budget modifications you make the department of debt needs to be reviewed and see those transfers and those who aren't always obtained so you'll have to do a corrective action which um the district has ready for you to approve to go forward and now unlike most years what we also do is we try to put suggestions to management into our report or future things coming up to give everybody a
023heads up um one of them is a new standard once again i stand before the boards and tell them i'm going to change the numbers again this new one is actually in the area of leases it's actually a very lengthy complicated standard um it won't just be a simple reclassification it will be requiring the auditors to go in and review every piece in place that the district might have from not just from buses and copiers but we're talking now machines that you have for proper reporting um additionally as i said earlier there's a large number of federal funding that's coming through all of the coded funds and all of the um stimulus packages with that we are saying that there's going to be the likelihood of outside auditors in addition to myself coming in to
024do desk reviews um with all respects to those areas we are saying be very cautious when you spend document document document be careful of areas in german and ensure that those funds are being accounted for properly because we want the best reviewers to come in and ask you to return any of those phones and then lastly is in the area of lego contracts one of the areas of the hot topic on the town side not so much on the school side but if there was an area where um looking at compensated accesses payouts sick time and a number of towns were caught picking up a review of overpaying based on the change in state laws so our recommendation is to speak with your labor attorneys and have them move into your contracts just to make
025sure that you're in compliance so that if these states are distributing school levels they will be available and in good shape thank you again for the opportunity i'm glad we have any questions if anybody has any you mentioned you you mentioned an overall uh picture of how we were doing physically so you're in bridge you're in very good financials you have reserves you were able to put money aside and future projects future capital you put another 1.8 million dollars with your capital reserve so you are doing well um we found that's consistent with a lot of number of school districts that this year you will manage very well so even with change in personnel and everything the district still came out very financially strong yep [Music] where you can set that money aside for future
026things and do a lot of capital which you can do right on your own versus that you're able to put that money aside and use it to continue right for the um for lafayette because they came in at almost 700 per square foot which was like 3.7 million dollars on a projected project [Music] the first one has to do with some of the risks associated with the comments that you made specifically about uh budget accuracy and uh fund transfers so what are the implications if those things are not addressed uh for the district there are no implications it's really us following guidelines um the best that is to really look at those budgets and make sure that i mean that's really plans always change but when we see large number of transfers repeatedly makes us
027question did we have the way plans when we put them together i think we were putting districts we're putting we've seen this comment and a number of reports this year in them a lot of people will put a lot of districts putting budgets together that best way plans did not go as planned this year we were a lot of districts were implementing things on the fly and there were a number of changes so that kind of that transfers and those expenditures are much better than they have been last year this was a repeat comment from last year it was improved but there was still movement on this one so that's why we left the recommendation to leave it in okay going forward but this is a repeat from last year it's a much better than
028we were last year but not as not a complete correction and on the bank reconciliation side do you have an idea or can you share an idea of what the order of magnitude of the reconciling items in that balance was they are very small a lot of them come down to areas of void checks and that's what happens is those checks get voided by the system and that information is not communicated to your treasury monies and therefore he he's carrying them right as reconciling items because they're not matching up but they're mostly in the area of sale dated employee checks and then just a general question um for this report are we going to have access to uh either of the two reports don't usually yeah they are available in hardcover in the district and
029electronic great thank you and i'm available with any other questions when you have a chance to review [Music] didn't use as much likes or spending because our funds are getting um we're getting paid back from the government um how big of an issue is that this year would found recommend compared everywhere else um actually we do have to do an evaluation on the lunch program when we look at your life program to make sure that you're if you're not allowed to maintain in the lunch program fund anything greater than an average of three months expenditures so you take a look at your whole expenses for the year and if you had been greater than the allotment there would have been a comment in the report also they have over funding we are seeing this comment
030this was actually a reversal of what our thought process was going to be with the pandemic because we felt that we saw last year a large number of school districts food service dropping off drastically because we were serving lunches and worrying about it we were making sure every child was getting fed breakfast lunch we were delivering them during covid and then now the federal government realized that a lot of that's happening and the funds started to carry so we are seeing that this is a common one where they're capturing that number we do not know how long the sum this program may change the program to the summer seamless is what they're calling it and it's funded at a different rate how long will that summer seamless stay on until they revert back in which
031case then you'll have a different and not just partially due to the operations in the cafeteria also their operations are completely different student purchases lunches we're not seeing those revenues any longer what we're seeing in revenue is [Music] on that we did um somewhat of a high balance in there because we were going to buy all of the new uh cafeteria for the new cafeteria we were supposed to build in that box so obviously just [Music] a little bit so that you'll be able to capture some of those equipment because it can't and it continues to trend up or you could max out and then we'd be standing in front of you telling you the problem because you've maxed over so with the transfers this this report is from last night this is yeah we
032have the transfers at the beginning of this year stabilized yes thank you yes you did a large number when we were here during the audit over the summer there were a lot of changes being made to that budget which then stabilized it right so it's okay i'm i'm optimistic that that corrective action that didn't quite get completed last year will be completed by team for responsibility i think it's important to add throughout the world one of the things you're talking about transfers is money will be transferred out of county to account b and then later on we're going back from b back to a so we're hitting the same um you know just so you know going forward that you checked in those things and it also kind of ties with making sure when you're
033purchasing they're being paid for in the council which you originally intended to budget them for versus charging in one place and budgeting elsewhere and then playing catch-up is what was happening okay any other questions [Music] uh [Music] my name is i am the hiv coordinator for the school district a state requirement is for us to conduct uh hiv self assessments at each school and then report out at a board of ed meeting so each school conducts a self-assessment on their hiv practices um this is for the last school year 2020 the areas that each school reports on their eight core elements on their programs for students their training for staff other staff instruction ongoing instruction reporting investigation procedure and reporting overall okay each school each school does the assessment and the scores out of a
034possible 78 points the score for the high school was 76. the score for the middle school was 78. that smally was 75 at lafayette was 77 and then finally at lamont was 7 was 77. now keep in mind as i said at the previous board meeting with the pandemic last year led to a lot of remote and hybrid learning with the with the students not here physically that cut down on our hiv numbers uh considerably last year that being said even with the hybrid instruction we still had uh hiv investigations that that we conducted and these scores reflect us any questions uh so what were the things that we did less than perfect [Music] um there were just a couple of things here and there that each school um thought um they could do better
035um i have the specifics in my in my bag and i think you have i think you have the reports as well on an attachment and i don't think i have this okay i could get that i could get you the complete scores okay that'd be great thank you yeah okay anything else okay thank you thank you uh um how many students a year are we averaging well it depends on the year depending on how we accepted each particular year right now we're at probably 35 days and i think we have the next year so the question is [Music] it's [Music] um [Music] our thought process and our plan was to get this category done and move into an extension unlocked and you don't see vote tech taking more students we've seen taking less students
036every night vote technically the other 400 kids now my first game here was 1400 yeah so they they've gone down quite a bit i have no idea what the plan [Music] but we did bring in a large group recently so right now i have numbers that we signed about 131 full time six share time is our estimate last year was 106. so it was 30 more this year yeah so that's the main reason why but it's going to eventually once baby it should fluctuate out for stop numbers well and the town just keeps on building more and more problems right well they think that like i said i've been on a board since we started the program um i'm sad to see that it has to go on that day that it seems to be
037going in that direction but um can we as a board think about keeping the academies there you go [Music] when's the application process for next year right we're already in the middle of it it's either i start to accept these kids or i have to tell them that we're not part of the program so you have applications already i'm sitting on the desk waiting for either approved i think we let the kids come in one more year and then we said i mean if you've got children that have already applied yeah is it fair to cut their leg you know well i mean they're not here no but they're open to me for how many cities but we also have like eight to ten kids that live in town that need it if we need
038space like i get what you're saying yeah but the extra money could get us also what we need you know do something to get this you know finish what we need a lot yeah i mean i think the board has always kind of prided itself in keeping small class sizes as one of the objectives i know we talked about years ago and i would hate to see us not be able to provide that in high school as well simply because we're now starting to get a little more about it well real quick on average our freshman class makes up another like to go up 28 30. yeah that's i mean but it's gonna what are we talking about the grand scheme of things as a percentage if we accept 10 kids on a class of
039400 500 600 it's a convenience percentage yes this building has at any point in time so right and each year the classes that are coming up are getting bigger and bigger yeah yeah but we're those eight kids students excuse me we're talking about less than two you know it's one point three percent i think it's it's minuscule i'm assuming the applications are freshmen retainees about 240 our freshman class makes something about 37 percent of our building the president but this is the biggest year of attainment yeah probably so these eight to ten applications are for upcoming freshmen right so eight readers what are the eight what's eighth grade yeah what are the what's the eighth what's your name one more number what's the graduating senior class that's leaving the building with graduation what's your senior
040class this year probably close to 130 right so that is some questions that gain is going to be significant right yeah right especially students that are being maintained like i want to make sure that their class sizes are small enough to make the difference really let's look at four years from now we say you know we left one more because this year yeah those eight kids may fit but four if we have four more classes that continue to grow year over year you know those eight kids as small as that number maybe you might yeah [Music] but if you have seven or ten applications that are already on your desk and i understand that um you have to understand we have to have those applications down because we were old we have more applications that
041we have seats we have to run a lottery next week i don't think we're at that i think we're dead even with the applicants the number of seats so we don't have to run a lot of them and again it doesn't bother me one way or another where we go i'm just giving you the facts so you have the facts and then you guys can tell me how you would like to proceed i mean if in the long run we're phasing this out i'm just saying you know if you have whatever you have on your desk at the end of at 7 30 tonight that's it so whatever we you know and then going forward i think that that's because in the long run you're not getting those numbers year after year after year we're
042talking 10 kids that are on your desk the understanding is that those are 10 students that bound broke 8th graders that you know we're looking at space so but when you their applications were presented they were put forward already those students took time to fill things out to want to come here so i mean i i think maybe a negotiation on this would be let those students at least whoever's on your desk go and then going forward i mean these children they want to come to our district i already applied they should all right so my show hands who would prefer to just keep the seven that are already on the desk ready to go and this will be our last year can i answer questions what was the original deadline for them to apply
043is that passed or not yeah okay okay because it's not like we're saying oh the deadline needs to be three weeks and now no sorry it has to be in this okay okay good so they they've already applied met the deadline and they're waiting and then they have an assumption that their application is going to be looked at yeah actually yeah first i mean i feel for them we don't know what a moment is going to look like for residents it may make a difference well four years so it's going to make a difference when they get done with all this housing i mean we're in four years we're not gonna have the space for for what they're building in town we don't have the space now but this these students didn't do anything wrong
044they did everything right i'm not saying that we need do you use your exact point though yes we want to support our own children but doesn't the money that this program brings in do that in a different way doesn't it doesn't doesn't that help immensely as well i mean it's not like you're taking them and getting nothing out of it you know we are getting funds for that that are used for all the students tell that to a couple teachers who cost oh well you know what i'm dr gallagher yes i i have to review my original position i think this is a compromise right i think there's there's stop the program continue the program this is in the middle right we're going to stop we're going to end the program but give it one
045more year of the students have already applied i think it's a conference listen so we work with the board and the majority as the rule to make a vote [Music] um [Music] borough is now going to start a own large collection that they can basically get hours um so there'll be no outside companies um so i have been told that they're going to be picking up our garden and that [Music] when i get details but again um i have notified at four o'clock today so my only question is i think it was presented at council as a network for the town in general were you given any kind of indication about whether we would pay more or less in your arrangement i don't know until you know this um you know and again years ago
046the rope that somewhere along the line in the last year and a half we were not prone to garbage and then the last six months we were back on the counter gardens and now everything's changing again i don't have a really good answer for you um [Music] i just don't know what that number is [Music] and we missed you retirement means that i'm home with my husband all day i need her i'm sorry um i'm not sure that this is the right point for me to make the comment i actually wanted to comment about something that uh that you said michelle during the president's comments sure is this the right time for it is it is something in general well this is the president's comment so is that an agenda item then because it was
047her her president's comment section is in the agenda according to the lawyer well i guess you guys are going to have to wait for it what a cheese i haven't even put my name down [Music] yes [Music] i need to abstain there's morris yes just for somalia this is tom south yes this is that yes mr zucker yes mr fazbear i'm staying or comments that somebody social justice club was identified say that again yes [Music] yes seven personnel resolutions midland elementary resolved [Music] can i get a motion motion this is mars can i get a second section um any questions or comments yes on seven two on the retirement of mr lee i know i abstain and mr lee was the first one who challenged her mind with with uh [Music] science and i just
048want to thank him and and the district and our robotics program is is very strong because we're bringing up junior robotics people because mr lee's love of everything science and it's it's a mr lee can't retire so if you hear this you're not mr alcante i have a position somewhere for you in this there's something for you here in the district and there's something you know i just want to thank mr lee um that the robotics have come back down to the elementary school a newspaper school council spanish it's just wonderful so i'm very happy to see all those things yeah definitely all right yes as outlined in education district and high school 8.2 to 8.7 can i get a motion mr thompson mr bell any questions or comments yeah on the course selection for
049the ap classes do we know how our students did uh i asked this every year how we're doing on the ap classes [Music] do we know what our overall pass fail on the ap classes where last year uh the results weren't that promising given but they were down across the state because yeah um whether they cancer fail i know you know my husband teaches ap and set on uh students that go through his class even if they don't pass when they get to college they are more than well prepared to take those classes so whether they get credits ahead of time or whether they just use that as like a really strong uh foundation for their college career i think it's a wonderful thing but don't also at least for english correct me if i'm
050wrong when i was at school we had certain schools both won't take yeah exactly so so just one quick comment on that i found that the audit documentation was on the 11 19 weekend report i was only listening so that's my fault yeah bit better i um that and then i will make sure they're saying they're attached i'll find out [Music] is outlined in education resolutions under middle and elementary schools nine point two two nine points i believe seven no five nine point five i'm sorry any questions or comments i'd just like to thank whoever is arranging the uh yeah whoever's in charge of that or the reason why thank you very much for that is elliott yes this is daddy uh mrs zucker yes mr fabio yes yes motion okay number 10 policies resolve
051the federal board of education the resolution is outlined in policy resolutions under district and high school 10.2 can i get a motion motion second mr excuse me correctly it's if um the state declares correct the state the health department of the glacier emergency levels yes and then that is in a provision in there um and again i know just branching out too much but if we're out for three consecutive snow days from virtual right or if we get permission on the snow needs to go vertical and again i don't have all of the particulars covet or restart or grow back plan is gonna have to phase out to this new plan and i think that this was the start of that i guess my question is i'm reading a lot that staffingly what happens if
052we have to close a building what does that mean what does that mean if um [Applause] [Music] um when it first started they were full day with a lunch and then we moved last year into a fast day there's no determination on that 11 special services resolutions resolved with our report of education across any questions or comments hearing none can i get a roll call mr mayor yes mrs yes ms mark yes number 12 finance resolutions resolve about the board of education improves the resolutions is that financial resolution 12.2 the 12.12 um eight one six from twelve point five and then abstaining from twelve point seven twelve point nine and twelve point ten so you know seven nine [Music] uh at this point is there anyone on the board that has something that and my
053boyfriend's happy today we'll get extra [Applause] definitely get money different perspective um discussions you just sign the book as well sounds good thank you you can get one for the record [Music] yep [Music] all right so uh good evening uh members of the board my name is lopez perez and i am a former english teacher at boundary high school i'm here to comment on my resignation as well as share with my experience of being here for a year and three months in this district and i wanted to begin by reading my resignation letter um uh by reading my resignation letter to its attendance recipient which would have been all of you members of the elected board so elect the members of the board so dear bomber board of education this letter is to inform you
054of my intent to resign my position as an english language teacher effective today december 2nd 2021 well i appreciate the opportunities that the vampire school district offered me when i was hired i found that the lack of support and protection as an employee is both disappointing and unsettling well i have the pleasant experience in the classroom i find that i can no longer trust leadership through justified blinded episodes of harassment sincerely lopez campus elected members of the board in your hand who will find a signed letter from the superintendent addressed to me it is a threat of arrest should i show up at school grounds at any time that was given to me when i submitted that reservation letter all i had asked for was a safe working environment and i was punished for doing
055so by being made to feel criminal while this isn't settling i'm not surprised that i received the sign letter from the superintendent in the year and three months that i've served here even i could see that bullying and retaliation is not just the norm of this district but it is aborted the only mistake i ever made while serving at gunport was believing that it could trust its leadership to do the right thing when i made a formal complaint about how a person in a position of power laid their hands on me in three separate incidents i was met with victim blaming and gaslighting i was gaslight to believe that the harassment i received was somehow my own fault i asked the board is it not enough to say publicly in a room amongst your own
056colleagues my colleagues at a fundamental meeting that i am someone who wants their professional and personal boundaries respected and i'm quoting myself why was this assertion not enough to stop this person in a position of power from grabbing my shoulder and threatening me with the words i can be very wrestling why was i then objectified and used as a prop by this person who chose to reach directly from my ear and whisper into it why was my stating my boundaries not enough to stop this person from running their fingers through my hair once more i asked the board what if school leadership recommended that you speak directly with your harasser as a resolution to the issue what was i being made a learning opportunity for this person in a position of power at my own
057expense wherein my own humanity was ignored and theirs recognized rewarded and mistakes forgiven well i reject this victim blaming i reject this objectification and i am not a learning opportunity for anyone and neither are bound brooks students neither myself or any of these students should have to demand safety and respect and while i could resign from and leave this place of toxic control these students can't my recommendation to the board is that they revisit the procedures set in place in this district for harassment cases or any other cases like mine i find it unsettling that an internal investigation can be done by the accused peers and that any appeal made must go through the superintendent reflect on the power structures that exist currently at this district and ask yourself if it is truly just to
058defer to the opinion of a single person that's all i have to say and thank you for listening have a great day thank you [Music] [Applause] huh hello so i wanted to go back and revisit something because to be honest with you i think it has a connection to um what mr lopez perez uh just articulated um a couple of years ago i think it's probably about three years ago i think i stood in front of the board and um addressed a teacher who felt victimized at the hands of some students and felt that her issue was not truly recognized by the district and i remember on the speech to be honest with you i probably have it in one of the 18 000 boxes that are now in my basement from all of my
059files that i swept home the last day of school and i remember thinking to myself this is not my district i'm kind of ashamed that my district would allow something like this to happen um and i'm certainly not pointing fingers and i'm not asking for um change well i'm asking for lots of change but um one of the things michelle that you said in your speech was that we're going to do all kinds of things because we're recognizing that students feel disenfranchised they're angry they're upset they're taking to the streets and they're protesting which i i have to say i think is a great opportunity for them to learn a life lesson and i have to say i applaud them because i think that they did it in the most responsible way that they could
060they organized they planned um and there was no violence it was done peacefully and so i think that they learned something in their classes about um let's say the civil rights movement and passive resistance but one of the things that you addressed in your speech was that committees were going to be formed with students to try to get to the heart of this problem to give these students a voice and then you use the term student leader and while i love all of my students i recognize that a huge percentage of my students are not the leaders they are not the academic circle of ten they are not recognized let's say on the sports field and coached by um you know by a teacher or an adult who will champion whatever cause they are these
061are students that actually have to look at the stickers on the door windows to find that safe space because they don't feel as though they know where else to go and those are the students that need to be part of this change and they're the students that you need to contact and have as part of that committee the student leaders are wonderful and i applaud them and yes they are going places but it's the other of the population that feels they have no voice feel that they're not recognized feel that they're not supported and feel like they're not protected and apparently that also goes for some of the teachers that uh walk the halls and if i were here i promise you this would not have happened come on you know what this should not
062happen it shouldn't happen and i can't believe that it's still happening three years later we haven't grown we haven't grown but i implore you to involve the students that are not the ones that are all whose pictures are in frames or who are protected by adults in the district and therefore have the freedom to stay and do what they feel they need to these are the kids that don't have a voice and that's where the problem lies in this district is those kids are pushed aside because they're not headlines they're not the kids that are going to bring good press to our district but they're the lifeblood of our district and they deserve better um i do believe when i mean student leaders there i believe correct me on the wrong mistake but when mr
063smith was talking about the people that he was choosing to be on the leaders of the people who felt disenfranchised not excellent not necessarily school leaders it has no academic understanding that's not what's not he went to the people that were organizing those walk outs and went to them directly because that's you're right that is absolutely where we need to be because that's where the issue needs to be dealt with excellent thank you i appreciate your time thank you i wanted to make a comment [Music] my name is rebecca and i am a parent of two of your students in the high school last name is ado norte um i wanted to make a comment based on president on your comments in the beginning in light of um the stand that our students took our
064our students took this past year um this past week and i again i also applaud what they did in the courage that they had to stand up for what was right and what they but their heart was telling them to do um as you were talking you were talking about diversity equity and inclusivity and i know that brown brook what was that last year or in the past i know you've put out documents about doing this in your school as i look at the board i see nobody here that represents my children i have a i'm my children are mixed blood i see nobody who represents my children their their perspective or their friends perspectives and i would encourage the board as you move forward um to take the time to make sure that you
065are you are working with people of a broader perspective so that when you are looking at how to resolve the problems it's not from our limited perspective i always speak as a white person it's not from a limited perspective from the white perspective but we are taking the time and i know that many of the leaders who went out during the demonstration definitely are are beautiful people of color and they will give us a perspective that we need to hear because there are many things that we we miss because of our perspective and i'm calling you to to con to to move forward and to use that and to you've already put yourself forward as saying you're going to work on diversity equity inclusivity and i challenge you to make sure that that really happens
066right that's why when we were speaking about different ways to kind of include those students we as a board decided that we also wanted to be part of meeting with those students so that we can get their employees right because how you and i have lived is different than how many of them have lived and we need to make sure that we hear their voices and we understand thank you let the superintendent have your name and i have three things written so i would appreciate you guys just first i didn't get you're tall and online um i'm janae baskerville i'm a senior at the high school and i would greatly appreciate it for just listen to what i have to say uh [Music] hello hello my name is janae bassinger and i'm a senior at
067the high school and i have three things written really listen yeah so first and foremost this is a testimony from an alumni high school named olia saline who also faced many events that we had to face while being at high school and i quote as new details are emerging about a teacher being harassed and racially discriminated by a long brook school district supervisor i wanted to express how proud i am of barbara high school students progressively advocating for change in my school their voices deserve to be heard many of you have heard and known about racial incidents that took place in 2020 once when i received the principles of ward and other times throughout the school year even after there are still incidents circulating around racism and homophobia and it being ignored without any questions
068for said individuals i am utterly disgusted with the district's response to handling the situation there have been a history of many teachers leaving the district due to harassment and bullying students are tired of these incidents simply being swept under the rug the staff in fear losing their jobs for doing the right thing voicing their support for students this is absolutely unacceptable the district needs to take a serious look into who they are hiring and thoroughly investigate such allegations and hold any individuals accountable regardless of their higher depositions good students good staff and good teachers deserve to be protected and valued at all costs that's the first part i have to say okay the second part is something that i personally wrote to the news while doing the sit-in because i felt like we weren't being
069hurt i mean you guys have been over here for out of time it's my first board reading but it's not like this is brand new news so local town bomber high school protests as a well-loved teacher has switched districts due to feeling unsafe at the hands of he was wronged put through a bonus trial and sent to family and one second the students don't have to walk past an excuse i cannot mean let me do a few of your questions i three men every day they don't feel safe we safe at my high school that's not the i don't feel only case of injustice the accused man has been known to say racial things in a class full of people of color most of the teachers have this high school one specific teacher in high
070school even has a blue life matter that uh hanging out with big and bold is fight for black students our teacher is not supposed to get political and if that is true why is there many departments at this high school including the financial courses and whatnot constantly made with racist rights why is there an account on instagram most where dedicated to bachelor of black students in the black community in general in broward high school there are also endless amounts of sexism and homophobia in this school and the amount is sickening you report it and it is discarded they tried to walk out and they threatened us with suspension so they will sit here quietly it will be silent but the injustices speak for themselves and then i provided bits from the protests and i said
071the only thing this minister cares about is the media and how they are perceived please i am asking and begging for you to help us you are the best hope at getting changed although the people who are supposed to be helping us may not care at all i pray that you do and this is something that i also personally uh said the walk out um and then i passed a lot just to say he personally brown brook high school has shown us time and time again that they do not genuinely care about us between the blue lives matter flags and teacher science slurs we are not people we are numbers a teacher once told me and now i'm telling you that we are our same flow of income seven cars there is a skipped amount
072of us here and we have seven clocks we were threatening to come out here today and i not see all of these teachers through all these racist and blatantly hateful things get threatened with seven cops are they doing what they're doing or even after the fact when it was reported but you're being taunted and go up into the halls and cannot go from class to class without being taunted by people who knew they've done hateful things to our community and they know how uncomfortable it is making us smiling laughing at our discomfort and it's not something that's continuing to happen with other teachers and the exact same thing will continue to happen because they don't care and they perceive us as just some rebellious emotional kids that's all we are we should be worried about
073stupid high school things we should be worried about drama and who likes who and whose hair looks bad and not what hallway to avoid because every class in there has a racist teacher you know there these aren't incidents that children should have to deal with most people got to our children under 18. having our own personal stories of racism with these staff members we twisted in order in order to help us and to hear us and i know now that you hear me we don't ask for much we just ask for change that's what i said but this is also good to you guys personally i am jamaican one woman i had my first european teacher my sophomore year weeks into meeting her hateful students created a petition to get her deported obviously it wouldn't
074really do anything that was stupid nonetheless it was signaling and it's also a perfect example of what i am talking about not only are students mistreated but teachers as well imagine if your children went to this school that you run scared to walk down certain halls serve teachers and students imagine your child coming home crying in your arms because of the racist teachers showing and perpetuating hateful things to your community whether it be sexuality race or gender your child going home crying because the class may call them remains and for us it isn't just names it's racial slurs and slurs against your sexuality and all these other things that really just shouldn't be happening in the halls and classes of high school it makes no sense i may not be your child but i am
075someone's child i am someone's sister i'm someone's grandchild and future parent and as a child i am tired of losing trusted adults because i find out they said something hateful i'm tired of being too emotionally trained or even going to the school to celebrate my life because this home as a proper sister should and as a grandchild i'm sick of my stories being so similar to my grandmother's hateful events time has advanced but has a school we have posters we have clubs we have all these other things but it's almost like another fight there's no real reinforcement behind the tears that i see from the teachers who hear these speeches and staff members you can apply all of these to me but your tears don't lay nearly the same amount as i've cried and continued
076to cry gone to a school full of so much hate and injustice all the small children i saw here earlier today i was once them i've been through lafayette and smalling and throughout all those great and all those goals i've received racist comments actually comes from my skin and my body and not just shouldn't be happening in a school especially not something that falls off my head learning here i never formally learned what racism is what homophobia is what transphobia is and just hate in general more specifically why it's wrong why it's unacceptable none of these kids did i learned through the halls of these schools what all these things are i never questioned myself behind enemy until i was around age eight i hid from the sun for months and ordinary darker especially the
077darker you get it's like the worse your treatment gets here those who are supposed to make you feel comfort do nothing stop those who cause the severe discomfort and it is not necessarily your fault that these children are hateful but you are a perfect problem when you allow faithfulness to spread into high school and in all the schools in general you may not necessarily see this a very good situation although it would become concerning if you didn't see the severity we see it we see because we walk through these halls five days a week and the leniency given to the hate in this high school is absurd i was filmed to speak to the board of education about how i feel and how i collectively feel my hair asks because i've always had severe anxiety
078and i can never even imagine myself here tonight what can you do to help the students at brownbrook high school feel a little bit more comfortable or in all those schools in this district in general there's no reason that children going off to teens should be spreading hate like this and their children want to team and there's no reason that the staff members should be feeling hate like this and just look like this it's completely unfair to everybody who has to step foot in this building okay thank you so much [Applause] i'm going to pin up your died yeah that's okay i promise of it okay [Music] this by saying that i am one of the members on the committee signed by mr smith i am here on the student voicemail to reiterate a series
079of concerning issues and our home needs to be addressed it is the perennial and back of my school's infrastructure but first before i begin i want to tell you a story the first time i stepped foot into this school immediately from my entrance i was told by multiple colored and lgb lgbtq plus students how to choose where your school was more importantly i was showing how most disciplinary incidents were not taken with the serious regard necessary for such acts thus most of these traumatic and triggering experiences were seemingly swept under the rug my newfound peers felt unsafe in such an alignment can you imagine my emotions upon hearing this constantly within the short five weeks i set foot into this building i was instantly made aware of the viral issues of crying in his face
080if i came here for five weeks and already made aware of this i'm lost that's how you as members of the foreign principal vice principal and superintendent have been here countless amount of years or even here we can see the student body in the public that you'll have unaware of what's occurring as you are doing all your power and stylizing happening that was my freshman year my freshman year i am now a junior finally after countless media stories student breakdowns and protests you're only being acknowledged you shouldn't take this being outside have to do this because children feel safe in that environment that reaches safety i shouldn't have to stand and find an entire teaching faculty and give a speech scrolling under their childish and prejudice behavior i shouldn't even be here today i am
081i am because every day i have to walk as a teacher who has not worked with neighbors on my face i had to enter that the same way i also had to enjoy being told that the impossible solution to this repulsive incident was a restorative circle now there's nothing that can be done because it was a youtube book that he wasn't even reading him temporary change temporary head knowledge and temporary materials won't do anymore you don't need to perform foreign thank you so much [Music] [Applause] thank you good evening my name is as a concerned parent and community member i'd like to just say here we are again once again a wonderful teacher that is not only respected by his fears but adored by his students a teacher that is making a difference in students
082lives is suddenly resigning due to a toxic work environment and before i get questioned as to why we're speaking i'm personally concerned because my children will be attending high school as a parent i would obviously like for them to be educated in a safe and respectful environment an environment where they see their teachers being respected and respectful to each other respect is one of the most important foundational factors in the development of a healthy learning environment [Music] now we are hearing of this teacher being threatened of arrest if he steps foot on school property really the only thing these teachers want is a respectful peaceful work environment i would think that anyone can see that the students are the ones affected the most here you can't tell them you support them you support your teachers
083and staff and that you're focused on these issues when what they see every day is the opposite it's not real actions speak louder than words and as you witness these kids protested and they are here today they're showing you in action is their discontent there is already enough hate and chaos in the world we are in today why is mr lopez paris here today i'll ask this question again how many times does this need to happen to catch your attention how many teachers staff and students need to come here and tell or retail their horrible experience in this district until it's humanly impossible for the board to ignore what is it going to take to make it stop none of this makes sense this is not normal are you waiting on an even more serious
084scenario what is the cap because the community is seriously worried why is administration so eager to impose themselves over these victims soon we'll have teachers thinking that bankrupt is famous for retaliation and bullying and will and will not want to teach in this district if small children can understand the word stop know and enough i find it hard to believe that adults do not my wish is to revisit your investigations and aim to be fair without protecting friendships or supervisors no one should be afraid of their workspace let alone threatened thank you [Applause] is there anyone else that i i didn't want to reiterate from earlier i thank you all for coming we do hear you uh we are going to move forward in the direction that we talked about including student voices that of
085students that felt disenfranchised that were part of that walkout and hopefully between the administration the superintendent and the board and having those three different committees to meet with those students we can make a change at this time i need a motion oh sorry so all three are from middle school teachers uh i sent out a um regarding some school issues regarding school safety and some issues um it was a summary letter that i sent out for four different incidents over two different buildings so basically the teacher asks how come the notification letter was sent out to um teachers and not staff they're on the front lines they used to be notified and you know they they need to know this information in advance um that's for your building principle to do that when those issues
086occur they should be talking the principal should be talking with their staff my letter goes out of the community i'm not in okay um we i need a motion to go into executive session under the three material the disclosure of which constitutes an unwarranted invasion of individual privacy number seven pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiations or any or matters of retirement permit by number eight specific perspective or current employees unless all who could be adversely affected in question can i get a motion is [Music] oh all right nice because you have nothing else to do [Music] um yes i have to abstain from 17.2 17.2 for not being at that yes education the approval of the resolutions and elementary schools 18.2 and 18.3 can i get a motion mister now yes 2. [Music] hi
087merry christmas