001[Music] [Laughter] [Music] every time foreign [Music] thank you [Laughter] yeah [Music] what's going on is everything else [Music] it's great [Music] yes oh [Music] it's great to see you [Music] um what did they all said I see a couple of them coach what do you think thank you [Music] how many days [Music] thank you [Music] all right he's here oh my gosh this is amazing how are you busy yeah thank you all right guys ladies and gentlemen we're going to get started if everybody could uh gather uh gather around good afternoon ladies and gentlemen my name is Danny robertosie I'm the proud superintendent of the Clifton Public School District and even prouder to be here today at such a momentous occasion we have a very brief program today I'm going to say a few words
002our athletic director Mr melayhee will say a few words and our board president Mr Smith will say a few words and also recognize many of the dignitaries we have with us today so thank you to our Board of Education members who are here our city council Representatives who are here um you will be recognized formally by our board president but the most important people that are here today is this group of young people here um it's four years ago that I became the superintendent and the first thing that I did in the first two months here in Clifton was toured the facilities and I remember seeing the the old tennis courts for the first time and thinking that they were probably original to to the building and probably outdated and probably maybe not even safe
003and I asked a few questions and I remember speaking to coach at the time and making a promise to the coach that I would do everything in my power to try to upgrade the facilities for our students I hope that what you see today with only with the support of the Board of Education I hope that what you see today you are very proud of and I hope that it gives you Pride knowing that you get to play for a district that cares about you that wanted to provide you with excellent facilities so that you could represent our community really well I think it's important to note that this entire project was funded through capital reserve funds but not to get too technical but what that means is there was no additional taxpayer money utilized
004for this for these grounds as you may or may not know we have many facility projects going on through the district new uh heating ventilation and air conditioning systems paid for through our referendum new security vestibules paid for through our referendum but this particular project was something that I'm proud to say was was done without any additional burden uh to the taxpayer so I think that's something that should be applauded [Applause] gives me a great pleasure to introduce our athletic director Mr Tom mullehy who's going to share a few words Tom thank you Dr robitosi uh thank you everybody for for being here on behalf of our tennis program our tennis coaches coach Cole long time coach he's the head girls coach whitwer is the head boys coach who's been there for a couple years
005coach Parisi and Coach Giordano our assistants and we also have a long time assistant coach Ann Tate who wasn't able to attend today but I know she's very excited for this project just want to thank quickly the administration Dr robitosi and uh the central Administration as well as our board for their commitment to Athletics the amount of facility upgrades that we've had over the last few years has really been impressive I can't think of another uh districts that that's done as much in such a short time so thank you very much uh just a quick story 10 years ago when I got to Clifton High School one of the first projects that I wanted to do was the tennis courts and I called the resurfacing company in Montclair and he said no offense but um
006I've been called about six or seven times over the past couple years and no one's ever done anything so for for this board and this Administration to um give us this beautiful product that we have here we're very excited and um no pressure guys but you have to win a lot of matches here all right our boys and girls that's definitely going to do a lot of winning here and make a lot of memories so that's all I've got and I'm going to give it back to Dr robitosi so thank you Mr melaye at this time it's my honor to introduce our Board of Education president uh Mr Jim Smith to say a few words thank you thank you to everyone that has come out today uh we're so glad that we had some good
007weather uh so we're wearing our short sleeves and our shirts and uh the microphones falling here um so I before I say a few words I'd just like to introduce some dignitaries that are here today uh from our uh friends across the street uh at City Hall we have our city manager Mr Nick Villano here councilwoman Rosemary Pino [Applause] and councilman Tony Latona I think that's everyone from the city right okay and um the Board of Education who was determined and dedicated to making sure that this project took place uh it was very important for the boy for the board to come forward and let the tennis team the tennis coaches and the tennis program know that they are just as important as any other uh sport in in Clifton High School so this is
008the product of um the board's faith and dedication into the uh to the program and the board was asked to uh go out and find a way that we could add the fifth tennis court so that we could have a tournament style tennis matches here that you needed that fifth tennis court and uh we turned to our ever faithful Architects Rodney's here representing our Architects and we thought in no way would it possibly be able to be done but as you see it it was done and it's a tremendous tremendous facility now for tennis and this board worked very hard to to make that happen for you guys so I'd just like to introduce the people that were involved in this and continue to be involved in every aspect of your education and extracurricular life
009here at Clifton High School so from our Board of Education um we have I'll just start over here with commissioner Fahim abdrabo [Applause] we have commissioner Richie uh over here we have a commissioner Judy basford [Applause] and we're uh Mr Alan Paris Mr farasawad and Mr Tony Santiago so from our Central Administration we have our assistant superintendents we have Mr Martin Caro and Mrs Janina kusilevich and someone very important to the projects that are happening around Clifton right now we have our our top uh project uh manager um and Mr Al marcione [Applause] um I always forget his title because he does so so much in our district but um a director of student uh Mike help me out there you go director of operations Mr mic doctor [Applause] um and then obviously from um
010our high school administration [Music] um we have your ever faithful um principal here Mr Ahmad shahada no I'm Ahmed sorry our assistant business administrator Mr Ahmed shahada and with our building principles um let me start over where are we Mr Waka [Applause] Mr Keegan and our director of uh security who we're so glad to have back um Miss Megan it's not Conti it's Conti Still Miss Megan Conti foreign a former Board of Education member who was part of this project and uh was dedicated into making sure this happened uh former board member Mr Jim Daly [Applause] so again we are continued dedicated to the extracurricular programs here at Clifton High School to the sporting programs to our wonderful um trainers trainer Tom and trainer Nicole for all the work that you do for our athletes
011we're very appreciative of that and I hope that you all will enjoy taking a look around and seeing the great tennis courts um the great job that we put in that retaining wall over there and then hopefully in the next coming weeks you'll also see um the dedication to the great uh Banfield uh that is up at the top so again students players tennis players we wish you all the very best in your season here and in any Endeavors you take on from Clifton High School and we hope that these courts will bring you much luck and success in all that you do thank you all very much thank you so much Mr Smith before we take a couple pictures and cut the ribbons uh I think it's important to note that because the the
012previous facilities were um in such bad shape and not really regulation we haven't had a home match here in Clifton in three years and even then we only had one so for the first time ever you will have at least as many home matches as you have uh you know going away you know home court advantage is a big deal and the fact that you couldn't represent Clifton High School on your own turf is something that has now been corrected so I think that's an important thing to note um without any further Ado what I'd like to do is I'd like to have the Board of Education Members First to come up we'll take a picture uh and then I'd like the students and the dignitary the rest of our dignitaries to join us in
013a group picture uh and then we'll we'll cut the ribbon and then you can wander around pick up a tennis racket but don't hurt yourself okay and as Mr Smith mentioned sometime in the near future we will do another brief ceremony for the opening of our of our new Banfield which is also stunning if you get a chance if you haven't seen it take a walk up there and take a look at it so if I could have the Board of Education members come up please who's got the scissors Jim you go in the Middle with the scissors if I can have our friends from city council and then Mr Villano join us for a picture please Mr Honda um thank you yeah if we could have uh the team come together coaches coaches in
014the team come on up right in the middle and we're going to go around you but you know what let's do a picture of the coaches and the teams today [Music] you're gonna have to three two one thank you okay stay there guys I'll take the cherries please Administration dignitaries and then after this picture Mr Smith you got the scissors you will do the honors I'm right here [Music] girls come in come on I'm not going to be able to see you guys go upstairs excellent all right yeah good luck all right I just this gentleman in the green back there just refuses to be photographed there we go three two one and one more for insurance sorry three two one great thank you [Applause] Patrick [Applause] yeah the lady from the girls [Applause] thank
015you [Applause] that will conclude the ceremonies you're free to walk around and take a look and uh as always we thank our staff um Mr Rose Mr makani and Mr Mecca thank you all for your help and assistance with this and with everything all year long thank you all for coming today [Music]