001and Beyond cameras are ready I'd like to call the regularly scheduled meeting of the Clifton Board of Education of June 22nd 2023 to order funeral will please rise for a salute to our flag followed that by a brief moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America until the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you foreign Mr Paris here Mr Santiago here vice president Danny president Smith here we have a quorum uh vice president Danny is uh a teacher in another district and they're required to be at their graduation so that's where she is Mr abidrabo is um at his work uh meeting hopefully he'll be here a little later and Mr Awad said he would be here
002a little bit later okay let's have our mission statement please uh Mr Paris the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners and are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an ever-changing world the open public meetings act in New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clinton board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at
003the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website and mail to presidents of parent-teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy zero one six eight okay we're going to alter from our agenda a little bit we have numerous presentations tonight and we'd like to start with those presentations and then I'll come back to public recognition after those presentations uh Tiffany where is she there she is Tiffany for her last rep Student Union report uh of her career thank you Tiffany it's been an honor to serve as student representative for the past two years I am happy the students trust me with this important task I like to thank the student council and board for being being
004a part of molding me into who I am today a person who's was able to help students help the community join events and mostly have fun while doing it a few memorable things that happened while I was in this position position was when I spoke for the first time the mic was so loud that Dominic in the back had to adjust the volume or the time when a dolphin showed up for a presentation president Smith calling me Natasha a few times being able to see my friends receive many awards and lastly being able to see everyone's happy faces when I spoke it's really sad that I have to leave after two years holding this position by moving on to bigger and better things at college I'll like I'll lastly like to thank Mr mccunney Mr
005Mecca and Dominic for streaming the board meetings now I'm able to look back and have a record of all my accomplishments becoming us becoming the student representative is not an easy job not everyone will have the confidence to carry this position and it is with great entrepreneur that now I can pass on the torch I would like to introduce the new senior rep senior student representative to the Board of Education Jada Witter sorry um hi as Tiffany said my name is and I'm excited to be able to serve the student body um and I'm excited to take on my role in the new school year welcome we're glad to have you [Applause] I would just like to say thank you all and tomorrow at graduation [Applause] Nicole thank you very much no Natasha that was
006a joke Natasha thank you very much for all of your hard work for attending these meetings for keeping the board updated on the activities and the public you were a true leader to your to your class and to the school and on behalf of the Board of Education we truly do thank you and wish you all the best in in what you do we know we'll be reading about you in great success so thank you again for all your work okay we're now going to move to um Miss Jessica Trimble supervisor of counseling and student services and Jennifer Bergman supervisor of counseling and student services good evening president Smith Commissioners Dr robitosi and Central Administration we stand before you tonight to share the success of an incredible program Teen Mental Health First Aid that took
007place at Clifton High School during the months of March and April this program provided comprehensive training to our 10th grade students which taught them skills on how to identify understand and respond to signs and symptoms of Mental Health substance use challenges and crises among the among their friends and peers Teen Mental Health First Aid encourages our students to advocate for mental health as well as to be able to provide the support and understanding that their friends May desperately need one of the main supports that was discussed was the instruction of techniques and strategies to help their peers facilitate a connection with a trusted adult to ensure the success of this program we assembled a team of dedicated instructors who were part of the Clifton counseling department these five experienced individuals underwent an intensive three-day training
008program to ensure that they were equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively teach our students the instructors engaged in collaborative efforts with both the organization and each other in order to meticulously structure and craft the layout of each lesson overall these instructors were the backbone of this program which was evident through the program's exit ticket responses and feedback from our students without further ado on behalf of the Clifton public schools and the counseling department we are honored to recognize the instructors of this program Dr robitosi would you and president Smith please join us in presenting the certificates could I be joined up here by Miss Angela bassanice Miss Laura Burns Miss Sarah ledato Miss Dina Guadalupe Ray and Miss Courtney Terry foreign [Applause] we know the the hard work and dedication that you
009do for this District so we thank you so much for all that you do okay next we're going to have Miss ragoza in our pbsis presentations good evening Commissioners president Smith Dr orbitozi Center Administration good evening everyone I don't want to give you my back tonight because we are here to celebrate so many wonderful things uh not only the end of the school year but a wonderful person um especially tonight our pbsa has Showcase of the month is our dearest coach pbsis coach at school 11 Mrs Amanda Rhodes that's right [Applause] um Amanda Amanda's been working in education for about seven years in an actual School District but she's been educating her children all along and so she stepped away from the teaching alumni to do that that important role all along the way always
010identifying that she loves children she loves to educate this is what she does and our school 11 Community our rare School Community is so blessed to have her leading the charge with the pbsis framework Amanda in the short time that we would that we've worked together I have seen you do so many outstanding things including working through the stage fright that you had at first folks Miss Amanda Rhodes not only has helped lead her team but lead various administrators at school 11 through the framework it is a true your Poise your energy what you bring to the table Amanda truly embodies what a leader does as a leadership role thank you so much from the bottom of my heart I will forever be grateful for everything that you teach me our school 11 community and
011our Clifton community just a couple of highlights for Miss Amanda Rhodes her school has been chosen over and over again to represent the pbss framework not only in our state but on a national platform in a moment you'll see why she is that special um so let me queue up the video for a quick minute oh okay thank you [Music] thank you Amanda first and foremost congratulations on this most deserving recognition without revealing the true identities of our ages I'm proud to say that I have known you for over 35 years and the Amanda that I knew back at Demarest School in Bloomfield has grown and blossomed to this incredible person that you are today on behalf of the Board of Education Central Administration but more importantly the students that you serve at school 11.
012thank you for all of your hard work dedication and commitment to your teaching and your pbsis efforts Without You school 11 just would not be what it is without you the Clifton Public School District would not be what we are thank you and congratulations [Music] I've had the honor of working with you for the last four years and you are such an amazing leader because you're always looking to bring out the best in your team you're always looking to find new ways to share the experience with other people and help others around you and I'm just so excited for you Amanda is not only an amazing friend and colleague but leader of pbsis without her sometimes I would be lost she has helped guide us through this year and she deserves every bit of Joy
013she gets Amanda Rhodes is the most selfless person I know our pbsis program at school 11 would not be what it is without Amanda she is hardworking she is dedicated she is inspired by these kids every single day and everything she does is for them I am honored to work with her I am honored to teach with her and I am honored to be her friend Amanda is truly one of a kind and school 11 would not be what it is without her Amanda Rose has been such a pleasure and a privilege to have as a colleague to see her as a coach lead our Universal team for pbsis has been amazing she's inspired so many teachers to really step up and take on initiatives and Leadership roles themselves also she's served as such an
014amazing mentor for a teacher this year and she brought out the best in her teaching and her commitment by serving as such a model of Excellence and I would also personally like to thank her for just being so supportive of me in my first year as a principal um any and all questions I had she was incredibly patient supportive helpful um and extremely generous with her time so she's just a giver and she's just the kind of teacher that anyone who is lucky enough to work with her would speak of her in the same way that I have roses I mean she's so kind and she's one of the best teachers ever Miss Rose is amazing because she has never gave up on me before Mrs Rhodes is amazing because she's so sweet um caring
015and loving food towards her students Miss Rhodes is amazing because she always pushes us to do our best Mrs Rose is amazing because she always makes you feel as if you're enough missions is amazing because she made she's caring and makes us feel supported and this is amazing because she always wants us to succeed foreign [Music] work you do is rare to find among people [Music] Amanda you truly embody what it means to be rare always respectful attentive responsible and enthusiastic congratulations we love you [Music] I know I know I'm not crying you're crying we love you Miss Amanda Rhodes thank you so much Board of Education thank you so much for allowing us this opportunity to showcase our and to just promote the beautiful things we get to do in our district it really
016that one all of all the things that were said about you in this video but that one kid that says you just never gave up on him I almost like started that's what it's about so thank you all so much um Dr robitosi has a certificate Miss Amanda Rhodes could you please come up um Dr robotozy and president Smith will help us out with a certificate foreign [Applause] thank you Miss Valeri could you join me I'm gonna need some assistance huh three right okay we're going to uh alter this a little bit uh board members in uh be education under ea3 if somebody would move it in second please I'll move three move by Miss basford second by Mr Paris the the resolution reads recipients of the 2223 Governors educator and Educational Services Professionals of
017the year be resolved the border the Board of Education accepts the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to officially honor and so know in the minutes of the Clifton Board of Education the clifter teachers and Educational Service professionals selected as recipients of the 2022-23 governors educator of the Year award and we'll have them come up if the board was just vote on the resolution please roll call please Miss basford yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes president Smith yes motion carries okay we'll now have Dr robitosi'll invite the um the Educators up and if the board would like to come down with me so that we can take pictures together just go this way the whole board good evening ladies and gentlemen it's a great honor tonight this is
018one of the um more fun board meetings that I get to attend it's where we recognize our outstanding educators so each year state of New Jersey recognizes the governor's teacher of the year and Educational Service professional of the year and in each School throughout the state there's a committee that nominates and selects candidates for this honor and of those that get chosen they also uh are invited to apply for the county teacher of the year and then the county teacher of the year there's 21 counties in New Jersey of those 21 County teachers of the year they select a state teacher of the year so tonight we have the great honor of recognizing Clifton's teachers of the year and Educational Service Professionals of the year earlier this evening we had what at least in my
019opinion was a very nice dinner together in the media center where we got to enjoy each other's company have a nice meal to honor and recognize your achievements and tonight the board would like to recognize your achievement with a small token of our appreciation so when you when I call your name please come up we'll shake hands you'll get your gift and then please stay here so that we could take a group picture at the end and do not hold your applause do not so we'll go in order of Schools starting with uh Clifton early Learners Academy arcela and our teacher of the year from Selah is Kristen Gallagher [Applause] and our educational support professional of the year is Lauren cognetti [Applause] maybe later you could open the box and show everybody what's inside or
020maybe we'll keep it a secret our teacher of the year from school one Joan Testa [Applause] and our educational support professional of the year uh excuse me not from school one from school two are teacher of the year who I've had the honor of working closely with and I can attest to her outstanding um teaching skills her her students just say the same about all these teachers but her students just absolutely love her Miss Tara saratsky [Applause] and our educational support professional from school number two Constance firstmeyer from school number three who I think is represented pretty well tonight our teacher of the year Lauren Kubler [Applause] and our educational support professional of the Year Angela Valeri [Applause] from school number four our teacher of the year talise Gainer [Applause] and our educational support professional
021of the Year Lisa salvatoriello [Applause] foreign from school number five our teacher of the year Nicole Bass [Applause] and our educational support professional of the Year Daniel Quinn [Applause] from school number eight our teacher of the year Maura Porter [Applause] and our educational support professional of the Year Jennifer fruit [Applause] you sure okay I'm not sure our teacher of the year from school nine is here tonight but we certainly want to recognize her Teacher of the Year from school nine Victoria magazak [Applause] I got some bad information with the last name all right all right and our educational support professional of the year Jessica Mueller 50 50. gotcha from school number 11. hmm interesting very proud to once again recognize Miss Amanda Rhodes [Applause] and our educational support professional of the Year Teresa ganchi [Applause]
022from school number 12. our teacher of the year Andrea orac [Applause] and our educational support professional of the Year Kimberly green [Applause] Teacher of the Year from school 13. Katya Guerra [Applause] and our educational support here from school 13. Jihan armenius [Applause] our teacher of the year from school number 14. Nicole Cinco [Applause] and our educational support professional of the Year from school 14 Lorraine dunich [Applause] from school 15. our teacher of the year Aaron Saba [Applause] and I should have mentioned this earlier but our educational support professional uh from school 15 is also the same person who was selected for school 11 and that's Teresa ganshee [Applause] but I think that's pretty impressive Teresa from school number 16 our teacher of the year Laura Saba [Applause] and our educational support professional of the year
023Eileen Parker [Applause] okay on to our big three our middle schools and our high school oh that's well I should probably go to school 17 first from school 17 are a teacher of the year Melissa McCarron [Applause] and our educational support professional of the Year Jennifer Zach kakora [Applause] okay now on to the big three from Christopher Columbus Middle School our teacher of the year James Giblin James has quite the fan club tonight and from Columbus our educational support professional of the year Danielle liebe [Applause] from Woodrow Wilson Middle School our teacher of the year Christy Wilson [Applause] and our educational support professional of the Year Elise dunbabin [Applause] and from our Flagship Clifton High School our teacher of the year Effie Kelso [Applause] and our educational support professional of the year Michael caraphine [Applause]
024all right guys we're going to try our best to do a group picture here so swing on out front let's do a couple rows tall people in the back um no because they're going to want to take pictures too or two more [Applause] Mr Smith hey uh guys real quick I'm so sorry we have two more awards for your colleagues and I kind of told you you could leave a little too early if you wouldn't mind staying another minute just to be here for your colleagues we have just two two more Awards thank you so much Dr Eve there's anybody out in the hallway grab them one of the no we'll just do this one of the uh most important positions in our district often one that may go overlooked but if you ask any
025parent of a student with special needs or any teacher who teaches students with special needs they rely on the paraprofessional in that classroom for all kinds of things and last night I had the pleasure of attending the Clifton Education Association excellence in education Awards dinner and I heard the story of a wonderful wonderful paraprofessional who works in our district um and I was so moved by her story and how much she has loved by her colleagues her students and what a wonderful family she has that I was I had the honor of meeting last night and so I'm so happy tonight to introduce to all of you and this woman just radiates kindness and goodness and and all that is right about education so I'd like to recognize our paraprofessional of the year uh Anna
026would you please come up yep foreign guys the whole family's coming up I mean her teacher family I I know her last name is Martinez but I think I just called her Anna our paraprofessional of the Year Miss Anna Martinez [Applause] okay closer [Applause] and our last recognition for the night trying to see if he's there he is okay also at last night's dinner um and a couple weeks ago we surprised this teacher with uh it's the greatest honor that that Clifton gives awarded by the Clifton Education Association as the Clifton teacher of the year Clifton's a large District I've been here now I'm finishing up my fifth year I certainly don't know all of our teachers but I can tell you that I remember within my first month on the job visiting this teacher's
027classroom and within a matter of minutes I knew I was in the presence of an expert teacher students who knew what to do without being told what to do infectious enthusiasm all of the traits if you could think back to your lives and you think of a teacher that made an impact on your life that is this man all those traits all rolled up in one so it is my great honor to introduce to you tonight and to have the Board of Education recognize the Clifton Public Schools teacher of the year Mr Mark bajika [Applause] I wonder what's in the box okay so I put mark on the spot but like any outstanding teacher he said sure I'll say a few words Mr bajika please yeah I'm gonna hold this it's easier all right Dr
028robertosie thank you so much for those extraordinarily kind and warm words president Smith board members Administration everyone here present thank you for this great honor I feel honored not just for this award but to be in your presence because the amount of excellence in this Auditorium right now is beyond measure every day what we do for these students for these kids in Clifton is absolutely remarkable so from one educator to another thank you for all you do and I'm speechless otherwise so thank you foreign [Applause] all right you can make your Great Escape thank you all for coming they gotta get up for school tomorrow so their last day see you guys so the next presentations we'd like to make our a thank you to Mr makani Mr Mecca Mr horn and the entire cast
029program each and every board meeting they're here behind the cameras making sure the meetings go on so we don't get to see them too often but we wanted to thank them for all that they do for Clifton and the time that they put into the cast program it's so very much appreciated so if you come out I'll read the names and if you're here if you please come up and get your certificate uh thanks from the Board of Education so we have Dominic Cicero Olivia krinsky Brianna Bravo Nela bardi Hoffman doramnia Adrian Sanchez Attila Tomas Jaden tarrou Natasha Rocha Anthony Tavares Ismail Hussein Alejandro Raleigh Antonio Sanchez Riley Garcia Emmanuel Alba Alexander Franco Darion Rivera Vitale sukai and Ian Cosgrove many of them could not attend tonight but uh we so much appreciate all that
030you do and we'd like to get a picture Mr Mecca Mr horn and Mr mccunney if you come down for the picture if you can [Applause] all right so just so we uh we can keep up with this um ea4 and ea5 where recognition of the educator of the year and recognition of the power professional of the year if I could have a motion on both of those please by Miss basford second by Mr Paris any discussion roll call please Miss basford yes Mr brunsiak yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes president Smith yes motions carry okay we'll come back to uh our agenda so we'll open up to public recognition this portion of the meeting is open to Residents and non-residents of the city Clifton for the purpose of addressing any
031subject matter pertinent two and directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested if they're in person to sign the register provided for this purpose all speakers are asked to State their names municipality in which they live and subject matter before speaking comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a responsible forthcoming if and when appropriate your questions may or may not be answered by board members the board asked the members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when they are speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by
032the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments that are made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments um Mr shahada will do um call in Virtual nobody there okay motion to close virtual by Mr Paris second second by Mr Santiago okay now we'll go to public if you would please come to the podium uh sign the register that's there state your name municipality in which you live in your subject matter and you have five minutes okay good evening Jen
033I am the treasurer and a charter member of the Clifton Education Foundation congratulations to all the award recipients this evening you inspire our foundation to work even harder to support our schools I'd also like to let them know that the Grant application is up for the year 2013 2014. this year the Clifton Education Foundation is thrilled to be celebrating its 25th anniversary today the Clifton Education Foundation has awarded a quarter of a million dollars in Grants and initiatives as well as ten thousand dollars in student scholarships for the Clifton Public Schools including fully funding the steam Makerspace in every Elementary School as part of our 25th anniversary celebration we are creating a print and online ad Journal acknowledging our anniversary where the Board of Education departments within the district former Grant recipients and staff members
034home and school associations retired Educators former alumni parents and businesses can show their support by purchasing a quarter half full or gold page ad we hope we can count on you for your support and encourage others to show theirs don't know what to say our Dynamic communications director Kim can compose an ad for you all donations will receive a shout out on our Instagram page as well as a mention in our biannual newsletter if you don't already please follow us at cliftoneducation foundation on Instagram where we highlight the wonderful results of our grants and the hard work of our recipients on Wednesday October 11th from 5 to 9 pm we will host our fundraiser Clifton's Got Talent at the Uno Pizzeria and Grill at 426 New Jersey 3 West in Clifton we are seeking singers
035musicians comedians poets and spoken word artists to perform so if you or anyone you know may be interested please visit our website cliftoneducationfoundation.org to download a forum we hope you'll join us that evening Uno is graciously donating 25 percent of all proceeds from patrons who tell their server that they are there to support the Clifton Education Foundation we hope to see many of you there thank you for your time good evening everyone a very beautiful ceremony I enjoyed every minute of it especially we were talking about the power professionals please state your name Paula schools Ave and Clifton um I just wanted to talk about the school budget about the four percent increase if I understand correctly um the 18 power professionals that are currently in the district they are going to become full-time with
036benefits and I do understand that this past year we we lost 21 paraprofessionals so my question to the board is what can we do can you help us and guarantee what steps are we going to take to avoid more power professionals leaving because they do a lot for special education department and I know that some of our kids in our special education are suffering so if you could please explain to me what we can do if I can help um just please let me know thank you uh Tom Keefer 20 Nelson Street uh Clifton I'm just here to I picked a good night with all these other teachers getting all the awards and all the good things for them that's awesome but at school five tomorrow's going to be my son's last day there and
037school five family the All-Star family it's a real thing the time at school five has been nothing less than amazing it hasn't been perfect but it's pretty damn close uh any issues that we've had have been handled very well especially by Mr Anderson he's uh I can't even uh I could probably fill up the whole five minutes about how great he is a lot of uh lots of amazing guy so many teachers that my son has had that really made a huge impact even uh Miss mouth in kindergarten uh she she taught my uh daughter this year she's amazing Miss leishman she's long gone but she made an impact on my son to he's in fifth grade still thinking about her uh Miss Baka Miss Bosh uh Mr cap or uh I think without her
038teachings my son would not have uh gotten you know half of half as far as he got she was huge in really helping him academically Mr Mom Mr Silva Mr Silva's so awesome he's one of the best dudes everybody loves Mr Silva you know Mr Quinn he got an award tonight those are all the teachers that I've uh personally dealt with um and lastly uh not to say that nothing none of the other teachers are amazing because they all are but uh Mrs Harris uh is uh huge to our family and my daughter she doesn't have her she's only kindergarten but she greets her at the drop off every day uh the car it's just such a wholesome experience and it's awesome leaving my daughter seeing that happen she's uh my son still he's in
039fifth grade and he still talks about her like that's his teacher and he still gets so excited and uh School five really are All-Stars and you definitely every teacher I've dealt with there is an All-Star and I hope I didn't forget anyone and if I did I'm sorry Miss pinello Miss Louis uh the band with my son my son was in The Old City band just so many awesome memories from school five and I just uh thank them so much those teachers are huge and I really want to shout from the topic our Mountain at school five is awesome and I really love all those teachers very much and so does my family and I'm looking forward to another five years there of my daughter and I hope that it only gets better thank you
040very much [Applause] thank you hello good evening everyone I feel a little under pressure because it's my first time speaking in public and I'm gonna excuse myself for my little funny English because I was not born here so I will try my best my name is Dharma Hamdi I live in 217 spear Ave my son attends your school district in the special education program on June 8th my husband witnessed a staff member lifting my son from his hands all the way up in the air from the floor with his feet not touching the ground going towards his class on June 9th another person that has been helping me with my son's IEP meetings witnessed a staff member tagging on my son's arms going towards his classroom if this is happening to my son I am
041sure this is happening to other innocent special needs students the way the district is treating my son is totally unaccepted and can almost be considered in the line of child abuse my son does not have the verbal ability to defend himself I have been in several meetings since the beginning of February to resolve this issue to prevent this from happening on June 8th unfortunately no one is listening to me my son has now attended school since June 9th I'm hoping for someone to help me with this issue matter very soon thank you so much thank you Mrs hamzi Ms somebody would just give Dr Robert tells you'll give you an answer for you that gentleman right there Mr gengaro has been trying to meet with you and your Advocate and has been having a difficult
042time setting that up can you please speak to him he's sitting in the front row area that gentleman right there and he will set up a meeting with you he's been trying and he will meet with you immediately to help out okay um have I heard from you guys because I haven't I'm not sure if I received any phone call or you left any voice message specifics but you have an advocate okay he's been reaching out on your behalf and that gentleman has been trying to set up a meeting okay so if we could do that before you leave tonight great I think you'll be very pleased and I think that we'll be able to help you perfect do I have a timeline or I'm open to that gentleman right there and he's going to
043set up a meeting with you when when it's convenient for you perfect thank you so much anyone else wish to address the board okay who stole the pen Keith bastard Clifton New Jersey you know I was listening to this woman here about uh us Iron Lady I don't want to lose my minutes here I was listening to this woman about her child the special needs and everything and I'm a type of person always says the way it is and how it is I say I've been advocating for children maybe over 15 years in this District a lot of children are advocated for they moved on with their life College have kids everything and the funny part is I never had a problem sitting down with the special right team and everything they were very Cooperative
044we always worked together we always try things what would work for the child and everything because [Music] basically were all there for the child not for ourselves for a child in that stuff I was hoping the woman would have stayed here and that stuff and listened to what I had to say you know with advocacy sometimes it's the way an advocate approaches the situation you know you can't go in there with blazing guns and that and promise people things in that because sometimes it don't work out that way and plus if you're going to call yourself an advocate and advocate for children you better know the laws you better know what you're doing just don't call yourself an advocate in that I've learned many years from doing it I learned for one of the best
045teachers my wife being an advocate and you know the funny part is and my wife and me have advocated for kids from all the way from South Jersey to North Jersey and we have advocated for children in different schools different settings superintendents involved principles teachers and I got to tell you something not because I know is and because I'm here fernius because you know how I am I tell you the way it is Clifton is the best special ed District around dealing with the special ed people them sitting down and helping you work things out and everything I had a case maybe a month ago with a child I sat down it had to be at least nine people in the room and this child had a lot of problems bully me a lot of
046problems in that but we sat down and we spoke and the parents spoke and we came up with a game plan and we crossed our fingers and said okay hope it works in that well I've been hearing from the parents how the child's doing he's doing great now he is moving on getting help okay getting help within the school system and getting help on the outside so I don't know what the problem is what happened here but like I said I wish the woman would have stayed because I would have loved to hear what the problem is thank you I wrote your name down Donna test the CHS I've never spoken at a board meeting before and I really would rather not be here in fact I don't know if I'm shaking because it's so
047cold in here or because I'm a little bit nervous cold or dying up here are you kidding me all right so um I understand that I am in the minority however I would just like to share my thoughts on the possible lowering of the grading policy from passing from 70 to 65 as it pertains to the high school uh I think it's in the wrong direction we also shouldn't be considering this because other schools have done it Clifton is one of the largest high schools in New Jersey why are we poised to follow instead of lead about 20 years ago the rationale for a new policy of awarding students no less than 50 for the first two marking periods should they fail with averages less than that was presented to the faculty we were told
048then that it was to help students adjust to the high school the curriculum the pace the environment two marking periods is five months that's half the year I believe that that was the start of the steady decline in effort attention attendance and grades to the point where we find ourselves now potentially lowering the overall passing grade to 65 and keeping the 50s no less the 50s well-intentioned yes but it's been manipulated and abused to a gross degree for example a struggling student once told me that he couldn't do my work and play football on the school team at the same time so he was going to take the 50 for the first marking period and make it up later the same thing happened in the winter different student basketball student basketball season we have students
049now who essentially take the first two marking periods off with minimal effort being made until marking period three that's February with few exceptions they end up failing not only the remaining marking periods but the year as well these students make up a large number of failures and respectfully I think we enable it that wasn't the purpose of the 50s but you can see how students have taken advantage of what was meant as a supportive measure we should not reward that behavior by lowering standards because they will definitely meet them lowering the passing grade to 65 is also a supportive measure but I think it will give students who only want to do the bare minimum license to do even less CHS has a multi-layered population hundreds of students attend academic ceremonies honoring their hard-earned achievements
050hundreds of others give solid steadfast efforts all year long the 65 isn't for them the case has surely been made to you that doing this will help the students in academic distress due to overwhelming personal challenges they face I don't dispute the good intentions behind that they should get assistance but I don't think lowering the failing grade for everyone is the way to go because that is just one of the layers what cannot be ignored is the pervasive shift in student priorities resulting in increasing failures each year at the top of their list is whatever entertains them on their cell phones which is at addiction levels next are their socials and extracurriculars academics is at the bottom proven by the quality of the work submitted that clearly shows their disdain for that which interrupted their
051enjoyment of the previous three we know those priorities are screwed I'm sorry skewed we should push back reverse it because we are the educators we know better it's why this nation always looks to its teachers to fix his problems other districts may have capitulated to this down or a train Trend but Clifton should not we don't pass students along from one grade to another here nor do we graduate students just to fulfill a quota there is a lot of learning that happens at CHS that goes beyond grades our students are preparing for life outside of its walls in just a few short years modern society needs its people to rise to challenges while it may give the appearance of a successful marking period or Academic School year 65 is really just above half I don't
052think any employer patient or client whatever except slightly above 50 percent of a job and call it successfully done let us not do our students as this service in thinking so otherwise in a few years whoever is in those seats you occupy now might find themselves asked to vote on lowering the passing grade once again I'm not just a teacher here I've lived in this town my whole life sent my daughter to at schools both of us members of the Mustang band and both graduates of CHS I am Clifton and I wouldn't want to see it diminished please don't lower the passing's grade thank you [Applause] yeah I got money so you ready beautiful yes sir good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Mr John lesler I'm a teacher here at CHS and my
053address is on record in the Personnel Department I am also here to to discuss the proposed change of grade policy and take no pleasure in speaking about this this initiative is to reduce the current passing grade from a 70 to the proposed passing grade of a 65. earlier this year this initiative was put to a survey at CHS the majority of Faculty members who completed the survey did agree to the reduction but there are two major components that seem to be ignored when people discuss and promote the results of this survey the first component is that the survey was very specific and did not allow for any open discussion the second component is that somewhere around 30 percent of the faculty did not even complete the survey that second component is never ever ever brought
054up the results of the survey misguide people because a good portion of the staff was so disheartened that they did not even complete the survey we have been told that this initiative is for Equity reasons that the surrounding towns have a passing grade of 65 makes it seem like our students are at a disadvantage but comparing us to other districts is wrong many of those districts have uniforms metal detectors bag searches more stringent attendance and discipline policies yet the only issue that we were told in comparison to those districts in reference to equity is about the grading policy is this a ploy to lowering our standards according to the U.S news and World Report and the New Jersey Department of Education our district continues to decline in State ranking as we are in the bottom
055half and also our graduation rate reading proficiency Math and Science scores and upper level classes are below average and again I take no pleasure in saying this if you do basic arithmetic you will be able to see that if you drop the passing grade by Five Points there's going to be a number of students that will automatically pass without putting in any additional work or effort as it is teachers are told not to give a student a 67 68 or a 69 even though that is the grade that the student earned so if we lower the passing grade to 65 it's possible that a passing grade becomes a 62. and we are still not able to give a student anything less than a 50 in the first and or second marking periods no matter how
056little work is completed think about this concept when I was a child growing up here in Clifton from immigrant parents and grandparents of Eastern Bloc soviet-controlled countries they chose Clifton because we were better than those same surrounding communities I remember going up to my mom and asking her if I could do some questionable things with my buddies and if there was an ounce of doubt in my mother's mind she would say every single time and I quote if everyone jumped off to George Washington Bridge would you I'm sure many of you heard the same thing while my mother is no longer alive her point is is just because the other schools around us do something does that mean that we have to as well the answer is no our neighboring Town should be looking up
057to Clifton instead of Clifton looking down towards them the children of this town deserve better any teacher can give you example after example of students who worked hard and busted their hump in order to achieve success and do you know what that does for them that instills responsibility a positive work ethic and perhaps most importantly it instills personal pride in them that they carry with them throughout the rest of their lives if you decide to drop the passing grade from 7065 all you're doing is weakening the students to improve the numbers including the graduation rate and the graduation rate is not just a bunch of numbers it is actually about living breathing cliftonites children who are the future of our city and Country one of my favorite quotes that I teach my students took place
058at Rice University in September 1962 when President Kenny said in reference to putting a man on the moon and I quote we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard what are the lessons that we are teaching the students by lowering the standard this is a model of mediocrity and it is not what great organizations do great organizations continuously challenge their people and not just use that as a slogan we are clifted and we are better than this or at least we're supposed to be thank you and go bills [Applause] hello my name is Brittany Stiegel Burgess please I've been an employee for the district for seven years now during that time I've applied to many positions I've been
059on interviews but I was told it's protocol so I don't know if I'm Into You Because I'm a qualified I can't well not qualified but if because I have a fair chance of actually getting the job or if it's just because it's protocol um uh I'm sorry I just want to know why I'm not being I'm not receiving jobs that I'm obviously qualified for if you can help me with that I'd greatly appreciate it thank you good evening my name is Sherry monk I'm from Burgess place that's my daughter right there she's been employed by the district for I believe seven years she just said she's been applying for many positions she has not been chosen for any jobs she's qualified and I need to know why it seems that some nepotism going on here
060and I want to know why the residents of the city born and raised a product of Clifton High School are not getting a fair shot at any of these jobs what well good evening to everyone I want to say as the proud president of the cea you can see how many wonderful Educators we have here in the school district I'm proud of the governor's Awards I'm proud of the teacher of the year the paraprofessional of the year the Excellence in education and I can say that this district has the best of the best and the reason why is collaboration between Educators and administration which benefits our students because it ensures that the goals and strategies of our schools are effectively communicated and understood by all parties involved when we work together not only in our
061schools we align our efforts towards a common Vision ensuring that the educational programs policies and initiatives are designed to meet the specific needs of our students this collaboration helps create a cohesive and consistent learning environment that supports our students success moreover this collaboration facilitates the development and implementation of responsive and adaptive educational strategies we can do this through debt analysis assess student progress and identify areas for improvement this allows for any adjustment and interventions to address the involving needs of our students this promotes a culture and of continuous Improvement and enables our district to adapt to changing educational Trends and search based practices through this continued collaboration we prepare our students for a successful future the cea continues to look forward working together to continue to make Clifton an outstanding School District we are very
062happy that we continue working with Rutgers Labor Management collaborative to benefit our district in designing more projects so we are collaborative in total aspect speaking of collaboration I know that we are in as a high school in Passaic County we have a 70 as a passing grade and I reached out to other presidents of other associations and there's their passing grade is a 65. now this is an advantage disadvantage to our children here in Clifton we surveyed as a district collaborative team we surveyed the high school staff and 85 percent were in favor of this change most people voted to lower to a 60 but they decided on a 65. so we're going to a 65 not to lower standards but to have equity for our students within this state a very small handful of
063schools are at a 70. let me let me say the difference between equality and Equity equality as we all have a pair of shoes Equity is that you have the shoes that fit your feet and this is what we need to understand our students need to go to a 65 so there is equity in our educational system thank you very much good evening everybody Ahmad hemd I'm the principal of Clifton High School I also live in Clifton and I attended Clifton Public Schools as a child I wanted to come up here today and speak a little bit about the lowering of the passing grade to a 65. I'd like everybody to know that I make no decision lightly and I make every decision with the lens of what's best for our kids I don't make
064any decision alone this is something that I worked with District administration on building Administration on neighboring towns and our own staff I surveyed our entire staff to see how they felt to see if the conversation should even be had and that's how I framed it and I sent out the survey and 85 percent of the people that surveyed that took the survey said that they were in favor of lowering the passing grade that's my staff so I said okay let me do a little bit of research on this and we did a lot of work to see what was happening around the state now what's interesting is that the state of New Jersey develops the same learning standards for every child develops the same NJ SLA test to see whether or not a student should
065graduate high school but then the stadium New Jersey doesn't say what the passing grade should be and districts are left to make that decision and now our students our students here in Clifton are asked to reach a certain bar which is absolutely fine and this is not about lowering the standards my expectation as the building principle is that every student should do their best I would love to see every student being a student I would love to see that but we need to make sure that we're all playing on the same field for our neighbors in Wayne to have a passing grade of 60. a passing grade of 60 in a neighboring town of Wayne these are not just towns that we're talking about that have low income that have lower passing rates no these
066are these are towns that have high incomes Wayne Catalan all of these towns have a passing grade of 60. other neighbors around us have 65 in fact we're the only we're the only High School in the in Passaic County that has a passing grade of 70. so when people are talking about lowering the standards I'd like to frame the conversation properly and make sure that everybody here understands what we're trying to do we're not trying to lower standards we are leveling the playing field this is about Equity making sure that our students our students have the same opportunities to be successful as everybody else and that's truly what Equity is and that's my job as building principle to make sure that my students have the same opportunity as everybody else to be successful and if
067I'm not doing that then I'm not doing my job thank you anyone else wish to address the board going once twice motion the calls please second by Mr Santiago okay uh because we have some uh uh employee appointments uh I'm gonna alter the agenda a little bit here um so if the board doesn't mind if we would um Mr Brunswick did you want uh ea2 separate did you want to read that you want to do it now you want to put it as a group yeah that's fine group is fine okay Mr President anyone else I can't remember somebody asked me to EA one I did did you want that separate yes please okay can I make a suggestion that we move Personnel up first because we have a lot of memories yeah well I
068thought if there was no separation if we can do these we can just go right through them but if you're going to have separate then we'll come back yes all right so we'll come back to those then so let me do personnel all right so we have quite a few Personnel today we have P1 we have P1 through p49 with uh p for executive session Personnel matter um eight and nine which items with Smith eight nine and ten amendment of administrative leave and administrative leave on Personnel yes I I have no problem with that all right so eight nine and ten uh moved for executive personnel moved the rest of the group by Miss basford who was it second Mr Paris discussion seeing none real cold please yes Mr Brunswick yes 42. Mr Santiago yes
069abstain on p-4142 president Smith yes doc do you want anyone to come up and say anything okay congratulations to uh all those newly appointed uh uh that were in the personnel and that are here tonight Dr robitosi who though we have two members in Conflict we only have four other members that are voting oh right did we get approval from anyone else prior to them cheer back to me everything in P pass except there were only four yes votes foreign passes Dr robitosi if you like thank you Mr Smith um upon my recommendation tonight the board has appointed uh two new um administrators and I'd like to ask I think both of them want to thank the board so Maggie Melissa whichever order you guys can want to come up I'll make this short and
070sweet I know it's been a long evening so um I would like to thank the Clifton Board of Education along with the superintendent Dr Robert tozzi and assistant superintendent Mr gingero for providing me the opportunity to work in such a wonderful School District accepting the assistant principal position is not something that I take lightly as it has been a goal I've worked very hard to achieve and a passion I've always had being part of an administrative team felt like the next natural step in my educational career and I'm extremely excited to embark on this new Journey as a new member of the school district I look forward to cultivating strong relationships with all stakeholders I also look forward to infusing my educational philosophies with the strong philosophies the Clifton school district has already established again
071thank you so much for this privilege and opportunity thank you congratulations Melissa I think the board will remember Maggie Maggie had an opportunity earlier in the year to complete a leave replacement as a vice principal at Christopher Columbus Middle School that's right and she she passed the test so we're gonna we're gonna keep her thank you good evening everyone my name is Maggie votillo president Smith Commissioners Dr Robert ozie and Central Administration thank you for letting me speak today Dr Robert tozi thank you for your recommendation I appreciate it I've been an employee of Clifton public schools for the past 16 years I was a student teacher in Clifton I was a kindergarten aide for a very brief amount of time then I was in Elementary classroom for 14 years for the last two years
072I was an elementary math coach and I also served a brief term as an interim VP at Woodrow Wilson Middle School as a former ell student I can tell you that I had quite a busy and wonderful Journey and it all took place here in Clifton I love working here in Clifton as much as I love living here in Clifton with my husband and two sons I have always seen Clifton as a school district that provides opportunities opportunities for the staff to learn grow and showcase their leadership skills and most importantly as a place that provides a multitude of learning opportunities for our students because they deserve them they're the best we are such a diverse district and our kids deserve only the best and like we saw today we had so many amazing educators
073I'm honored humbled and I look forward to becoming an assistant principal or being an assistant principal and making a positive contribution to Clifton's leadership team I'm also looking forward to collaborating with my buildings principles Ms Lucas and Dr capizzi as well as school 2 and school 13 families and all involved stakeholders in providing our staff and students with much needed additional support today's children are tomorrow's future and it's always a great day to be a junior Mustang thank you for your time [Applause] foreign Mr Maldonado did you want to come up and say any um so good morning everybody my name is Eddie Maldonado and I am a resident at Dima Avenue I just want to thank everybody especially Miss Conti and the commissioner for giving me the opportunity to work at school number eight
074and be the security guard over there and I just wanted to tell you guys I'll be given my full effort at keeping those children safe thank you guys [Applause] if not somebody's going to be after you congratulations and welcome to all our new employees we welcome you to Clifton okay um we're going to go back to uh more of the numbers again okay p41 and p42 Mr abadrovo had asked um if he could vote for this virtually our policy allows for that so um if you could just uh Mark Mr abadrabo present for the meeting for this vote he is on the phone my phone's dying so let's do this quick Mr abajava if you could just say you're here okay all right so p yeah I'm going to do that was it p-41 and
075p42 41 is approval of the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and p42 is approval of assistant superintendent of schools both their contracts motion motion Bible second by um Mr brunsiak okay is there any discussion seeing none roll code please Mr abadrabo yes Miss basper yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris I'm staying Mr Santiago we're doing 41 42 correct yeah president Smith yes foreign okay so our assistant superintendents are back and our business business administrator is back congratulations welcome back thank you Mr Smith thank you for making sure that that vote happened tonight absolutely very much appreciate that okay let's go back to uh we're gonna go back to uh where are we we're gonna go back to education Administration we have um so ea1 on a separate vote do I have
076a motion in a second motion okay Melissa robertrabo Excuse Me Miss bassford motion Mr abajabo second uh this is on pride month Miss basford would you like to read that please thank you a pride month whereas it is the right of every child regardless of gender identity gender expression or sexual orientation to access a free public K-8 education and the district welcomes and supports all students and whereas the district recognizes that there are employees and educators of the highest caliber who are lgbtq plus and that all employees are valued members of the school Community regardless of their gender identity gender expression or sexual orientation and whereas New Jersey Law prohibits discrimination including discrimination based on transgender identity gender expression and sexual orientation and whereas the district is committed to maintain safe healthy and welcoming learning
077environments for all members of our community including the lgbtq plus community or those who may have perceived as such and whereas lgbtq plus youth who find their schools to be affirming reported lower rates of suicidal thoughts and whereas the month of June is an opportunity to celebrate the identities and contributions of the lgbtq plus community and whereas the first gay pride March was held in June 1969 to commemorate The Stonewall riots and whereas the celebration of pride month is rooted in the history of resistance and struggle for equal rights as guaranteed by the United States Constitution and whereas by recognizing pride month we affirm that supportive School environments substantially improve the mental health of the school environment engagement of the LBG TQ plus students and whereas by recognizing pride month we supports policies practices and
078curriculum that honor and respect lgbtq plus students staff families and whereas by recognizing pride month we affirm our commitment to a supportive environment that promotes trust growth and achievement for all students now there be it resolved at the Clifton Public Schools now there be a result that the Clifton Public School Public Schools Board of Education proclaimed the month of June 2023 as pride month roll call please Mr abajabo Mr Robbo yes Miss basford Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes president Smith yes motion carries all right next we have ea2 men's health month Mr Brunswick thank you Mr President did we ask first let's get a motion in a second motion by Mr Paris second second by Mr Santiago Mr Brunswick now would you please whereas 2023 marks the 29th
079year of national men's health month and whereas this month serves to help educate men and their families about the importance of positive Health attitudes and preventative health practices whereas despite advances in medical technology and research men continued to live an average of more than five years less than women and American Indian Alaskan native and African-American men have the lowest life expectancy and whereas educating the public and health care providers about the importance of a healthier lifestyle and early detection of male health problems will result in reducing rates of mortality from disease and whereas men who are educated about the value of preventative health practices will be more likely to participate in health screenings and whereas New Jersey men's health month focuses on a broad range of men's health issues including heart disease diabetes and prostate
080testicular and colon cancer and whereas by recognizing men's health month the students staff and residents of the district are encouraged to increase the importance of a healthier lifestyle regularly regularly exercise and medical checkups now therefore it be resolved that the Clifton Public Schools Board of Education proclaims the month of June 2023 as men's health month okay roll call please Mr abadrabo Miss basford yes Mr Brooklyn yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes president Smith yes motion carries foreign I'm so confused did we do the rest of it did we do the rest of it already we didn't okay so let's do ea3 oh yeah six and on correct yeah so ea6 through ea23 motion please motion by Mr abadrabo second by Mr Mejia discussion seeing on roll call please Mr abujrabo yes
081Miss basford yes and I'm proud specially Elite um the second reading on ea8 for the therapy dog this is a brand new program for Clifton uh welcome Chewie Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes president Smith yes smoking carries okay let's go down okay let's go down to finance facilities we have f 1 through f29 motion please motion by Mr Paris second second by Mr Mejia discussion seeing non-roll code please Mr abadrabo yeah so stay on f30 Miss basford yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes I just want to correct something sorry ea21 active stain in the last notcher and president Smith yes motions carry okie dokie going back up Mr Smith I yeah you're going back up I am I I just been
082to a superintendency report nope we didn't do I just had one committee reports and announcements yep you got it DOC Europe thank you Mr President I just want to take a moment to update everyone on the status of our high school commencement tomorrow we anticipate graduating almost 700 Clifton High School seniors on the field at Clifton Stadium at 3 P.M as of this moment the latest weather report that I saw is we're looking good so it looks like there's going to be a window tomorrow afternoon where it doesn't even according to the current report doesn't even look like it's raining but here's the here's the here's the real deal if it is raining rain's not going to stop us from having the ceremony at three o'clock what would prevent us or what what might cause
083us to change the time would of course be lightning or any type of severe weather severe rain wind and some anything that you know we would deem dangerous as of right now it looks like we're on for tomorrow three o'clock in the event A change is going to be made and if a change is made that would mean either going up as the earliest the ceremony could be would be 2 p.m and the latest would probably be 7 P.M if a change is going to be made to the time we will let the community know as soon as practical it won't be five minutes before the ceremony it would be you know tomorrow morning if the change is going to be made it would be tomorrow morning but again as of right now the ceremony
084is on looking forward to it Commissioners you'll be meeting at Columbus for some of you it's your first one we meet at Christopher Columbus Middle School and that's where we we assemble and March out of so you can be there as early as I I'd get there early to avoid the the crowd and you have a parking pass to display there will be reserved parking for you and it'll be uh we're gonna have a nice ceremony I'm very feeling very good about the weather thank God thank you Mr Smith okay uh I'm gonna give up that let's do the adoption of the minutes of the May 25th meeting please motion by Mr abadrabo second by Mr Paris any discussion seeing non-roll call please Mr Robert yes Miss bassford yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia abstain
085Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes president Smith yes motion carries okay uh we don't have any of that we don't have any of that so we'll go to uh board committee reports board members if you could condense these reports down a little bit give us the main facts that would be wonderful uh so we'll start with residency and security Mr Santiago thank you president Smith The Residency and security committee meeting took place on Thursday June 1st 5 30 present were Mr gengaro Mr doctor Mrs Nola Mr Constantino president from the board where myself Miss bastard Mr brunsiak and president Smith Mr doctor briefed the committee on current residency cases including plans for the summer for residency staff president Smith requested the sharing of monthly residency investigation numbers including number of non-residents found in monetary savings
086to the district this will commence at September's meeting for the new school year Mr Constantino explained that the security drill for the month of May was conducted by schools throughout the district flawlessly Mr gigara discussed various security upgrades and changes which we will be which will be taking place in the next few months he also reference the lockdown situations which occurred at Christopher Columbus Middle School and at the high school and Mrs anole explained that New Jersey Department of education's office of school preparedness and emergency planning will be hosting a training event in Clifton public schools in July the meeting was adjourned at 6 58 pm thank you Mr Santiago any questions Mr Santiago okay hearing then we'll move on to facilities on June 19th the facilities committee met in attendance where myself Mr Santiago
087and president Smith on Administration side we had Dr Robert tozi Mr gengaro Mr Uchi Mr shihada Mr Maldonado and Mr marcione and for guests we had Mr Costello uh Mr Oviedo and Mr Rivera we started at 3 35 we ended at p.m we ended at 5 P.M we had a referendum uh update uh from uh the Epic rep um we had a discussion about doing Joe Wilson baseball field electric is still in process due to PSEG there needs to be some permits to go over Van Houten Ave because it's a County Road that's likely to be completed in into August at this point and bathrooms will be operable at the stadium for graduation for building a grounds updates Administration gave an update of projects that are taking place throughout the district the mid administration building
088sewer line is being replaced due to a collapse in the line and we're looking to put through insurance for those damage charges we discussed the lease for from for New York City Church a yearly lease agreement in CHS on Sundays we discussed a request to rent some parking spaces in the CHS parking lot um we also discussed building rates changing the building rates to better reflect current costs and um a resolution on HVAC and boilers well the resolution was discussed and it will be on uh it's already on we already voted I believe for Cooperative pricing um discussion ensued about the tennis court and adding bleachers for uh for spectators and uh lastly a permit request to uh film at Clifton Stadium um was uh also granted um outside bathroom at CHS was discussed as
089well as looking into um Band Room Renovations for the future any questions okay uh Mr Brunswick could you read the the finance minutes please thank you commissioner Paris finance committee meeting occurred on June 19th myself was president Mr Paris was president president Smith was present Dr robertozu was president Mr Jaguar was president Mr Uchi Mr shahada was present meeting start time was 5 p.m end time was 5 45 PM lists of discussion was where the designation of the end of year deposits fitness equipment refuse collection the request for the proposal to maintenance vehicle for for new hires that were approved in the upcoming budget and food balances which we had discussed in a previous meeting and the issues that the business office is trying to uh collect on these monies does anyone have any questions
090thank you thank you Mr brunsiak uh Miss basford would you please read the policy minutes sure the policy committee met on June 20th at 5 32 present where president Smith uh commissioner abajabo commissioner Mejia myself Administration Mark gingero Luis Ross and the board attorney delis Gutierrez we um in an effort to continue we're looking at the following policies all were adopted to prior to 2015. they'll list it I'm not going to list them they'll be released to the public as soon as we approve them today I want to focus on dress code policy I informed the board that we had an HSA meeting with our HSA committee and Dr robotazi announced that we will be forming a district stakeholder committee to review the threshold code policy to provide recommendations for the superintendent and the board
091so it is a move point for the policy committee to keep working until we get recommendations from that committee the committee discussed the possibility of amending a facility the use policy to address instances of groups that may wish to rent parking lots and of one of our facilities the administration will develop and recommend language to address the next request at our next meeting the meeting adjourned at 6 pm and Mr Ross wrote the minutes for us any questions thank you Miss bassford I'll read the education and special education committee minutes I'm president or myself Miss basford from Administration uh miss kusilevich Mr gengaro Mr hamda Mr mountain and Miss Rotolo we discuss social media and Chromebooks and the use of social media on on Chromebooks action at this point was informational we discussed summer Work
092summer workshops Ms kusilevich gave us a overview of the workshops that are happening uh summer here of 2023 we had a discussion on grade regulations with Mr Hondo leading the discussion uh we had a special education update with Mr Rotolo and we adjourned the meeting at 6 30 pm any questions yeah I have a question commissioner Paris the the grading regulations does does the Board of Education Commissioners do they have any authority to to have a say in this policy at all or no uh I built Mr that's a great question so the policy is very general the regulation is where the actual grade is so the answer to your question is technically I could just change it but I would absolutely not do that on my own without uh support of the I would
093I would want a a super majority of the board on a decision like that so shorter answer is I could do it on my own but I wouldn't without board support thank you uh Miss Pastor could you read the Personnel committee oh Mr I'm sorry Mr Smith is back now I I relinquish to chair to you personnel good job Mr Paris okay so the Personnel uh committee meet met on June 15th at 5 15 via Google meets um president were um from the from the Board of Education president Smith a mark commissioner brunsiak myself from Administration Dr Danny robitussi Mark chingaro Janina kuchalevich and Luis Ross Dr robitussi provided the committee with information on anticipated movements and reorganizations Mr gingero shared an update on hiring process that he's working on Miss Mrs kuchalevich provided the
094committee with information on two jobs descriptions to address ell population that which has doubled since last year Mr Ross and Miss kuchaleva shared additional job descriptions which are being renamed to be approved the committee spoke about the status of completing Dr robitussi's evaluation and the meeting adjourned at 5 50 PM the minister will respectively Sim committed by Luis Ross any questions thank you education and special education Mr Paris we've concluded that concludes our committee reports Mr Smith okay let's move on to uh unfinished business we have any all right any new business am I at that yeah any new business all right let's go to board member comments who is next so Lucy's not here Mr abujabo you're next are you there these are your comments so hold on let me get the microphone on
095okay go ahead congratulations to all the graduates who are graduating this year um it is a feat and a success for you to graduate through high school and move on to your either trades or college or your armed services and Clinton has been very proud and will continue to be proud of all the uh students that we have in our district who will go on to represent our great town and our great district and uh congratulations thank you okay uh next is uh Miss bastard yes uh good evening I would like to thank all the speakers that um came and spoke tonight I'd like to thank the um the administration and the staff at school eight school 11 School five and so school 16. I had the pleasure of being out there moving up ceremonies
096I was very impressed by the number of special ed children that were involved in the program and how they were included in the program it was very refreshing and just very thrilling to see that there was inclusion and it works in our district I was pleased to attend the Clifton Education Association dinner last night and watched the Excellence in education distributed by all um exhibited by all the people that were attended last night I like to thank the reward award recipients for 25 years of service and for the retirees the paraprofessionals and the teacher of the year um recip congratulations I also would like to talk a little bit about the graduating class of 2023 remember your roots remember where you come from remember who gave you your start make us proud as you go
097out into this world and congratulations and call an Uber if you need to very important and remember what you've learned from the drunk driving reenactment it was very powerful this year we had a lot of good support and I'd like to thank Casa for doing that these are my reviews and my personal opinions I don't speak for the board but I'd like to thank Casa for putting that on a lot of dedication it was a it was a great program so thank you everyone for helping with that remember where you come from remember your roots congratulations be safe and go on to this world to make us proud good night okay Mr Brunswick thank you Mr President my message to the graduates family members and staff it's going to be an honor to be part
098of this celebration tomorrow the 2023 CHS graduation ceremony it will be a pleasure to share the intensity of emotions filling Clifton Stadium as as you who are graduating close this chapter of your life story parents you're probably wondering where the years have gone as you Marvel at your sons and daughters accomplishments it doesn't seem that long ago when these young adults we honor today tomorrow we're titling off to start kindergarten of course living through those years between kindergarten and graduation may have seemed like an eternity for the student and for some parents as well you are the class of 2023. you graduate at a time in history when our country is dealing with enormous challenges but at a time when the opportunities created those challenges have never been greater your technology natives born educated in
099a technological world that was only found in science fiction stories when many of us were in were in this room were in school maybe you go on Twitter read books online and your electronic social networking has shrunk the unknown world you are the generation that will make the technology of today to new and dizzying dimensions you are the ones who will bring solutions to fiscal crises Wars conservation of natural resources and development of alternative energy sources and who knows there may come a time that some of you live on a space station circling the earth some among you may find the cure for cancer or other debilitating afflictions so tomorrow you are poised to start a new chapter of your life story armed with the skills and knowledge you've attained I could tell you are
100able to tackle the next phase whatever it might be for some college or technical schools will be your next stop some are heading straight to the workforce some have chosen military service whatever Direction you take I guarantee the world will change as you leave high school and as a result of whatever it is you choose to do our world will change as a result of your contributions contributions that will be determined by how you follow your dreams and imaginations are we celebrate your past academic accomplishments and activities tomorrow I want to challenge you to continue your quest for knowledge and to discover your own unique ways to contribute to our society can you imagine JK Rowling the creator of the Harry Potter books was addressing the 2008 graduating class at Harvard when she said some
101failure in life is inevitable it is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all in which case you fail by default can you imagine a life lived so cautiously that you have failed by life that you have failed in life by default I can't imagine any of you that will be seated there tomorrow before before all of us choosing to live life that cautiously with all the opportunities that lay before you so take risks set goals take the detours that inevitably pop up and learn from them so I want to challenge you to take the enthusiasm that surrounds you tomorrow out of the world with you and use it to obtain your goals as you go forward don't forget the friends
102you have made and those you will make along the way true friendship is a treasure continue to care about continue to care about yourself your family your friends and your world and wherever the next next chapters in your life story may take you make sure the journey includes joy and laughter in closing I want to thank the family members and faculty and other staff to other staff who help them Reach This Milestone lastly congratulations to all you fine young adults graduating from Clifton High School tomorrow thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody all right um who is next here Richie you're up next thank you president Smith so I first like to congratulate all the Educators who were recognized today you guys did an amazing job all year
103long and some of you have been doing this job for 25 years so congratulations on such an accomplished Journey congratulations to all the people who recently hired um today and were hired before I hope you guys can contribute contribute immensely to our district I also want to mention to our graduating class many for many of you you're going to be the first in your family to graduate from high school for many of you you're probably going to be the fifth sixth seven maybe even 10 generation that's graduating no matter what I always emphasize the students that this is a big moment for you guys many students never had the opportunity to gradually let alone even make it to high school so it's a big accomplishment to even finish High School in general many of you
104are going to attend higher education some of you are going to go straight to the workforce some you to military some of you are going to go to technical schools but no matter what each person has their own path takes time to develop the types of skills you want to develop and at the end of the day you all come from Clifton I know we prepared you enough to go out into the real world to do things that our society thinks we're too young to do so congratulations to all the classes moving up fifth graders going up to Middle School the eighth graders going up to the high school and so those students who are in our CCMS and Woodrow Wilson who choose to go to other schools you know congratulations to you guys as
105well if no matter where you choose to go to you always be a part of the Clinton family thank you and have a great night thank you commissioner Mejia I called you Richie I'm sorry Mr Paris thank you Mr Smith congratulations to our award winners it's a phenomenal team we have here in Clifton and tonight was a great testimony to that thank you to the Clifton Education Association and all their support of our teachers in town and in support of our Awards this year and to graduates congratulations it takes a really a triage of people uh to graduate certainly the student themselves is really important certainly their team of teachers for their guidance and not least of which is is their family's support um go forth Follow Your Passion don't forget your roots and make
106the world a better place for us thank you Mr Santiago thank you president Smith um congratulations again to all the teachers from both of the events who won years of service Awards I think there was the highest was like 40 years or something like that which was amazing or 41 something like that um so congratulations to all the teachers and and the teacher View and the power professional of the Year congratulations and thank you all for everything you do we don't you may not hear that enough but thank you thank you very much for all your efforts and your care for for our district um I was happy to see that we also recognized the video staff including the students who participate thank you guys very much I mean to say that every time I
107come out and I haven't but I really am glad that you guys are recognized you do great work um uh Happy Pride I attended the city's pride flag raising there were parents and students there it was a good turnout men's health awareness this month guys please frequent checkups it's very important I attended a security conference this earlier this month director of security Mrs Enola was also there from the NJ school boards Association a lot of great information there a lot of great speakers and to to our graduates I'm looking forward to tomorrow I've been praying hard for no rain and looks like hopefully we're going to be able to get it in um you know I I attended School 11's moving up ceremony and there's only so many we can get to and we try
108to rotate those and I promised if I didn't get to you I'll get to you next time but uh some it was it was a great event principal Shelby was here um Mrs Rhodes who got a couple of awards rightfully so um well done the students did so well but something in the middle of that happened and that made me think about that as it relates to graduating and going a tip for our grads so the kids were singing and in the middle of that doing great um the mic the music actually went off the stopped the music stopped and the entire uh class of kids continued right on singing acapella and did amazing um and it was just kind of an example of you're going to have to adjust at times you're going to
109have to Pivot at times you're going to have to re um be able to figure it out stick with it and this is very important being resilient we learned that during covid I think that was the most important skill that was shown during covet is being able to be resilient and get through it so so you know our students you may be going off to as mentioned Career School whatever it is um you know you a lot of people they go down that road and they think they know what they want to do and then when they actually try it it's not what they thought it was going to be and that's totally okay too that probably happens to most people so um you know just be able to uh adapt pivot and it's okay
110not to know have a plan be prepared have a plan um but it's okay if you can figure it out along the way the last thing I would say um is don't don't be a know-it-all but be a learn at all so um you know be a lifelong learner as I've heard probably a bunch of people say it makes life more interesting it makes life fun and certainly your career you want to stay on top of the changes in your career so be a lifelong learner I'm looking so forward to it if anything I hope you learned that hard work pays off and stick with it and it pays off congratulations to you and to your family and everybody else involved good night foreign well as I said often and you're the last to go
111everyone's kind of said everything um but it truly truly is an honor to represent the district [Music] that is such an outstanding District a wonderful performing District as Mr llama said and I would agree with her we have the best of the best and we continue to strive for excellence our kids in Clifton receive a top-notch education because of all the people that were here tonight and many others that we're not here because of their dedication their devotion their love for the job their love for kids we could make all the policies in the world but if we don't have good administrators good teachers it doesn't matter what policies we make our kids receive a great education when they are in Clifton schools our seniors leaving High School are well prepared for the world in
112whatever Endeavor they are going into because they received an education here in Clifton and I think I said to miss lalama last night and thank you so much for the wonderful dinner with the wonderful people it was so enjoyable thank you for inviting us and I think I said to her last night I said I think morale is pretty good and the slogan of one Clifton is really being lived in our district we all work together collaboratively to make this District great it's not an easy task hey Clifton waited and waited until five years ago when we got a great superintendent to come in and set us on the right path put us above other districts so there's no following other districts they follow Clifton when they come and see that sign and I saw
113so many people coming into our gymnasium and looked up at the sign and said home of the Mustangs they said wow this is this is where the Mustangs come from this is where the Mustangs play and then I heard another guy come in and said yeah I'm a Mustang I graduated in a certain year they're proud to say that they were educated in Clifton schools but that doesn't happen unless you have good leadership from the top down and this board tonight voted to bring new people into the district that we feel are going to do a great job in their positions to help our district continue to be great why we love all of our employees to stay we had a group of employees that have retired and I think at the dinner last night
114the longest one was Mr natari with 41 years so we wish all our retirees the best we thank you for your commitment to Clifton children to the Clifton District and we wish you all the best of health and happiness in your retirement but we have to replace our retirees an Administration will continue to do that Administration works very hard as you can imagine when there are job openings in Clifton we get many applications and through an administrative team of interviews they choose the best candidates to fit those positions I fully trust our Administration in that process of hiring I know they are always Fair they give everybody an opportunity but as I said many people want to work in Clifton and not everybody fits a certain criteria or there were just many applicants and others
115fit the criteria better but I think our Administration does a wonderful job and it's not just one person that does the hiring even though it's Dr robitosi's recommendation he has a team that he puts together and they collaboratively decide what employees should be employed Mr gengaro's not here but I believe for one of the positions there was over a hundred and some odd interviews for maybe 16 positions a hundred and some odd people applied while this board gave Administration some help in applying we didn't give them a hundred and some odd positions but in no way do I feel this District is unfair is showing nepotism I fully trust and support the recommendations of our administrators and if we don't we ask the question to them we asked the superintendent we asked the team how
116did you come up with this how many people applied but they're the ones that hire employees in the district the board just approves what the recommendation of the superintendent is but we hire him to make those decisions and at any time that we would feel that he was not doing that in a proper way the board would address it and that's not the case but there were many people that want to come to Clifton to work and I don't blame them it's a great place to work it's a great town it's a great District so great that recently you may have read that a company website did a survey I think they're called livability.com and they did a [Music] ranking they observed 100 places to live and Clifton ranked 12th with a quality of life
117score 831 no that can't be right 831 out of 100 no I have a thousand Maybe I would just go with me we did good we did very good they looked at so they they looked at a hundred places to live and then they ranked them and the categories that they ranked them on was economy housing cost of living amenities Transportation environment safety health and education Clifton on their survey Clifton for education out of that 100 places to live Clifton for education came number three we don't know who number one and two is but they're they're going to be disregarded Clifton will move up but number three from their evaluation we know we're number one but their evaluation number three of a hundred places not that not too bad I never like using quotes but
118it says in the uh in the article in cbs2 also came in did a report on it Clifton with an extremely high graduation rate somewhere else before I just heard our graduation rate wasn't High but an outside entity came and is telling us we have a tremendously High graduation rate Clifton is considered the third best school system of the list of the top 100. yeah clap that's a great news that's fantastic news so when people talk about this survey and Clifton ranked 12 the best place to live yeah well look at what they ranked it on and look where we came out on top so something good must be happening in Clifton schools we know it surrounding towns know it and now livability who ranked a hundred other places knows Clifton education is Top Notch
119with a high graduation rate very proud of all the recipients tonight very proud of their accomplishments very proud of their hard work their dedication and just how happy they seem to be working in Clifton not everyone's happy with their job so how do you better be happy with your job but not everyone's happy in their jobs but these people tonight you could see on their faces you could see the smiles you can see in the classroom when we we go and see them and hear about the great things they do When Miss burgosa puts up those wonderful videos those kids aren't told what to say they say it from their heart their colleagues say it from their heart I couldn't sit here on this day as in good faith and say that we don't have
120the best because we do and we continue to strive to make it better working together collaboratively as one Clifton that is how we will continue to succeed that is how we will continue to be a strong town a strong educational town and tomorrow we will be so proud to send another class off into the world the class of 2023 wishing them all the best of success and to remind them that they are always a Mustang just now they're going to be alumni Mustang so very proud of Clifton and again um proud of all of our employees tomorrow being the last day a sad day for many kids who have spent the whole year with their teacher have enjoyed their teacher have learned so much and they're moving on could be a very sad day but
121we want it to be an enjoyable day a day where they're not leaving they're just going away for a little while they're not leaving before they know it they'll be back in their class for a new year so we wish everyone a great summer all of our staff a great year enjoy your summer be safe and we'll see those people in the fall the board will meet one meeting in July and one meeting in August so we're not going anywhere we hope to be back in our Administrative Building for our July meeting we will be back for our July meeting back at the administration building we thank Mr Honda and the staff of Clifton High School for allowing us to come back today while uh the finishing touches are being on the on the repairs
122to school six and um be safe everyone for the summer and if anyone is watching still tomorrow at three o'clock I'd say from two o'clock on if you don't have to be on the roads of Clifton don't be on the road not only for your sake but it allows our graduates and their parents to be able to get to the stadium on time so if you have to go to the grocery or the drugstore or whatever if you could do it in the morning and keep keep our Clifton streets open for our graduates that'd be a great wonderful thing and uh we'll see everybody tomorrow for a great weather graduation day thank you all okay uh I asked for new business already so we're past that uh we have um the three items that the
123personnel for executive um and we have um we have the superintendent's evaluation um of which just two or three just the three no I mean people that are exempt just those two right just this Mr Santiago Mr Paris Okay so what we could do is um meet for those uh those three items come back and vote on them and you then we could do his evaluation you guys could go home and we'll just close is that good for everybody excuse me Mr President I have two things um that I'd like to discuss in executive session besides that um I want to ask a question about we had two speakers that come up with particular issues one was about a special ed issue and also there was one about a job issue I know Mr brunsiak
124wrote something down that was going on I don't know if you were concerned about that but I have a question for the superintendent so I like to speak about that in executive session too Mr Brunswick wants to speak about that one as well for this public one's personnel and one's about a student issue okay okay he says oh I also have another question about a legal issue too I have three sorry it's it has to be discussed with the whole board okay okay so what we'll do yeah so we'll meet on these Personnel issues come back and vote on the ones that we pulled then go back to Executive for the evaluation and you guys can go home okay uh we're gonna go into executive session so we're going to um to ask the public
125to vacate the room why we go into an executive yep yeah yeah uh we expect to um be in this first part 15-20 minutes we'll come back and vote on those resolutions and then go back into executive sessions so the public can be invited back in after our first part and then you'll have to vacate again uh after that if you're going home for the night just wave goodbye and we won't have to worry about that okay so I need a motion to go into executive session for these uh three items that we had in the items Miss password has for uh motion to Executive session motion by Paris second by Mr Santiago Rocco please Miss basford to go into exactly okay yes Mr bunziak yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes
126president yes motion carries still good just give us a test make sure yes test one two test ing testing one two three four test s okay I know somebody had those old ringtones still okay I don't know if I have to get um the board uh an executive session to discuss uh various Personnel matters okay the board uh we are withdrawing uh so what is that P what which one are we enjoying okay so let's have a motion on um p8 9 and 10 withdrawing uh a b three o two two or a53 oh 53022 okay so 8 9 10 and on ten we're removing a53022 motion motion minus password second by Mr Paris discussion seeing none roll call please miss bessford yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mickey here yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago
127yes president Smith yes motions carry okay uh the board's going to meet an executive session again um to discuss the uh superintendency evaluation um I expect us to be about 45 minutes uh to an hour uh the board will uh adjourn from executive session because no action will be taken and Mr Paris and Mr Santiago have to excuse themselves from this part of the meeting so guys we'll go back into uh executive all right motion to go in executive please motion by Mr mejia's second Mr Santiago any objection okay all said yes all right so we're going to go into executive position again the action actually