August 22, 2024 - Clifton Board of Education Meeting

001e e a 22 regular meeting of the Clifton Board of Education please rise for the flag salute in a moment of silence I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you roll call Mr Shada please miss bassford here Mr brunak here Mr Kenova Mr Mia here Mr Santiago here Mr siano here Suarez here vice president Danny here president Paris here we have a quorum the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an everchanging world the

002New 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 citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website and mail to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be recorded in accordance with policy eight we have a little change in our agenda order from normal we are going to open with some comments from our Acting Superintendent Mr Jenaro uh

003thank you president Paris good evening Board of Ed Commissioners those in the audience and of course those who are watching from home uh to begin I'd like to just give an update uh to the one Clifton Learning Community about Dr Rober toi uh we are pleased to share that he is making remarkable strides in his recovery and Rehabilitation uh he's feeling much better and is in great spirits uh we'd like to say that nothing could keep the big guy down uh he is deeply grateful for the outpouring of well wishes thoughtful gifts phone calls messages as well as your continued thoughts and prayers but after speaking to him most recently one of the most challenging aspects of his experience is the fact that he knows that this year he will not be with our students

004and staff at the opening of the school year uh this only further highlights his unwavering dedication and commitment to the students and staff here at this District as always eagerly anticipate his return and are confident that he will be back as strong as ever I'm going to go into a whole bunch of different types of highlights as we've had an amazing exciting summer as well for things that are yet to come uh to start we're going to uh give a shout out to school 15's home and School Association as they're excited to kick off the new school year by hosting an ice cream meet and greet on Tuesday September 3rd uh this event offers School 15 families the chance to connect of course enjoy a tasty treat and possibly meet their new teachers so a

005special thank you to the school 15 HSA uh for creating lasting memories within their own Learning Community uh shifting gears over into curriculum instruction specific to the Imagine Learning platform uh one of the many academic enrichment programs that we utilize in Clifton is called imagine math uh this summer The Imagine Learning uh platform asks students across the country to log in and pass their imagined math lessons in what they call the annual summer math splash contest uh as we know students who keep their math skills hot pun was intended over the summer months are better prepared to hit the ground running in the fall a total of five grand prize winners were randomly selected for eligible students uh who passed 10 or more math lessons from June 10th to July 31st one of which came

006right here from Clifton from woodro Wilson Middle School so a special recognition and congratulations goes out to e8th grade student Sophia fiser for being one of the summer math splash contest winners she has won through imagine math a solar powerered backpack filled with back to school Essentials to help start off the school year right uh we do look forward to celebrating her and her achievements when she returns in September a little bit of Athletics uh for several years the name coach sinku has been synonymous with Clifton football leading the boys program to new heights multiple State playoff appearances and recently a state championship however when it comes to Mustang football there's a new sheriff in town actually with the same name here I'm referring to his better half coach Lindsay sinku who has led the

007girls flag football team for the past two years she has truly made a mark on Guiding the team to a division win this year with an impressive 8-1 record her hard work and dedication have brought well-deserved recognition to the girls flag football program and the timing for that could not be better uh with the sport expected to be officially recognized by the njsi daa in the spring of 2026 but just this past month the girls flag football team had the incredible opportunity of competing against Elizabeth High School during halftime of the Jets preseason opener at MetLife Stadium although the outcome of the game did not favor the Mustangs it was an unforgettable experience for our student athletes to just play in front of such a large crowd uh one that will undoubtably remain a cherished

008Mo memory for them for years to come so a special thank you goes out to Tom Malle he our athletic director as well as coach s you for making this a possibility for our girls uh moving into pbsis uh while there are several individuals this evening who are going to be appointed for a whole host of positions there is one that I would like to recognize pending board approval and that is Miss Amanda rhods uh she has been selected as our new pbsis District coach uh Amanda's impressive achievements including being honored as the 2023 2024 Pake County teacher of the year her successful tenure as a pbsis school 11 coach and her wealth of experience of a classroom teacher make her a tremendous asset to our pbsis district team uh we are confident that her

009leadership will further strengthen our commitment to creating a positive and supportive learning environment across this District so Amanda welcome to the pbsis team I would now like to bring attention to something that's been in the works for many many months even upwards to over a year uh it's been spoken about through a whole host of committee reports at these very Board of Ed meetings and that's specific to Paul V 6th also known as Pope Paul High School it goes by a whole bunch of different names so but for tonight we'll refer to as Paul v 6 or Pope Paul I am pleased to announce that our district has is extremely close to acquiring the Paul 6 High School building and property uh with an anticipated opening date for Clifton usage in September of 2025 this

010acquisition represents a signif ific opportunity to enhance our educational offerings uh services that benefit both our students and the broader Community uh this Milestone would not have been possible without the steadfast support of this board of education so I'd like to extend my sincere gratitude to the board Commissioners as well as Mr shahada and our dedicated legal team for their tireless efforts in making this acquisition a reality as we move forward it is crucial that we engage with our community to ensure that our plans for Paul the 6 build buing reflect the needs and priorities of all of our stakeholders so we're eager to hear your thoughts and ideas of how this facility can best serve our district specifically we seek your input on potential uses for the building including types of programs grade levels

011services or facilities that you envision and to gather this feedback we will be conducting a community feedback survey using the qualx platform uh this platform allows community members to complete the survey in multiple languages reflecting the rich diversity that exists within our district to our stakeholders your insights are invaluable as we consider the best path forward for the significant addition to our District's resources uh we anticipate launching the survey just after the start of the school year and thank you in advance for your continued support and engagement as we embark on this exciting new chapter for our district but speaking about the start of the school year as we all know this evening uh is the final Board of Ed meeting before the official start of school so information about schools building specific information including

012traffic patterns parking drop off Food Service options will be provided to All Families from each of your respected building administrators on Monday August 26th if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to your building principal who are ready and willing to assist all of our families and students please be reminded that the first day of school for students is Wednesday September 4th and that the the district will be operating on a early dismissal schedule for the first three days of school specific to these half days this initiative was first introduced last year as a precautionary measure due to anticipated heat with the understanding that it would be re-evaluated on a yearly basis however this change received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both administrators and staff who appreciate the opportunity for team meetings

013professional development uh an additional preparation time the adjusted schedule also provided valuable time for Bond refer rendum uh Bond referendum projects to progress in their final stages without students being present in the building while we are mindful of the impact that the schedule may have on some families many families especially those with younger children or students with disabilities Express gratitude for the smoother transition back to school that this this uh method offered unfortunately in a district of this size and diversity it is impossible to make a decision that would ever gain unanimous approval but the decision to start next year the 25 26 school year uh on an early dismissal schedule be something that we as a as a team will re-evaluate later this year but as always we welcome and value the feedback from

014all stakeholders I'd also like to take a moment to highlight the resolution to amend this year's 2425 school calendar specifically regarding the change to the early dismissal schedule the day after back to school nights traditionally the district operated on early dismissal schedule on the same day back to school nights but however during the most recent contract negotiations with the ca both the Board of Education and Association agreed to move the early dismissal to the following day and since the ca contract was ratified after the board of ed approved the district calendar it was necessary for us to put forth and pass a resolution to reflect these changes prior to the start of students coming on the 4th the district does hold two very important events the first is on Monday August 26th uh we welcome

015back our administrative staff for something that we call admin Retreat uh here we do things like share updates on state and federal mandates District policies and procedures participate in team building activities and have guest speakers come to help drive and reinforce the district mission and vision uh this year we are pleased to announce and welcome Dr Edward Fergus professor of urban education and policy at Ruckers University who will focus on achieving Equity reducing disproportionality and supporting Equity learning and literacy from the security side we have Patrick cassan and Tom Tui who provide our team with a more comprehensive approach and best practices in navigating through the behavior threat assessment process as well as providing updates on the memorandum agreement with our local law enforcement and finally is an extension of our district-wide focus on Mental

016Health as a series of workshops provided by Livia MCN and Laura O'Keefe on Stress Management and that will be done for our administrative team as well as for our security specialist and just yesterday already having completed that training for our custodial and maintenance staff departments uh as a whole we definitely look forward to learning from their expertise but the final day of admin Retreat Wednesday the 28th actually coincides with the second big event it's the first day of what we call new staff orientation here we welcome and excite the new staff over a 3-day period as embark on their imp professional Journeys as part of Team One Clifton from meeting the administrative team to being provided with a plethora of important information most important for them how and when they'll be getting paid uh to

017of course attending workshops and professional development trainings on School Safety and Security pbsis harassment intimidation and bullying dcpn and mandatory reporting procedures and of course how to navigate real time our student information system as well a whole as well as a whole host of curricular instruction programs it's simply our way of getting them started but the highlight of new staff orientation is what we proudly call the Clifton struct presentation here we teach new staff how to tap into and channel their inner Rockstar it is definitely a presentation like no others so whether you've seen the show before or will be experiencing it for the first time we would like to extend an invitation to our Board of Education Commissioners to attend this clipon struck presentation and help us welcome our new staff to the the

018one Clifton band uh we do hope that your schedules allow for you to join and an official calendar invite with information specific to that is forthcoming and finally I'd like to save the best for last as always I would like to announce and extend a heartfelt congratulations to Mr Ahmed shahada and commissioner Tanya Suarez on their engagement uh this is truly a joyous occasion and we are thrilled to celebrate this special moment with you uh may your journey together be filled with love support and endless happiness uh we wish you all the best as you embark on this exciting new chapter of your lives and once again congratulations guys but selfishly about this wedding uh I do have to thank them both for the honor and privilege of allowing me to be the efficient of

019the wedding and I will be certain to have my Darth Vader outfit ready to go for you so last but not least uh to the entire one Clifton learning community on behalf of the of Education We Wish You a fantastic remainder of the summer uh we hope you have the chance to relax with family and friends soak up what's left of this beautiful weather and enjoy the Labor Day weekend festivities we eagerly eagerly look forward to welcoming our students and staff back for yet another amazing school year and that concludes this month's superintendence report thank you Mr Mr Jenaro for that very thorough back to school report um I don't think we have a student representative here this evening um so we'll move to uh presentation of reports and our assistant superintendent of curriculum Miss

020kusich do we know where Sam went because we're the zoom is up so I don't know how to get to e e e well that was fun this is exactly what our teachers and students and families went through in the pandemic and somehow we all thought gee this is going to get so much easier but still to this day I'm on so many Zoom meetings where everybody's stuck on something or something's not coming up so the whole thing with technology is how we handle it and our teachers and our students handle it amazingly and one of the things that they do with that technology is take these mandated State assessments so what is tonight's presentation about this is the mandatory statutory requirement that we present to you within a certain period of time the release

021of our state assessments Once Upon a Time all of these State assessments would come out at the same time now unfortunately it seems to be a rolling scale and within a certain period after the release of each different assessments data we need to do a presentation which is not quite as fun as putting it all together in one when we can really highlight our strengths so tonight's presentation is a combination of the NJ GPA results from Spring as well as our access testing but we are going to round that out with some of the strengths and programs that our high school does to really enhance and support our students both before and after they've taken the NJ GPA so what is NJ GPA NJ GPA is a newly mandated began two years ago assessment to

022measure students performance in language arts and Mathematics prior to graduation this is how the state determines if our students are quote unquote graduation ready this assessment is on top of the NJ SLA assessment that they've already taken in these content areas in 9th or in 10th grade this just adds another layer to our students prior to graduation now on May 3rd 2023 the doe finally adopted cut off levels the first year that we addressed this assessment there were no cut scores as to what they determined was proficient or not what you can see on this screen and I wish I could remove move sorry Lucy I have to move your screen um what we see on this screen is that Clifton exceeds the graduation ready percentage for the state by 10% and we exceed the

023State graduation um ready average by 14 uh 15.7% so our students are doing quite well in comparison to the rest of the state except now it won't move why because I'm stuck on Lucy okay here we see our spread across our social um economic demographics we see that our general education students are doing quite well and our English language Learners do the best in math our special needs students struggle in math but are doing very well in language arts now we're moving on to the access test access is the English language proficiency assessment this one is not State mandated rather it is federally mandated access is a federal measure of English language proficiency as you know our ESL student population has doubled in the last 3 years this assessment measures how they're improving in all

024domains of listening speaking reading and writing in English what we see here is a breakdown of where they fall in the proficiency band this spring we tested ,99 students on this assessment and what it does is it levels them based on whether they are level one which are beginning learning students they've either came in with zero English or very limited English all the way through level six once you hit level five on this assessment even a native born English speaker will sometimes struggle to pass it um we've seen that with our own students we've actually tested it out on some general education students just to see how hard it might be to pass this test so reaching level five you're beyond native speaker you're really a strong um Master of the English language now clearly

025because the majority of our students are recent arrivals with this doubling of our students the majority of our students fall in those first three levels level one two and three the goal is that each year these students grow by one proficiency level as they move up um learning the English language so what do we do with this data and how do we use it to help our students we use the NJ GPA the access data together with njla data our local assessments our classroom performance to drive instruction our teachers look at this information and then they address how we may change our pacing as well as how we might group students in classrooms or at the high school level how we might program their senior year based on the results of these tests both assessments

026lead help our students get to multiple different graduation Pathways whether that be supporting students who struggle on NJ GPA with a basic skills class or helping our English language learner who might be at a lower English proficiency level by giving them a additional after school tutoring um and then in terms of graduation for those students who are unable to pass one of these assessments successfully there is a portfolio process that they can complete to successfully graduate high school but we continually reflect on this data and use it to inform pretty much all of our programming our pacing even the purchases for the types of materials that we buy to support our students another thing that we utilize to support students students both learning English and as well as best practices in classrooms are our scop

027techniques which is sheltered instruction and we utilize what are called the weda can do descriptors weeda can do descriptors help our classroom teachers assess what someone who might not be proficient in English can actually do on the subject or topic that they're learning we're providing online support for our English language learners and expanding adult evening ESL classes this um fall at this fall so that our parents can support their children's learning process better all of this data is utilized to help support learning at the high school level much more important to me than this data even though we do exceed the state averages on the NJ GPA more importantly are the specialized programs and opportunities to push children to higher education that we have at Clifton High School so some of this data helps us

028enhance ourm and college Partnerships so at Clifton High School we have three main acms and theseis help our students stay focused into different career paths that may interest them our Academy program has been small but growing we have a STEM Academy where students can have concentrations in four disciplines of science technology engineering and Mathematics we have our Career Academy which has six areas in law and Public Safety marketing Human Services early childhood Computer Sciences and visual Performing Arts Academy which covers all of the many amazing Visual and Performing Arts programs that are frequently highlighted in Clifton especially at the high school but we have an academy in each of those seven areas of band choir dance drama Orchestra studio art and the most important one TV and video production which is what you're watching right

029now our students showing this handson skill that they're learning the other component that really rounds out our high school experience in Clifton are our many college Partnerships and tonight we're touching on our largest ones we have some other small ones that are starting to grow but these are the ones that most of our students participate in our original dual enrollment program many years ago was our Montclair State University program where students could earn up to 12 college credits while earning their high school diploma since then we've also added project forward with Felician University which has a similar outcome of 12 credits like Montclair where students share time at either institution spending part of their their school day here and then taking classes at the University we've started a 24 credit program with um William Patterson

030University and the William Patterson program also has an aspiring Educators component where we just had the thrill of seeing some of our students um from our high school Rising Juniors and Rising seniors who spent the summer at William Patterson taking three college credits and then in the afternoon working as teacher assistant assistance in a student lab and at one of the schools in Patterson hopefully as that program grows we could open that up to one of our summer programs here in Clifton as well one of the really amazing highlights we have is the Bergen County community college program where now for five years we have students who earn their full 60 Credit Associates Degree before they graduate from high school they actually receive an associates degree diploma a few weeks before they walk out in

031our Stadium to get their high school diploma then we have our three programs with pay County Community College there's an early college program similar to the one at Bergen Community where they can graduate with an Associates we have a 30 credit program for our seniors but the one that mo more of our children can take um advantage of is the dual enrollment and concurrent program we have several dozen sections of classes at Clifton High School right on site you're sitting in your English class with your friends and if you choose to participate in the concurrent program those teachers are duy accredited by Clifton and Pate Community College and just by sitting in your regular English class you can earn three English credits for college at bate Community which are guaranteed to transfer to any New

032Jersey univ uh State University and our final program is our fairly Dickinson World languages program where students who go up to level four can earn three college credits in this middle college program um some new ones that we're adding on we're doing some things with K University and there's more exciting stuff to come as we continue to build our programs for our students I'd like to thank you for your time um does anyone have any questions commissioner Brak thank you Mr President thank you Mr covich for your presentation so this is the first year did were there any prior years of any type of performance evaluations for the students for grade 11 or is this the first year we're reporting this particular one that's that's mandated right this one is mandated and we have had

033the state has gone through various evolutions for a while when njsla started you had to take it in algebra geometry and Algebra 2 as well as English 9 10 and 11 and the science your 11th grade science uh course so there's always been something but they varied that the state went to those three levels then they pulled back then they went down to just grade um Algebra 1 and 10th grade English then they added in the NJ GPA so the state keeps varying what they're requiring of our students but there's always been some form of high school testing but not necessarily to allow you to graduate but there's always been something prior to all those njs laas there are things you might have recalled like the HSPA or the hspt which were the high school

034proficiency assessment and high school proficiency test which were previous versions of high school type end of course or end of program testing this is just the newest version of that thank you so Algebra 2 used to be a requirement you're saying as part of the testing that used to occur um cuz cuz I I'm trying to recall when when I was a junior I think I took algebra too but when you were when you were a junior you probably took the hspt yeah um which was kind of was a combined math and combined language arts which is actually what this njp a is except that it focuses primarily on Algebra 1 and the equivalent of about 10th grade um English so even so by 11th grade every single student at CHS should have taken algebra

035at least Algebra 1 and Algebra 1 is an absolute graduation requirement Algebra 2 a a second Math course is as well thank you um theems how long has that program been around for oh that's a good question we established them academies when uh Mr Mr Orlando was still the principal so 10 10ish years we've been growing them um they were growing slowly until the pandemic then we we maintained them kind of flat since the pandemic and now we're trying to rejuvenate them with some additional programs um additional Capstone activities um the anybody in one of these the academy doesn't really change you have to apply for it when you're at the end of 8th grade but it doesn't really start until 10th grade your ninth grade year in your in the Mustang Academy which is

036our freshman program starts everyone off on a Level Playing Field but then you start to specialize um in certain areas of concentration for your electives but your core program is still the same as all other students and and then you get what you get for the being in the academy is there are sometimes field trips there's you there's an advisor we may um have some specific clubs that you participate in and then on your diploma there is a statement that you have completed one of these concentrations in one of these acmis two more things I apologize everybody do you have ballpark figures of those students enrolled pre- lockdown and post Co lockdown for numbers of students we can get that information I off the top of my head I don't but I can get that

037information that's I'm just asking for a ball figure and if if you're a freshman right and you didn't enroll or you didn't apply into these acms are you allowed to do it freshman going into into sophomore or no since the program doesn't fully start till sophomore yes some there are there are opportunities where you can reach out to your guidance counselor and have that conversation um at the same time you know there are there are grade level requirements and so forth uh this is shared uh pretty quite extensively at the middle schools at the time of 8th grade um scheduling for to rise up into 9th grade because the students do meet with their counselor at the end of 8th grade to help put give their input they fill out a course request sheet and

038work with their counselor for what might interest them and it's at that time that the information about the acmis is also shared with the students thank you anyone else commissioner Suarez thank you president Paris uh and thank you so much Miss kovich uh what for a great report and thorough information um I just want to ask uh you know I'm really impressed by the supports um for the that the students receive for English language Learners um is that Clifton driven you know when I hear there are multiple multiple graduation Pathways is that um Clifton driven or is that something that is guided to you from the State graduation pathways are driven by the state the state sets the minimum graduation requirements Clifton does have a few we do require for ourselves a few additional courses

039um at the um over what the state minimum is how you get there however is driven by the state the state has guidelines for what qualifies as an NJ GPA cut score in order for your NJ GPA to help let you go along with with your successful completion of coursework the state also sets what are the parameters to be accepted into a portfolio Pathway to graduate with a portfolio but our counselors do have some flexibility in letting some courses count in in in different ways in providing that basic skills support um in some of the after school and summer activities and one of the key pieces that's really going to help our students is that this year as part of our budget process thanks to the Board of Education um because of your approval of

040some of the components of our budget we were able to offer freshman and uh freshman free summer school for credit recovery so that we all know that the freshman year is the most important year and if you fall behind in your freshman year the statistics are sobering about how many students who fall behind in their uh freshman year do not successfully complete high school so by having allowed these freshmen to now recoup without cost to them that is going to have a huge Ripple impact and with Esser funds we actually did that for all of our students for the core content areas language arts science math and social studies um unfortunately essr funding has now expired so next year you may be hearing a request could we do this for all three grade levels uh

041freshman sophomore and Junior um but this year the the board did support the Freshman so we thank you for that thank you so much for that information I'm I'm just I always appreciate uh what you uh do for our students and really looking out for the supports that are needed especially for those um who are learning English and a very fast pace so thank you for the information and for what you do for our students thank you pres any other yes Commission sanago thank you president Paris thank you very much much Miss kusich for the presentation you always do a great job with the content and with your delivery just a quick question um we talked a lot about theems but the experiential learning part of it um I heard about clubs and things like

042that are are there anything things like having guest speakers from that or going out site visits um onsite to whatever the career is whatever the different um tracks we've mentioned here so in some of them yes yes that is one of the things when I mentioned that before Co we were really starting to grow some of those additional supports since then we've been focused kind of on getting our kids back on track and now this year we're um Mr koser um who's one of our assistant principles at the high school is in charge of our College partnership as well asies and together with Mr hamda and his push to help support our kids through graduation um as well as working together with guidance we're looking to grow some of those bringing it bring back some

043of those guest speakers add the field trips um and really start to enhance some of those programs many of them already are very robust just by the nature of what they are for example one of these acms again is the cast Academy which you see here this is tremendous hands-on experience um the CTE accounting program I'm sorry forgive me the CTE marketing program also has quite a bit of not only experiential but it one of the required courses is the work the type of the work study where they go for um half a day to work on a site for credit um but that varies by type of program okay thanks and then the other thing is um it's more of a comment I guess overall so I'm glad to see that our graduation ready

044numbers for the district in English and math are above States averages but you know I know we we focus on um continuous Improvement and education is you know the job was never done we're working on this every single day so I just look forward to these numbers continuing to um increase as do I thank you as do I anyone else okay I just I have one question thank you for a very comprehensive report Miss kevich um the English language Learners these proficiency level data this is a snapshot from this correct that's what the access does the access gives you a snap shot of what their proficiency level is those proficiency levels are based on um the weda standards which are a national standard for um for English proficiency so level one is usually lower level

045uh you can communicate in you know short phrases short sentences but you're you're just starting to speak level two is kind of getting more comfortable with that like I said level five you're basically native proficient because we have native speakers who can't pass that level who can't get into that level or test into it um but these are snapshots each year and then what this is compared to the same child previous year to see if they've made growth moving up by the scale score points in each of those levels and so long as they're moving up with those levels the district does not receive what they call a corrective action plan for um English language Learners and right now we do not have one of those you you read my mind that was my follow-up

046question is if there was a metric that we looked at in individ individual students progress over time uh which is probably more telling than these numbers are exactly that's why I really preferred it when they did this all at once and then we could dive into our local data which happens in the uh late fall I come out with I know it's like the Mind numbingly long presentation on our local data but that is where we're looking at comparing children to them themselves and on our own local assessments from the beginning of the year forward thank thank you very much thank you okay um our next item is excuse me oh lights he getting used to this very nice mood lighting likewise it's very relaxing um board committee reports are next commissioner brunak would you

047please read our facilities minutes thank you Mr President the minutes of the facilities committee that occurred on August 20th 2024 myself was present commissioner siano was present president Paris was present Mr jenero was present Mr Eddie Maldonado was present Mr Al Marion was present and as and finally Mr Mikel uch was present as well meeting started at 3:30 p.m. end time was 4:07 p.m. items of discussion number one the referendum update Mr Marion presented referendum work that is being done School number eight is almost complete along with the windows being installed School number five is almost complete School number five gym is almost complete excuse me all bathrooms will be completed by the start of school CHS front vestibule entrance will be completed this week building Management Systems should be operational for custodial and maintenance

048staff by the school year CCMS uh woodo and schools 2 9 12 13 and 15 switch gears arrival date is now tentatively scheduled for December to be able to switch to the increased power needs of these buildings wjo and Columbus auditoriums are moving along however there will be no air conditioning until the which gears arrive Number Two The Band Room music Suite band room music Suite is moving along very smoothly specific Cloud lighting is on back order at the moment as a result temporary lighting will be installed for the time being b& updates Administration gave an update on the projects taking place throughout the district summer cleaning around the referendum has presented challenges but will continue and will be complete by the start of school wizard Wilson middle school media center has been completely renovated

049replacing the gymnasium roof at school number 8 and the D DPW through shared services has been helping with pothole repairs around the district also speed bumps have been fixed and installed around the district as well finally we have act active shooter training Mr jenero presented active shooter roleplaying training that Administration worked with the Clifton Police Department over the summer at school number three it was presented to allow the Clifton Police Department to use pop Pole from November to December for more training drills if available the committee concurred after permit use requests our process does anybody have any questions uh I just have one observation to make uh for just for people who don't know what a switch gear is it's actually the device that manages all the power that goes to a building so without

050one even though we may have our new HVAC systems installed they can't be operated and this has been a challenge since the very beginning of the referendum because they've been on back order lots of schools around the country have projects similar to ours and the demand was so high after covid uh things are getting caught up so we still we're down at seven schools that we still need them for um so until we get them even though we have other equipment installed it's not going to be operational yet okay thank you commissioner brunak uh Dr Danny would you like to do the minutes so you okay can you hear me he's on mute no thank you I will read them okay um the education and special educa uh education committee met on August 6th the

051meeting began at 6 PM presid were Dr Dany uh who's our chairperson myself commissioner bass and commissioner bassford from Administration Miss kusel levich uh Mr Jenaro Mr doctor were all present as well 2024 2025 staff Staffing and position discussion uh was held via Michael doctor Mr doctor began by discussing the significant increase and additional duties provided by the counseling department Mr doctor provided data showing the increases to counseling service increased numbers of counselors general education social workers behaviorists and psychologists as well as multiple grants and Partnerships which provide additional counseling support he further described the increasing complexity of student needs increased homelessness the major uptick in hits on the district online support filter and overall growth of programs and mental health con concerns Under the Umbrella of counseling serving multilingual language Learners and managing interventions

052prior to referral to special education has had a major impact on the department the number of multilingual Learners in the district has doubled and over 50% of CST referrals begin as counseling case loads Mr doctor went on to describe the need to add not only preschool to the department but also expand to an additional supervisor to support these continually growing programs the job description included in this Board of Ed meeting adds preschool and these expanded responsibilities while allowing for roles to be divided by task or grade span as needed with another supervisor of counseling prek through 8 an updated job description is on this evening's agenda adult ESL summer success and expansion for full was reviewed by Miss kusevic she shared more information about the return of a portion of our previously discontinued adult evening

053School the district explored using existing grant funding for parents including a family literacy block grant Title One and title three to bring back parent opportunities given the types of funds available at no cost to the taxpayer a pilot adult ESL program was reinstated this summer as part of a daytime family literac literacy program at school 17 nearly 30 families were enrolled and a rotation of about a dozen parents participated in Daily adult ESL classes while their children attended the summer school at school 17 this program will be expanded and continued in the evenings in the late fall and winter of this coming school year Pope John Paul v 6 School building usage initial Proposal review was done via Miss kusevic in response to program growth increased enrollment in specialized programs the expanded need for classrooms

054at all grade spans for special education and English language learning students and growing prechool programs the district explored many options and will be leasing the former Pope John the 6 school on Valley Road multiple options are available for the use of this building to provide the greatest possible space relief while balancing fiscally responsible budget priorities while several Academy programs and school grade configuration are possible the greatest crowding currently is taking place in Middle grades the timeline for this project is to conduct community and stakeholder surveys and complete the demographic study in the full of 2024 upon reaching a collaborative final decision of grade span and scope a school administrator will be engaged to coordinate the development of this site to open in September of 2025 meeting ended at 6:50 any questions commissioner Suarez thank you

055president Paris I'm just wondering if anyone um in the district on the board if we have a pulse on what's causing the increase of homelessness my gut is perhaps raising uh housing costs but if there are any other factors that others are aware of I was curious I that's Mr doctor referred to that um I'm not going to speculate on what the reason for the homelessness is M War if Mr doctor's adding that to report uh that might be students who fall under the mckin vento ACT uh where they are homeless or even displaced families are evicted for a whole host of reasons uh those are the numbers that I'm going to assume Mr doctor is referring to because those numbers are on the rise for us uh and through that act we are responsible

056at the district to continue to provide the one consistent stable part of a student's lives which is school wherever they may live at this point uh so I'm going to make that assumption based on this but we'll get clarification for you if I can just add those me vento numbers and that they are they do um Encompass all forms of homelessness and under housing also counts as homelessness under the mckin vento ACT meaning families who might be staying with a cousin or a friend or some of our newly arrived immigrants who may be um in a bedroom or a portion of another home that actually although they are housed does count as homelessness under mckin vento definitions thank you m that's actually really helpful because that also aligns with our increase in numbers for English

057language learning students um so thank you for just some insight on that and also um do we have any feedback regarding the adult ESL program from either the teachers or the parents [Music] themselves um the um the anecdotal information that I got from the teachers um as well as our um coordinator for that program was that the parents really love it um the parents are very you know welcoming enjoying it the the summer one was a morning program um so even though we had over 20 people enrolled I think it was about 25 um the daily attendance was about a dozen um but it was still a great start I think the evening programs that we're looking to launch um will be um much better attended thank you so much I'm really excited about that

058um and thank you for supporting our our students and Inter turn our uh families or rather but strike that reverse it but thanks a lot anyone else Commish your bastard yes I just like to thank you um Janina cich for updating us on the ESL program uh we did bring this up in in uh education and uh one of the hopes is eventually fingers crossed maybe to start an adult evening program started out small with the ASL but then Branch it out to what it used to be not as to the magnitude it was but starts small with offering some other kind of courses for people in the community and uh that's something that I hope that we did bring to the discussion again to the table and maybe start launching something like that because

059that's how I met everybody in Clifton I went to the adult evening school I know I can change the oil in a car I can swing a golf club um craft class and I know the chords of a guitar so it's it helped me to grow and I'd like to offer that opportunity to other people there was an issue with it so I think we need to work out the Kinks but it warms my heart that you got that off the ground and I thank you so much when you reported that that night you saw how upset I got you on the zoom because it it was something long overdue so thank you very much anyone else president Paris yes so the adult uh ESL program which is positive and good I just want to

060understand um it mentions here existing funding uh how do we fund this do we use this from we it looks like we use Grant but is that grant money that otherwise would be going to students no actually there are very big there are um components of our grants particularly our title funds that are directly tied to parent involvement um we've been using them primarily for events at schools to incorporate parents at our Title One schools as well as ESL the community block grant um has a specific carve out that must include a family literacy component so we added now this adult ESL piece um or added it back um and then in the evenings we can use some of those title funds which is what the statement about um using these funds more creatively um

061many many years ago when we did have the adult e evening school we did have an adult Academy also at school 12 using Title One funds so that's what we're going to try to leverage as the seed funding at our Title One School locations to start some of these additional um adult programs that and that funding can only be used for Parental involvement good thank you so so uh yeah as we expanded to other topics and things like that I just want to make sure it's not funding that would otherwise be more helpful directly supporting the students and if it's not then that's great thanks okay anyone else all right next is our public recognition portion of the meeting this portion of the meeting is open to the residents and non-residents of Clifton for the

062purpose 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 MERS of the public may or may not be responded by to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board asked 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 supported by the laws of New Jersey the board

063Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments is there anyone online want to start with online or there can we can we start online I don't think well let's let's start with anyone here here would like to approach the podium step right up Sir let us know your name and residence please sure good evening uh my name is Andrew Rosado uh I live in Wayne New Jersey but I have been uh recently appointed the assistant principal um at school 13 um and I was unfortunately but fortunately away in Florida uh at

064a Disney World vacation with my family uh last meeting so I did not get a chance to come so I wanted to share some words with you um and thank all of you for this opportunity so good evening everyone I'm truly humbled to stand here before you today and I am grateful f for the opportunity to express my heartful thanks to each of you I want to start by thanking president Paris vice president Danny our board Commissioners Dr Rober tozi Mr Jingo Mr shahada Mrs kusevic for believing in me and giving me the chance to serve as the next assistant principal of school 13 I'd also be remiss if I did not thank my beautiful wife behind me here uh School uh School 3 teacher uh who has been an inspiration for me uh ever

065since I started my educational career uh years ago I have to say I was overwhelmed with emotion when I received the news of my appointment while I was with my family uh in Florida at Disney world it's a place where dreams come true and I never thought my own dream of becoming an administrator in Clifton would become a reality but here I am and I couldn't be more grateful Clifton has been my home away from home ever since I started my journey as a physical education teacher at School 14 and School 17 the L Les I've learned uh the relationships I've built and the memories I've made are truly evaluable I am proud to be a part of the one Clifton community and I am eager to take the next step in my career I'd

066personally like to thank some more people some mentors that I've had uh over the years uh Mr Jingo has been a great mentor providing our Clifton admin Academy I've been a part of that for two years now and um it's every lesson or every every moment we're together as a group uh we learn something each and every time and it's it's a valuable experience and I appreciate everything you've done for that I'd also like to thank Jason habitan Taris Patrician and David White for their guidance and support throughout my time gaining valuable administrative experience all of your wisdom and your expertise have prepared me for this new role as I embark in this new chapter I'm reminded of two Timeless golden rules passed down by one of my mentors which continue to guide me forward

067number One never forget where you come from and number two be smart enough to know that you don't know everything I promise to stay grounded and true to my roots always remembering the people and experiences that have shaped me into the leader I am today and I promise to remain humble and open-minded seeking knowledge and wisdom from those around me and always be willing to learn and grow I am very excited to work alongside Dr Capi at school 13 and to give all of our students and staff our great attention I'm committed to upholding the philosophy of Clifton as a district to making a positive impact on our school Community I look forward to getting to each to know each one of our students our parents and staff members and to building strong relationships that

068will help us grow and succeed together thank you all again for this opportunity I'm honored to be a part of this team and to contribute to the district's Mission thank you for your time and I look forward this new chapter in my career thank you Mr Rado good evening um Mr jenara Board of board Commissioners and the public I'm happy to be back I hope everyone's been having a good summer and everyone is well to those I haven't had the chance to meet yet or those that simply that don't know me my name is Elias ragdo and in the upcoming election I'll be number four in the election to be a candidate for this to be a commissioner on this board of education for the past three years I've been president of Clifton Student Union

069which consisted of advocating on behalf of students with the ultimate goal of bettering our school systems for everyone really the residents of Clifton and the students of course and for the future of our city as a young adult I'm a part of Clifton's future and as someone that is passionate about public service I'm proudly running a November's election to join this board two of the biggest assets I think I would bring to this board is first my valuable unique experience and second the genuine passion and drive I have to work for this school district and in turn our city far too many times in public service office holding and not even just this board but with other candidates um and officials throughout the country often times become stale and you can have all the degrees

070you want or numerous years of experience but if your heart is no longer in the right place and you no longer have that same drive and passion to serve here in the public it's simply breaking your oath to the citizens I want to bring a fresh new voice New Blood to this board of education in Clifton in which we all work for now my ages may be concerning to few but anyone that knows me knows that I'm probably not your average 18-year-old like I said for the past three years I've been coming to these meetings not only listening but also speaking um whether it be in support of our par professionals students and general issues I've worked with this board on various issues policy Athletics facility you name it and I've probably done it if

071elected i' like I'd like to explore integrating once again the trades and Industrial Arts back into our schools making our schools more fitting to those that do not have college as a part of their Liv's path and long story short I'm ready to work and I'm dedicated to the future of this city that lies in our school system please help me make this happen so for progress and more vote number four Elias ragdale for Board of Education in November and then also just with the agenda I'd like to add um in terms of the track renaming I know it's it's written as plaque um but I was hoping it wouldn't literally be a plaque I know for the John greo um you know it's right on the scoreboard everyone sees it um and when recognizing

072someone in our district it should be seen by everyone um so I hope it's more than just a plaque even though that's just how it's written um and then like I said unique experiences theems in our schools they don't work because and I've had many friends that are are a part of it and just to be honest most don't enjoy it um and that's really because there's nothing to do with it really it's just kind of a guide for what classes you should take what classes you could take um and even for the clubs anyone can jooy these clubs you don't have to be part of the academy to join the club um so I'm happy uh commissioner Santiago that you brought up those recommendations with field trips get speakers things like that um and

073then finally I love that the district is taking on some initiatives when it comes to EO parents um parents absolutely have to be involved in education and you know these programs make it easier for that so thank you guys all and have a good night thank you lice anyone else like to speak all right motion close motion to close by second by commissioner Mahia we we don't have anyone online do we no we need to close it okay we need to close uh motion to close online motion second motion by commissioner Brak second by commissioner bassford next is the adoption of minutes from our July 25th 2024 meeting roll call Mr shot or discussion Mo motion motion to close motion sorry motion adop approve I motion I'll motion it second bassford second by commissioner Mahia

074discussion none roll call please miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mia yes M Santiago yes siano yes M Suarez yes vice president Danny she told me to yell vice president Danny yes there we go president Paris yes motion carries thank you Mr Shada um I usually don't make any announcements but I do have a couple today um as I think everyone is well aware uh we lost Congressman pascrell this week he was a longstanding advocate for public education he was a high school teacher he was a counselor he had his Masters in Education he served in Congress for 27 years uh and I believe over 11 over 10 representing our district um we're going to miss him sorely I would like to send our condolences to his family to his friends and to his

075colleagues uh he leaves a large Hole uh secondly I just wanted to mention this month we the board sponsored the Little Pantry over here at City Hall and I wanted to thank the board for supporting uh this project for the month and specifically I wanted to mention Commissioners bassford commissioner siano who I know have devoted a lot of time and supplies to the cause and I appreciate that um okay moving on any unfinished business all right next up is a motion to approve under B education and administration items one through 12 motion second by commissioner Suarez second by right commissioner sio discussion I have uh one thing yes sir uh just for transparency purposes ea8 was brought up um there's questions about that the is this coming out of our budget is it coming out

076of state aid is it coming out of Grants where is the money coming from from all that thank you that money is a pass through so it's allocated from the state through US similar to Charter Schools um because they don't they do not have to follow public procurement laws and unfortunately we do uh the money has to come through us we do all the purchasing on their behalf so the money is not Clifton money it is specifically you're marked for whatever schools are on that list thank you very much any other discussion seeing none uh R Cole Mr Shad Mr bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes M siano yes Mr Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries under see Personnel um looking for a motion to

077approve items one through bear with me a moment it's a long list uh 577 mtion second by commissioner brunc second by commissioner bassford any discussion hearing none roll call Mr shahada M bford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes Santiago yes abstain on c89 and 45 Miss siano yes Miss Suarez yes abstain on P57 vice president Danny yes president parison yes abstain on 8 24 and 53 motion carries thank you Mr shahada uh the next section um we will be pulling for a separate discussion um and vote item number nine so I'm looking for uh motion to approve under D Finance facilities all items 1 through 10 with the exception right now of number nine Mo motion motion by I don't know to commissioner commissioner siano seconded by commissioner Suarez any discussion hearing none roll

078call please Mr shahada Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes M Santiago yes Miss siano yes Miss Suarez yes obstain on F10 check number 23512 vice president Danny yes there we go president parison uh yes abstaining I can't do that we're going to vote on that separate sorry um yes motion carries okay item nine is um all the facility use permit requests um there's specifically one item in there which is um 5214 it's a request for facility used by the P County Democratic uh committee um it was brought to my attention there are two policies uh policy 4233 and policy 7510 with both which both prevents us from uh permitting political any kind of political activities in any of our buildings so I would like to take that I would like us to

079vote on number nine um which is actually a number of items now so9 20 5214 I believe yes so we're going to go through let me read the numbers for you briefly sorry I didn't do what I really wanted to do but that's okay I made it a little more complicated 5188 through uh 523 52113 we need a motion for that yes I have a question regarding facility use we had discussed this previously at different changes have they been implemented as far as the usage form and any items that you would require prior to you getting the application in your office yes so we have implemented the new form we are slow rolling it out it's going to start in September um this month was a it's a little hectic from our office the audit

080has begun so we were a little behind the the eight ball but we do have all plans on uh getting it done in September thank you that's all I want to know thank you so you need a motion on 50 whatever yeah so we're gon to need a motion we're going to do that se separately on 5214 right just for clarification I need a motion on 51 88 to 52113 motion Mr Brun Comm brunak second Mia second commissioner Mia okay roll call Mr any discussion roll call Mr Miss bassford yes Mr Brak yes Mr Mahia yes M Santiago yes M siano yes Miss Suarez yes vice president Danny vice president Danny there we go president Paris yes but I want to clarify are we voting right now for 5214 no then yes U Mr pis

081I need you to abstain oh I need to abstain I'm sorry I need to abstain on 5188 5189 5190 rest yes thank you told you this was a little complicated one motion carries thank you okay now we have 5214 now we're going to any discussion on 5 214 I have to recuse myself I'm In conflict with this because I'm on County committee so I'm going to step off to deis any other discussion do no do okay I have a question yes do I have can I just abstain or do I have to recuse myself from no there there's no recusal necessary this isn't anything of great importance you could just abstain okay also to be clear this is in violation of our policy currently correct right okay thank you the reason it is on the

082agenda um I did not want to arbitrarily uh shut this down I know this can have political ramification so I wanted to let the board do it there is an option that the board can suspend policy 5203 I believe it is in 7510 if they choose to do so president Paris you can take over from here okay you yes you we can suspend if you choose to do so but I believe that opens up kind of a Pandora's Box for us um we should be consistent consistent with our policy and I think it would create more problems down the road if we created an exception for this one opportunity so any other comment motion motion by commissioner brunak second second by commissioner Mah roll call Mr shahad so wait let's be clear about something please

083I apologize yes what I um so a yes vote is to permit the use which would be in violation of your existing policy a no is of course a no and then it's not a permit it's the use will not be approved correct the other option is to have a motion to um suspend your policies which are is a different animal entirely up to the Board of Education follow or no agreed okay so do your thing roll call Mr Shad Miss bassford Miss bassford I would put I would prefer if you were present not voting since you have that conflict any want to be in the discussion you can just abstain Miss abstain it is Mr brunak no Mr Mia abstain Mr Santiago abstain Mr siano no Miss Suarez no vice president Danny no there

084we go president Paris no motion does not carrye I will inform the Democratic Committee in the morning thank you Mr shahada bear with me one moment you're board member comment I believe I know where board member comments I'm trying to figure out I'm not telling you who is next uh in line to start I believe we started last time with Mr Kenova I have a list here but it keeps getting buried who started last time you did um so I would suspect we're up to Mr brunak thank you Mr President good evening everyone I want to give a sincere congrats to the summer graduates for CHS they did not qualify in June to graduate on the field but they were able to complete their graduation requirements over the summer I want to thank the ad

085Administration and staff and everyone else who helped create this system to let these kids get another chance at the possibility of graduating this year so thank you everybody finally I want to give my condolences to the Pascal family over a decade ago politics in this country state county and city were not as polarizing as they have been recently Congress men p SC helped get closure and justice for the grape family whose son was missing for over two years and whose body was F was found after being violently murdered and those perpetrators are now in jail as a result of this so I want to thank the congressman and give my deepest condolences to him and his to his family thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody excuse me

086guys I just want to let you guys know commissioner uh siano is going to abstain from F10 check 23793 thank you um commissioner Mia thank you commissioner Brun um i' just like to reiterate what commissioner brunak said congratulations to those who graduated this summer I know it's not everyone has the same plan Sometimes some of us it takes a little bit longer to graduate and that's okay um with that I'd like to congratulate all the fall sports that are about to start I know you guys are going to do terrific again this upcoming year um thank you to our assistant superintendent Jia kvic for that great report it's always well detailed and it's always great for the public to know what's happening within our um facilities and within our um schools finally I'd like to

087also give my condolences I remember it like it was yesterday uh one of my first um interviews out of college was with Congressman Pas gr's office and it was a tremendous experience um I met him when I was younger and you know he was a great person um i' just like to share something um it's about the Legacy and Stories We Leave Behind in reality we're all writing a book and for Congressman past scell that book held chapters and chapters of his public service from educating tomorrow's future to protecting our nation um to representing us all in congress bill Pascal's book is an endless series of service to others I'm very saddened about his death um thank you Congressman for everything that you've done my prayers and condolences go out to your family and to

088the Brad community and I wish you know I wish I would have seen you one last time shaking your hand one last time taking another photo another selfie like we always do thank you and have a great night thank you commissioner Mahia commissioner Santiago thank you president Paris well you know as everyone's speaking about um condolences and sympathies to uh Congressman Pell's family colleagues friends I mean we all know he was mayor of Patterson he was a seman he was a congressman but he also was a teacher and he also was um part of the board of vet I think he was a president of the board of Ed Patterson and he was an Army veteran so you know consumate public servant and he's going to be missed and um prayers to his family um

089yeah the summer grads that was awesome I'm I'm very happy that we were able to do that um one of the one of the graduates Joanna so I was sitting there and you know families are there and there was a woman older woman in a wheelchair and so afterwards we're talking to everybody and greeting everybody and meet Joanna The Graduate and I said who's this this is my grandma and her grandma flew from Peru to come and see her graduate and so that was worth everything um but it was a great night um and I'm just really really um fun evening and it was just so rewarding so and congratulations to them for being resilient and getting it done and yet like everybody talking about fall Sports um I love the fall yes I love

090our football team let's go support them but there's other sports as well don't forget uh we've got cross country we've got gymnastics boys and girls soccer we've got girls tennis we got girls volleyball plenty of stuff to go and find um a game to go and support our kids thank you so much good night thank you commissioner Santiago commissioner siano thank you very much president Paris um thank you Amed I forgot to abstain I was looking over my notes and I missed that one I want to also offer my condolences to the family of Congressman Bill Pascal he served his community with unwavering dedication on a much happier note I want to congratulate ahed ananya I'm very happy for you guys may your you have years of love and happiness trust me marriage is a

091lot of work it's worth it in the end let me tell you uh Janina thank you very much for the thorough presentation it's really good to stay up to date on things like that and you were very detailed thank you very much um real quickly because it was brought up at the city council I'm going to bring it up I'm going to provide an update on the municipal Alliance meeting that was scheduled for August 20th it was unfortunately cancelled this decision was made between a few people on the alliance because the city manager canceled his attendance at the last minute leaving Joe K as the sole confirmed attendee on our Google invite from the city side of the alliance given the situation it wouldn't have been appropriate to proceed with the meeting we do have

092another meeting scheduled and I do believe that's going to happen before the next meeting so you guys will have a report on that uh School is almost back in session just two weeks the Halls are going to be buzzing with excitement and the thrill of new learning Adventures to all the students teachers and administration I wish you an incredible school year ahead since our last meeting I've had a joy of attending the Ecuadorian Pakistani Dominican and Indian flag raising ceremonies I love celebrating the city's Rich diversity I also had the honor of witnessing the summer graduation ceremony at Clifton High School watching our students achieve that accomplishment was nothing short of inspiring uh with Summer drawing to a close I am eagerly looking forward to my first full school year as a board of education

093commissioner this role is a significant responsibility that I'm deeply committed to serving on this board is by far one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I'm proud to make a difference um thank you for all the support thank you everybody on this board let's make this year extraordinary and I want to wish everybody a happy and safe Labor Day weekend and I'll see you all in September thank you commissioner siano commissioner Suarez thank you president Paris um I would also like to uh give my sincere condolences to the family of Congressman pascarel um congratulations to the summer graduates I wish I could be there I congratulate you and I'm proud of you for being able to work hard um it does take dedication to move forward to your personal goals um and

094I I congratulate everyone and I'm very proud and happy for all of you and your families and good luck with your future endeavors and um first day of school is coming up I have been a part of many a team who to start a school um as a school social worker for many years on the special education committees and really looking at what it takes to start a school in the classroom end so I want to wish all the luck to the teachers and School administration who are preparing their classrooms and preparing their minds to adjust to to be their best selves for the students um I know it's really exciting to receive students in the beginning of the school year so I wish everyone luck and good luck to the parents and Guardians as

095well uh we are preparing for the new school year um from personal experience it's certainly a struggle to adjust from the bed times to wakeup times from Summer to school um so I am with you in that in that uh struggle and I just wish everyone a good luck and the best school year ahead thank you all and have a great night thank you commissioner Suarez Dr Danny that what' I do nothing oh commissioner bassford I'm sorry we started there I'm sorry that's okay no worries I usually forget Dr Danny that's okay it's all right it's it's a little difficult to hear so you know because the mic at the podium is picking up everybody you know but it sometimes breaks out so I was like on the live feed you know trying to listen

096to that and it's just really complicated so makes it really really difficult um you know I don't feel well to begin with so it was a very stressful evening for me so um I apologize for for anything there but um again it's the mic is hearing you at the distance from the podium so it it just sometimes it cuts out some people are louder than others so um I apologize for that um I just like to say congratulations to the summer graduates um it was really exciting it was nice to see um the students Smiles on their face faces the parents speaking with some of them and just how excited that they were um echoing like some of the sentiments of um Mr Mahia what he was saying you know how um some of the

097parents said that you know it obviously students don't graduate sometimes on time and you know things happen but it was just a great experience overall they said that there was um a summer graduation for them um I would like to um also thanks Miss kusich for her presentation sorry that I was there in front of you you had a maneuver through that might have been a little bit um you know uh you know a little bit out put you out of sorts but you did a great job um I also um I I don't know if it was said I know something Mr Parish she said something about the pantry um that was really great um to contribute to the to the pantry I um I did fill the pantry um at two times so

098um you know hopefully it did help those um I tried to put in more baby products baby food products um I'm always you know wondering about children and and since being a teacher that's always what's on my mind um and um condolences to the pasarel family um my family was very close with the pasal family so um condolences very very sad um and I think that's about all I have for this evening thank you thank you Dr Danny hope you feel better soon and sorry commissioner Bast no worries no worries uh a couple things I just want to explain to everyone why I abstained and why I stepped off to das I sit on County committee and I also was very active in trying to help get people to the county committee by getting membership

099so I felt that I was very conflicted and making that decision so to anyone that's questioning my motives I did it because I'm in Conflict so when you're in conflict and especially for the discussion you step away and you also abstain um so that's one of the reasons why I did that the little p pantries was actually an absolute Joy if they offer it to us next year I would more than be happy to participate um to see the the need was very overwhelming to me um no sooner did you fill it up you went back in the afternoon it was gone again and uh you know I I made more trips to shoppr right that week than I have all summer so um and it was it's interesting to see what actually went so

100I was doing my own little G gauging of like what these people were eating so by the second day I was good I was like you I I had a good uh little little system going on so thank you very much for letting us into the food uh Little Pantry people that are out there great job I know you work really hard on making sure that the three pantries and maybe possibly more are always filled uh condolences to the bill pasel family uh to um his friends and his colleagues um his shoes will not be easy to fill um and it's comes at a very bad time of year so um to everyone that has to make that decision on who will be his replacement I I bless them God speed and um that they

101think it out very well to make sure that it's successful for that group uh thank you to Janina cevich not only for the ESL program which you blew me away at the at the um Education meeting I got so overwhelmed with that I have to tell you I was actually shaking I was very excited um you did a really great job um I actually sat on a committee that talked about student achievement and it starts at home so that little that 20 bit of people that you planted the seed will will grow and keep on growing so if this board makes those decisions to uh make it bigger and better kudos to us congratulations to the girls football team uh flag football team I had the pleasure of going with the stadium with a couple

102of my friends we watched we watched the girls play it was amazing to see them at halftime I was so thrilled to be in there and by luck we actually saw someone and they kind of moved us by the we weren't up in you know getting the sunburn we were covered under a ra under an orning so we really like it was a score score that day so thank you to whomever did that and to the people that we shared it with we were the loudest cheering section that day we were screaming we lost our voices but that was all good um thank you to the many organizations that invit us all of us to the uh many multiple flag raisings this summer uh they they continue so if you invite us we will we

103will go wishing everyone out there staff students um the teachers a joy ful safe and successful school year filled with growth and achievement good luck and have a happy uh rest of the summer and enjoy thank you thank you commissioner bassford um although my colleagues all mentioned it I think it's still worth mentioning yet again uh on August 10th when we had our summer graduation at the CHS Auditorium these students in my mind are out out standing outstanding because of their dedication and perseverance they did what they needed to do in their summer to complete their graduation requirements and the least we could do is recognize that achievement and it was a a beautiful ceremony in our Auditorium and it had their families and their friends supporting them I think we had over 30 students

104that um achieved their their um diploma over the summer and I think about 20 close to 20 walked on stage that day so uh congratulations to those families and students uh band camp is in full swing right now folks so if you happen to be near City Hall the back of City Hall and you hear some music or some drums beating uh that's the marching band getting ready for the season uh always an exciting time for them and us um our first home game is September 6th it's versus e side uh please come out and support the team and our cheerleaders and our band to my colleagues on the board here September 25th is the bake County School Board Association full meeting it's going to be held right here in Clifton uh at Marios uh

105go to their website and register um be great if we could have everyone there enforc and it's fantastic that it's in our own town um to Dr Robert toy GL to hear you're on the mend uh we miss you but take your time get better and uh we look forward to seeing you soon to the girls uh flag football team congratulations I also saw the game it was uh a wonderful opportunity for our team to get in front of tremendous crowd I mean performing in a stadium like that there's there's nothing like it um thank uh congratulations to Mr Rosado uh School 13 assistant principal School 13 is my Alam Mater so I know he's going to a fantastic school um and he'll be a welcome addition to the staff uh thank you to our

106av students here tonight who are on summer vacation yet they're here tonight with us at 8:30 in the evening and their time we appreciate uh your efforts all the time um and last but not least congratulations to Tanya and Ahmed and all the best for a wonderful wonderful happy life uh that's all I have and my computer went off so we do have some items for executive session business oh is there any new B I'm sorry I lost my I have a question um what was the date of the um the teacher orientation and the time do you know so new staff orientation will be next Wednesday I will I will send you a a detailed itemized agenda with what what time what's going on with it thank you okay thanks I'm back okay any

107new business all right hearing none we go to the next item uh executive session we will have executive session this evening uh we will will'll be discussing some personnel and uh contractual issues uh action uh will be taken it will take approximately how long do you think Mr sh okay we'll be about an hour before we come back uh can we have a motion to motion second by commissioner brunjak seconded by commissioner Santiago thank you 5 minute recess Mr President thank you know e for e e e guys just for clarification everybody can vote on everything in executive session we can vote on everything that discuss in executive session thing about J is is not being voted on tonight so you guys are good so I'll get a motion from uh we got return or

108something I'm from Judy are we live or is it yes I motion to accept all the resolutions please motion motion to convene okay second okay Mo thank you sorry Judy and motion to conven by commissioner bord seconded by commissioner Mahia um we've returned from executive session um we're looking for a motion to approve approve items under G executive sessions number two through 10 motion motion by Suarez seconded by commissioner siano any discussion way to mess it up guys H commissioner bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mia yes Santiago yes siano yes M Suarez yes vice president Danny is not here president Paris yes motion carries okay any other board visits NOP motion to adjourn motion to adjourn by commissioner bass second by commissioner Santiago have a great night good night everyone e for