September 19, 2024 - Clifton Board of Education Meeting

001e e e good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the September 19th 2024 general meeting of the Clifton Board of Education please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you Mr shahad roll call please miss bassford here Mr brunc here Mr kova Mr kova is a few minutes late Mr Mahia he's also a few minutes late Mr Santiago here Mr siano here M Warez here vice president Danny president Paris here we have a Corum commissioner siano could you please read the mission statement absolutely the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to

002provide 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 everchanging world thank you the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced 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 has 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 citizens Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of parent teacher organizations this

003meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 and we will start with our student representative report welcome Mark good evening esteemed members of the Clifton Board of Education my name is Mark tarany and I will be the student representative to the board of education for the 2425 school year I am a senior and have attended Clifton for four years participating in multiple Sports and clubs such as the high school's Key Club where I have dedicated dozens of hours to giving back to our community Through volunteering this is my second year on the student council and I also hold the title of investment Club president as well as chess club co-founder returning to my current position though I hope to continue the great work that has been done in the past by previous Representatives

004I'm going to do my utmost to make sure the students of CHS have a voice not only student council or student union members but that all the students can share their opinions on a larger stage this year we are planning to implement Representatives on the grade level who will be able to observe and report to me their true feelings concerns and queries of each grade level so that I may more adequately represent the Clifton student body in front of the Clifton Board of Education uh this being the first meeting and so soon into the school year there haven't been any complaints or concerns brought up to me deemed necessary enough to be brought in fromont of the Board of Education and all has been able to be resolved within the school taking a leaf out

005of the previous representative J wit's book I would like to quickly run through the important upcoming events on the school calendar on Wednesday the 25th there will be a back to school night at the high school followed by a home football game on the same Friday the 27th the homecoming football game will be the following Friday along with homecoming dance on Saturday the 5th there will also be a CHS open house on October the 10th at 6 p.m. to showcase our great school for eighth grade students and prospective future pupils that is all until the next meeting and I hope that I may return with a fully positive Resort uh fully positive report next month as well thank you for having me thank you Mark and [Applause] welcome we're going to uh skip a little

006bit this evening because we have a lot of presentations later so we're going to start with board committee reports then we're going to go to public recognition um our first board committee report is residency and security and commissioner Santiago could you please read those minutes thank you president Paris The Residency and and security committee meeting agenda Tuesday September 10th the meeting took place on Tuesday September 10th and began at 5:06 p.m. in attendance from administration were Mr Jenaro Mr doctor Miss zenola and Mr Mountain Board of Education members in attendance were Mr Santiago Mr kova Mr siano and president Paris Mr doctor provided an update on the residency investigations since June The Residency department has found 20 students who were attending Clifton schools but did not reside in Clifton they have all been removed from

007the district he also explained the process for a student to register and attend school in Clifton and assured the committee that the district is compliant with new state legislation Mr Jenaro provided a brief overview of various new security products including staff IDs which contain a lockdown button no decisions were made on the purchase of any new products Mr Jenaro also updated the committee on the imple on the implemented largescale event security protocols these protocols were utilized at our first football game of the year and worked effectively finally Miss Nola discussed the review of the Moa and the Clifton police as addendums were proposed to the state determined Mo MOA Mr Mountain reviewed the wide range of summer projects which were worked on and completed in July and August he also updated the committee on the

008status of various initiatives which the district is implementing and expanding Mr Mountain no explain the district's use of filtering systems for student access throughout all grade levels the meeting adjourned at 6:26 any questions thanks very well thank you commissioner Santiago um next please uh commissioner Suarez policy minutes thank you president Paris the policy committee met on September 10th board members present were myself commissioner Mahia commissioner kova and president p Paris Administration in attendance were Mr Jenaro Miss excuse me uh Mr Shahara and M Rosel items of discussion uh first item was use of school facilities Mr shahada has been collaborating closely with the home and school associations hsas across the district to Gather Comprehensive documentation of their 501c3 tax exempt status this update will include a detailed report along with formal recommendations outlining the next

009steps to support and guide the hsas in acquiring and or maintaining their nonprofit standing once the information has been thoroughly reviewed and verified Mr shahada will provide an official update to the Board of Education this update will include a detailed report along with formal recommendations outlining the next steps to support and guide the hsas in maintaining their nonprofit standing the recommendations may also propose strategies for enhancing collaboration between the district and hsas to further benefit school programs and initiatives the committee was not in favor of making 501c3 designation a requirement to use school facilities at no cost more than half of the current organizations do not have 501c3 designation enforcing this requirement would adversely affect fundraising and student-based initiatives by many existing hsas PTO and booster organizations the committee was in favor of maintaining the

010current practice of fee and and non-fee based application determination via the business office item number two student dress code K through2 update Mr Jenaro has been actively collaborating with various stakeholders and diligently working together insights and best practices the policy has been updated to be broken down by grade span K through 5 and 6 through 12 a holistic approach has been taken to provide General guidelines for building admin but will still be uniformed districtwide item three student smoking vaping this is a mandated policy that the board of education is implementing that is addressing the use of tobacco and electronic nicotine Delivery Systems on school grounds and at off-campus school sponsored events this policy acknowledges the health safety and environmental risks associated with tobacco and 's use emphasizing the importance of providing a safe healthy and

011tobacco-free environment for students staff and visitors the policy prohibits the use possession or promotion of tobacco products and ends on school property and outlines enforcement protocol for students staff and visitors as well as educational efforts to prevent tobacco use thank you any questions thank you commissioner Suarez uh commissioner siano please Municipal Alliance minutes please thank you the municipal Alliance committee met on Monday September 24th at the administration building and started at 507 present at the meeting from the board were myself president Paris vice president Lucy Dany commissioner Anthony Santiago and from the administration Mr Jenaro the Acting Superintendent present from the city where Nick volano the city manager councilman Latona councilman Cog and councilwoman Rosemary Peno the agenda consisted of six topics topic one was school safety we were following up on signs in Crossway

012Market the city manager reported that most School Crossings in need of repainting have been addressed though additional painting or signage cannot proceed at this time due to a lack of City funds some areas remain incomplete due to upcoming road paving but work will resume once Paving is finished he plans to request Council authorization for funding to support further updates and will provide a crosswalk status report to the committee Mr volano also shared updates on the pending pedestrian safety improvements including speed table and bump out trials these trials will be piloted on dwas Saline Road and around Third Avenue and Clifton Avenue near Main Memorial Library once data is collected the city will evaluate the results to determine the best course of action the project will also incorporate solar power pedestrian signage in designated areas topic

013two was the status of the CCMS tunnel improvements this city has engaged State authorized contract contractor to begin improvements on The Tunnel located near Christopher Columbus Middle School which will include installing an elevator for handicapped access on the Fifth Avenue side and an extended ramp on the Christopher Columbus side councilman Cog noted that a $100,000 bond lion item was tabled at a previous city council meeting Mr volano aims to add this to the agenda for an upcoming meeting and will continue to update the committee with any developments during future Municipal Alliance meetings topic three was 244 Hazel the potential of a charter school the city manager provided a status up update and confirmed that a developer has submitted a change of use request for the Hazel roadside seeking to shift from the previously approved Apartments

014to a charter school this proposal will be presented to the zoning board for review and approval regarding the property's potential use as a charter school topic four was sewage bills a discussion was held regarding the recent billing of sewage fees for all school buildings District received invoices for these fees which had not previously been charged to the district president Paris raised concerns about the implementation notification process timing budgetary impact and the calculations used in shifting this expense from the city's budget to the schools the initial invoices total over $70,000 it was agreed that follow-up discussions will be scheduled between the city manager and Mr shahada assistant superintendent of business to determine the best course of action moving forward topic five was new business uh Dr Dany initiated a discussion about traffic concerns during arrival and

015dismissal times at CA B Mr jenero informed the committee that collaborative discussions between the Boe and the CPD regarding traffic and student safety at all schools have been ongoing for several years each school has been utilizing their school safety climate and wellness teams to develop building specific plans which include drop off patterns and adjustments to parking lot layouts to address these concerns the school district will continue to collaborate with the CPD to explore potential Solutions president Paris inquired about the on three Apartments noticing I'm sorry noting that the council still needs to approve the number of units and determine if the development will fall under a pilot program councilwoman Pino expressed concerns about schools taking children cell phones away during class particularly given the anxiety surrounding school shootings Mr jenero explained that even when the

016students are asked to put their phones away they remain accessible at the back of the room he further highlighted that cell phones contribute to bullying issues disrupt academic focus and in the event of an emergency can spread misinformation through social media Mr Paris informed the committee that there are ongoing discussions at the state level regarding a potential ban on cell phones in schools councilman Cog inquired about the stakeholder feedback survey for Pope John Paul and how the district plans to use the results Mr jenero emphasized the importance of stakeholder feedback in decision-making and noted that the initial survey results would be shared at the upcoming Board of Ed meeting after all this we scheduled the next meeting deciding that the municipal Alliance meetings now will take place every other month with the next session tentatively

017scheduled for November 4th in the Boe meeting room the meeting ended at 5:55 notes were respectfully submitted by Alan Paris thank you commissioner siano any questions I do yes commissioner sores thank you president Paris uh if the space is approv for the charter school what responsibilities come on our lap um do we pay for the space and what jurisdiction excuse me jurisdiction if any do we have for that space uh Mr jaro you actually this is uh something Mr shahada will best be able to answer sorry yes so if it's in Clifton the charter school and they take Clifton students there we are the pass through for the money from the state so whatever it is the per people cost at the time it's like 19 Grand right now if that Charter SCH to pop

018up today we would get the money from the state and then have to just funnel it off to the school so no more no less thank you any other questions uh the policy mitted I incorrectly put Joe Canova instead of Tony so I'm going to swap that out tonight okay thank you make that correction okay we're going to move to uh public recognition now this portion of the meeting is open to the residents and non-residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to Andor directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to State their names addresses and subject matter comments are limited to 5 minutes per person issues raised by members of the public

019may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when 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 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 are identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments we do have someone in the um

020virtual okay let's start with the virtual room [Music] then bless you hi we have Franklin G uh if you would unmute your microphone you are on the Clifton Board of Education meeting if you'd like to make a public comment we have Mr Franklin guito if you'd like to make a public comment okay we're going to leave him in the waiting room and we'll let Elias Ragsdale speak hi we have Elias Ragsdale if you would unmute your mic can you hear us you're good you're on all right good evening uh Mr Jero Administration Commissioners and the course of citizens out there my name is Elias ragale number four on the battle this November and I'm running to have a seat on the SLI Board of Education fortunately I couldn't be there today um but I'm committed

021to being at the meeting in some aspect uh so here I am joining on Zoom like I said I'm running for the Board of Education I'm running mainly on two things not on two things but because of two things that I think I can bring to the board first of all a unique experience graduating from the high school not that long ago a couple months ago um I bring a unique experience that no one else running or even just on the board right now has many of the programs implemented by the board currently or recently I've literally experienced I know one thing I can think of that we highlight almost every meeting is the PBIS um program I was a part of the pbsis program when in high school um and I think experience you

022know is obviously very important but we come to the experience and being at a place you know for a long time is the passion behind it and I believe I have the passion and the um energy to really do this for the past three years I've been disent Union president and in that I've been at the meeting speaking at each and everyone just like this on behalf of students or citizens um about daily things that students face um with the hope of course of bringing our schools together and making them the best we possibly can I do believe that schools and the school system itself is the most important foundation of any community and the future of clion depends on a school system system of today so I invite every single one of you to

023check out my social medias it's all Li for clip on Facebook or Instagram or INF at RX forcon gmail.com um and remember to vote November 5th and make sure you vote number fouras R thank you all good night thank you thank you Elias are there any others in the virtual room yes hi you're at the Clifton Board of Education meeting this is public comment can you hear us hi sorry are you making a public comment tonight for the meeting um this is the first meeting I've ever attended so I I don't really know how it works or whatever I was just listening live but I wanted to get involved my my son just started the Speer School this year oh okay this is the public comment portion so do you have a comment for the

024board this is the public recognition Okay um is this where I would bring up the topic of like Spar school not having um a playground for required time to go outside daily this is the portion of the meeting where you can express your concerns okay yes that's my main concern um so our School seems wonderful and I love the teachers but there's no um there's no playground at the school and they aren't required to go outside daily in those times that they don't go outside they do have a wonderful gym accessible to them which I totally appreciate but um that's my concern okay uh could you share with could you share with us what school she's referring to okay thank you okay did you have anything further no thank you so much thank you have

025a good evening all right thank you are there any others that's it okay motion to close motion to close second uh motion by commissioner Brun Shack second by commissioner Mahia uh now I would wish to invite anyone to the podium who would like to speak this evening seeing none motion to close comments second uh motion by commissioner brunak seconded by commissioner Mahia okay we are moving to superintendent comments now so Mr Jenaro you have the floor thank you president Paris I'd like to begin by recognizing a very special person in the audience today here for her first Board of Ed meeting uh at this newly renovated boardroom uh and she holds a very important position in the district a position that many people don't even know exists and her title is the assistant to the

026assistant superintendent uh also known as my mother uh so I'd like to just recognize Miss Linda Jenaro uh she she's here this evening to uh take her granddog home after a presentation and I'm hoping not to embarrass you too much through some of those presentations uh but on the serious know I do want to move forward and share an update on Dr roosi uh we are thankful to report report that Dr Roberto is doing very well both physically and mentally uh the doctors are very pleased with his progress and he continues to remain thankful for your prayers and your good wishes uh the outpouring of support from the entire one Clifton Community has truly been incredible and humbling for him uh he is presently doing cardiac rehab four days a week and is feeling healthier

027and stronger every day and of course depending on how well this Rehabilitation continues and whether or not he graduates from the program will deter uh when he will return uh but right now he is confident he'll return no later than the first week of November uh and as always we look forward to his return and are glad that he is prioritizing his health uh we will continue to keep you updates as we receive them uh next we want to move forward uh to a very important topic uh which is the pope po High School the 2nd the 6th that goes by a whole host of names these days uh last week the district launched a community feedback survey using the qualtrix platform allowing for stakeholders to complete the survey in multiple languages uh followed by

028a brief overview of the facility including the capacity of students get house uh some of the generic needs of the district uh the survey did consist of three questions with the most important being specific to four potential uses of the building uh one of which would have an impact on each of the grade levels from prek all the way up through High School uh we would like to thank everyone who participated as your insights and feedback are valuable as we consider the best path forward for this significant ific addition to our district resources and to share the results we have two of our individuals who have truly been spearheading this initiative and Endeavor uh from both the facilities and legal side as well as the curricular and educational side and as both our assistant superintendent

029of business uh Mr shahada and for curriculum instruction Miss cus Lovich who will share with us the findings of uh of our uh survey that's a slow okay oh yeah good evening Commissioners um community members we're here to share with you the results of our preliminary survey results for this potential new space as has been shared repeatedly over the last two years since the pandemic we've experienced a over doubling of our ESL population more than a 20% per increase in our special needs population our preschool population continues to grow and to meet the universe of our needs we still need well over 20 preschool classrooms we continue to need space particularly for programs that that actually come with class-size caps but still require full-size classrooms the every school in our district has been making moving

030classrooms around we've built added walls built some additional classrooms in spaces that used to be multi-purpose rooms in order to maximize the existing space for our student population growth but so many of these programs again requiring full-size classrooms have limits such as preschool being limited to 15 students in a fullsize classroom many special needs self-contained classes are limited anywhere from 8 to 12 or 14 students depending on program also requiring a full-size classroom our space needs are most dire in grades roughly 4 through 8 possibly nine but all across the district we are utilizing ing every available classroom space as a result the board the forethought uh to allow Mr shahada to go and enter into negotiations for the potential leasing of another property in town which is the Pope Paul site and we um

031I've been looking at the academic side where our needs are and we just recently put out a survey today's survey is the first of several to see how we can best reflect c community sentiment as well as District needs and budgetary priorities in order for us to move forward we're currently in those negotiations the survey was sent out um on the 10th to nearly 20,000 recipients though that survey then was um sent out subsequently four more times to everyone who did not respond to the survey a text message went out to every phone number um that is every phone number of all of our in and outof District placement parents they were all emailed four times if they did not respond and received the text message with follow-ups to those who responded saying they did

032not receive the survey so we made sure that it was sent yet again we also surveyed our students in grades 3 through 8 our teachers pushed out the survey to classrooms and in grades 9 through 12 our students received the surveys to their Clifton email addresses we use the qual tricks platform because it ties every response to a legitimate email address as opposed to when you kind of put up an anonymous survey and a bot will take over and just start filling out answers so we know and we can link all of our answers to real people associated with the Clifton Public Schools whether they are parents students or staff Mr shahada I don't even know what's like to us good evening guys uh so for those of you who've been around as long as

033I have uh it's a handful of you guys you know that obviously this was a building that we have been looking to secure for you know for north of three years now um I'm pleased to say that we are in the closing stages of leasing this property from um the dases and I'm here to share the results with you guys so we had an impressive response rate with over 20,000 individuals across four questions although not all the questions were mandatory on average each question received about 5,037 results responses excuse me as Janina mentioned we initially sent out approximately 15,000 emails followed by five reminders this strategy yield at a response rate of 33.5 58% to put that in perspective a typical presidential poll requires a sample size of just 1500 participants we have more than

034triple that figure this single data point gives us a strong indication of the community sentiments so here the first question was select the best response the response that best describes you this was broken down um by the grade level and by Community involvement overwhelmingly the middle school and Elementary School students had the greatest response question two that's the it's the bar gra for that which of the following uses for the potential property would you consider most beneficial for the district um it was revealed that the grade 6 through eight would have the biggest impact in our district followed by a specialized high school academy uh while we are still in talks of what we are going to do internally we know that a specialized high school academy would just be way too costly and right

035now our biggest pressure points are the middle schools they have over you know 1,500 what for how many kids in that 12200 in each School roughly but the all the classroom spaces are taken particularly for those specialized small programs correct so you know internally that's something we want to examine and like I said this is just one of the data points that we are going to be using to make a final decision uh questions three and four were focused on gauging Community opinions regarding increased space in options so here was kind of just on a sliding scale of how well do you think um do you think the Pope Paul building can serve the Learning Community uh overwhelmingly everybody's extreme moderately are very well and question number four do you believe the potential lease of

036the Pope Paul building could positively impact the students almost everybody was in agreement that it will just I guess just for the single fact that we need the space and parents staff members who enter these buildings see how many kids are being dropped off and in these classrooms every day and it's not the optimal environment for learning now junina going to bring us home so this survey is just one of the steps in this process there may be other surveys coming out after this one um we are also in the process of engaging a demographer to look at the demographics and verify give us that information that we need to ensure that what we're looking at is indeed the correct way to go um we will then be looking with together with the board to

037evaluate budgetary priorities uh for this project and then engaging with the board for some collaborative decision making in order to get um a decision on the books uh by the time we hit budget season at the end of the Fall um so that we can potentially move forward with an opening of next September uh whichever however the decision may fall so thank you so much Commissioners community members um everyone here thank you [Applause] thank you Miss kusich and Mr shahad next we'll move to actually president Paris we still have a one more presentation for a superintendence report okay uh and we're going to go where no dog has gone before with this one uh we're going to begin with a brief presentation that was put together by S Rose uh so we'll start there and

038then we'll we'll take it afterwards careful behind you all wag and a heart [Music] Che [Music] smile the big DC SP games and a Bo of you'll see there with his gentle heart doing his now join the [Music] you make everything feel [Music] right so so thank you for that much deserved Round of Applause for Sam the rose and she put this together from the presentation to the lyrics and you outdo yourself every time Sam uh so what we're actually going to do tonight is transition into uh a therapy dog presentation um that we're going to entitled who let the dogs out uh so as I say I might embarrass my mother at some point tonight it's going to be right early on because to begin uh this presentation I'm going to start by singing

039the lyrics of one of those catchy uh that will songs that will just kind of stick in your head time and time again performed by the bad men and it goes like this who let the dogs out you all know that song you all know the lyrics uh first off this not my addition my my audition to be the next American Idol just to add some context to what we're doing and never in a million years that I ever think that I'd start a presentation at a Board of Education meeting singing and barking but it really just kind of fits in this case uh because tonight's presentation is on our Clifton therapy dog initiative uh and to say that that this initiative has been a success would simply just be an understatement uh through this

040program we've been able to serve as students and staff in ways uh that humans simply could not because dogs are just like that I guess they just know how to fix you without ever saying a word so the beginning of this story with what's called a vision and and we Define a vision it's one of the most important aspects of being an administrator something that we drive in admin Academy with several our Cadets being here this evening uh and a vision is the ability to see things that have not yet come to pass but always continuing to work towards that goal uh it comes at a cost and not just a financial cost it's commitment uh it's sacrifice it's time it's passion but at the end of the day we recognize it's all worth it

041because everything that we do is for our kids so we want to share a brief history of how it started uh for those of you who have experienced the cliff instruct presentation at new staff orientation you understand how we teach staff to to tap into and unleash their inner rockar by following the four chords of Rockstar success one of which is the D chord which stands for dreams and we encourage our staff our administrators our supervisors to dream and dream big for something that we refer to as a big unreasonable dream or a bud for short and and one of my buds was to find a way to bring therapy dogs to our district so in order to achieve this Bud we had to do our homework uh it was research on the benefits of

042therapy dogs and animals in schools networking with other districts who have already had successful programs reviewing policies determining funding coures uh as well as determining the cost benefit ratio which we'll talk about later uh we were attending workshops and it was truly what we consider to be an all Hands-On deck approach uh even last year at the New Jersey school board's convention commissioner bassford and and Lou Ross our director of Human Resources attended workshops on therapy dogs and this was all done in an attempt to get this program up and running and then once we found what we're going to do we had to find a way to put the Clifton tires to it never Reinventing the wheel just adding our touch to fit what we do in Clifton from School Safety and Security through

043pbsis and through Counseling Services of course we recognize the importance of therapy dogs uh as Educators we pride ourselves in making data driven decisions and research shows that there are positive impacts that therapy dogs have on our students specific to achievement uh from from reducing reduction of stress academic engagement learning perspectives uh to name only but a few uh so once we had our vision and our plan was in place it was time to move forward and introduce our first four-legged furry friend Chewbacca affectionally known as chewy uh and because this was our first attempt to launch launch something of this magnitude our belief is that we wanted to get it right we wanted to make sure that we had a dog uh that could Service as many of our students falling under the hypoallergenic

044class uh classification and well there's no such thing is completely hyperallergenic it does significantly reduce uh the likelihood that students and staff with allergies can be impacted uh we also want to make sure that these dogs were professionally trained not that I doubt the abilities I have to train a dog uh but when it comes to the safety of our students we wanted to ensure that we had the right people training uh here you can see in this picture this is a picture of our four-legged friend chewy uh and Bailey who is one of the greatest uh trainers that we've ever come across and we're exclusively working with just her because of the success we had uh from there we decided to partner with pride and prejudoodles um this was done for a whole host

045of reasons after extensive research uh what we found is that this is an organization that specializes in breathing and training service animals basically what they do is they will take dogs and identify dogs from each and every litter that demonstrate the temperament the demeanor the personality to go into Service uh and then what they do is they remove those dogs and assign them to live with a professional trainer in this case Bailey uh for three months where where they go through three months of extensive training on basic commands control just to get them ready to serve as therapy dogs ironically chewy comes from a lineage a family of service animals his parents his grandparents and even great-grandparents were all service animals through pride and prejudoodles and once we had this up and running we decided

046in September of 2023 to introduce chewy to the one Clifton Learning Community uh we utilize chewy primarily for counseling services whether it be small group therapy uh crisis situations behavior modification plans of course one of our big initiatives in the district is positive behavior support in schools so whether we utilize chewy for secondary tier interventions of course student and staff incentives extended recess and things of that nature and and other things lesson plans for example uh we have had so many staff members utilize chewy as part of what's called their announced observation uh the mechanism in which they are being evaluated to determine uh their efficiency as educators are predicated around their lessons involving chewy it it's just been a lot of fun uh last year we recorded over 300 visits and and events basically

047chewes everywhere classroom visits pbsis booster events counseling sessions uh as I said part of behavior modification plans sporting events security trainings he's attended plays and musicals talent shows Trunk or Treats even community events uh as seen in the pictures he had a meeting with mayor Grabowski who was a star on his hit television show here in Clifton he attended CA family Funday uh he also attends Mental Health Works in other events and most recently he aired on NBC News kids with Lou Holtz as the host simply put chewy is in high demand just this past week while visiting some of our elementary schools uh chewy and I encountered a student outside uh experiencing what we consider to be an episode and his mother was trying to assist getting this young man to the building our

048school counselor even our security specialist but to no avail and chewy and I happened to walk over and the instant we came the episode stopped the tears were gone there was a smile in his face I had chewy sit right beside the student who immediately started to stroke Chewy's fur and you can just see that that level of anxiety lifted I got down to a knee of course getting back up was more of the the issue uh but I told this this young man said hey uh chew is here to visit your friends in school but we're not really sure how to go can you help us get chewy inside to show him around and just like that this young man hopped up and never leaving Chewy's side or his hand on his back escorted

049him into the school this is just what we do for our students but following that the very basic principle of supply and demand uh the demand is high and the supply is just chewing myself so we recognize the need to expand I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to thank and recognize this board of education and Dr Rober toy for their unwavering support in making this Bud come true because as I pitched the idea for expansion there was without hesitation unanimous support to grow and that is when the vision of this initiative suddenly had a change what we decided to do is start to find a way to build a team expand upon our current program with the ultimate goal of one day having a therapy dog assigned to each and

050every school but in order to do this we're going to figure out what would be the most coste effective yet beneficial so what we decide to do is what we call option A and option b uh where we sent uh an interest letter to all of our staff members to see who would be interested in joining what we call team chewy uh option A was for individuals who are interested in in serving as a Handler for additional chewies uh pride and prej bread and train service dogs ready to hit the ground running and we also explored an option called option b which allowed for staff members who currently own pets of their own to go through an extensive training cohort of 11 months and at the end would be tested and certified to serve as

051a therapy animal in our school close to 100 staff members were interested in joining team chewy and then we had to explore the cost benefit and to be full fully transparent with our community the training for one of our chewes costs are our district just over $133,000 and unfortunately to what I would like to refer to as the Nay sers within our community who suggest that this investment in this initiative is a waste of our resources one they are unable to truly comprehend how impactful this is to our students just like the story of the young man at the elementary school from this past week two they don't understand how an investment in this training could potentially Save The District's hundreds of thousands of dollars uh students who are part of a behavior modification plan

052for school phobia or anxiety if any the event we had to make a decision to send that student to an added District placement could cost our district up to $100,000 a year per student including Transportation excuse me and tuition and not to mention in all instances that we involve chewy and intervention each and everyone was deemed a success and number three in my opinion there is no price that we can put on happy and excited children as evidenced by the slideshow that Sam showed earlier there was nothing but earto ear Smiles across the faces of our students and our staffs just for chewy being present so after much consideration we decide to go with option A which is additional chewies the next part of the task is choosing who's going to serve as our handlers

053uh one of the trainers that we worked with in this case Bailey what she always advises us is what's just as important as selecting the right dog is choosing the right handlers so Dr Rober toy and the executive cabinet got together to Det determine who would serve in this capacity and what we decided to do is just use our data and understood that the the primary purpose and usages of chewy involved pbsis incentives as well as Counseling Services uh while there were several strong candidates for both option A and option b Central admin in the cabinet felt that this decision in many ways was what we call a no-brainer and to ask the individuals that oversee both the pbsis program and counseling services to serve as their Handler and our new handlers are Miss Paul

054R goza from pbsis and Miss Jessica tremble from Counseling and as a result we now have what we call team chewy uh for the first time I would like to introduce the newest members of Team chewy handled by Paula reg goza Kobe and handled by Jessica tremble Teddy and this may get interesting [Applause] uh both Teddy and Kobe are about six seven months old and are still undergoing uh the most important part of their training process which involves the bonding part with their handlers uh as well as What's called the transfer of command uh by no means are they ready to be deployed into schools uh but what we are hoping is is that uh through our training with Paula Jessica and myself that we have our pups ready to go sometime mid to late

055October uh so when we have our chewy request forms we will have to change them to what we call our therapy dog request forms uh so to answer that rhetorical question that the Bala men said in the song Who Let the Dogs Out it's simple Clifton let the dogs out and that concludes our superintendent report w e just see the sheer drao that our commissioner faces as we do this just imagine with 12 or 13,000 students are going to feel as these dogs are deployed throughout our district e oh Mr Jal is coming back yeah we could we can swap out board numbers for dogs if you want no he doesn't have to oh mark you don't have to stay the whole meeting if you don't want to you're certainly welcome to but we understand

056you may have school work etc but your call go for no you need you have to stay unfortunately okay we're GNA move on and thank Mr Jenaro for that fantastic presentation and what an exciting time to see the beginnings of our therapy dog program next will be oh she's leaving oh okay next we'll have a presentation by uh Miss uh kusel levich she's our assistant superintendent of curriculum and she'll be presenting an overview of our summer programs hold on to your seats for this one folks you need it remember our bet once again good evening Commissioners ladies and gentlemen of the audience our community um this evening we're going to be giving you a brief overview of all of the many summer programs that took place this summer we had over a thousand Clifton students

057participating in our programs and that does not include our general High School Credit Recovery summer school that was another probably 400 students um so we had well over a thousand students participating in the programs that you're going to be hearing about now uh we have many of our aspiring administrators um Mr jeno's Cadets uh were the coordinators of these programs so you're going to be hearing from them as they each give you a brief look at what our students were doing this summer in Clifton so with that I'd like to start with our jump start academic Readiness Title One K through 5 and Minds in motion program you and I could just adjust it here okay good evening president Paris vice president Dany board Commissioners Acting Superintendent Mr Jenaro and the Clifton Community my name

058is Kimberly fusa I have been the title one K through five summer program coordinator for the past six years unfortunately our principal for all of the summer programs Mrs RB was not able to make it tonight but I would like to take a moment to acknowledge her as she oversees all of these wonderful programs that you're about to hear and they are successful due to her continued support and guidance and also being that we have so many programs that we're going to be speaking about we did take some time to put a lot of information on the slides but we're going to go very quickly and then you can look through them later if you'd like a more in-depth view of the different programs I will be presenting four of the summer programs The Jump

059Start program the academic Readiness program the title one k to5 program and the mindes in motion program these programs uh ran from July 1st through July 30th from 8:30 in the morning until 12:00 noon some of our Title One coordinators could not be here tonight but um just to explain what coordinators were at which buildings uh the principal of our summer programs Mrs warb was at school 17 along with our Title One School 17 coordinator Mr lesie I was at the school 4 uh location and at school 12 was Mrs Ray our jump start program is a program for students who are going to be entering kindergarten it is a time for them to come the summer before they enter school and work on various social academic behavioral and emotional skills essentially giving them the

060jump start they need to enter kindergarten The Jump Start program at school 17 had 27 students and we had three classes consisting of about nine or 10 students each the majority of the students came from school 17 CA a and CA B The Jump Start program along with the academic Readiness program focus on teaching the students how to uh use materials properly follow directions share with others it also focuses on on basic color review recognizing letter and numbers and developing gross motor skills at the academic Readiness program at school 12 we had 15 students and one class with several teachers just to ensure that they had the individualized attention needed uh the majority of the students were from school 12 in that program in terms of our Title One program as mentioned it does uh

061cover students in kindergarten through grade five we had three main locations School 4 school 12 and School 17 schools 4 and 17 had students in grades kindergarten through five where school 12 only had students in grade three to five the reason for this is as I will speak about in a few moments school 12 was the minds and motion location which is for grades 3 to 5 that program starts after lunch so we have the students in the morning take part in the same curriculum the title one curriculum um and then from there and they have lunch and then they go to the mins and motion program after we also had two additional classes at the boys and girls club we had a k And1 combo class and a third and fourth grade combo class

062overall we had 200 students enrolled in the title one program and um the numbers were fairly even they were a little low in grade two but every year it changes last year our numbers were the largest in grade two so it really just depends in terms of the three main locations we had 77 students at school 17 61 at school 4 and 62 at school 12 and School 17 being the biggest building uh looking at that number it might seem low but in school 17 we also have the jumpstar program and the title 3 Program which um you will hear about shortly in terms of our curriculum the title one program focuses on language arts literacy and Mathematics and it was designed to remediate and reinforce the essential skills of the previous grade while also

063accelerating students to enable them to master the Readiness skills needed for Success at the next grade level as well in terms of the language arts liter ly program it focuses on balanced literacy focusing on the two domains of reading and writing and for mathematics students use the hands to mind curriculum something that was very exciting was we brought the high-intensity tutoring sessions into our summer Title One summer program this year the high-intensity tutoring sessions started in the spring we had a lot of success with this and brought them to be part of the summer program what that was was students were able to partake in 30 minute small group virtual lessons led by a private certified instructor and they were able to experience this between four and five days a week alternating between mathematics and

064language arts literacy this did this was wonderful because what it allowed was for us to be teaching in the centers and then having more of that onetoone uh student teacher interaction we focus for language arts on K to2 using the foundations ready to Rise program and then for 3 to five using the trait crate plus and just like the regular school year students also used the Raz kids digital program in grades K and one and Mayon was used for students in grades 2 through five and this was to make sure that we kept enhancing their reading skills in mathematics as mentioned before students enjoyed the hand to mind lessons um this program empowers students to learn by doing and uh students also continued to use imagine math and imagine math facts as they use throughout

065the regular school year students in grades 2 to five they also used the defined stem program and the Imagine roboy continued where they were able to work on coding during the summer and pomptonian did a wonderful job with supplying all of our locations a bagged breakfast to go students were able to come in as they entered received a bag breakfast go to their classroom unpack have breakfast have a morning meeting and then they were able to before dismissal come down to the cafeteria and have a served sitdown lunch pbsis the program as you know is a districtwide program and um about two years ago we wanted to start bringing it into our summer program I'm going to be speaking about the pbsis program at school 4 because that was the school where I was and

066then shortly after this during the title three program Miss Videl will speak about the pbsis program at school 17 in terms of the pbsis program we've seen seen what an incredible success it has been but um what we wanted to do was we started talking about it last year and understanding that we really wanted to create a program for the summer program just as in the regular school year every school has their own individual motto and theme and um specific overarching expectations for that building so what we did this year at school 4 was we met with the staff prior to the program and created our own version of the pbsis program for these summer students coming from all the various schools because being that they came from all different schools they all had different

067overarching expectations mots themes and Etc and we came out with the shine um the shine program where we asked the students to be safe honest inclusive neighborly and enthusiastic we asked them to shine bright all summer like a diamond and with that we gave out our diamond dollars as incentive tickets these incentive tickets were given any time student was demonstrating any of our overarching shine characteristics and every Friday we were able to have weekly Raffles where we created a raffle wheel with various prizes one of those uh prizes being a student announcer for the day so students really enjoyed that and if it was not one and there happened to be a morning you know where um we weren't having a student redeem a prize we alternated between grades and had students who wanted to

068do it who may not have won the prize so the students were able to visit the main office give the flag salute some announcements speak about the meal for the day and then they were allowed to create or bring in an inspirational quote they like to share with the school um and the students really enjoyed that another thing we did with the pbsis program was um we created a attendance incentive where we created golden diamond dollars and every day that the students attended the program and attended on time they were given gold and diamond dollars in which they held them in the classroom until our final day of the program where we created a shine celebration and during that celebration we had team building activities we had Minute to Win It games we had our

069yearly Raffles and we had our um attendance incentive lastly the minds and motion program at school 12 as I spoke about before this starts after lunch and what this focuses on is grades 3 to five and it provides them opportunities to explore a wide variety of stream science technology reading engineering art and math and with that something very special about the program is that on Fridays they have field trips and as you can see they visited space farms and Sandy Hook in addition we had um a lot of fun activities for them such as the theme days Community week where we did see our district therapy dog and Acting Superintendent Mr jenero our Clifton Police Department visited we were able to use the Star Lab Planetarium and we were so lucky to um our Central

070Administration to allow us to give the kids at the end of the program a laser light assembly which also focused on stem and our school shine celebration uh where they received a giveaway gift to remember to shine bright all summer and wear their sunglasses so it was extremely successful and um thank [Applause] you thank you so much Miss vitola that was four different programs at a lot of different schools um now I would like to introduce uh Mr Stewart for our summer acceleration student support program thank you so much for the the thoroughness of the largest program that we have and now our virtual program good evening I'm Miss uh Matt Stewart I coordinated the summer acceleration student Support Program along with uh Miss Lucas uh so basically we focused on math and literacy curriculum

071concentrated on reviewing and reinforcing skills that students learned during the previous school year uh and this enabled students to basically Focus and uh we demonstrating Mastery was not attained our program did have to be virtual this year due to uh referendum related construction projects at school 2 which we're grateful for the projects um so each day students had fizzed uh we had social emotional learning lessons twice a week with a school counselor there was also reading recovery offered to students each day and our students also participated in the uh online tutoring with Imagine Learning our our program Encompass students from schools 1 2 3 5 8 9 and 16 basically the non-title one elementary schools uh we continued our virtual pbsis program teachers were encouraged to shout out at least one student each week who

072demonstrated positive online Behavior students who are shouted out had certificates delivered to their homes by myself along with the teacher sending uh positive emails to their parents and Guardians uh each student that was shouted out were entered into a raffle and they won prizes such as sports equipment and art supplies and then here are some pictures of our students with some of their work uh as well as students with their uh certificates thank you thank you so much and now our Middle School Academy with miss haward hi good evening uh my name is Lisa Hayward um I am a teacher at CCMS but this summer I had the pleasure of first time running the uh Middle School summer Academy um it was held at Clifton High School okay um so our program is a free

073program open to all of the middle school students in Clifton it offers a unique opportunity um to experience the curriculum with a Hands-On approach uh it focused on strengthening the essential skills in math and language art Arts but we also added a new course this summer um where we were able to have social studies intertwined with science and stem um the students engage with the curriculum tailor to their upcoming grade level um and making sure they were ready for the upcoming school year some of our highlights for this uh this summer we introduced that new um course called integrated uh it's a long title but integrated literature through the social studies lens and stem activities which was incredibly well received by the students and the staff the staff really enjoyed teaching it um and with

074the Summer Olympics having like happening at the same time we were able to incorporate a lot of cross curricular um lessons and activities Legos building all intertwined with the Olympics it was great um we also instituted the PB pbsis reward system where they were awarded for exceeding classroom expectations and also participating in some fun weekly trivia challenges um either about the Olympics or about the um the soccer finals that also happened at the same time so a lot of sports infused um activities and it was it was great the staff successfully piloted and implemented the smart pass hallway system um which is now being implemented at both CCMS and woodro and at CCMS I can speak that it's going very very well the staff are are getting used to using it um and it's it's

075helping maintain and kind of reduce the the hallway traffic um for our students um like I said before I was at Clifton High School we had students entering seventh entering 8th entering 9th it was funded by Title One and local funds um I had 26 teachers and they were phenomenal I've have told them a million times uh they were great in the entering seventh grade uh group we had 51 students registered and completed the program and with a average class size of 12 entering 8th we had 33 registered um class size of eight and then entering 9th we had 21 students and an average class size of 10 so total of 105 students um and some of our pictures um these are just some of the the really great integrated activities um with social studies

076language art stems all together we had competitions they had challenges they went outside the kids really had a great great great time um and then here were some of our pbsis winners and then some of the topics of our um trivia questions from the weeks thank you thank you so much and now I would like our team coming up for the IC program good evening everybody my name is Justin Louie and this is Maggie wo Tera saski and along with Jason lewitz our supervisor of fine and Performing Arts we make up your administrative team for the integrated summer experience if you do not know our program and we are very grateful for the opportunity to have this program it is a 4-week intensive where students and teachers learn and engage through handson and student Le

077uh programs this year we provided opportunities in science math coding and newly added this year with social studies and the Fine Arts our students had the opportunity to learn different medium through ART instrumental music band and Orchestra and musical theater we also had an opportunity to add had singer songw writing class which the students loved this year we found ourselves at school 3 and a huge shout out to Mr Oliver and the staff over at school 3 for helping us uh provide our students with a great building uh tiptop shape and that was pretty hard over the summer as it temperatures Rose around 80 90 degrees on Su days our 35 uh CHS student volunteers along with our 21 staff members had opportunity in 16 days to learn and explore all their subjects and in

078in those days we even put on a full production and showcase this year we also concluded our program with a satisfaction survey and we are confident in this program because our teachers and we come back every year excited to give these students opportunity but the survey was great because it just resolidified our thoughts and we had included some shots from some mentorship classes uh their theater program and our coding classes as well as band and singer songw writing and we' like to once again thank you for the opportunity for having this program and your support every time thank you very much thank you so very much and now we move on to our elementary school title 3K through 5 ESL and family literacy program good evening my name is Francis Vidal I'm a high school

079teacher uh grades 9 through 12 I had the distinct pleasure of being the coordinator for title 3 on grades K of 5 uh where we host a title 3 ESO program for our multilingual students at school 17 being overs by our summer principal Miss Joanna har this is Miss cross she was the E she was the ESL coordinator for our adult family literacy program which we all also hosted at school 17 this year title 3 ESL program we have students enrolled from the district schools from the districts that are are enrolled in title three programs we had a overall of 142 students we held uh 12 teach teachers and the title three program only is housed at school 17 this is some of the highlights of uh the staff uh this is our third year

080um where myself and Miss Patrick we spearheaded a pbsis program for the summer and the unique part of the summer program that we also initiated was that we included staff members and community members and these are some of the themes and uh highlights throughout the summer titter three program focuses uh summer program focuses to support multilinguals by enhancing their English proficiency sorry my alleries today is getting the best of me um uh and by enhancing their English proficiency and helping them meet grade level academic standards the program is specifically designed for students who are eligible on the title 3 and enroll in ESO biling programs in a title one schools school 12 13 14 and 17 key areas to focus include not limited to but include language development and strengthening students English language skills in

081Reading Writing speaking and listening academic support providing instruction reinforcing in core subjects like Reading Writing Math and Science title three program integrates differentiation instruction and target support aiming to close the achievement gaps and Foster academic success for bilingual and ESL students um parent and family engagement is also one area of focus where we encourage involvement of parents and families in their children's education supporting the child's language and Academic Program similar to title one we use some of the materials Foundation methods r K reworked uh ready to rise for grades one foundations uh for grades one and two crate trade for grades three and five and for math will use service en hands to mind and now with that said I will pass it over to miss cross good evening uh you okay my name is

082Miss cross and I had the privilege of coordinating and teaching the family literacy program this summer which served an average of 12 participants daily the program included writing grammar phonics using our wonderful foundations program vocabulary practice citizenship test preparation as per the request of the participants and life skills training the program was you the program was highly successful with several participants achieving notable outcomes one securing a job in transportation using a resume that we developed together in class um another obtaining a job interview within a district um and a third participant passing her driving exam and crediting our lessons on giving directions um we are proud of the program's impact on our community and we look forward to its continued success and that is a highlight of the last day program celebration uh School 17

083continues to support our district vision and initiative of pbsis this is our third year as I mentioned that um we are we have spearheaded PVSS a version of PVSS in the summer with that said I would like to also highlight that now I'm happy to report not only elementary school but middle school and high school programs I also have taking this initiative of um spearheading some version of pbsis in the summmer we continue to give use uh fun um reward systems not only to reward students in reinforc positive behavior but also students uh were celebrating every year uh every Friday for showing the um the strengths that we were looking for um we also did uh an another layer where we include our staff members also the adult ESL um parents also took part of

084our e uh pbsi celebration on Fridays that encouraged and Foster positive culture within our school a 17 program and it was just a wonderful opportunity not only to reach our students um support our district initiatives reach our students but also strengthen the community bond between Clifton and our communities thank thank you so much ladies and now our Middle School multilingual um enrichment program with Miss roginski that should be good good evening everyone and I'd like to thank you again for not only allowing me to be part of this program that started about 20 years ago and that's continued to grow in facets of adding different curriculum adding different ideas and being able to really develop um skills for students as well as social emotional needs for our uh many Global Learners so our six through

085eight middle school program was housed this year at uh CHS all the students come from the magnet school of Christopher Columbus Middle School so that's all the English language Learners so title three students uh those students were primarily made up of our largest um groups of Spanish Arabic Turkish and Ukrainian speakers as well as Hindu Albanian Macedonian and some others about 70 students were enrolled in 68 um over the four sections that we've had normally we have some that have a little overlap due to proficiency level so we try to accommodate them by proficiency level as well as grade level so sometimes there might be a class of beginners grade six to and seven or just an advanced eighth grade class it really depends on the population we receive every year our largest group this

086year was eighth graders we had about 40 eth graders so they made up the majority of our students okay this is also a tuition um free academic enrichment program and I like to take that academic enrichment um or terminology enrichment uh really to Heart our multilingual Learners really focused on an everyday schedule of science technology math social studies and language arts literacy and a very Hands-On approach uh we use the outdoors as you can see in some of the photos um students really got to develop skills that they could bring to the outside world so not only being able to speak read and write in English but really apply those skills when they're trying to negotiate with others doing a lot of um team and group activities uh not only did they get to use

087the computers for technology but we really branched out Lego building creating models uh science was very experimental math as well as you'll be able to see some of the pictures um a lot of measurements and other activities outside we are also able to this year fortunately go on a a field trip a social studies based field trip to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty uh which was well appreciated by the staff and the students um in addition to our everyday um acclimates for the students we have citizenship and overall effort awards for students um not really academically but this is based on our different pillars of success for the students and teachers recommend students and it's kind of a raffle and we give uh gift cards around the community that students could easily access with

088family members every year we try to bring themes uh that are going on globally for example Americana traveling around the United States States and as you could see the Euro Cup the Copa America and then the Summer Olympics were some of our uh topics that really lend themself to the Hands-On curriculum um yes that's messy there but the other pictures are students enjoying um the fairy ride to the Statue of Liberty okay thank you so much for allowing us to continue these programs for our Global students thank you very much and now we move on to high school School ESL summer enrichment with Miss T vera good evening my name is ivant Vera I am a teacher at Clifton High School this summer I have the opportunity to work at as an ESL coordinator in

089the high school with 16 students to enrollment the program emphasized language acquisition through both academic and social interactions with PBIS students were recognized by the teacher with a certificate along along the lines with a gift card using our four pillars of the high school teachers receive of breakfast as a token of our appreciation as students engage in a cross-curricular activity such as cagin hunt where they had to work together to solve variety of challenges such as math history science and art the students went on a cultural field trip to LS Islands to in the Statue of Liberty where they learned how previous immigrants ared in the country aligning how they feel and how they arrive to the country as well the students participated in a day full of activities related to the Summer Olympics that

090took place in France this year students were very engaged in all of the activities they created um um different animals with different things that they have found throughout the outsides of the grounds and insides as well along the lines with uh making sure that their heart rate and the outside um activities were accurate and they aligned this through math as well thank you thank you so very much um I'm going to present about project adalante very briefly uh project adalante was an additional high school program that we have um in Project adalante we have a collaboration with um with K University um Miss yokasta guen who normally um coordinates this program is at her CH just like Mrs horb is at her child's back to school night tonight um we had over 20 students going

091down every day spending the day K University throughout the month of July into early August and this is the beginning of a yearlong these students that committed to the summer also commit to every Saturday throughout the school year almost every Saturday throughout the school year um and they earn college credits uh while developing their English language learning uh English language skills and this also models the opportunity for these students to participate um in higher education upon graduation from Clifton High School um this is just an example of one of the echo fashion shows where they were integrating Arts and Science down at the college level at cane and with that I'm going to present our extended school year program probably one of the core uh highlights of our summer programs good evening everyone last but

092not least it's my pleasure to introduce the extended school year or esy program which is our summer program provided by the special services department from our fearless leader Mrs Rolo to our supervisors Miss be abdrabo miss Karen Pon Miss Kristen chy as well as our esy principal tce Patrician who couldnot be with us tonight Mr Duca Mr parim myself Miss Fitzpatrick and Mr Hudak who are the coordinators for the program um so yeah my name is Thomas Hudak and I was one of the coordinators at school 16 along with Miss fatrick um so to determine eligibility for the program it was based on the recommendation at IEP meetings and some of the factors that determined eligibility for the program was the severity of the students disability um esy is provided for students who have an

093IEP who would be severely impacted by an extended break in instruction and that meet esy criteria another Factor was the regression of behavior and skills interruptions in instruction Maybe result in children with disabilities losing basic skills and taking a longer time to regain those skills once school is back in SE session um also recruitment of skills and behaviors um the program is an excellent opportunity for recommended students to maintain identified skills to prevent or avoid substantial loss of previously acquired skills uh the goal is to assist students with disabilities on targeting IP goals and objectives for emergency uh emerging skills and maintenance of skills and self-sufficiency skills and the maintenance of the program is with a focus on IEP goals it's not meant to help students reach their full potential and get ahead um we

094had 308 students who were recommended for esy um from preschool through the 12th grade um however attendance is not mandatory but is encouraged so I'm going to introduce Mr DeLuca who's going to talk about the next part of the program hello I'm Mr DeLuca our our esy program um used individualized program support we um we used a preschool curriculum and a great appropriate uh Ela and math curriculum for our students we focused on meeting the needs of our students IEPs uh through maintenance of Applied behavioral analysis discret trials our related services and specialized Transportation um our Behavior Uh Behavior implementation plan and our one to1 par professional all of these were provided as needed to meet our students iep's needs um and we also integrated social emotional learning into the program through social skills and

095mindfulness activities I'd like to introduce Mr Parham to bring it home hello I'm Joshua Parham uh just a brief overview of the esy program this summer uh to help prepare families of recommended esy students we offered a parent Guardian meet and greet with our esy Administration and staff uh that was offered a week before the start of the program our program ran July 1st oops whoops wrong button uh July 1st through August 13th it was a six week program that ran Monday through Friday uh from 8:30 to 12:30 uh the program was split between two buildings CA B and school 16 at CA we had approximately 178 students uh they were preschool self-contained and K5 llds and ABA students at school 16 we had about 90 students uh K5 ABA programs 6-8 llds and ABA

096programs as well as 9-2 communication impaired multiple disabilities and ab programs uh esy was equipped with ample staff including site nurses counselors educational Specialists coaches special education teachers related Services providers including speech OT PT as well as behaviorists support staff which included classroom AIDS and onetoone Par professionals as per the students IEPs as well as our security Specialists uh we also coordinated with transportation and food services this uh made sure that we considered uh all the students allergies and dietary restrictions and July and August menus were provided beforehand so that parents and families were made aware of our menus uh one of the main and important elements was making sure that our school security and emergency drills were met uh so not because of that we made sure to follow the Mandate for school security

097drills throughout the summer which included two drills per month back to this one so here you'll just see a few snapshots of the memories made this summer as we learned and grw it together at both programs including CA B with the visit from chewy of course and then at school 16 you'll see as well some memories made using our pbsis program with our students in which we modifi to meet their unique needs and reward them for their abilities at their level and presented them with Awards throughout the summer which created Everlasting memories for our students Building Family bonds enjoying our time together at CA B and school 16 additionally we'd like to give a big thank you to our Board of Education our Central Administration and all the wonderful staff that helped make this program

098possible thank you we had a great summer and we look forward to doing it doing it again next [Applause] year thank you as you can see it takes a village it takes all of our staff members from our administ ation to certificated to non-certificated Personnel custodians um transportation Pompton and everybody was involved in making sure that these over thousand students were able to have a successful and productive summer and most importantly it also takes the parents getting those children here to these programs to take advantage of these learning opportunities so thank you so much for a wonderful evening and ladies and gentlemen thank you all for your amazing presentations [Applause] thank you Miss kusich and and thank you all all the staff that helped provide these wonderful summer programs for our students um it's truly

099appreciated and it's wonderful work that you're doing uh lot of I think a lot of people don't realize what happens in schools I think it's everybody's on summer vacation um but you provide some very important enrichment for all of our students and that is greatly appreciated thank you so much okay Mr shahad reminded me we need to adopt the minutes from uh our last meeting so um have a motion to adop motion by commissioner bassford by commissioner Mahia roll call please Mr shahada M bassford yes Mr Brak yes Mr kova obain Mr Mia yes Miss Santiago yes missano yes Miss Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries I will hold my announcements to the end uh moving on any unfinished business okay seeing none uh commissioner bassford could you please read

100our expression of condolence yes it's my it's my honor to do uh whereas on September 12th the community noted with sorrow the passing of hen McKenna Whiting and whereas Miss Whiting has served the Clifton Board of Education and the children of Clifton faithfully and conscientiously for 20 years Mrs Whiting uh started her career in 1995 as an elementary school teacher until her retirement in 2015 ien uh gravitated towards her young students with special needs and they were likewise drawn to her she thoroughly enjoyed old children and she loved her time spend teaching special education basic skills grade 1 and grade four at school number one NOW Thor now therefore be it resolved that this resolution be forwarded to her bereev family to serve as an expression of the great Regard in which Miss Whiting was

101held by the Board of Education the Administration Employees and pupils of the clipon public schools and be it further resolved that the contents of this resolution be noted in its in their entirety in the official minutes of the clion board of education for future generations to peruse dated September 19th 2024 thank you commissioner bassford and our condolences to The Whiting family moving on to education and AD Administration topics um commissioner Suarez could you please read our Hispanic Heritage Month Proclamation certainly thank you president Paris whereas Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually from September 15th to October 15 15th to recognize and honor the rich cultural contributions history and accomplishments of Hispanic and latinx Americans who have played a vital role in shaving the diverse tapestry of our nation and whereas the Clifton Board of Education

102is committed to promoting diversity inclusivity and cultural awareness within our school district and acknowledges that our Hispanic and latinx students families and staff members contribute significantly to educational and social fabric of our community and whereas Hispanic and at Americans have made enduring contributions in fields such as education science art politics business sports and entertainment enriching our society and inspiring future generations to reach their fullest potential and whereas through the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month we have the opportunity to educate our students and Community about the cultural heritage AG traditions and achievements of Hispanic and Latina Americans fostering mutual respect understanding and unity and whereas this observance provides an occasion for all of us to come together as a community appreciate the vibrancy of Hispanic and Latin cultures and reaffirm our commitment to ensuring an inclusive

103and Equitable educational environment for all students now therefore be it resolved that the Clifton Board of Education proclaimed September 15th to October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month within our district and encourages all students teachers staff and community members to participate in events activities and educational programs that honor the Heritage and contributions of Hispanics and Latina Americans and be it further resolved that we urge our Educators to incorporate Hispanic and Latina history culture and achievements in the into the curriculum promoting a deeper understanding of the contributions made by Hispanic and Latin latinx Americans to our society and be it further resolved that we call upon all residents of clipon to join us in celebrating his Hispanic Heritage Month by participating in cultural events engaging in discussions and fostering an environment of respect and appreciation for Hispanic

104and naan me members of our community in witness whereof we the Clifton Board of Education do hereby set our hands and cause this proclamation to be affixed on this 22nd day of September in the year 2024 thank you thank you commissioner Suarez all right um looking for a motion to approve under Section B education Administration items number one through 16 motion second motion by commissioner brunak second by commissioner bassford any discussion I just had one quick question yes on uh ea4 um that's just a pass through that's not going that's not hitting our budget right the um where we're giving yes okay any others okay roll call Mr Shada M bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes abstain on the A3 Mr siano yes Mr Warz yes substain

105on ea3 vice president Danny yes president Paris yes abstain on B3 motion carries okay under section c Personnel um motion to approve items 1 through 47 motion okay motion by commissioner brunak seconded by vice president Dany any discussion saying none roll call Mr Shad that is personal that's person yeah that's Personnel we have one of ourly appointed hires here the audience to speak okay we haven't voted yet okay very well M bassford yes Mr brunak yes everything except p43 p43 abstain of my name only Mr Canova yes p43 my name only Mr Mia yes obstain to p43 my name only M Santiago yes Mr siano yes M Suarez yes abstain on P39 vice president Danny yes president Paris yes abstain on C 43 my name only motion carries we have someone who' like to make

106comments this please come up to the podium hello good evening everyone um I'd like to first introduce myself my name is Genesis Vasquez I you just appointed me thank you um as the supervisor of Counseling Services I am beyond excited and thrilled my heart is jumping out of my chest right now um thank you to the Clifton educational leadership team um for believing in me and thank you to you the Board of Commissioners thank you so much um I also want to say thank you um to Mr doctor for being here to support me morally I promise to give you my all I pledge to give you my all and to do what's in the best interest of the students and to always put them first thank you and have a good night thank you

107and all the best um next is uh section D Finance facilities items 1 through 13 motion second to approved by commissioner bassford second by commissioner Mahia discussion roll call Mr Shada M bass M yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes misso yes abstain on f13 check 109 935 and 10543 sarez yes abstain on f13 check 8414 vice president Denny yes president parison yes motion carries and that moves us to board member comments and we will start this week uh commissioner Suarez is up first thank you president Paris good evening everyone I trust that the new school year has had a great start and hopefully all the bumps have been smoothed out by now or are in the process of being smoothed out uh so far this year I've been able to attend

108my first ever Clifton football game and I was so thrilled to see the camaraderie and pride among the stands I look forward to um a great athletic season and to cheer on all the Mustangs uh coming up this year um and I know maybe I mentioned it over the summer but the IC program was mentioned um during the presentation I just want to reiterate how fantastic of a program that is um and just seeing the students uh perform was absolutely fantastic um I'm also sincerely excited about our therapy dog initiative I had the privilege to meet these beautiful dogs before today and experienced so much joy I can only imagine all the good they will do for our students and I'm proud to be a part of the team that made these amazing service animals

109enrich the lives of our students um also uh for the parent who attended the meeting today via Zoom thank you so much for your feedback um recess and time outside is near and dear to my heart so I appreciate you Shar Shing your concerns um I really believe that all students deserve adequate time outside to move their bodies and to play with their peers um that said um outside time or recess is a mandate so talk to the teacher and or your principal to see um about that to make sure students need at that age 20 at least 20 minutes outside so definitely follow up with that um but I thank you for sharing your concern um and then last but not least happy Hispanic Hispanic heritage month I know I shared that with the

110community a little bit ago but this one is from my heart um from September 15th and October 15th our Clifton Community gets to celebrate the Myriad of cultures that are under the umbrella of Hispanic heritage as a p proud Puerto Rican myself I sincerely appreciate the time to celebrate not only my Heritage but all of Latin American uh cultures um and that said as we celebrate All Latinos this month let's make sure to extend respect and dignity to our friends and Neighbors who are human beings immigrants new to this country regardless of their documentation status they work hard and contribute greatly to our society and that said thank you all everyone have a great night and have a great month see you next time thank you commissioner Suarez commissioner siano thank you first off welcome

111back to school with the new Academic Year in full swing our athletic programs are also back in Action I had the pleasure of attending various football games soccer matches and gymnastics meet and I must say I've enjoyed every minute of it I plan to attend as many as I can with my schedule allowing for it and I feel really good about what this year holds for us thank you Mark for the student rep report good luck on your new role and thank you for keeping us informed I'm looking forward to it uh the report on the summer programs thank you very much for that that was um I'm glad everybody's still learning and we keeping their minds active that was very thorough uh I also want to wish everyone a Happy Hispanic Heritage Month it's

112important to recognize and honor the rich cultural contributions history and accomplishments of Hispanic and Latina Americans I do want to take a moment to highlight the outstanding work being done by Mr hamda the principal of Clifton High School his dedication is truly remarkable he knows most of the students by name which is crazy in that school he engages with them and most importantly has earned their respect just a short time ago we had frequent fights at dismissal right outside my office on cax now despite the chaos of traffic fighting I don't really see as an issue we're incredibly fortunate to have someone who genuinely cares as much as he does about one of our most populated schools hats off to him and all the vice principles I also want to talk about Mark jenero and

113the therapy dog initiative it's simply amazing and inspiring to watch watching this program grow and hearing students talk about how the presence of a therapy dog like chewy calms them before a test or turns a bad day into a good one is heartwarming as someone who experienced anxiety as a student I know how beneficial such a program can be I always had pets at home and I still do and there's something incredibly soothing about the love and compassion of an animal I like you won't be satisfied until we have a therapy dog in every school I'm behind you 100% on that when we see something working so well the only logical step is to expand it I am happy to announce that music together at the Clifton Art Center is backed by popular demand uh

114this is something for Ames and children to spend quality time together H with classes at the Clifton Arts Center with the incredible amazing talented Kim latiano it's Thursdays October 3rd 10th 1724 and 31st from 1 to 1:45 last day's Halloween they're going to have a big blowout for that it's for ages 6 to 5 I don't think it's ever too early to get the mind going with the Arts and Music is amazing and there's really no one better to teach you than Kim latiano I'm going to end this with a special shout out to my friend commissioner bronc happy birthday buddy you are really good people and you're a blast to be around I'm very happy with the friendship that has developed between the two of us uh thank you all once again and have

115a good evening oh that was good so I cut it I don't need that negativity in my life thank you commissioner SI commissioner San Santiago please thank you president Paris yes welcome back again to another awesome school year um all of our staff all of our students strive to succeed get involved in extracurriculars um attend our events just try and make your whole experience great by doing that um happy Hispanic Heritage Month so um my dad was a Korean War veteran um Puerto Rican and he's in heaven now but um you know know uh I think a lot about him uh especially around this time but um in addition he so he was in What's called the fifth infantry and uh there's a famous 65th infantry uh Puerto Rican regiment called the baners who um

116you know uh received medals and were critical and um were very instrumental in in the war and there was a documentary on them and so for Hispanic Heritage Month I'm going to be attending uh a viewing of that uh doc mentary Saturday night in um Fort Lee and it and it goes to uh support um a the B baners uh Park a Veteran Memorial Park in Perth Amboy which has a very large Puerto Rican community so I'm looking forward to doing that um there is a Hispanic heritage the second annual Clifton Hispanic heritage Carnival starting tonight through Sunday um I'm glad to see that I remember the carnival that was at at CCMS which was by the HSA I believe for many many years and stopped so I'm just happy that there's another Carnival that

117kids can go to in the fall it feels like you know you come back to school you got to have like a back to school carnival so I'm glad it's there so that's from tonight through Sunday um the summer projects amazing um thank you to everybody involved I know it's a lot of work and makes such a difference to our students the dog you know chewy program been supporting of it from the very beginning I'm glad to see it uh expanding and you know we can we can quantify and do the ROI and tangible dollars we can figure that out we can do that but like Mr jengar was saying you know the impact that it has on a on a on a student you know that's also worth something too right that's valuable too

118um it may not be dollars um but it is worth something to see the the difference that it makes in our students um so just happy to see that expanding and continuing um that's all I got thanks so much good night thank you commissioner Santiago commissioner Mahia please good evening ladies and gentlemen um I first like to congratulate all our athletic teams that have been doing so great this past um month although although some of them haven't been winning as much as they want to um that's just part of the process honestly you just got to give it time and the wins will come eventually um I do want to I know it was mentioned before in the very beginning about not having a playground at one of our schools and I know it's very

119difficult especially having a limited budget and everything I want to ask if it was possible to possibly explore other grants back when I worked with americore something that we did was partner up with specific um collaboratives um one of them was with the New Jersey Devils and they actually helped us build a playground not just for the school but for the whole Community I don't know if that's something we could probably do maybe reach out there's another specific Foundation I think it's the kellock or the Costco Foundation that they help build um playgrounds for schools specifically um maybe we could explore that option but I also um want to say sometimes it's the space you know what if we don't have the space I know that's going to be big especially where the school is

120located um the next thing I want to say is how you know proud and ecstatic I am to see all these summer programs happening um many times people will tell you well these are brand new programs these are brand new no these programs have been going on a long time I remember attending these programs back when I was in elementary school and a lot of people like to push it that PBS pbsis is relatively new it is but back then they still had similar programs that are very much the same thing that our students are learning today so I'm happy to see that it's still growing and I want to see it maybe expand a little better especially I know now we're planning to do it in the high school as the year comes um

121I look forward to seeing how this can grow in the future I mentioned it um to our superintendent on finance here we could probably get a medal for one of these I seen some school districts get a medal for actually doing summer enrichment programs like this for example like gear up the McNair program something similar to that hopefully you know maybe with that little connection we do have it might be possible um but besides that um thank you for that wonderful presentation to our all of our coordinators um happy Hispanic heritage months as well I want to give a little story I was at a flag raising a few weeks ago um and it was a Latino flag raising um a Puerto Rican one they were uh specifically talking about how the vision and the

122bias of being Hispanic has changed throughout the years and a story in particular um caught my attention um he was talking about how back then people would refer to has Hispanics as waiters um people who clean dishes and you know that brought back memories to me because the story sounded very similar and he was saying how now many Hispanics especially within my generation are now doctors lawyers um council members Board of Education people um and I'm happy to see that that perspective has changed thank you uh good evening um I'm hoping everyone's been able to uh adjust from their summer schedule to the new uh school year schedule I know my daughters it's been a little difficult in the morning but uh we're getting there uh I just want to wish everyone a great year

123this year I attended both the school 3 and CCMS back to school nights they were well attended um I got to see a lot of parents and and teachers and smiling faces so it was nice to see that uh the one PSA PSA I will say is please volunteer for your hsas um so they are a small group and they do help fund uh everything that they do inside of those schools the field days and the field trips and everything so please give back if you can uh even just a donation or if you can participation that'd be that'd be great um and I am glad to see the expansion of of the uh therapy dogs for kids in schools I know that I've seen chewy at events and you see the kidss faces light

124up and you know whatever's on their mind that kind of goes away and they they get to play with the dog and hang out with him so I think that's really cool um and just happy birthday to Mr brunak I even know it was your birthday try to keep little profile thank you thank you commissioner Kenova commissioner brunak please good evening everyone thank you everybody for those of you who reached out to me for my birthday yesterday uh also yesterday I had the privilege uh in this in our district we had the grade schools back to school night and I had the privilege of attending school 14s back to school night last night want to thank all the administration and staff for the wonderful presentations about their expectations for our students including Miss Fitzpatrick who's

125here tonight so I don't even know if she ever sleeps cuz she was there late last night too so it's amazing to see her as well uh over here more that a portion of the presentation includ including included requesting that the parents join that respective school's HSA these are independent organizations made of parents who volunteer their precious time to help fund raise to help support School me needs this sometimes this is items such as educational materials equipment field trips and sometimes even in teacher professional development but it's tough at some schools to get some volunteers and I'm asking parents even if it's just one or two events per school year to try and volunteer at some of these HSA events for your respective school and it doesn't stop in grade school either there are also

126Middle School hsas commissioner Kenova has volunteered his DJing experience to these I'm pretty sure uh he confirmed that but I believe he he has and the HSA officers they cannot do this by themselves I want to shout out to all the HSA officers out there who helped make it out who who helped make it happen among them at Christopher Columbus Melissa scriba and a bunch of them that I know personally at the grade schools nii Gorski yesie bbau Jennifer Lee and everybody else who helps make these organizations and the functions at that respective School happen thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody com thank you commissioner brunak commissioner bastard please yes good evening um a PSA for the Clifton health department on Saturday September 28th at between the

127hours of 10 and 2 at the boys and girls club they're having an embracing abilities a disability and information and resource fair with a lot of different um resources included please stop in and support your local health department and all the um other community um organizations that are going to attend shout out to all the students and staff teachers as we kick off the new school year a special thanks to those who go way above and beyond each day to make the difference in the lives of others getting out and about in the community as much as we can um with our schedules it's a great way to con and we're we're all trying our best as Commissioners to get out um happy Hispanic uh heritage month it's an important time to honor the rich

128uh history diverse cultures and the significant contribution of the Hispanic and Latino communities I look forward to participating and learning more personally on my own level and um with anything that I get invited to I will be there welcome to Mark our new student rep uh welcome to the board wishing you all the success in your new role looking forward to working with you happy happy birthday to our colleague Mr brunak I hope you had a fantastic day yesterday um congratulations to the chewy team this is a hard one we are incredibly proud to witness the Implement implementation of this program it is inspiring to see how the seed was planted and is growing from one chewy that has sprouted into a full grown chewy team I am really this really touches my heart this

129one uh how it's expanding and flourishing the impact of your dedication to Mr jenero has already taken root and we can't wait to see how it continues to grow so thank you from the bottom of my heart um thank you m cucha levich to the comprehensive summer program offerings I'm pleased to know that the impact of these programs will provide long long life lifelong value to our students and I'm happy so happy to see about the ESL program tonight when you uh gave us that overview how it impacted those three adults and their lives home run for this board and I hope that we as a board can expand this program um to grow to reach even more adults in the needs of the language and support of the community so whatever we can do

130to support you to the Clifton Community welcome back to anybody you know how to get a hold of me thank you and good night thank you commissioner bassford vice president Dr Danny uh thank you Mr President Paris so I'd like to say thank you to all of the presenters um for presenting that really comprehensive summer program and really thank you to everyone who just makes the summer programs happen um from you know the custodians the administration the teachers the pomptonian just everybody um because it's just so nice to see the smiles on the children's faces and of course you know seeing chewy putting the smiles and it put a smile on my face and I know when I saw chewy here it was like you know it always gives you that warm good feeling and

131um just to say about the summer program as I was looking it's just so comprehensive and what's so nice is that you know there's something for all the students of all the grades so that's that's really good I mean from enrichment programs to accelerated programs so it's really nice to see what the district is doing um I'd like to say good luck to the new student representative um happy Hispanic Heritage Month um happy Russ Shish and Yan kapor To those Jewish people who are celebrating Happy indigenous people's day and happy Columbus Day and I know I've already told you Mr brunak happy birthday but happy birthday thank you thank you vice president Danny happy birthday Mr brunak um something since since our last meeting that that happened um the new staff orientation uh I think

132a lot of us quite a few of us attended it was a wonderful event with I believe over a hundred new employees and a vantastic motivational team building session led by uh Mr Jenaro where everybody gets to learn how to rock and roll and drum so uh congratulations on a very successful orientation and all the best to our new employees for a fantastic year um the band camp band has the Mustang band completed uh two weeks of band camp and they had their parents night and we were also invited to uh take a look where they showed off some of their skills uh their marching skills some of us got a chance to participate and learn how to March a little bit like a Mustang band member does um the band was also at the

133street fair this past weekend the van Avenue street fair if you haven't had a chance to see them yet come on out to a football game um or I think they'll be in the Vets parade and I think they'll also be at the Harvest Fest and a um in November there'll be a uh North Jersey Regional uh band uh Exposition also to my fellow Commissioners just a reminder next week is uh Pake County School Board Association meeting right here in Clifton at Marios uh if you haven't registered yet please do so um should be a great meeting and then one of our featured speakers is Mr shahad I believe so should be a good meeting um Thursday September 26th uh the Mustang band will have a fundraiser Smash Burger so if you're hungry and you

134like burgers Smash Burger is a great place to go at 5: to 9:00 p.m. Thursday September 26 as a fundraiser for the band um just going to repeat what our student representative said earlier about October 10th is a c our C CHS open house uh I also like welcome our student rep Mark and really appreciate that he's going to get involved representatives from each grade level for input I think it's a fantastic idea um look forward to the information he brings for us that's all I have for today cooking with oil tonight okay uh any new business to be discussed okay seeing none we'll move on I was waiting for him to put the mic on yeah um we will have executive session uh today we have a number of legal and Personnel uh topics

135to discuss it should take approximately 20 uh to 30 minutes and um a motion to motion motion second that's what he was waiting for motion by commissioner Santiago and second by commissioner Mia see you soon 5 minutes 5 minute recess Mr President you can certainly have a 5 minute Rec yes enjoy e e e we can vote on it all simultaneously what are we doing Judy I did no such thing I'm trying to get you guys to go home and see your [Music] families okay welcome back from executive session uh roll call Mr shot please M bassford present Mr brunc here Mr kova here Mr Mia yes Mr sanago presente M missano here here M Suarez here vice president Danny here president Paris here we have a quorum thank you uh looking for a motion

136to approve under G executive session items number one sorry items number two through S M motion motion by commissioner bassford one second seconded by woman second commissioner Suarez she uh roll call Mr Shad what is going on M bassford absolutely yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes abstain on the ex7 missano yes Miss Warz yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes abstain on X7 motion carries thank you uh motion to adjourn JN second have a great evening