001foreign good evening everyone I call the order of the regularly scheduled January 5th organization meeting of the Clifton Board of Education may I ask everyone to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance at a brief moment of silence foreign thank you next on the agenda we'll be administering the oath of office for our newly elected board members and we're going to go on alphabetical order first is Mr Mark brunsiak and I will be administering the oath foreign oh yeah all right wherever you want foreign come here hold on to this hold on to this okay hold on to this okay both of you Mel put your hand over there you raise your right hand or depend on the Bible hi Mark brunsiak aye mark brunsiak do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of
002the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the Constitution constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and I will that and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I'm Mark Brunswick I'm Mark Brunswick solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications described by law for the office of member of a Board of Education the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education and that
003I am not disqualified and that I am not disqualified pursuant to and not and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS 194-1 RS 19-4 -1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime nor disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 njs 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you very much [Applause] right Sarge Linda everybody materials everybody thank you everybody [Applause] and then okay this the second uh board member to be sworn in uh tonight is Mr Richard Mejia and he'll be having mayor Grabowski
004swear him in foreign the whole family there's your right hand please hi Richie Mejia hi Richard Mejia do solemnly swear I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith the same governments established in the United States and this state and so the government's established in the United States and this state the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God hi Richard Mia do solemnly swear possess the qualifications prescribed by law now I possess the qualifications described by law a member of the board of education for the office of member of
005a Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a voter of 194-1 pursuant to 19 4-1 more disqualified crime or offense Laura disclaw if I do to a Convention of a crime or offense listed njs 18a 12-1 listed in njs 18a 12-1 the guy will Faithfully and that I will Faithfully impartially and just ice perform all duties of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me God [Applause] can I have my friends and family come up please all right thank you so much thank you so much I am your prosecutor where's your mom a wall of it thank you foreign thank you and lastly we will have Mr Anthony Santiago sworn in and Mr Franklin Montero will be administering his oath it's the honorable Franklin yes sir ready okay
006all right Anthony Santiago I Anthony Santiago do solemnly swear to solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I Anthony Santiago aye Anthony Santiago do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualification
007prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter and I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS 19 colon 4-1 pursuant to RS 19 colon 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs listed in njs 18a 18a colon colon 12-12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially impartially and just and justly perform all the duties of the office perform all the duties of the office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help we got so helpful God [Applause] all
008right okay Mr sharada may I have a roll call please yes uh Mr abujrabo here Mr Awad here miss basford here Mr Brunswick here Dr Danny here Mr Mejia here Mr Paris here Mr Santiago here Mr Smith here we have a quorum thank you a reading of the mission statement the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and restrict reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an ever-changing world next the reading of the open public meeting statement the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have the advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies
009at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of parent-teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 foreign agenda is the nomination and election of president of the Board of Education can I please have a nomination for the president of Board of Education I'd like to nominate Jim Smith are there any other nominations I see none so I will close uh the nomination for president uh per bylaw zero
010one five two every board member will write their vote on a paper ballot which I provided in front of you if you could uh write who you're voting for and uh sign it and I will read them aloud foreign order [Music] Mr Mejia voted for Mr Smith Mr Paris Mr Smith voted for Mr Smith Mr Smith voted for Mr Smith Mr Santiago voted for Mr Smith Mr abedravo voted for Mr Smith Mr Awad voted for Mr Smith Miss basford voted for Mr Smith Mr brunsiak voted for Mr Smith and Miss uh Dr Danny voted for Mr Smith by majority United vote Mr Smith was elected president of the board of ed [Applause] ucation you know don't don't worry I'll go over there okay uh to my uh fellow colleagues I thank you for entrusting me
011with the gavel and the responsibility of being you know the president of this board um as always I will work diligently and with each and every one of you so that we can provide the very best for Clifton kids and I'm confident that with this board that we will do that so I thank you all for the uh for your confidence in me thank you very much [Music] okay next we'll move on to the um election of Vice President we'll open nominations are there any nominations for vice president Mr chair yes I nominate Lucy Danny okay nomination for Lucy Danny president Smith yes are there any denominations I nominate Miss Bessler okay nomination for uh Miss basford okay nomination has been declined are there any other nominations any other I nominated okay nomination for fahima
012travel while I respect that I also respect for the decline okay nomination's been declined are there any other nominations third and last time are there any other nominations seeing none will move to uh vote again in the same manner you'll fill out your slip and pass it down to be read foreign so for vice president the board of education for the next year and in no particular order again Mr Mejia Dr Danny Mr Santiago Dr Danny Dr Danny Dr Danny Mr abadrabo abstain Mr Paris Dr Danny Mr Awad Dr Danny Mr Smith Dr Danny Mr bronziak Dr Danny and Miss basford Dr Danny the majority [Applause] I'll just keep it brief as I do um thank you very much for your support um you know when I look to work forward to working with all
013of you and you know creating um equity and and you know respecting everyone's opinions thank you [Applause] [Music] yeah I go [Music] okay so uh the next we're doing is the reading of the school board member code of ethics by law zero one four two if everyone could pull it up uh I don't know everyone has their Chromebooks not everyone has their Chromebooks though they don't have one for sharing no those two don't have one yeah you have copies thank you thank you again thank you look at this thank you in color and everything okay so um board members uh attest to and have to abide by these code of ethics um from the New Jersey school boards Association so it's the code of ethics for school board members njsa 18a colon 12-24.1 if we
014start with Mr abadrabo and everyone would take a letter please number one excuse me so pulling Force old laws rules and regulations the State Board of Education in court orders between schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures letter B I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of the children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that they meet the individual needs for All Children's regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standings see I will confine my board action to policy making planning and appraisal and it will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will affect be affected by them D I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my
015fellow board members to see that they are well run gee I will recognize the authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises in order to take any private action that may compromise the board F I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends G I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclose would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its School h i will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative
016officer I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties Amy want to take the last one I will I will refer all compliance to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at the public meetings only after failure of the administrative solution okay thank you all for uh reading it and I'm gonna miss the Llama thank you for the copies okay next is um uh designation of meetings so um yeah so the meetings are listed here um starting with uh Thursday um January 19th um I would like to make a proposal to amend this to have our meeting time start at 6 30 P.M instead of seven if the rest of the board is in agreement with that so we can open discussion on that um in doing that
017you know it just gives us an extra half hour so we may not have to be here until midnight and and after um so discussion anyone like to agree disagree I disagree I can't make 6 30. it just it's it's hard with work and we've always been seven o'clock everybody sets their clock by us at seven o'clock and just commuting lately it's very difficult to get here on time okay anyone anyone else Tony here your commuter too 6 30 would be a problem 6 30 or 7 but either it's fine anyone else right I I don't want to change something if all board members are not in the approval of it so yeah right exactly okay so we'll just leave it at seven um they're uh there could come times when we we have to
018uh to start it earlier but uh we'll keep it preliminary at the seven o'clock um next meeting we have a important uh hearing uh it that it will be an executive session um we'd like to hold that hearing um before our regular meeting only because there's uh numerous employees that are involved in it and instead of having them wait around all night we just like to to try and do it ahead of time so um would that be okay for next meeting just okay so uh what did we say it's six I expect the hearings it's already about an hour an hour so we want to do 5 45 if to be easier to be safe if if the board members could make 5 30. for this particular night um just so we're not rushing
019in a way we can make sure our meeting starts it's on time okay so it's estimated to uh we're hoping to be just an hour um so if we just amend um next meeting we will start our general meeting at seven o'clock as as listed but the board will meet an executive so we will actually open the meeting up at 5 30 and then the board will go into executive session for this for this matter advertise it that way okay is there any objection to that okay um otherwise for the public I'll just read them real quick but these were our dates are posted will be posted on our website um so next meeting is the 19th uh in February we only have one meeting uh on the ninth March we have the second and
020the 23rd which will be our preliminary budget hearing uh April 6th uh Thursday May 4th and that will be uh our public hearing on the final budget May 25th June 22nd July 27th August 24th September 21st October 5th October 19th November 16th December 7th and uh the 4th of January 2024 at 6 PM for our reorganizational meeting again these dates will be posted on our website uh for all to uh to have foreign next we have our uh selection of delegates um it's password which one is it the year that you I don't know if anybody else anybody else wants to step up but I I usually do the state and Allen does the county but maybe the new members may I don't know if they want to get involved [Music] uh-oh uh okay so
021uh so we'll put uh this basford as a delegate on the state and um Mr Paris on the county is there anyone would like to be the alternates otherwise they can yes on the state um and Alan you'll be on the well uh so you're going to be ultimate on the state and now we need an alternate on the county anybody miss Pastor would you be asking okay yep okay um member of the board of directors to the Northern Regional Education Services Commission um superintendent robitosi will handle that one um and committee uh assignments um I will work on those and get those to the board as soon as possible um okay that does it yes okay no okay is there any objection to the to what we just did okay okay constitute a vote
022yeah okay uh Mr President yes I'm sorry can we move the we have a yes I guess in the audience can we move that above before a public comment because that may be too I am obvious because we have make a motion to move the agenda no objection um do you want to hold yours off till we do it I don't have any reports tonight Mr President other than to congratulate our new board members look forward to working with uh with all of you and what I would say to any board member is as long as we keep the best interests of children at the heart of our decision making will always do the right thing and so uh I wish you all the best I look forward to working with all of you okay
023uh we'll move our uh public portion uh after we do these uh presentations um the first one is um be a resolve that the Board of Education recognizes James insoldi former mayor of the city of Clifton on his retirement the honorable James and zoldi has been the longest serving mayor of the city of Clifton for the last 32 years we applaud your dedication to our great city of Clifton and for the countless years of support to the community and students of Clifton um former mayron zaldi has always supported education has supported the school system has attended so many events especially in June to give his remarks at graduation um we are so indebted and so thankful to your dedication to uh the children of the city of Clifton and um we just wanted to uh
024say thank you and we truly appreciate uh all you have done for not only this great City but for the Clifton Board of Education so Marin's Aldi if you step up I'm sorry [Applause] thank you [Applause] it says presented to Mayor James thank you for your dedication to our great City uh how this years of support for the students of the Clinton School District as you reflect upon your years of dedication to this city always know how thankful we were for your care and support with thanks and gratitude the Clifton Public School District January 5th 2023. [Applause] foreign [Applause] ER um next um we have a recognition of uh former board member Mr Joe Canova Miss basford yes it is an honor for me to read this tonight Joe with a with a full heart
025most of it's very heavy let me take a breath ea1523 recognize recognition of Joe Canova resolved that the Clifton Board of Education recognizes Joe Canova and expresses its gratitude for his dedication and service to the community and the students of Clifton serving as a board member for three years including service on the diversity education special education Finance HSA liaison Municipal Alliance policy residency security and Technology committees the plaque says presented to Joe Canova in appreciation for your years of service to the children of Clifton for your leadership dedication and commitment to Excellence as a Clifton Board of Education member from 2019 through 2022. the Clifton School District applaud you for your unselfish devotion and loyalty signed the Clifton Board of Education December 2022 congratulations Joe [Applause] um Mr Canova uh couldn't be at the uh
026our last board meeting uh Chris's uh brother uh got married so we uh we invited him to come tonight and uh Joe the uh the the countless hours that you put in um almost on every committee that you served on um the um the last two years I had an opportunity to work with you uh you were dedicated and hard-working board member and uh we appreciate all that you have done for uh for helping our school system and the kids of Clifton so Joe thank you so much for all you've done thank you okay we will move on uh I'm sorry we need emotions on those right any those last two though is that the last mayor in him okay okay so we're going to uh ea uh you have a motion for ea1 through
027ea3 right moved by Mr Robot second by uh Miss basford any discussion okay so uh ea1 is the designation for the positive School Monies ea2 is placement of legal ads and ea3 is a no am I looking at the wrong one oh the last one I got I don't want my cabinet Services no I just want to tell them what it is so so ea1 was the recognition of uh Marin's oldie ea2 was a recognition of Joe Canova and ea3 is Professional Services okay seeing no other discussion roll call please Mr abadrabo yes Mr Awad yes Miss basketball yes Mr Brunswick yes Mr Mejia yes Mr Paris yes Mr Santiago yes Dr Danny yes vice president Danny president Smith yes motion Kerry all right next we have so they're all done right yeah you want
028to do yep okay next we have our public recognition okay let me just read it first let me know here it is okay this portion of the meeting is open to Residents or non-residents of the city of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and or direct 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 they speak 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 are response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate
029your 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 speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged it will not be responded to by the 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 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 okay we'll start with uh virtual calling is there anyone yep I'm here yeah we could hear you
030um Dana okay perfect look on board members especially Jim and Lucy on your uh new and New Again positions and I just wanted to say that I hope that everyone takes the ethics um policies that were read uh to heart this year and the last few years have been a rough go with violations and false accurate accusations of violations and I hope that this year with all the new members and a new chapter that we can have a new start here in Clifton the ethics filings aren't free uh there's a cost to the taxpayers lost as a cost to the morale of the board as well as the cost of the morale of the district and it isn't fair to have elected officials you know using them either as threats or using them inappropriately or
031using them appropriately if others are committing ethics violations I just hope that everyone reads those politics and really takes in the heart this year and hopefully we can start the year on a better foot um I also want to say I really like this calling option it was very easy to be both in the call-in room and listening on my phone not having two devices and it's like say Happy New Year and have a great night thank you okay thank you is there anyone Nielsen no that's it okay motion to close the colon motion motion by Minister uh wad second by Mr Paris okay now we'll go to in person anyone wishes to address the board please come up to the podium state your name municipality and subject matter good evening my name is Lori
032lalama and I'm the president of the Clifton Education Association first I want to thank Dr Robert tozzi for putting my award on the front page of the school website that meant a lot thank you as you begin your journey as the Board of Ed Commissioners you must have an even stronger sense of purpose and unity for Clifton's educational community the selected office should not be taken lightly it is not easy it is fraught with different agendas beliefs Temptations and you must rise above the cacophony and be United in the mission to expand the horizons of our students to include diversity equity and inclusion in the policies curriculums bylaws and regulations you are bound by a code of ethics which guides everything you do for the students staff and the community if you aren't sure I
033gave you a copy today so please have that at hand if you ever have any questions I would also recommend that New Jersey school boards has set up training for commissioners I have taken 54 classes with NJEA and I would like to advise and give my opinion to take as many workshops as possible as commissioners the more knowledge you have as a commissioner the better the board will be knowledge eclipses emotions Passaic County School boards Association has a virtual meeting which is entitled How to Be an Effective board member on January 24 2023 from 7 to 8 30 and it's virtual please check it out Boards of Education are tasked with educating kids providing for the safety and Welfare of the students and employees employing the superintendent you picked a good one developing and adopting
034School District policies curriculum and budget adopting collective bargaining agreements determining matters related to the school employees and contractors and controlling the expenditure and receipt of school funds I want to let you know that the cea is willing to work with everybody here we are proud of what we have accomplished over the years and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out thank you very much [Applause] good evening Greg Grabowski it is I'd just like to congratulate all the new electives and hope you have a good year I'm just here to congratulate Richie and Richie asked me to swear him in tonight and it's a great honor and I was really privileged to do this because it's my first official act in the city and uh I'm really honored to do that
035and I I wish Richie the best in his family God bless you Richie hope you have a good time [Applause] uh first Elias Ragsdale uh congratulations first of all to Mr Santiago Mr Mejia and Mr brinsiak um congratulations to president Smith vice president Danny um just continue to you know keep the citizens and the students at the Forefront of uh your work here um and I the Clinton Student Union uh can hopes to continue let me start that over the Clifton Student Union uh hopes to continue to work with all of you uh for a better future for students and the citizens of this town thank you [Applause] good evening Keith Bashford Clifton New Jersey first of all I want to congratulate all the new members here up at the board and Dan and beltron
036said before and Miss lamado said you got to follow the rules Jersey school boards and hopefully you guys take that seriously I've been around these means a long time and watching things go on be your own person be on Judge don't listen to everybody else what they have to say because if that is the path you're going to follow it's not going to be good for you another thing is joking over I it's funny how I met y'all back in I think 2019 I would say Joe was my green horn he came into this meeting here one night and he says to me at the end of me he says listen how do we get on this board he thought you fill out application get on the sport because he was determined things were going
037on and his daughter's schooling that so I said to him I didn't know his name he told me I'm joking over I introduced myself said Joe if you're really serious Joe you got to come to these meetings and keep on coming to these means voice your opinion but listen and learn so Joe used to come to every meeting here you never stopped coming and he said you know Keith I'm gonna run for the Board of Education and I said Joe good but one thing Joe was to me he was my as I say in the Karate Kid the grasshopper Joe's my grasshopper of course Joe used to speak to me and ask you what do I do now what do I do next and everything but Joe got on his board and he did a
038great job he brought money in from the state and everything I'll go through the whole thing but Joe really put a hundred percent into his job here and he took it seriously so for the new board members listen to what I'm saying Mr kenoba made an impact here and I was glad to see Joe on this board for the last three years and do what he had to do to move this District ahead and that's what it's about you know tonight I was going to copy somebody with a song that they played at the council meeting but um I'm going to leave that to Henry kojewski he's the one that played the song if anybody listening to the council meeting okay and I'm sure among these you be told what the song was listen to
039that song take it seriously new board New Horizons move ahead let's move this District ahead let's make Clifton one of the top school systems in the district here you could do it learn go to your meetings go to your county meetings go to your state meetings that's how you're going to learn that's how you're going to be professional put Clifton Clifton's on a map already with a lot of things but let's put Clifton on top of the charts now thank you [Applause] Clifton good evening and congratulations it was not possible for me to see this one now I'm here to congratulate all the newly elected members but especially our very own richer media Mejia I think there are about 89 to 90 000 residents in the city of Clifton in about 33 to 39 000
040Latinos and tonight is a reason for joy to see someone so young so educated and so involved and so caring for persons like me who are seniors already that have mentored so many young people through our lives is always a reason for joy to see the new generation not only empowering themselves but to show in the adult community that they matter so Richie you made me so proud because you symbolize everything that a young person should have to give to a community we move forward we learn we go through the process then the time comes where we become instead of younger people senior people but we acquire the knowledge and when we go we try to help the one thing that I can tell you because all the other elected newly electors are older than
041you is listen to the wise people whether they are on the school board or outside in the community always use your good judgment and so the younger generation will be so proud of you regardless of any ethnic background this is something so moving especially to me to see this generation coming up as God bless you God bless everyone wisdom and empowerment to the younger generation is what keeps Community is strong and growing thank you foreign motion by uh Mr abidrabo second by Mr Awad to close public session okay I think that's it right okay so for the agenda tonight a motion to adjourn motion Pedro second by Mr wad any objection uh we are adjourned thank you all [Applause] Mr Mr uh USI you're signed people got to do their hair thank you so much
042um