001e [Music] h [Music] the [Music] [Applause] something oh [Music] [Applause] h [Music] to what place [Music] yourself [Music] [Applause] the know [Music] I [Music] let [Music] for Sach [Music] e [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Music] I [Music] you I wouldve that don't tell us [Music] n [Music] n [Applause] [Music] I [Music] the [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] all chamber no conductor I'm fired [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] la [Music] [Applause] you job last one I do one more now line [Music] don't [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] woo [Applause] hey I want to just um first of all I want to thank our woodro Advanced string players for performing tonight they they were phenomenal as always and I also want to thank the education committee
002Dr Roberto Mr Jero M Kus levich and uh uh and Mr shado for inviting us uh here to perform for you it's going to be like a new initiative uh every marking period there'll be a different Ensemble performing as you guys enter and these were the brave first Souls that did it so thank you again thank [Applause] you have a great meeting everybody thank you so much thank you until e they probably can't hear me out in the hallway so could someone give them the message and we're just waiting for some technical issues and we'll be ready to go my God we don't have any problem with heat i s you the link Donna I emailed you the link I saw them somewhere any seats in the middle over there oh that's an aisle yes
003see we could fit more chairs up here e I'd like to call the regularly scheduled meeting of the Clifton Board of Education for December 7th 2023 to order if You' all kindly please rise for a salute to our flag followed by a brief moment of silence I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you roll call please Mr abrao here miss bassford here Mr brunak here Mr Mahia here Mr Paris here Mr Santiago here vice president Danny here president Smith here we have a Corum um our um mission statement please Dr Danny the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with
004the quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in a never changing world the open public meetings act in New Jersey uper public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of 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 culton board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the daytime in place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clon Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV and the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will
005be tape recorded in accordance with our policy um folks we're going to start with a public recognition um being it's a tight room anyone who wishes to come up and speak please come up to the podium sign the register that is provided please state your name residence in which you live we're going to do virtual first so that's all right you can be first on the list um state your name municipality in which you live in subject matter you'll have uh 5 minutes to address the board and uh we'll start with uh public recognition virtually do we have anyone in the virtual room seeing none is there motion to close motion to close closed by commissioner Mahia second by commissioner uh abrao okay we'll now open the in-person public portion anyone who wishes to address
006the board please kindly come up to the podium good evening my name is Laur L Lama and I am the President of the cea today today I'm going to be discussing the policy 5756 I want to give the board a little history in 2017 Governor Chris Christie signed the legislation that had bipartisan legislative support directing the commissioner of the Department of Ed to develop standards for the care and protection of transgender nonbinary students in the New Jersey public schools there was a concentrated study and Survey of the many issues faced by these kids and culminating in the issuance of the policy 5756 in 2019 which was voluntarily adopted by school boards across the state there have been no reported negative effects from this policy since its implementation and the current push in New Jersey to
007remove this policy aligns with the Nationwide conservative effort to limit diversity equity and inclusion measures in schools or in other words erase them as if they've never existed New Jersey dep Board of Education policy 5657 aligns with both state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on various factors including sex gender identity and expression the policy seems to be designed to create an inclusive and non-discriminatory environment for transgender and gender non-conforming students ensuring compliance and relevant statutes abolishing the policy will undermine the legal framework that protects students from discrimination and hinders the creation of a supportive learning environment for transgender individuals it also emphasizes open communication with students to address their needs while maintaining confidential IAL it if Clifton values inclusivity and compliance with anti-discrimination laws maintaining this policy is essential removal of the policy
008does not compel nor prevent parental notification it only serves to reduce resources for the school staff I want you to truly think about the answers who is served by removing this policy who is home harmed what is the rush to do this what message is Clifton District trying to send to their students staff and families what happened to teaching and protecting all students the purpose of 5756 is not to separate students from parents but rather to assist a student to communicate their confidential information in the time that is healthy and appropriate for them if a child is not communicating this information it is incumbent by the parent to question why their child would not want to talk to them about it why should a government agency perform this function the law against discrimination explicitly outlines
009gender identity as a protected class many if not all rewrites of the policy wind up in direct violation of the law against discrimination the law protects students rights to privacy first and foremost this is the law not conjecture or emotional response thank you now if it pleases the board I have two small speeches from two of the other teachers in the district that have a job and they couldn't show up tonight so if that would be okay could I please read it okay thank you good evening because my children will be mentioned I choose to remain anonymous just to protect them as a proud mom of three young adults one gay one by and one trans I am disheartened by the board actually consider making it mandatory for teachers to notify parents of their child's
010sexual orientation specifically trans individuals my children came out to me at different points in their lives and I would like you to know that not one of my kids told their teachers before me if you build a foundation as a parent of trust honesty and inclusivity in the home your children will want to communicate this with you so the focus here should not be whether or not the teachers should tell the parents but rather but rather why your child feels that they cannot be honest with you teachers often see their students more than their own Mom Dad Grandma Aunt filling the blank your children are not only English math history but are building meaningful relations within the classroom sometimes students feel comfortable discussing certain topics with their teacher if you take that away from them
011you will put the first nail in their coffin you are ripping away for some individuals their only LIF line you are isolating your child you are neglecting your child and you are purposely harming your child I am sure you have heard the old proverb it takes a village to raise a child meaning an entire community of people are responsible for those children who experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment whether you like it or not we all play a role and you cannot change that instead of feeling threatened by another adult who understands what your child is feeling you should be thankful that your child found a trusted adult in these difficult times you might want to take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself why is it that my child
012feels more comfortable with someone else although you may not like the answer and the last one thank you good evening members of the board please pardon my inability to be here in person it absolutely does not indicate a lack of desire to be here tonight my name is Caitlyn win and I have taught special education English at the high school for the last six years and have been the and have had the honor of co- advising the gender and sexual Alliance for the past two years tonight I come to you and plead for you not to repeal 5756 and and stop next week's vote a piece of legislation that protects transgender students can be a lifesaver for some of our children the policy prohibits a student's gender identity from being revealed to their parents should
013they disclose it to a teacher and also provides them with the ability to utilize their restroom of choice along with other protections I appeal to you not as a member of the board but as a human beings with hearts and children of your own I have had multiple students come out to me and seek my guidance when their families have shunned ostracized and all but exiled them for simply sharing a part of their true selves who they really are these children are often stripped of their family's love guidance and financial support resulting in their world's crashing down on them and most chances at a successful future eradicated I understand that it is imperative for parents to be notified about their child's safety and education but if you conceded to a narrow-minded point of view you
014can quite literally be sentencing some of our students to homelessness poverty assault of various kinds and possibly even death the Harvard School of Public Health reports that transgender youth are more at risk for mental illness including depression anxiety suicidal thoughts and attempts self harm of their non-transgender peers the human rights campaigns reports that at least 41 transgender individuals were violently murdered in the United States alone in 2022 and this was due to the senseless hatred caused by sexuality and gender identity discrimination I implore you please do not allow policy 5756 to be repealed in our district and potentially have our children be added to those horrific statistics or all children deserve to safely enjoy being themselves thank you very much and have a good [Applause] evening good evening members of the Clifton Board of Education
015my name is Chris canella I live in Loi New Jersey I am an educor Ator in Cedar Grove um next door for 25 years I've been asked to come to speak here tonight by my good friend Lori I also serve as new nj's sexual orientation and gender identity chair I'm asking this board to reconsider holding next week's special meeting to discuss the transgender policy why am I asking just because just holding that meeting is going to cause trauma to the students that um uh just spoke about this issue has come up Across the Nation this issue has come up across New Jersey and it seems that these students these special students who are some of our most vulnerable you heard some of the statistics that Lori spoke about have have become the center of the
016political world and let me remind you they're just students uh a few years ago um serving in my role as the GSA adviser in Cedar Grove I had the opportunity to meet with some of your students we did a co-activity the GSA of Clifton High School and the GSA of Cedar gr high school and it was so great to be able to see these students be able to be in a space where they felt safe where they felt that they belonged because they had folks that were like them they had fellow fellow students and fellow Educators by the way I'm I'm an out gay proud educator they they saw themselves and what's going to happen if if you continue down this road if you overturn that policy if if they continue to be the center
017of the political world children okay maybe they don't look like you maybe they don't act like you maybe they don't think like you but they're still children and remember our number one priority is to protect them not to worry about different political ideologies and and and and whatnot um I do want to share a little bit more um and uh NJ just did a survey because you know again this is since it's about politics I'm going to talk politics by a 56 Point margin 74 to 18% voters agree with the statement uh politicians should shouldn't Force teachers to Audi student who is gay or us or is using a different pronoun by a 59% margin 77 to 18% voters agreed that the statement it is up to the student to decide when they are ready
018to talk to their parents about their sexuality or or gender identity again I understand and being somebody I've done trainings Across the Nation and across the state yes I want the parents involved because when the parents are involved and they're supportive that child is going to survive and thrive when the parent is not involved okay they're not going to survive and thrive however if you have situations where parents are not providing safe opportunities for that student at home the rate of of harm that's going to happen to that student is is enormous and by removing this policy you're going to allow that okay you're going to allow that so again I'm talking politics because this seems to be a political issue children's lives seems to be a political issue right we just had an election
019and from my understanding a couple board members here were not were not reelected because they probably stood on the wrong side right across the state people that stood on the side of students and Educators they won their elections overwhelmingly okay so if you continue and you want to look at this as a polit through political lens you're going to lose because you're on the wrong side okay so again I'm asking throw it away leave it be and by the way these are issues that the courts are deciding these are issues that the legislatur eventually will decide you don't need to have a a dog and pony show and try to overturn a policy that's protecting children you don't need it thank you [Applause] good evening uh my name is Sue Butterfield I live in rosand
020New Jersey and I serve as the president of pay County Education associations when I learned that you are considering overturning the policy um I want to just briefly pose to you one question why as I attend Board of Education policies across the uh Board of Education meetings across the county I usually see presentations that include a lot of data and research there will probably be that tonight when uh later on where's the data that supports overturning this policy where's the research that shows this is an evidencebased practice to undertake I know that you charge your administrators and your teachers to engage in best practices is it a best practice to overturn a policy that the state requires that the State Attorney General is pursuing legal action against other districts that are overturning that policy so
021when you decide to consider that I ask you to dig deep as to the why and to to consider the evidence the research best practices because we are even when we are on different sides of an issue what we have in common is that we are here for the students and if we disagree on things that is understandable but where we flout the law and best practices that is something that's unacceptable thank you good evening sorry my name is Steven culis I live in Redbank I'm a teacher in Middletown where we are currently under injunction for this same issue I'm speaking today on policy 5756 on behalf of those who cannot be it out of fear of Retribution and further targeting because of their beliefs or who they are as individuals as was just said
022we all desire the same thing the Safety and Security of students and the upholding of the Integrity of the professional responsibilities of the staff we want to promote the parental or caregiver involvement but need to remember that not every child comes from a safe and supportive environment every individual is entitled to civil rights enacting this policy violates those civil rights and actually does the opposite of our aim the Educators who are who are tasked with providing a safe space for our children of our community will be prohibited from doing so accordingly at its core this policy is discriminatory we are bound by New Jersey's law against discrimination to equitably protect our students passing a policy that requires teachers to follow rules and guidelines only for one specific group of students is a violation of the
023anti-is mination laws and infringes upon the civil rights of students this is the textbook example of disperate Impact versus disperate intent in this case disperate impact refers to the unintended discriminatory outcomes of outing transgender students like emotional or physical harm disperate intent pertains to the deliberate Act of revealing their gender identity without their consent and with harmful intentions which this policy does this is the measure of discrimination and passing this policy most unequivocally violates the civil rights of protected class of individuals so please I ask you to reconsider this thank [Applause] you hi Donna papait I live in Clifton um I volunteer for sweep New Jersey it's an independent volunteer L Group which strives to provide resources and connections to encourage effective organizing and advocacy for shared social justice values as you're probably aware um
024many schools some not many several school districts have repealed 57 56 which offers projection protections for transgender students they have enacted policies to notify parents of the gender identity or expression of transgender gender non-conforming and gender non-binary students this puts an already vulnerable population at a higher risk for suicide and homelessness more importantly repealing 5756 does not remove the Civil Rights protections this protected group has already been given by the state of New Jersey districts without the policy are still required to comply with the New Jersey laws against discrimination which prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression removing this policy leaves School staff and students without specific guidance on how a particular situation should be handled there's really no reason to repeal this except to express hate now in general just
025to deviate from my speech I think I know the eight board members who are here some of you are my friends some of you are my neighbors some of you I chat with if at a party or an event some of you were my students some of you have family members who are friends with my daughters I don't think any of you are hateful people but repealing this would be a hateful act there's no reason to do it it's not going to stop the separation of bathrooms matter of fact 5756 gives students who are CIS the opportunity to use a separate bathroom if they feel uncomfortable if you repeal it that's gone I mean here's a little minor thing I mean you know the policy talks about calling telling the students what they like to
026be called I was a teacher for 33 years I'm still teaching the we don't call anyone by their name I mean every kid comes in and wants a name here I have Cindy I had a girl Cindy her real name was Cinderella she met me on the hall on the first day of school and said don't call me Cinderella no one knows it she was in 11th grade I mean God she went 12 years without everyone knowing her name was Cinderella if you repeal 5756 everyone would know her name was Cinderella listen Cinderella isn't so bad I had I had two kids named Christmas I had one kid named snowball I mean that's a real parent problem maybe those are the parents who don't know that their kids are transgender I mean you named your
027kid snowball um parental rights part of this is the parental right it says we're not obligated okay because it places students at risk okay 70% of New Jersey voters agree that schools should not be forced to out members of the lgbtq I A 2st Plus community and we really should write a policy that's more inclusive and my daughter did and sent it to superintendent Rober toi who I know has sent it to all of you there's no rush to implement this I mean if if if you resend 5756 the State Attorney General is going to sue you so far hover which has been sued for the first 6 months of 2023 has spent over $80,000 in legal fees that's the last thing we need is to spend more money on lawyers God you think you
028with the city council with all the lawyer money um resending 5756 is extremely dangerous to our vulnerable Youth and to our pocketbooks why don't we just wait until the spring because the court said they would decide on this by the spring I mean that's only like four months away or three depending on the groundhog okay we could just wait three months nothing's going to happen in three months let's wait and see what the court said um our student safety is at risk to Plate politically motivated factions let's just go back to education providing a safe supportive learning environment for all our students and let's cancel this meeting next week and if it isn't cancelled I invite every citizen and Clifton to come thank you it's five minutes thank you good evening everyone my name is
029Tanya sarez live in Clifton I usually have a written um response but I appreciate everyone who has spoken th far tonight and I agree with what has been said but I do want to share my specific experience as a school social worker for 10 years and having been in uh Social Services for 20 years I have worked at a homeless shelter when I have seen youth come in because they have been discarded by their families due to their um gender or their uh sexual orientation I have worked in group homes for teenage girls where they are in that space because they were rejected by their families due to their uh sexual orientation in schools I have worked alongside school psychologists working with students working through their gender identity because they did not feel safe to
030tell their parents often times I've been told well then just call CPS if you feel like they're being abused it's not always that simple CPS is looking for abuse neglect um not not always hostile environments if a child is generally safe with food on the on the table with uh parents not neglecting them providing them with a shelter clothing that they need with school Resources with medical resources but they live in a hostile environment where they feel that they are not seen as the human being that they are CPS is not looking into that they're already well overburdened with real places of neglect real places of sexual abuse or other physical abuses so please let's protect our students who live in hostile environments that their only safe space is the schools in which they can
031talk to their teachers and Educators where they can be themselves at least for six hours in their day because they know what they have to go home to that they can't be themselves they know they have to go home to a space that they don't see themselves as human and that's not fair we are talking about children we are talking about Youth and calling CPS is not not the answer because and then on top of that you're also saying they are allowed to experience abuse until CPS investigates their household that's not fair so please let's cancel next next week's meeting because it's about the children first and foremost thank [Applause] you right good evening um my name is Elias ragdale president of the clion Student Union um first thing and I wasn't really planning on
032speaking about this but we need more seats in here um if we're going to be recognizing more people you know doing more really good things you know we want their school to come out and support we want their families to come out and support let's at least have a SE for them our our teachers that are being recognized should not be in the hall and I think that's something we can all really agree on um but I want to say thank you to our Administration for submitting the survey to the students um teachers and I even think parents received it um so hopefully based on those results we can all come to a common ground um thirdly I want to thank Mr abrao and Mr Smith for your years of service on the board this
033is the December meeting so of course um in January we'll have our new board members here but thank you all for your service um and the Student Union wishes all of you a happy and safe holiday season thank [Applause] you is there anyone else that wishes to address the board seeing none motion to close please motion to close by uh commissioner uh Mahia second by commissioner abravo I lost my agenda made anyway commissioner Santiago are you up yet are you up yeah no are you up on the internet anyway to do it okay um yeah my computer went down also so I'm going to do this by uh by hand we have our um our student representative uh to give the uh the student report is she here yes there you are no okay good
034evening Commissioners and Dr Robert toy um first we're going to start with the clubs and activity updates so um first we have Heroes and Cool Kids um as a part of the club I can say that we have attended our first um training session today sorry not today this is written today um we attended it on Thursday at Bergen Community College and as usual it was a great time we um it was a workshop about resilience and just how to teach the middle schoolers um when we go for our first training which will be the 15th of December so next the Clifton HSA not the Hindu student Alliance um Alliance but um the home and School Association they will be hosting a Grinchy movie night on Thursday um December 14th at 6:00 p.m. at CHS
035um the event is for the younger members of Clifton Community to come together to participate in Holiday themed games and activities followed by the showing of The Grinch movie the tickets can be purchased for $5 prior to the event so if you're interested please make sure to come out um for Key Club on the um 24th of January there will there's going to be a um a zoom for the Garden State equality Workshop so if you are interested please make sure to contact the president maram J friend information um the mic the music Honor Society for CHS has been collecting Toys for Tots so the toys will be collected um until December 15th after which the Marines will pick them up and distribute them to various cities um students teachers and parents have been very
036generous to this wonderful cause so please make sure to keep on giving for our national social studies Honor Society we had our very first induction ceremony and um I'm very proud to say that I have been one of the inductees um one of the first for Clinton High School so that's very exciting um we as a school are very excited to watch it grow so and there will be another induction ceremony in the spring and to wrap up I'd like to thank you guys for the movement that we've been seeing for the um homework policy survey so students staff and teachers received it this week via email and um it was just in regards to their being homework assigned during our breaks and um weekends so if anyone's wondering it's no longer taking any um
037submissions but hopefully all the students staff and parents had a chance to fill it out um like I said Thank you again it's always nice for us students to see that our voices is being heard and um the clipton Student Union is definitely happy that our proposal has been actually going somewhere so thank you very much and happy holidays thank [Applause] you okay folks this is the time we're going to be doing some uh presentations so if you would just um bear with us as we go through these and try try one more time I got the paper one but I'm going to try one more time I think I'm on yep okay I think we're back here um next we're going to have our um presentation of our pbsis uh program uh for December
038uh showcase uh Miss Rosa if you would all righty good evening thank you once again for the opportunity to showcase uh the wonderful things that are happening in our um schools and amongst all of our stakeholders uh Commissioners Central Administration this is a tremendous pleasure to introduce um or to present or to showcase the student uh rer Patel from wo Wilson Middle School he is here tonight very happy and excited along with his family and we want to share a couple of words and uh the feed just went out but we'll keep going right but so here we are today we're here to recognize and celebrate the contributions of an outstanding eighth grade student from woodro Wilson Middle School rudra Patel is the epitome of what it means to be Allin and Allin is what
039woodo Wilson uses as their overarching expectations so Ruda is ambitious respectful empathetic hardworking thoughtful generous and all around simply amazing as a student ambassador Rua has helped promote our pbsis framework at woodo wooder Wilson Middle School over the last three years this year check this out folks rouer was promoted to school store manager a position that was created solely for him imagine that having a position created just for you always helpful and supportive Mr Bea and Miss Morse quickly came to realize that they needed to tap into his abilities and proposed having Rua become the school store manager his responsibilities include but are not limited to supervising and training fellow ambassadors stocking and monitoring inventory and representing the best qualities of what we expect from the student from the students at woodro Wilson Middle School
040we there's a brief um video that will come up in just one moment that showcases all these things see if there's an HDMI connection problem maybe the bottom one yeah yeah I think it's it's the power the power so everything that has gone right has tonight rja would you like to um say something on behalf of um how are you feeling about this you could come on up you'll help us out tremendously if you do because folks here are definitely waiting to see you so this is our eighth grade student R Patel what's it been like to be all in at woodroe it feels amazing for me to be all in at wood scho yeah how do you help how does what are some of the things that um you help with your your fellow
041students as an ambassador and now a store manager um from being an ambassador for my first year it was pretty simple I just had to like work at the store go back to back to back in the cafeteria um now that I'm manager I have it comes with a lot more responsibilities such as making other who um are doing their job they must be respectful to the customers and and the customers should be respectful to the ambassadors that's right e for this way watch out cuz we know all the tricks of the [Music] trade good evening Clifton Community here at wood Wilson we have a PBIS school store where students have the opportunity of buying multiple things for doing things right here we have ambassadors that help our students do a plethora of many amazing
042things tonight we're honoring our school manager for our PBIS store rudra Patel who we can't operate without him thank you rudra for all the things that you do and being the embodiment of being all [Music] in working in the school store is a big responsibility thankfully we have someone like who to help us guys give that to work this isn't a coffee [Music] break folks not only does he have a winning smile but a great personality one more time thank you take a picture mom and dad all right all right ready three two one beautiful congratulations m have to unlock pictures right ready three two one nice there we go do you have another phone here oh you got it I got thank you [Applause] congratulations okay our next uh presentations uh are going to
043be our students of the month for the month of December at Clifton High School uh we'll start out with our freshman uh commissioner Mia so the Freshman sit in the month is going to be Joseph suniga Joseph's favorite subject is history because he because he enjoys learning how the world came to be today and why we live the way we do Joseph's most influential teachers have been his teachers from fourth and fifth grade because they established a close Bond always challenged him to reach his potential and they taught him many things that he still uses to this very day Joseph's grandparents Inspire him to the most because they worked hard to provide for their families and make sure their parents and grandchildren could live hap happy fulfilling lives Joseph was part of the CHS fall
044play and plant the audition for the spring musical J Joseph has been able to to maintain his grades and looks forward to being able to take advantage of all the academic programs that CHS has to offer so certificate of achievement this is recognition is certified to Joseph suniga on behalf of the Clifton Board of Education Administration for CHS freshman student of the month December [Applause] ready 3 two one there we go [Applause] congratulations our sophomore student of the month is Cameron villanua Cameron's favorite subject is history because she enjoys learning about where we came from and how it affects the way we live now the two teachers who've been the most influential to Cameron have been Mr Louie and Mrs POI they have given her many opportunities that is that she is so grateful for
045Mr Louie recommended her to be the choreographer for the is programs musical theater Mrs POI provided her with the opportunity to intern for the theater League of Clifton the person that inspires Cameron the most is her mom her mom reminds her to be a good person and she is always there for her Cameron has been a dancer at her studio for 13 years and is a member of the Performing Arts Academy for dance at CHS this year she was given the title of assistant stage manager Cameron credits her success in high school to managing her time and making good connections with her teachers congratulations Cameron come on up she's dancing Junior sanago please so our Junior student of the month is Errol uh Errol Airi or AG errol's favorite subject is give it up for
046Erol give it up for Erol so I know errol's Mom and Dad ew and Collins so Mom and I worked in banking for many years together and she's very involved in the community she's been on Clifton committees and other Clifton uh Community organizations so I'm really happy to give this to Errol today errol's favorite subject is Spanish because he really loves learning to speak a new language erol's most influential teacher is his algebra teacher Mrs gir because she works very hard to make sure he understands the concepts and is successful in class Miss Gary Mrs Gir always offers to stay after school for extra help the people who Inspire Errol the most are his family and his best friend Ava his family pushes Errol to do his best to succeed to reach his potential Ava
047has been his best friend since middle school and she has been like a sister to him through all life's up and downs Errol is a part of the robotics team and really enjoys making new friends and attending competitions arol credits his success to not being afraid to ask questions and not to ask and to ask for help after higho school arop plans to attend Monclair State University and major in engineering congrats Arrow so this certificate of achievement this recognition is certified to Erol Le oriri on behalf of the Clifton Board of Education and administration for CHS Junior student of the month December 2023 with sincere congratulations on your meritorious achievement with recognition by resolution of the Board of Education the desire to excel is the formula to a lifetime of success your efforts have brought
048distinction to you your family and Clifton Public Schools [Applause] congratulations all right we're do one more two one did you have a camera you wanted me to take one for you [Applause] and finally our senior uh student of the month uh Priscilla George senior student of the month Priscilla's favorite subject is by biology because it connects all of us priscella likes that although we are all so different but at the same time we are all so similar Priscilla's most influential teacher has been her AP Spanish teacher Senora stag going from CP to AP Spanish can be intimidating but Senora stag has been nothing but kind and patient with Priscilla and has consist consistently gone out of her way to give her extra practice at school Priscilla is inspired by her family coming to America from
049qar at the age of 10 Priscilla has witnessed firsthand how hard her parents continue to work for the sake of her and her sister her parents unwavering dedication support and prayers for her have become her incentive to try her best Priscilla is a member of the interact club and girls learn International serving as the president of these clubs for the past two and three years respectively after graduation in June Priscilla plans study microbiology due in part to her experience in Mr vitello's AP Biology class Priscilla hopes to become a microbiologist dedicated to Public Health is Priscilla here tonight no [Applause] okay all right next we have our employees of the month and I'll turn it over to Dr robzi oh I got you okay um any body okay yes so our first award is for
050Maurice MO [Applause] capichi so Maurice also known as Mo is the supervisor of Maintenance Mo exemplifies the one Clifton motto as he a self he's a selfless employee who goes above and beyond for everyone MO is always available and works nights weekends vacation days to get a job done within the district Mo promotes positive School Culture by being proactive to deal with situations to make our schools run as efficiently as possible his knowledge of inspecting manufacturing equipment and ensuring the troubleshooting activities are performed before problems become crises is mention worthy Mo loves challenges and thrives in an environment that offers trials often coming out on top of situations congrats Mo have of Mo coworkers with him today so basically the says schools district distinguished Employee of the Month december23 foring service to [Applause] the all
051right so Mr Smith we can't see you Dr Danny we can't see you there we go I think is you got everybody in there three two one one more three two one nice that's a handsome punch um why they're all uh still up here one of my recognitions tonight our main Department our maintenance crew might not be able to see them every uh every meeting or uh out in the Limelight but without this crew of workers without their dedication and their devotion to this District our district would not be the well-presented district that it is you cannot imagine the um things that come up in a day that these guys have to take care of behind the scenes from leaks and floods and uh disasters and um the list goes on our maintenance crew again
052because they're behind the scenes they do not get the recognition that they so well deserved so I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for the work that you do for this District trust me it is not gone unrecognized we truly do appreciate all you do and I hope the town will get to know our maintenance group if you see somebody in a in a board of edge truck and they're wearing one of these shirts say hello to them say thank you for all that they do because trust me our buildings would not be in the shape that they're in today if it was not for these hardworking guys so again my personal tribute and thanks to you the maintenance department and under the leadership of Mo and Eddie and um doing
053a phenomenal job um for making our school and our uh facilities look the great way that they are so again thank you all very much [Applause] so okay now we're having a special award for for um our New Jersey exemplary educator award some more in what oh sorry you're right sorry I jumped um Alan would you take the next one Mark Judy our next employee of the month is Lisa salvatoriello Lisa is a nurse in school school 4 and she won the elementary level award this month nurse Lisa has a great passion for caring for others which she demonstrates every day to all her students her Sunny personality and warmth is appreciated by many she keeps parents informed in a timely manner regarding their child's clinic visits she shows great responsibility in taking care of
054nurses in duties answering phones booking appointments student screenings and swiftly reporting to building medical emergencies Lisa has shown a natural aptitude for managing and gaining the trust of our young patients she is also a member of the school for pbsis committee Lisa is a true professional she exudes contagious enthusiasm and has a deep love for nursing congratulations Lisa [Applause] just make sure it's unlocked we don't want video right oh all right I'm gonna do the phone first in case it locks all right oh wow okay you ready here we go three two one one more for good luck there we go and now this one your camera is probably better than mine all right here we go three two one one more [Applause] congratulations BR thank you Mr President Maryann ozac par professional Middle School
055[Music] level Maryanne is a compassionate dedicated parent professional who works from the heart giving her students 100% every day she works with a variety of students providing a tremendous mendous help in keeping them engaged and on task she supports children with individual needs she assists teachers in their craft and provide students with a caring and kind environment as they walk into the classroom Maryann is confident and detailed oriented driven paraprofessional in her daily routines always helping students reach their Highest Potential congratulations [Applause] Maryann you want me to take a picture with your phone you ready three two one Mr Smith I can barely see you back there you want to move over move over to the move over there you go okay yes everybody's important three two one there you go one more stay put
056all right here we go awesome [Applause] congratulations B yes good evening uh uh Kristen hospod teacher Environmental Science High School level Kristen is an environmental science educator in the high school she is always the first one here and the last one to leave Kristen is one of the many dedicated teachers in the district Kristen exudes happiness she always has a smile on her face and looks for a positive in any situation she has made her classroom into a beautiful learning environment and clearly works hard to make the students feel comfortable learn and have fun at the same time Kristen is an amazing co-worker in every aspect she works hard to the students she works hard for the students but she also works hard to make other staff members happy too she always she's always baking
057and bringing her treats into for the staff she participates in everything she's on the softball team and she can tell you can tell she loves working with our staff and students every day congratulations Kristen [Applause] hospot do you do you have a phone that you want to no they'll all be uploaded on the we website anyway you can grab those three two one there we go [Applause] congratulations okay next we have our special Pres ation and New Jersey acary educator award for 2023 all right um resolved that the Clon Board of Education recognizes the 2023 New Jersey Exemplar educator award which honors two outstanding Educators in the Clifton Public Schools only 123 Educators around the state were selected the Clifton Board of only 123 Educators around the state were selected and we have two of
058those uh Awards here in Clifton uh Clifton Board of Education and the superintendent of schools Comm commends them for their dedication to education and their strong commitment to the children of Clifton representing Clifton High School our media spe specialist chrisy van [Applause] saders yes okay in the yeah be in I'm we jeans [Applause] congratulations all right and our next uh teacher representing Christopher Columbus Middle School our language arts teacher Sharon [Applause] Schwarz mine's not okay let's see who's in this picture can I see everybody I can see everybody okay three two one boom one more nice congratulations one [Applause] moreit [Applause] son all right I'm going to go before you if you don't mind so I can do these presentations okay folks um going on with some uh presentations this evening um under my announcements
059I have a few presentations to make uh first uh presentation that I'd like to make um is to um Mr Tom hoko senior uh for all those that may not know Tom um but I think most of you do uh Tom has put out the Clifton Merchant magazine for so many so many years um he is true information about the Clifton District about our Sports programs about activities that are happening in our schools Tom always makes it a point to recognize Clifton schools the Clifton staff and most of all to our Clifton students so I wanted to uh make a special presentation tonight uh to Mr roko for all that you do uh it reads in heartfelt appreciation we extend our deepest gratitude for your unwavering dedication to Clifton your commitment to the well-being and
060growth of both staff and students is truly commendable shaping a nurturing and thriving Community your passion is the driving force behind the success of Clifton and we are sincerely grateful for your invaluable contributions Tom truly we say thank you I say thank you um for all that you do not only for Clifton but specifically for the Clifton Public School District um you truly who put out uh a remarkable uh piece of of um information for our city and um on behalf of myself and I'm sure other colleagues on the board uh will agree with me we truly are grateful and thankful for that and I wanted to personally recognize you thank [Applause] you all right wow that is a handsome group there three two one oh Tom [Applause] nice thank you to all you guys
061fol [Applause] that uh next special presentation I have this evening uh folks throughout the uh throughout the year you may go to different events in the district and sporting events and um other events and we have a a group of individuals for many years um have been attending uh sports events in Clifton um Jen algeri tells me that she calls him the jury the jury uh usually sits in their chairs on the field right off the field and um they are true supporters of our kids uh most of them uh do not have any kids in our district any longer um some uh may not have kids at all um but their dedication and the Devotion to uh Clifton athletic ICS has been um remarkable over the years and um I felt uh in my
062last meeting here that it was fitting to recognize them uh for that dedication just imagine just about every one of our sporting events um they are at each and every game whether it be soccer whether it be football uh basketball baseball lacrosse all those they are there and um joining that crowd uh so many years ago not only is he part of the the jurry um in in um cheering for our students he also is the guy who takes such remarkable photos of our kids um and he does this out of the goodness of his heart he has not paid for it um but he is there each and every game uh taking those photos trying to do that the best that he can with the equipment that he has and um Steve just does
063a tremendous job um so as part of the jurry Steve also has that that added extra duty of of making sure that we uh we represent and take some great photos of our kids so I just thought um it was appropriate to recognize uh these um these individuals uh some of them are former board members um but all of them have Clifton in their hearts have Clifton students always in their minds um they uh often are making donations to the sports programs um they're active in uh the athletic Hall of Fame and um they truly are great cheerleaders for our Sports programs and U many of you probably have seen them there and wondered who they were um so I just thought it was fitting to recognize them and thank them so much for their
064uh dedication and devotion so if some of them are here um I'd like them to come up um so first we'll start off with uh Steve Cohen Steve Lucy would you go up and start this [Applause] okay next we have uh Richie [Applause] Ashton hey Bobby Fiero oh Bobby [Applause] here Robert Murphy this one this one this one this one leave that one there that's he's not here he didn't show uh Ralph Tavella uh Norm tahan former board [Applause] member and former board member Bobby diarco [Applause] again gentlemen on behalf of myself and I'm sure my colleagues as well we say thank you for your endless contribution to supporting the uh athletes and the students of the Clifton Public Schools district thank you so very much good [Applause] go okay it's not there not there
065Miss no the bag is there not the certificate this is Dave's k k so him up yeah we'll make him a certificate Kevin we probably left Kevin we'll get that to Kenny all right okay um I think that's the end of our presentations uh folks I know it was quite lengthy um but um on a resolution you want to wait to resolution let me adopt the minutes first all right let's have the adoption of the minutes of the meeting of November 16 2023 Mo by Mr abrao second second by Mr Paris questions roll call please Mr abrao yes Miss bassford yes Mr br AC yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motion carries I guess just go down the list already just yes just go
066all right just do superintend all right next we have the uh superintendence report Dr roboy thank you uh Mr President good evening Commissioners uh members of the community faculty staff students uh first I'd like to wish a happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate tonight is the first night of Hanukkah and earlier tonight uh I was able to attend the um the lighting at City Hall which was uh which was really nice and I got a really good jelly donut waiting for me in the car for the way home tonight which is very very exciting looking forward to it I didn't want to eat it before the meeting because I got the black suit on and you know I didn't um on a on a more serious note not that Hanukkah isn't serious but on
067a more serious note today is December 7th and it is um known as Pearl Har National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day and I'd like to take a moment to uh remember and honor the 2,43 Americans who were killed in the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 which uh led to the United States's uh direct involvement in World War II uh and war against uh Japan uh if we could just have a moment of silence for those Americans thank you it's one of those days that we should never ever forget um Mrs Rosetti at school 9 I'd like to give uh the school n team a a shout out they had an incredible superhero theme stem night um the third and fourth and fifth grade teachers organized that uh I believe it was Tuesday
068night or Wednesday night and the students really had a blast exploring different science- centered themed activities and Mrs Rosetti excuse me wanted to extend a special thank you to miss dorri and her amazing robotics team excuse me uh Mrs Rosetti wanted to thank mrri and the amazing High School robotics team for their support and assistance in making the event a success additionally a big thank you to Mr Paris who was apparently a big hit with his microscopes think and lenses um thank you I don't know if that's going to work is I feel like uh very awkward I [Laughter] apologize anyway the students apparently were thrilled to see the microscopes Mr Paris which is great if you can get kids excited about microscopes you get kids excited about science that's pretty cool I was thrilled
069watching um and finally I want to express our our gratitude to the Clifton Education Foundation for providing us with a grant that allowed us to purchase the necessary supplies for the EV EV this their support was invaluable some good news on the uh CHS uh College front uh yesterday December 6th seniors at Clifton High School participated in instant decision day instant decision day is a day filled with students interviewing with admissions representatives from participating local New Jersey colleges the admissions Representatives will interview the student and offer them a nine non binding accept acceptance to the college right on the spot and students can choose to participate and interview with as many schools as they meet the requirements for uh this year the following colleges participated calwell Drew fdu Felician Kane University Mammoth University Montclair State
070University New Jersey City University NJIT ripo Ruckers Satan Hall and William Patterson 76 of our seniors participated 76 individuals met with at least one of the schools many of those students interviewed with many schools in fact we had 188 acceptances so 76 students were accepted to 188 different schools just want to go through the list cuz I think it's I think it's incredible and called well 15 students applied 15 accepted Drew University 10 applied 10 accepted fdu 14 applied 14 accepted Felician five applied five accepted C 23 applied 23 accepted Mammoth eight applied eight accepted Monclair State 31 applied 31 accepted New Jersey City University four accepted uh four applied four accepted NJIT I guess they're a little tough to get in NJIT we had 20 apply 11 accepted that's still pretty good that's really
071good um ripo 25 applied 21 accepted Ruckers four out of four Satan Hall 21 out of 24 and William Patterson 21 out of 21 in addition to those 188 acceptances um our students yesterday were offered almost $1.3 million in in scholarships I want to take a moment to recognize one of my right hands who's not here right now because she's dealing with an issue because I'm running the meeting she's dealing with a district issue um but yesterday um assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Janina kusich celebrated her 30th year uh in the district she started uh 30 years ago on December 6th as a bilingual uh Spanish and Polish teacher um actually at a time where the only foreign language offered in Clifton was espanol and Janina uh in her Brilliance of course rose up
072the ranks and I'm just so proud to have her um at my side um as our expert in all things curriculum and instruction she's incredible and I just wanted to recognize her publicly even though she's not here Janina we love you and I I have to acknowledge and it's uh I get a little emotional when um superintendents work closely with with board members um it's what we do spend a lot of time together and tonight I just want to um thank and recognize uh fahem Abad drabo and Jim Smith um on behalf of the entire Clifton Community I want to extend my my our our heartfelt gratitude and my personal gratitude for your unwavering dedication and service to the students and staff of Clifton um to Fem I want to express my deepest gratitude fim
073was an original member of the Board of Education that hired me he was one of my biggest supporters has supported me since day one um I want to thank you for believing in me and bringing me here and keeping me here um during your time on the board you have made immense contributions to our school community that will not long be forgotten and never forget that never forget all the good you have done for our entire school district and our community Jim thank you for your dedication passion your unwavering commitment to the well-being and education of our students make no mistake about it you have left an delible mark on this district and on me personally uh throughout your time as a board member you've worked tirelessly um you've significantly influenced the decisions that shape
074the educational experience of our students and the working life of our staff your service has been characterized by a steadfast commitment to doing what's best for our students and staff I want to thank you for working so closely with me as the board president for three years we did a a lot together um thank you for helping the district tackle challenging issues for all your work on committees for board president is is is a member of all committees by being the board president and it was a very rare occasion that Jim would miss uh a committee meeting um and as you both transition from your role on the board I just want you to know that your contributions will be remembered we passed the largest referendum in the state of New Jersey and both of
075you had a lot to do with that um those contributions will be remembered and appreciated for years to come and thank you both for your friendship remember that your legacy is one of positive change and the seeds you've planted will continue to flourish in the form of empowered students and a stronger educational community and I wish you both all the best in the future and my door is always open thank you thank you that completes by report Mr President thank you okay we're going to move into um board committee reports that really helped uh diversity and inclusion uh commissioner Mia thank you Mr President so the diversity and inclusion committee meeting began at 1 pm attendees were myself as serving as chair work commissioner Judith bassford and administrators are going to be Mr jeno um
076Dr kushal levich um superintendent assistant superintendent um Mr shahada um High School pres principal Mr hamda some teachers that were in the committee as well would include Mrs malama Miss Turk Miss Lopez um Miss Tava and um Miss tesca as well some students that were there as as well so the committee reviewed and discussed policy 5756 um some of the students were there were asked about their opinions on their policy and which they were in support of uh many of the staff also discussed their opinions on the policy and uh overwhelming amount of support was given by both the staff and students on keeping this policy inside of our board um no other further discussion was taken after that the meeting Jed at 135 so I'll work with droi um to determine the next meeting
077for diversity and inclusion um after that we also did discuss one of the diversity clubs mentioned that there will be an lgbtq plus Workshop in the coming months um hopefully at least three and that will be open to the public um and when that does come out I'll make sure to put it out there for any of you who want to attend those uh meetings but I did want to you know implore our board right now that during this commit committee many of our students you know gave a bunch of support in keeping policy 5756 and many of our staff members as well so I hope we do keep this policy as um many of you guys heard during the committee um and I hope we don't disappoint our students and our staff so thank
078you again any questions Mr President yes thank you commissioner Mahia did did Administration weigh in at all on the discussion yes Administration also did weigh in on the discussion yes and they they and may I ask what they stated so they stated even if we decided to amend or suspend this poliy legally we are binded to go ahead and still follow through with it so our administrators were on full support of policy 5756 as well did they elaborate on that did they state that they would have to make a separate file and keep it confidential anything like that so legally we would still have to abide to it even if we do decide to amend or suspend the policy as that we discussed thank you were Middle School a few more questions Mr President sure
079were were any middle school students represented so the diversity inclusion committee is mostly made up of just high school students at this point currently so no grade school students were present either no were any grade school teachers present so there were not any grade school teachers present no Elementary no did anyone at the committee meetings state that anybody was ever outed in this District as a result of their sexual orientation no um based off the committee no thank you anyone else okay thank you uh education special education um Mr Paris thank you president Smith uh the education and special education committee met on December 6th we began at 4M present were chairperson uh Dr Danny uh myself and commissioner bassford for administration uh Miss kusevic was there Mr Jenaro and M Rolo the first discussion
080was PR uh preliminary explor ation of a drone program um currently there are two companies one is called Telly drone the other called little Ivy uh they were presented for discussion by board president Smith the district will look into the viability of a program for younger grades at this time both the high school CTE marketing program uh has an FAA registered drone for high level marketing campaigns and the media Communications Department also has an FAA registered drone uh the district is exploring expanded use of drones for Innovative student learning programs and clubs as well as inclusion in additional High schoolies uh an update to the homework policy proposal was given by Miss kusevic collaborative question survey went out through qual qual trick survey to 15,000 community members questions mimic the policy change and provide options
081for stakeholders to give input results will be reviewed for the next meeting a discussion on proximity learning uh was led by Miss Kus levich once again we discussed the teacher shortage the need for specialized certificated staff members especially for high school classes proximity Is used only for short-term Replacements due to the growing teacher shortage by allowing for certificated staff to be broadcast CED into the classroom we keep students current with their curriculum and the program is discontinued as soon as we find full-time person that we can hire currently we're using distance learning for nine class periods at the high school one has been hired uh to take over four of these class periods in January and we're continuing the job search for the other sections a special education update was given by m Rolo um
082she shared the following information the award-winning IMPACT program at CHS had their ribbon cutting on November 28th for their state-of-the-art new classroom the New Jersey School Board Association recognized the new IMPACT program on November 30th as one of the outstanding programs in the state in collaboration with the cea we are hosting a nurtured heart training with dinner for parents on December December 7th at school 17 so that happened this evening uh the Cornerstone private Special Needs school will sponsor a free workshop for our child study teams on challenging behaviors that will be held on December 11th we're working on changes to the specific learning disabilities policy we are creating a new behavioral special specialist job due to the lack of bcbas that are available we continue to look for teachers and Par professionals if you
083know anyone interested in becoming a Mustang please let us know sensory calming Corners are being added to both general education classes in kindergarten and first grade as well as special education self-contained ABA classes our meeting ended at 4:40 p.m. any questions I have a just a comment yes uh we also the committee also requested that um the Drone the Drone program become part of the open house a demonstration so we can entice new students anyone else okay um just a correction for for the minutes um um commissioner Paris I believe is the chairman of that committee not Dr Danny so if they could just correct those minutes okay we're going to move along yes I'm sorry yes um based off the minutes from the committee would you say that the teacher shortage is one of
084the biggest issues that our district is facing right now uh considering the amount of discussion we had on it yes and the and the difficulties that's presented as far as uh us looking for alternative methodologies where we can bring content to students but looks like about half the classes that were currently being uh taught this way are going to be eliminated very soon because we have a new hire coming on board so we're down to it looks like I think five four or five classes left all right thank you very much commissioner pretty good okay any other questions okay we're going to move on to um unfinished business um Mr President can we move unfinished business until after the we get through all the presentations and because I have something for unfinished I'd rather it
085go after I think it's going to be a lengthy discussion okay you don't mind yep thank you all right we'll move on to um education Administration um we're going to do um the first three are going to be uh held uh so we'll do four through 13 please president Smith yes I believe we want to read um item number four yes I have yes all right so we'll do that separate also all right so let's do five through uh 13 Please Mr abrao seconded by Dr Dany any discussion roll call please Mr rrao yes M Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motion carries um if we could have a movement on number four please by Mr abrao second by
086um Miss bassford um discussion yeah I asked this um I asked this resolution to be put on um this res resolution is a recognition of Mr David zot um if you don't know who Dave zot is Dave was a um U graduate of Clifton High School a very good uh football player he went on to play in college and also in the pros um he will be the first Clifton resident first Clifton graduate uh to be nominated to the Pro Football Hall of Fame he is on the nomination right now uh we hope that he'll get elected but uh this is a substantial um credit to Clifton uh and to Mr zot on his nomination to the National Football Hall of Fame so uh this is in recognition the board's recognition of that uh momentous
087um achievement uh so that's what this resolution is anything else roll call please Mr abjo yes Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motion carries uh Mr zot was invited to be here uh but had a previous engagement we'll make sure that we get that uh the certificate uh sent to him um he is he is local he works for the New York Jets right now so um he is local all right um we'll have a motion please on ea1 motion motion by Dr Danny second second by Mr Parish uh discussion all right this Le this reads uh resolved that the Board of Education recognizes fem Abad drao and expresses his gratitude for his dedication and service to the community
088and students of Clifton serving as a board member since 2007 17 Mr abrao served as vice president in 2019 from 17 to 23 Mr abrao served on the diversity legislative and policy committees as chairperson he was also a member of the Athletics HSA liaison technology Municipal Alliance Finance negotiations student liaison and Judiciary Transportation Food Service education special education and security committees um do you want this oh yeah so um you want to read that um so pay County School boards there's a certificate here of appreciation this certificate is proudly presented for honorable service to Fahim K abdrabo Clifton Board of Education seven years of service whose dedication and service to students of their Community have contributed significantly to the advancement of public education in New Jersey all right so I have a roll call please
089on ea1 Mr abrao miss bassford Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motion carries if the uh full board would like to come up and we can take a picture Miz so we'll just read it to record so uh motion on ea2 recognizing fasaad motion by Mr abrao second by Mr Mahia discussion roll call please Mr abrao yes Miss bassford Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Paris Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motion carries okay next uh we have uh ea3 please motion by Mr abrao seconded who was that Mr Mahia uh vice president Danny you want to read it yes resolve that the Board of Education recognized Jim Smith and expresses its gratitude for his dedication and
090service to the community and students of Clifton serving as a board member from 1994 to 2006 then 2019 to 2023 as president 2021 2022 and 2023 Mr Smith served on all committees athletic itics diversity education special education facilities Finance negotiations Hasa liaison legislative Municipal Alliance Personnel policy residency security student liaison Judiciary technology and F Transportation Food Service he also is a member of the municipal Alliance policy and resid residency committees from 2019 to to 2020 and the pay County School boards Association certificate of appreciation this certificate is proudly presented for honorable service to Jim Smith Clifton Board of Education 16 years of service whose dedication and service to the students of their Community have contributed significantly to the advancements of public education in New Jersey [Applause] okay roll call please Mr abrao yes Miss bassford
091Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes and president Smith yes motion carries TR I wouldn't be surprised [Music] um U fim and myself will hold uh to our comments to uh under commissioner comments uh and Mr uh Awad uh will uh make sure that the uh his award gets uh sent to him okay so let's move on to uh Personnel please uh we have uh P1 and we go through p32 motion by Mr abrao second second by Mr Mahia uh discussion seeing none roll call please Mr abjo yes Miss bassford yes I'm abstaining on check 214 720 and also on P um 26 rest is yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motions
092carry all right next we move on to finance and Facilities we have uh uh F1 through f13 motion by m Mr Paris second by Mr robber drao discussion uh just like the public to be aware of uh F1 which is a um um a donation uh sent to uh School number 14 um in the amount of $25,000 for an electronic sign uh at School 14 we uh truly do appreciate and thank the donor for for that great donation okay roll call please Mr abrao uh yes but I'm have toing on f13 Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Paris yes on 13 only yes say are you saying yes your name only for the abstention yes sorry Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith yes motions carry okay we're going
093to um where do you want me finish business now yes okay okay uh Miss bford yes I would like to make a motion to cancel the Clifton public Board of Education meeting on December 14th regarding policy 5756 transgender students legal reasons Middletown maror man alipin English town Regional School boards East Handover townships are currently under litigation with the New Jersey attorney general due to the amendments to the transgender policy costing the district's possibly thousands of dollars many boards around the state are supporting keeping the policy until litigations has rendered a decision policy these there are no I and uh just so my board fellow board members know I did a lot of uh research on this for the last couple of weeks and through emails to Mr Ross there are no other policy in the
094Clifton Public Schools polic handbook that protects this class of students in any way shape or form costs for the special meeting security $1,000 I checked this out with the superintendent and administration thank you very much for your hard work on this the attorney no offense about $1,500 and if there's any other cost for um any kind of um research that you have done the ad AV Department about $600 and other ancillary costs about um say almost $3,000 $4,000 also this is lame duck session what what actions May the outgoing board take um between the election and organization a board of education is a non-continuous board body which life lasts only from organization to organization a board May bind a successive board when only authorized by Statute such as where the legislative uh specialty permits boards
095to enter into multi-year contracts collective bargaining agreements and the super superintendent contracts that span the lives of several boards after the voters have elected a new board that permitted activities of ongoing the outgoing lame duck boards during the short period from April it also um I'll I'll reference November annual School elections are limited however occasionally there are matters that ongoing outgoing board must address during the short lame duck period between the school election and the organization of the succeeding boards routine actions such as the the approval of purchase orders for goods services or the approval of use of facilities are examples of the matters that may uh properly be handled handled by the outgoing board other more significant matters including the approval of individual contracts the awarding of salary increases and increments um and or
096legal matters for the next seceding school year may be inappropriate um refence Novak versus the Board of Education in Manville um s Dora um boards are urged to consult with their attorney to make sure the outgoing board's actions do not improperly absurd the authority of the successor board Gillis versus Hillside Board of Education wherein the commissioner affirmed that upholding Novak was determining a sitting board absur um the authority of the incoming board when lame duck boards rescinded the superintendent's existing contract this just an example um this is a lame duck issue um I'm urging our board to take that into consideration that the new board should weigh in on this it's a very very hot topic for school districts that have a November annual election organizations do not take place until nearly two months after
097election is comp uh compared with the weeks in between election and organization of a school district Boards of Education should with the advice of the cons um consultation of the attorney take take their lead from Municipal counterparts and such on such on etc etc the closer the action Falls within the time period prescribed in Novak versus the Board of Education in Manville the most likely it will be called into question and possibly cing the district legal action which is money that we would in budgeting during the lane Duck Session boards are urged to the consult with their attorney to make sure the outgoing board's actions do not improperly absurd the authority of the successor board modifying the policy will cause uh suit to the district we cannot amend the policy action to the policy should
098uh once again go to policy committee for discussion again their way in from the students the staff in the community in multiple discussions not just one special meeting uh matters such as this will greatly affect the board um that forms on January 1st 2024 the new board should have the weighin and because this is going to really affect their tenure um thus this read this meeting needs to be canceled so my motion stands as I'm I'm making a motion to cancel the December 14th regular meeting regarding policy number 5756 can I ask some qu my there's there's a there's a motion on the floor let's do a motion and then we'll have questions on that okay there's a motion on the floor debate until there's a second correct motion on the floor by Miss bassford
099to be clear CC to cancel the December 14th per correct period end of story that's it second by Mr Santiago discussion Mr brunak okay so so we had this we had discussed this at length over here right and what she mentioned over here is this policy that doesn't protect this status of people I have never heard ever that any student has ever been outed as a result of their sexual orientation or whatever and what we discuss with this policy as well is that it's applicable to grade school students as well so this is I don't know if it's applicable to prek kids too is that right does anybody know if that's the case or no regarding this policy I would presume districtwide districtwide districtwide so you're saying my six-year-old son could change his name to
100Francine right he could change his name to Francine and his teacher going to have to accept it accept that name change and then she has to tell the principal and then they have to make a file on that right and then they're not allowed to tell me or my wife that's the biggest issue with that we discussed at at the meeting and I asked commissioner Mahia I asked commissioner Mia earlier did anybody from that committee meeting reference ever suggest that they were added never because this District I've I've never even seen a report in history that anybody's ever been added for something that's so private to you in the first place your orientation and now you're telling me with a straight face I I didn't even hear anybody argue that they that it's normal is
101it normal for a fifth grader to change it or for a 5-year-old to change their name is it normal for them to to change their identity is it normal for me not to be able to know that as a parent so this is my concern here that we've never had a even even in the 90s when I went here when I went to CHS I've never heard of that any of my gay friends lesbian by friends none of them ever this Pol this this District I don't know any District whoever ever outed it so this is what's going through my head yeah it's a Hot Topic it's a Hot Topic but it's so important I think it puts this this this thing this policy puts a district at risk as a result of it I
102didn't hear any par I haven't heard from any parents yet or anything if you think it's okay that that this school district or any school districts any school district keeps a secret file when they're six-year old when they're 5-year-old if prek is included if your three-year-old changes your name and or your identity you think it's okay for this district and you're saying it doesn't put it at risk so yeah this is kind of an important topic thank you yes commissioner Mia so during the last Bo meeting your mic your mic is on I can't hear so during the last board meeting you were the one who um motioned for this to get suspended no am I correct for what oh you just yes yes I made a motion to to suspend yes absolutely policy so
103now you're going back on your decision because you did do your research and you realize that this policy is needed policy 5756 is needed in our district to protect our students protect our staff protect our district so now you're going back on what you said last meeting yes or no can I answer that if am I allow to answer the question I'll let you answer it thank you so um I did a lot of research I was approached by a lot of people in the community both parent staff students but I did my research down in the state I have a fiduciary obligation to this District it's going to be uh a financial burden if we get sued um there was amendments that came in from a particular Community member that I would like legal
104to weigh in we can't amend it but I'm being told by my counterparts in the state who I highly respect both County and state to wait until the litigation comes out from the four districts that are being sued by the Attorney General before we make a decision I wanted to um I'm going to be very careful because people are going to twist my words no matter what I say and it's always the way it happens around here I was very upset that we were told that this policy was mandated when it it was not it put a lot of it wasn't fair to the policy committee to put this through we rushed it through without knowing that we could have really taken our time to have public meetings on it we thought it was mandated
105and that was with the advice of our former councel not you that gave it to us had we been giving that information that may that policy never may have been in the books this policy needs to have weigh in from every single stakeholder in this District staff students and the taxpayers when I did my research and I had people confronting me about this I felt the best thing to do and I talked to Administration was to cancel the meeting so we have time to digest it do our own research as individual board members come together and then we're prepared for the onslaught of public session that this meeting is going to incur all right thank you thank you so based off that you did realize that after doing your duty you realize that we do
106need this policy may I go ahead I realize that we need the policy to protect the class of students I'm not in agreement with some of the things in the policy I have to also worry about staff being being brought into a lawsuit if they protect that student and not tell the parents and something happens to that child there was many questions so my work and I don't know why I'm under the gun here about my what my my reason was because it was other people so I'm hoping that everybody else gets put on this and just so that my rest of my fellow board members know when I was summonsed to the diversity meeting I didn't know what the diversity meeting was about I went into a cold so I wasn't prepared I was
107I would have had more information for the students I had to really be careful with what I said because I didn't want to avoid discussing that with you guys as well so going forward I wish I would have gotten a heads up so I would have been prepared but I wasn't and I wasn't also prepared for that night Mr brunc came to me about putting something on the agenda I am a firm believer of seconding a person on this day's request for information so that we can have discussion you may change my mind but when I got confronted by many people in this District about the importance of of protecting this class of students and right now according to my res search is being on policy this is the only policy that we have that
108protects this class of students I have to ask for the cancellation of this meeting thank you the only reason I'm asking is because I implored this to the board and my fellow colleagues last meeting I said we need this policy we need it I came in last year because I had friends family members who are being attacked because of this in my own personal life and for me to neglect them is for me to neglect my own family my own friends people I've been friends with 15 20 years you know people who friends who've been friends with my parents you know longer than I've been alive the only reason I bring this up is because I am looking at an article right now tell me if it's wrong where it says that you believe and
109that you see the biggest issue currently right now is parental rights that this board is is facing before during the committee reports ask commissioner Paris what is the biggest challenge we are facing right now now one of them is our teacher shortest Dr roosi can you agree with me can you please State the top five biggest issues you think our board is facing currently if you can well teacher shortage is definitely in the top five um this issue policy 575k 55 is uh a big issue funding is always an issue and we'll we'll learn more about that in February but I would say those are the three biggest things all right thank you so the point of this is do you want to stop this now because you believe maybe the next board will probably
110have the other side whichever side anyone picks I believe we can get this down toot today and doing the right thing in protecting our students our staff as I mentioned before in my diversity committee report a bunch of students teachers faculty explain that we need this policy and I don't want to stop the meeting that we have next week only because I know there are going to be members of the community here to implore that we need this policy because what's going to happen we're going to cancel that meeting and what everyone's going to keep bringing it up bringing it up and then boom we're going to have to do another meeting we should hear from our constituents we are here to represent our community I don't believe in playing games and getting rid of
111something only because you think it might benefit yourself or your politics your image your brand our students deserve this protection our community deserves this and I implore this board to vote to keep 5756 thank you very much Mr President um anyone else may I before I go Mr so I just want to mention so last meeting you know my feelings on this policy have not changed since last meeting I said exactly the same thing um it the law it would be incredibly expensive can you imagine how much money it's going to be to go up against the state um we can use that money for teachers I said it last meeting um you know I think think about the intent of this policy right the intent of this policy is to protect students that's the
112intent of the policy full stop is to protect on top of that a subset right trans students we heard today right there are plenty of trans students who are open and out to their parents this is a group of of of students who they know for their reason fear of being ostracized fear of being um verbally abused emotionally abused some physically abused right these are a specific subset of these students for that reason that they're scared and they just cannot come out to their parent or Guardian that's the intent of this policy and you know a lot of times you know I too talk to a lot of people I hear a lot of things and a lot of times there's this kind of what if hypothetical situation and we can make a what if
113hypothetical situation that ends often times they catastrophize and they always end in some horrible demise if we do this thing it what if what if what if what if and we can create wha ifs until we're blue in the face right but the intent is it's to protect these students and that's all it is it's it's you know it's not preschools students Etc the intent of this law um that we have to abide by is to protect those students for fear of coming out um and that's really it and why would we not want to protect the students we protect the students all the time um I just want to if I can really quick mention from the New Jersey school boards Association code of ethics for our Schoolboard members letter C I will confine
114my board action to policym planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board is consulted those who will be affected by them who is most affected by this the students I hear a lot about everything but hardly anything about these students who are affected by that um additionally F I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan Pol political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends um we need to revisit these School uh code of ethics um and my feelings and you know position on this have not changed I totally second that we should cancel that meeting and I totally am all for keeping this policy thank you Mr President just let me stick by Robert's
115Rules anyone else that hasn't spoken on the issue yet then I'll come back to you mark okay Mr Paris I I think the issu is ultimately being tested in in the courts now is who's going to Prevail student rights or parental rights the basis to my understanding that the state is basing their litigation on is the state's anti-discrimination law and that this policy supports that and those districts that are being currently taken to litigation have actually amended their policies to to state that it would be mandated that par parents were were told uh about gender questioning uh students I don't think it would be very wise for us at this point in time to resend the policy or abolish the policy or suspend the policy um because it is in accordance at least it's the
116position the state's taken it's in accordance with the the state's national discrimination uh anti-discrimination law so we we should hear this sometime in the spring that was what I heard Also I spoke to one of the uh experts some a school law expert felt that sometime in the spring a decision would finally come and uh certainly we should always as Mr uh Santiago pointed out we need to air on the side of students having our schools as a safe place um so I would also support um definitely canceling the meeting and as well as enfor keeping the policy in place certainly until that time that we even have some clear visibility as to um the validity and legality of changing such a policy yes Dr Danny um I have to say that I um Echo
117the sentiments of um Mr Paris um you know being with the Pake County School boards and um you know haven't spoken to the lawyers and that and that they're saying this is in um litigation and that as you had stated Mr Paris that you know the spring um it doesn't mean that we can't have a discussion um and it might not even be any discussion because it might be just whatever comes out of litigation so I think you know being mindful of um taxpayers and you know again as um how much this would cost I mean also the the amount of the meeting um I I just think that the timing of the meeting too I mean it's um you know I'm just going to say it's it's the holidays and it's just a time
118of love and and peace and and um you know being thankful for what you have and and I I just I I you know that that to me again like I said just um doesn't resonate with having a meeting at at that um that time um and to be again coming up for a vote then after that when there's so much litigation and then it might cost us um financially and like Mr Santiago said I mean to use that to put that money to better use you know and hiring you know whatever power professional part-time or something like that so you know to justify that we might be in litigation I think for me right now is just um I I think it's just we wait and I mean the policy is is the policy
119so I would just be in support of cancelling that meeting um that's it anyone else you Mr President F yeah first of all I want acknowledge the room because if you have somebody of this this nature coming out you know you got an issue uh Miss Butterfield's in the room and you know if the P County um education association's here you know there's an issue and what I'm trying to say is you know do parents have a right yes do students have a right absolutely school is a place of protection and for many it's home number one before their actual physical address is okay you know I'm going to be honest this is to me is social versus religious simple as that and why do I say that I say that because as somebody who
120believes in God and faith in abrahamic religions it tells you what it tells you about gender and whatnot but in the Social Democratic world we talk about protecting identity protecting children and protecting making sure that we build a safe Community for all but what I I don't my issue is not 5756 there is parents right my issue I'm going to piggy back off for you Richie sorry commissioner Mia is when you motion and don't tell me you did your research this has been discussion for months two meetings ago I asked for the financial situation that we would get into and I believe you were here if not it was I think you were here when I asked about that I think it was two meetings ago so the public can know how much it would
121cost if we were to be sued and go to court but yet nobody stayed nobody nobody said a thing stayed quiet but then we motioned last meeting to put this and not only did you motion you coached and advised Mr brunak on how to go about it and don't tell me you're being attacked all right because that honestly I'm sick and tired of that default I've been quiet and it's been building up for a while and guess what it's my last meeting I got nothing to lose and yes I do believe in lame duck all right sessions that is for the state the federal and it should also be for the Board of Ed and if anybody know what Lan duck is in simple terms of her definition what how she stated I'll sum it
122up basically somebody gets elected in November you get a new board new legislators coming out in January people will vote a certain way just because they want to burn the bridge they want to burn down the place okay and I totally believe in that working for a legislator working for a member of Congress understanding what it is I fully believe and matter of fact I actually was going to abstain on this as well not voting yes or no okay but you know what I'm sick and tired of that default excuse over and over and over for the past God knows how many years I've been on here okay we've talked about financial uh uh responsibilities we never got the answer no offense there's no way for me to give you an answer how much litigation
123is going to no I I I wasn't throwing anything shade to you I just I'm just I'm stating facts for the past few for the past few meetings I'm just stating facts but then you want to take it back cuz friends and whatnot have been telling you and approaching you the last time I remember when friends or anybody approach you you tell them come to the meetings we don't talk about it in public and you you're not a a board member off the de if I mean if I'm wrong tell me I'm wrong personally they should have came tonight and spoken about it so we can all hear them as nine board members rather than I heard this I was told this blah blah blah blah blah enough you know honestly we need to figure
124out what is important to this District whether it's going to be protecting our children or parents coming up here and saying you made a mistake the gentleman that spoke said because Jim and I lost we're on the wrong side of History I'm sorry you know what I've spoken about 57 56 and protecting our children over and over and over and over and over but they know and I know where I belong on that you know okay simple as that so to that gentlemen I disagree with you yeah all right listen we get into this I'm going to call it business as elected officials as board members and education for one purpose and one purpose only and that's a protection that's why I did not want that vote to happen last meeting because I wanted people
125come up and speak so we can hear it for for ourselves once and and get it over with should we have this meeting next week I told you way I was going to vote I just mentioned it I still think we should have the meeting no disrespect to everybody that spoke it's not about I understand if we have the meeting children going to be children going to feel vulnerable and attacked because we're having to meet because there's going to be a lot of spewed hatred coming next week I get it wholeheartedly I'm with you but all due respect there are people who I think should be given the opportunity because if not next week they're going to come the meeting after if not then they're going to come the meeting after I really think it
126should be put to bed be done with and that's it I mean obviously listen you've heard from every single individual tonight you there's a sense of how everybody's going to vote on this it's really clear everybody has made it clear that's it anyone else that hasn't spoken yet I'm just going to make a comment real quick um you know transparency on a board is is so important um and anytime I ever got information I always made sure I shared it with my colleagues um but someone gave me some information that this uh lame duck crap was being brought up tonight um so I did my diligence and called the state attorneys um and um yeah that doesn't apply to this so don't don't be listening to any lame duck um you know I'll just show
127you thousands of dollars of contracts that I'm signing here if I'm lame if I'm a lame duck president then these mean might as well just throw in the garbage waste my time anymore um the lame duck situation was put into effect when Board of Education elections were in April which was read earlier in April you had an election and then a week later was the reorganization meeting so in that week they did not want major contracts and things signed during so that was a lame duck not two months people not two months so the lame duck crap is a bunch of garbage um so I did my homework and called the state so if anyone wants to uh see my notes from the state attorneys on that I'll be glad to share it with you
128but if this full board had made have made aware of that we could have all discussed that but it's always on a last minute attack um of things uh Mr M here you brought up something before about um comments that were made you know uh about the the uh important issues of the district or where were those comments made oh so it it's made to the Press oh which which I believe we have a policy that no board member should be talking to the Press correct interesting and that was made when interesting right after the election very interesting the state state also was very interested in hearing that comment so um there'll be other stuff happening on that very soon um so I'm not discrediting any board member for changing their mind however could you
129read was it was it ananymous vote last meeting to have this special meeting yes so everyone voted to have the special meeting and then less than two weeks later everyone's changing their mind oh you weren't here okay no so everyone that was you voted no you that is correct all right so there was one no for the record yes I was the only one who said it okay that's why I was asking them for the record um so you know the board's entitled to do what they want to do but there's a cost involved in this as well we had to to advertise this meeting um so there there's there's cost involved in this so it just not should be something take taken lightly um it doesn't give a good look that a board advertised
130for a meeting we want the public to come and give their their uh voice and then now you're canceling that um hey I'm all happy for it I I surely did not want to come back for another meeting so um let another duck sit here and do that whenever you want but uh uh this duck will be uh not be be uh adhering to any of that but again I just think it's it doesn't show a good light of this board um and you know I guess if the board had been appraised of this and we could have discussed this and um information could have gone out to everybody about this um it may have had shown a different light on this but um I always respect uh each and every board member for their
131uh their right in their decision so that's why if there's ever a second to to something I always give a second so that the board member could we could discuss the item um not everyone's going to agree on it but if there's a board member that feels emphatic enough about um having this meeting that's why I would would back that board member in in just hearing uh to what the people coming would have to say not that I'm agreeing or disagreeing with the topic um but obviously we'll do what the board wants to do so uh Mr um brunak if you would thank you Mr President these these four boards I were ref referenced before who did I want I want to commend commissioner Paris for clarifying the lawsuits board against those boards because they
132amended the policy to mandate stating something to the parents this policy does not this is not what we this is not what Our intention was over here commissioner bassford said the last meeting it was as simplistic as this policy is nonmandatory it's a non-mandatory policy Strauss Esme did a catastrophic error with this and at this point I don't even want to use their services anymore do we have to do we have to wait now and ask them if they're right on this if this is mandatory or not this shouldn't even be a big issue people want to make it a big issue because they some people love to play politics I don't I want to do what's best for our kids I want to do what's best for our kids and you're saying over here
133this is a Hot Topic or whatever but what you don't say is every single one of these every single one of these districts that they amended their policy or they abolished it and they implemented another policy that is exactly why the Attorney General's office sued these districts every single other District which I haven't heard from any of my colleagues on this board have any of those PE any of those districts that have just outright aboss this policy have ever been sued file suit by the AG's office please correct me if I'm wrong please correct me if I'm wrong so well it's not because I did the research I've been doing the research in anticipation of this meeting next week Mr President being being that I'm being cross-examined on the stand let me let me respond
134first of all M brunc you came to me to make a motion you wanted to learn how to make a motion under what business and I and I assisted you correct did we have any kind of secret uh thing going on with that okay thank you secondly during that article I did state in the article because I was called after the me after the election and I said very clearly in the article it was my personal views and opinions I wasn't speaking for the board so my words are being Twisted once again by several people it's it's we have until I don't know how many more days sour grapes I don't know whatever you want to call it I'm asking to cancel the meeting because I'm being told it's going to be a circus and
135I don't want to bring the financial burden the fiduciary obligation that we are going to undertake to this District until next year until we get legal advice from our attorney my information came from school boards because I'm sure I'm going to be told I'm plagiarizing on that it was sent to the attorney it was cleared by the attorney maybe I wasn't specific enough to say that those four districts were being sued because they amended the policy I'll go back and rechange my words I don't want to amend the policy I have we have have a protected class that we have to worry about sometimes people do make mistakes and they don't admit to their mistakes because they're not humble enough you can laugh all you want Mr abrao the voters spoke thank you all right
136anyone else want to discuss this so even we have the meeting next week we don't have to vote on it correct the motion so so the way I have researched this with the state attorneys and you could correct me if I'm they're wrong or I'm wrong so basically our policy states that we have to have two readings of policy okay so if you want to abolish this policy you would have to have the first reading tonight and then a vote on the second one at the special meeting next week you could also make to abolish it you could make a second meeting you could to to resend your policy it's two readings when those two readings occur is not magical either tonight the next meeting a meeting in January could be a meeting you could
137do it now if you want it well my point is that it's not a matter of tonight and the 14th it's that's your bylaws require two readings to abolish a to resend a policy right that's so there's not a so my understanding of the motion that was made I I apologize no um and so um the the reality is that what I understand the effect of last two weeks ago or whenever it was motion was for purposes of having a public discussion it was not to resend it was not to amend it was not to do anything it was to have a public discussion on 5756 that was what I believe to be the motion the minutes would reflect if I'm correct or not I don't know I believe I'm correct I'm pretty good at
138about these things um but my recollection is that it was a motion to allow for there to be public discussion on the good bad or the indifference of 5756 it was not a motion to resend it wasn't a motion to place it on the agenda P to be resend did none of those things were were discussed or or um acted upon when you guys voted to say that you're going to have a special meeting on the 14th thank you very much for clarifying that for the public cuz I think some of them weren't aware of that so thank you very much so the motion before you is are you going to cancel or not the 14th the 14th in and of itself was simply a an an item a matter was being brought forward for
139discussion with the public with with the board um in fact I remember pretty distinctly a discussion that it was going to go back to committee for purposes of of having input by the various stakeholders which I believe happened if I read the minutes of that meeting this evening correctly um and so you know you have an action item in front of you now to to cancel a meeting nothing more nothing less and everyone has spoken I'm not looking to stop debate that's not my role um we can sit here all night and have this you know this continuing dialogue it seems that all the board members have spoken my suggestion is to call the the question to be done continue the dialogue what you wish so in answer in answer to that yes it's just
140a special meeting that that but you asked and I'm giving you the answer to it because we have two readings of policy if you wanted something to take place next meeting you'd have to do the first reading tonight or you could make a motion to suspend the two readings and just do one motion at any time you wish those are prerogatives that the board has and none of and none of those things eliminate the legal requirements that you comply with the law against discrimination in the state of New Jersey right having a policy not having a policy a different Pol anything other than creating a different mandate um which was enjoined and restrained by the court which is why they we waiting for the court to now act in three or four months um that's
141why those other districts are in court they they they foed a different requirement into into the Mandate no no pun intended on mandate um but the on on the legal requirement and the Attorney General brought them to court a restraint was issued by a judge saying that those policies that those districts implemented are not to be enforced until the merits of the action are decided so in fact those districts Lost in My Parliament the first round of that it's not you know that was just one step of this process so whether you adopt anything other than adopting a new policy that has a separate or different mandate in it um I don't believe is necessarily exposing this District to potential legal action by the Attorney General's office whether you resend the policy or not doesn't
142stop the the district from enforcing the guidance issued by the Attorney General so if you were to ask me my opinion my opinion would be do nothing wait why why get yourselves in in a in this controversy and and rile everybody up over something that is largely out of your hands anyway and if you don't want my opinion don't listen to me and do what you want and that's fine too I'm you know I'll be here all night you know I me make a motion to call the question that's lovely so it's a motion to call the question please call the question so there's a motion on the floor in a second to cancel the special meeting on December 14th I'm ready Mr AB roll call abin Miss bassford Mr brunak no Mr Mahia no
143Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes vice president Danny yes president Smith no we have motion does not carry no it does can it does carry the abstention goes with the affirmance the affirmance are the yes there's four yes three no one exstension Roberts rules it's you should have actually said president not voting but we'll call that for a different day um the abstention yeah so the abstentions go with with the yes vot majority the majority was cancel the meeting four votes in favor of canceling the meeting three votes not in favor of canceling the meeting and an exstension motion carries no meeting no meeting motion carries and you can call the state on me if you like any other unfinished business move mov on all right we got board member comments um let's see I
144think it's Mr Santiago right let me just check yes sir s thank you president Smith um congratulations to all of our employees of the month um and to our students um I wanted to just pile on to the to the kudos to the maintenance team um the school 11 HSA uh does their annual tree lighting and it was going to be raining and and they reached out and I talked to Dr Rober toy and um he was like well we'll see if we have some tents or something and there were two tents and you we were able to get those up and uh have a great a tree lighting and so I wanted to thank Mo he was out there uh Stefano and Mike who were here I think Stefano was here Mike I saw
145and so thanks to them uh very much for for helping us with the HSA at school 11 uh congrats to Mrs kusevic on 30 years she is an asset an asset to our district congrats for 30 years and I sincerely just want to say Happy Hanukkah merry Christmas happy K Quanza I wish everyone a peaceful rest of the New Year sincerely and um an even better amazing uh 2024 thank you uh Miss bassford yes good evening thank you to all the speakers that came how about that uh eighth grader at woodo Wilson Ruda Paul uh Patel what a what a what a what a personality see him going places soon in in life congratulations to the students of the month congratulations to the employees of the month happy Hanukkah I was um happy to uh
146participate at the manur lighting over at the city hall today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day something that was uh always stressed in my home uh my father's a World War II veteran um happy K Quanza happy boxing day Merry Christmas to all um my wish for the New Year's that you have someone to love have meaningful work to do and have things greater than yourself to believe in that you have a reason to smile every day and a shoulder to cry on when you need it that you keep your integrity even when the choices are hard that you love deeply give freely forgive willingly laugh easily live well enough to be grateful every day happy New Year Mr punak thank you Mr President want to wish all my brothers and sisters in the Jewish Community
147happy Hanukkah I want to wish everybody in our district um Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year as well and finally I want to wish commissioner aljo and president Smith continued success I I wish you both of you continued success in your future ende endeavors thank you very much everybody and God bless America have a good night everybody thank you Mr uh miia um thank you all for coming tonight in support of the LGBT um Q Plus Community um happy Hanukkah for all those who celebrate it was a great lighting presentation over at City Hall congratulations to all 183 students um who ended up getting an ID yesterday so congratulations to them and congratulations on that scholarship money you know $1.3 million goes a long way in high Ed um and I just want to
148you know personally State I wasn't attacking anybody today today what I did was my duty as an elected official on this board to always vote for what is right in terms of our students our constituents our faculty members our staff members and for this District you know when I first decided to go on and run I messaged a few people you know current Commissioners you know asking how do I do what you guys do how do I get on it you know sadly I didn't get any responses you know um um there was one commissioner in fact who you know took the time out of his day to actually talk to me tell me what are the things I need and what did I need to do in order to be um a candidate in
149all this you know I like to thank him for all that um it's sad sad see that this is going to be his last year so thank you commissioner Abra for you know sitting down with me and telling me what are the steps you need to take in order to be a candidate because unfortunately when I asked people people didn't think I was qualified enough people refused to give me the forms people refused to believe that I actually want a seat on this board there was people who were celebrating saying that they were the true winners and calling my victory nothing but lies so thank you for all those for supporting me thank you president Smith for you know your mentorship thank you for always being there for our students and support of our staff
150faculty members our par professionals thank you for all the hard work you guys have done for this District I know it goes a long way looking back at h um during High School I remember um this board was filled with Commissioners who actually looked like me and that goes a long way you know when I was in elementary school unfortunately I didn't see that many City County State you know presidential anything who look just like me and today I sit on this board with not just one two three four who look exactly like me who resemble someone who thinks like me someone who acts like me someone who I see myself in um and thank you for pushing for that diversity you know thank you for those who came before them who led for a
151path for me to be on this board and you know I can't thank any of you guys enough for that um thank you for the district for giving us you know three brand new board members I know Joe has been here on the board before but thank you you know he's another great guy from the Bonnie Village another person who's representing along with me and Mark over here so thank you for adding another botney kid onto this board cuz at the end of the day we're all here for the same thing pushing for our students to go forward in life so thank you have a great day everybody thank you um Mr Paris thank you president Smith and a huge thank you to president Smith and to commissioner Abad drao for your time and all
152you've done to really help the students of this District uh truly is appreciated and thankful wish you both the very best um pretty much everybody said said it all so at risk of repeating myself I I do want to call out Miss kusel levich uh she's really the glue in this uh organization as far as uh learning goes in this District so 30 years that's quite an accomplishment and uh I hope she has 30 more um thank you to the strings that came tonight and Mr Louie it was really nice to have some uplifting music before we started and uh just happy Hanukkah happy K Quanza Merry Christmas and let's look forward to a great new year for our kids thank you thank you uh Dr Danny um thank you Mr President uh so I
153do want to say um it was really Lov to hear the students um playing when we came in that was really really nice uh thank you and um congratulations to miss kevich um for all the years that I've been on the board I mean she does just such an outstanding job um really a a credit to you know u in terms of leadership um for you know women in the district to look up to for all that she does um congratulations to all those who were recognized for their accomplish ments this evening um and um you know thank you Mr abajo known you for the seven years you've been on this board um I mean for the most part we we we got along you know I mean we disagreed but that's okay I mean
154that happens we always amicably disagreed um and I do wish you the best of um success and whatever your future endeavors hold and thank you for your you know dedication your years of service to the district and trying to improve it and you know um thank you and um Mr Smith it's um been very nice serving you know as VI as vice president with you don't cry you know I know sweating I know I know it was just timing it was timing um you know thank you I I know that your uh heart's in the right place you've always um you know been as uh Dr arber toi said very involved um very rarely missed um any of the committee meetings and um you know there are so many committees and you know you were
155always there and um you really do care about the students you care about the staff about everybody um you really care to make sure to see a lot of the the projects and things that were going on you really had um your hand in things um so you know thank you you definitely both of you have you know left a mark um and it left a mark on me left a mark on the district um and I do wish you the best in your future endeavors and um you know hopefully we'll see you at the podium or virtually or something putting in your input on things um so again thank you um and uh Happy Hanukkah um to those uh celebrating a lot of Jewish friends so you know that's that's exciting for them um
156Merry Christmas um happy K Quanza and happy and safe New Year to um everyone and that's it thank you thank you commissioner abjo thank you president Smith uh Happy Hanukkah Merry Christmas uh Happy K Quanza and happy New Year I apologize for not making this uh evening's Hanukkah festivities uh actually if you notice I came 2 minutes after at 7 o'cl 7:02 cuz I was um had a previous engagement prior um seven years really went by quickly um there's been a lot of accomplishments and you know a lot of things I look back at that would have done differently um I didn't have anything prepared honestly for this I'm so I'm just going to go off the cuff you know and I really meant when you get into something particularly this type of business in
157education it's really the children you know all stakeholders at the end of the day result to the education to of the children for the most part it's been a real pleasure over the past seven years with the various Commissioners working with each and one of you um you all have assets that bring to this deis into this District that has really shaped this Administration this district and the future as somebody who was born and raised in Clifton all of his life graduated 03 trouble here trouble there um when were kids um you know to give back to your town to your District to me honestly is a dream come true no doubt about it no payment necessary because the past board members have done well for us our teachers have done well for us our
158personnel and staff have done well for us have given us a lot which was actually mentioned takes a village to raise a child so why not that child grow up and give it back to his own The Village that's what it's about coming back and know I'm not sour I'll go I'll talk about that a little bit you know God works in mysterious ways puts you in places in front of people that we don't understand sometimes but you have to have Fai and Trust faith and trust excuse me okay well I did lose a election not going to lie welcome the next day my pants I went to work it is what it is we win some we lose some you know my daughter asked me she's like so how' you do did you win
159like no I lost she took it harder than I did but you know what to me it wasn't a teaching lesson to me was a teacher lesson to her particularly because as an 8-year-old I wanted to understand life happens and we move on that's what we got to teach our own children we teach our children in our Community what we want our children personally to learn and that's how we should treat every one of our children our child how they are our own every decision made we have to hold be held accountable because honestly one vote will shape thousands of students current and future and that's how we have to do it you know I'm going to underline it Danny Dr Robert toy I think you are the superintendent of superintendent if we can clone
160you and I really truly really believe this and put you in every County and every municipality I think the state will be so much different that's how highly I think of you I think you're an amazing man sorry you're an amazing gentleman individual father you've become a friend I think to many of us you're a phenomenal superintendent that doesn't look over people's shoulders in administration I've seen you in action and I think we all have and I think you're a phenomenal leader um hopefully Clifton will have will be lucky to have you until you decide to retire uh for years to come I'm not going to go around the days but I just want it because he is the CEO and leader of this district and to make sure that you know it was a
161pleasure to and an honor to serve on that committee when you were hired and honestly I knew you were it just by looking at your res before you even sat down in that chair in front of all of us STI with a little QR code and all that stuff um so I really don't have anything else to say but I'm I'm going to say something I need to get off my chest I've talked about it in previous board meetings I've gotten hit for it cuz people like to twist my words but you know I honestly just want peace in the world whoever side you're on there should be no sides you know few and I'm for the legal side I'm saying this in my own capacity not as a board member you should get up
162and say I'm kidding well it's been done in the past um what happened on October 7th is tragic what's happening now is tragic senseless killings around the world I'm not just talking about pal bus palestin is I'm talking about Ukraine I'm talking about in Africa I'm talking about in Europe I'm talking about everywhere when you hear a child suffering we got to make believe that that's that child in our community making sure if a child's suffering anywhere it's a child suffering everywhere the fact that Injustice is one place Injustice everywhere everywhere that's how we have to treat Humanity that's what I honestly came on the board because of the fact that we want to do and serve better in our community and do well whatever whatever and and this is just my last thoughts whatever
163you decide to do treat it as it's your own child treat it as it's your own Community treat it as though it's your relative treat it as though it's for you as they say what you want for yourself you want for your neighbor what you want for yourself you want for your brother what you want for yourself you want for your sister that's how Community should be all about and on that note thank [Music] you thank you um putting uh thoughts together for this meeting um became a little uh more difficult of a task than uh than I thought it was going to be um as you start to write your thoughts down and emotions start to play um I found myself you know rolling and folding up into the garbage uh different uh different
164notes that I had taken um if you know me I'm a person that uh usually does not speak from notes uh usually speak off the the top of my head um you know I usually don't speak very long um but if tonight you'll indulge me I may be a little bit longer than I normally do uh normally I'm a very quick uh speaker right wow that was something anyhow um that was good when you when you um when you decide to give service back to the community um you have to make you have to make some tough decisions um and I think people sometimes feel that you know running for an office or being part of a of a and having a title to your name is you know it's just uh going to be
165a piece of cake um let me tell you so you know over 16 years ago when I was approached by people at that time Mr miahi was the youngest uh board member um elected to the board of ed um I had had a previous history of dedicating my time and Devotion to uh kids through uh mostly through the uh Recreation program um I was a volunteer here for different uh activities uh through Recreation um I had been a um basketball coach a uh baseball coach soccer coach um and uh as well as a teacher so I felt my dedication and devotion was to kids and I wanted to find a place of where I could use my talents and my experience in helping kids in in my town um and someone approached me and said
166you know I think you should run for the city council uh you'd be a great councilman Etc and I said well what do they do for kids and basically the answer was that they did very little little in their capacity to help kids um and I did not want to just have a position just to hold the position I wanted to make a difference in assisting and helping so someone then approached me and asked me to be to run for the Board of Education and as most people in the past especially um would tell you nobody knows what a board of education is nobody knows what they do the only thing I have gotten over the 16 years is well you must make a lot of money that has up constantly especially with kids um
167it's as all of you may know this is not a paid position um this is truly a dedicated volunteer position um so again get on the board of education and um I'm then told you know you you got to you got to take some committees that may not be real important ones right now but you'll get on the better committees as as you progress and I thought to myself you know what does that mean I mean every committee should be important to the board not just certain committees um so it was always like the kind of running joke that uh you know the new guy would always be put on Transportation like that was supposed to be one of the lowest Committees of the board and um I found out quickly that's not the case
168I mean um imagine having to transport all those students in the city and make sure that they're eligible for free busing and not only with our kids but having to bus um kids that live in our town but go to different schools out of town so it's a tremendous job uh so there my point is there is not one committee that is more important than the other they're all very important so I felt my talents were best utilized at the board of education level after my first term I was approached that I should run for something higher um and again I said you know my talents are work best working with kids and I didn't run for the Board of Education um because I wanted to use it as a stepping stone for something higher
169um and here we are 16 years later and I I felt that I still had worked to accomplish and contribute to this district and to this town the voters unfortunately didn't see it that way um but very surprisingly just about 10% of people came out and voted in this election of a town of nearly 990,000 people whether you voted for me or you voted for somebody else to have less than 10% of the people come out to vote is absolutely disgraceful that tells me people don't care they don't care about the education because if you cared people would have been at the polls and today there are so many other ways of exercising your right to vote you have mailin you have um early voting and then you have election day so there is no
170excuse that anybody doesn't go out and vote but in a town in a district that majority of your tax money goes to education and less than 10% of people came out to vote is upsetting is upsetting and alarming that we're more worried about other Petty topics in this town than worried about educating kids we're more worried about other Petty things in this town than worrying more about the teacher shortage our space shortage these are topics that this town should be actively concerned about because those are the challenging topics that this board is going to be approached with and very soon now but having the public to come out and only 10% did so is very alarming thank you to the 10% that did take the time to vote but people it's extremely important you can't
171be successful in a town where people don't come out and support and vote it can not and will not be successful because what are you left with then you have different groups that form for their own political reasons and when that small amount of people come out to vote that little group can influence how the vote goes doesn't mean it's what the what the town wants or what the town feels but those are the people that came out and voted voted it will be extremely alarming to this town and to this board if that type of election and process continues because what happens here is Li are made during the election process and you get that small group of people that come out and vote and you get them to believe the lies then you're
172operating with a group of people that won an election with their lies imagine how damaging that can be moving on on any topic that happens in this town on anything that occurs it will be operated on lies and our kids deserve that our kids deserve to have a group of people come out and tell lies so that they could win an election or win a seat imagine how other topics down the road if they tell their lies and there small group of people come out and vote for it how it could be destructive extremely destructive to our staff and students and I hope everyone is aware of that and their eyes are open you can't have a district where kids could be affected because people make Lies when I first got on the board one
173of the things that I was always told was you know well this board we you know we all don't get along but we make sure that when we come out here that we show the public that we are unified board and then if our objections or our uh concerns about other board members or their policies or their ways are fought out in the back under uh certain topics that can be discussed in the back as we see in other forms of government we see fighting going on in meetings we see people disagreeing with each other at meetings this board that represents students can't get involved in that they've got to remain dedicated and United to the kids that they represent and I've said it so many times if people would remember the reason why they
174ran for the board there could never be problems it's when you start to get involved in the other reasons that you want to make yourselves a part of on the board that's where the trouble starts but I always kept the students number one and our staff number two always close to heart when I made decisions if you you don't have the support of your staff if you don't have a staff that feels that they're important that the work that they do is important and how they educate our students if you don't have a strong staff your district will fold and I know that because just recently at our convention and speaking to other boards from other towns telling us of the problems that they have with their board and how their board never can get
175past a certain topic because there's just so many issues and so many problems because they did not keep students and staff utmost in their minds and I have to credit this board on the four years that I've been back working uh with most of you the the new board members that just came on last year I have to credit each of you because you always had students and staff at heart our last contract with our bargaining units the board was so much more willing to work with the bargaining units to come up with a fair and Equitable contract and with all of our baring units up this year I encourage all of you to continue on that movement forward for so many years our teachers in this district and our staff in this District in
176my opinion were not fairly treated the way that they should have been and while this board over the last 3 years has tried to catch up with that it will still take some time but it's in the right direction and I encourage you to please keep on that direction please be fair be honest and be devoted to each and every one of those groups that you will be bargaining with that they are the people that make our students succeed and help our students succeed and are there for every kid no matter who they are so please I I encourage this board to please continue to keep our staff utmost in your mind and to always remember remember you're here for students keep all the other garbage out of your of your mind and of your
177ability to serve I ask you please just to do that and if you do we will continue to be a successful District I can't begin to uh TimeWise I can't begin to go through everybody that I would to uh thank um but first to my colleagues thank you all for the ability to serve with you many of us did not um many topics we may not have agreed upon but we still respected one another and I thank you all tremendously for that I thank you for the last three years to give me your confidence in allowing me to be the board president who was just the person that kept everything aligned of where it could go that's the only difference you people did all the work and I thank you for all the dedication that
178you did and I encourage you to keep that up with whoever you put in this seat as president thank need your support they need your help and they need to know that what they're doing is in the best interest of the board so please whoever you put in this seat please think about that that's someone who will be here to act as a leader to not be a person that's contentious you need to be able to work together so please consider a person for the seat that will be able to work with every board member and not hold personal agendas personal gripes personal feelings that will only destroy this board I hope I have represented all of you well I did my very best communication was very important to me to make sure we were
179all kept up on the issues that only encourages boards to be able to freely communicate with one another to not act as if you secretly trying to go against board members because that will only be destructive to the ultimate goal of staff and students there's so many groups that have been so supportive to me over the years we truly I I commend them all the time but we truly have a great group of people that run our district from teachers to secretaries custodian maintenance Paras administrators custodians everybody working together and I think Dr roosi through this board truly hit it on on the nose of coming up with a slogan that could represent and tell people what Clifton is about one Clifton how simple it was but unless you have a board that works together
180with admin with Administration to accomplish one Clifton it's just a bunch of words don't let it be a bunch of words please continue to live that motto in that goal each of you in your own way has truly been an inspiration to me I'm truly thankful and grateful to each and every one of you for not only our professional time together but for your friendships people should know that you know this board sometimes spends in a week more time with each other than they do with their own families so while it's not a a mandatory it definitely helps in having a close and strong friendship and relationship with your fellow board members and I thank each and every one of you for that and hope and pray that we will continue on with that that
181friendship to my vice president Dr Danny it's been truly a an honor to have you as as my vice president we were able to throw things uh off each other and come up with the best possible solution or approach on how we were going to do something uh just knowing that I could call you and um and make me laugh um you know uh those car rides to dinners and things are uh uh going to be a little bit uh quieter for you or um but I I thank you for all that you've done on that for administration to um to Mr Jenaro and Miss kusevic I was around when uh Miss kusevic was hired 30 years ago um this district has tremendously benefited from having her as an employee in Clifton I I could
182go on for hours to talk about all that she does but I think most of you know what she does and if you don't please call and set up an appointment with her and she would be glad to explain to you and show you on a particular day what she does truly dedicated to Mr usy and your whole business department I thank you for always having uh everything in order um remember folks we're dealing with one of the largest budgets there are for for boards and to have a business office that has always been on the money no pun intended um is is truly a a tremendous asset and you were trained by one of the best God Rest Your Soul miss Karen Perkins was was a number one in what she did and to
183pass that down to you um you guys have done a tremendous job there and uh I commend you and your department uh for all that um I'd have to say even through storms even through computers down and stuff like that our employees never missed a payroll um under the business department control so um we know that that's very important so we thank you to Mr Jenaro um you know know Mark and his father for so many years his dad was a great uh educator and uh uh as well as uh Miss Lama's uh predecessor uh at the helm of uh teacher representation uh Mr Jenaro just is a hardworking and dedicated employee who sometimes takes on too much responsibility and Dr roosi has to pull him in a little bit to uh but his dedication
184and devotion is is seen throughout this District so so much for Mr shahada I cannot begin to express to you how much I've seen you grown professionally on how much you have added to this District have helped this District it is um truly truly remarkable on the work that you've done for us but most importantly um I cherish and value our friendship um will continue to be good friends and I know that you will continue to do great things for Clifton uh so thank you for for all that you've done to our new uh attorney and his staff Mark uh even though it's been a short period of time um things have been I have to tell you when you don't hear from the attorney that's a good thing good thing that means they're doing
185what they have to do um so since since being on Mark and I have spoken very little and that's a positive thing so um I know you'll to continue to uh do wonderful things for our district and representing us and um I'm so glad that I was able to be part of the board that uh that brought you into Clifton so I thank you and wish you all the best and and last but not least uh to the guy the reason I really got involved back on the board of ed I started to be at some events where Dr roosi was at and he would get up and speak and I just was so blown Away by um his knowledge his uh devotion uh in speaking his Devotion to to Clifton um he had only
186been appointed uh superintendent uh maybe four or five months before um I start to to get to know him and um I felt that he was going to do do great things in Clifton and if I could help and be part of that with my experience from the past um I wanted to be a part of that and it was because of Dr roosi that I got back involved again and um I thank you for that it's it's truly been a remarkable and wonderful relationship um we worked so well together um there was never opportunities where we were uh throwing things at each other and uh banging on desks and whatever and I've seen that with other presidents with other superintendents um but I think the main focus continued that we were here for kids
187and the staff and uh it made it so much easier to be able to uh to get along and and do things um in no way Dr roosi did I ever want your job um I hope I never showed that um you did a tremendous job on your own and um um I learned so much about what it takes to run a district what it takes to be a board member and what it took to be a um an active and good president representing the board and I hope I did that for you and for your for your department um but um as everyone has said before Mr abrao and you know everyone um we are so fortunate and lucky to have you here I hope Clifton knows and realizes that um and I know
188there will continue to be great things happening in Clifton because of your leadership and your dedication and your devotion but most of all I am so thankful for our friendship our friendship that no election can take away from ever can that be taken away I cherish our friendship I value it and another important part of that relationship was getting to know your kids and they're they're just such great and wonderful kids and seeing how well you um how much you love them and how much they loved you it truly opened my eyes to not being a parent seeing that that love between CH children and their father um I I truly was so impressed by it it um Felt So Good by it and um I often you know said to myself um you know
189Dr rosi puts in a tremendous amount of time and takes his time away from his kids let's not try to add to that and do what we can uh so that he could be with his kids U and I think one of the things that this board did was keeping our our committees um virtual so this way our staff could get home um operate their committee meetings and then they're there for their family they don't have to wait another hour two hours before they get home so I hope the board will continue that but uh drzi i i u am so honored to be able to have served with you and um we will always be friends I will always Cher cherish that friendship and uh you have you have four wonderful kids and um
190I feel as if they're part of my family they're a part of me and um I wish them all and you nothing but the best and I know we'll be hearing some great things especially about his uh his son Danny you know watch out he's going to get he's going to be playing football for some colleges and you watch we're going to see him in the NFL so uh some some some great kids you have there and uh I thank you all I thank the public I thank for my supporters again I don't want to keep here all night I told you I would keep it short so um thank you all thank you for the opportunity to serve um and um I'm still be around I will not be going away so you'll be
191seeing me thank you [Applause] um I normally do this um I normally do this at the end of the year um Mr mccy um most of your kids are probably gone by now for the camera crew but um I can't begin to thank you enough and thank your crew for always making sure that these meetings are televised that there the sound is on and the pictures on and all that stuff without that Mr mccy we wouldn't be able to function this uh as a board so we thank you and your kids for all the great work and um to our security crew um who have just been a tremendous asset to this town to this District uh we're only going to see better things happening with them but guys we thank you so much for
192your time and your devotion and your dedication to kids and um I I haven't spoken to one of our security Specialists that said that they don't like their job they truly truly enjoy what they're doing and they're doing a great job so thank you all and um we'll move on to a new business any new business for the board I for the future put batteries in these clocks batteries are in the Box kidding oh but they're in the Box I was told um the or is your reorganization yes yes yes okay uh the board's reorganizational meeting will be held on January the 4th at 6: pm here at the uh the boardroom um there is no executive session tonight so motion to adjourn by Mr ABJ by Mr Mahia any objection Noe so ruled thank
193you all e