001thank you good morning thank you I like to call the regularly scheduled meeting of the Clifton Board of Education to order uh July 28th somebody's in the window must be me [Music] July 28 2022 if you'd all please rise for a brief moment of excuse me I pledge allegiance to our flag followed by a brief moment of silence [Music] one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Mr shahada roll call please Mr Roberto here Mr Awad here miss basford here Ms Beltran is a virtual present Mr Canova here Dr Danny Mr Paris here vice president Daley here president Smith here we have a quorum uh mission statement vice president daily if you would thank you Mr President the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community
002Partnership 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 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 of which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website and mail to
003presidents of parent-teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy zero one six eight uh just to add commissioner Beltran is attending this meeting uh virtually so um just so you notice that she's not on the days but she is uh in the meeting um we'll start with uh public recognition this portion of the meeting is open to Residents and non-residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent two are directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested if in person to please sign the register provided for this purpose all speakers are asked to State their names municipality in which they live in subject matter before they speak comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of
004the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered unresponsible be 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 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 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
005legally responsible and liable for their comments okay we'll start with in-person uh recognition and then we'll go to Kohler's Inn good evening everyone Mark brunsiak Holly Street Clifton many have agreed that the implementation of the 2020 njsl Comprehensive Health and physical education standards should be paused reviewed Revisited and Rewritten for a multitude of reasons they are not age appropriate they are not content appropriate here is one specific standard that is not age appropriate nor con content appropriate which has been referenced over the past few months 2.1.5 point pgd.4 explain common human sexual development and the role of hormones EG romantic and sexual feelings masturbation mood swings timing of pubertal onset students are mandated to learn this standard anywhere from the third grade until fifth grade ages 9 10 and or 11. why is this even
006a standard does this standard make any of you feel uncomfortable if it doesn't then it should the physical education health teacher can teach our students about sexual feelings about other standards just quoted nine out of 13 extremist Commissioners at the Department of Education agreed with the teaching our children this particular standard there is nothing appropriate about this standard if anyone spoke about the contents in the above standard in any other setting it would be deemed sexual harassment again why do nine of the Commissioners down in Trenton feel it's educationally appropriate for an adult to have the very same discussion with children that are in the third fourth or fifth grade it's grotesque it's inappropriate why is this acceptable in the realm of Education why did nine grown adults prove and advocate for other adults to
007speak about these things of a sexual nature to children I've recently listened to the acting Commissioner of Education answer questions from our legislative body particularly particularly Senator Michael Testa she stated that the resources circulating are not linked to the New Jersey Department of Education that is false it took me 30 seconds to click click click within the New Jersey Department of Education website to find the resources she stated that weren't linked she also stated they vetted the resources and if that's the case then they most certainly approve of advocates for youth 3r's curriculum and a maze those resources lesson plans and videos are not educationally appropriate in a school education setting from what I've witnessed around the state of New Jersey is not just my opinion it is the opinion of those one that want
008to protect their children step children grandchildren Etc from inappropriate topics some of these topics should be left for parent and or Guardian who chooses to discuss them that's called parental choice no entity has the right to overstep their boundaries The Narrative of your children have seen more than is one number one not applicable to all kids number two does not give educational organizations and institutions Carter Blanche to override parental rights and responsibility I am urging the State Board of Education at the bare minimum to pause implementation of the 2020 njsl standards and to Omit sensitive subject matter the sexual education standards have always been to stress abstinence which one of you at this at the State Board wanted to remove the word abstinence from the standards from the written minutes in July 2020 while much
009of the country was still in shutdown there were members on this state board who wanted to completely eliminate the word abstinence from the standards no names were provided in those in in the minutes to the nine Commissioners Donald Trenton who supported this garbage shame on you all of you are a detriment and a danger to public school children throughout New Jersey to the fourth state board of education members that released a statement recently denouncing these standards I could only assume it was the four of you that voted for these standards down in the first place and the Clifton Board of Education Commissioners In This Very Room who have also denounced these standards I thank you for taking a stand against those standards that do not protect our children but harms them I continuously urge this
010board to reject the 2020 Comprehensive Health standards thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody [Applause] anyone else wish to address the board Marsha Miller Clifton I want to protest the passing of the Proclamation of June being Pride months I believe that shows prejudice why are we giving a small group of people recognition we then should give others the same recognition such as disabled individuals American Indians and people with special needs Etc I'm continuing to voice my concerns about the new sex education standards we are one nation under God social emotional learning and critical race theory is not the purpose of the school system the schools are to teach children how to think not what to think the current Administration is also aggressively pushing America's schools to adopt a
011radical anti-america anti-family anti-god curriculum Public Schools Across America are teaching curriculum they call critical race Theory which brainwashes children as early as kindergarten to believe America is racist and Evil CRT is woven in all the textbooks the public schools are also brainwashing America's children as young as kindergarten into the lgbtq agenda even encouraging young children to go through gender and transformation surgery if they don't feel comfortable with their gender the left is using the public schools to indoctrinate our children and to brainwash them into becoming activists for Socialism or worse make no mistake Democrats now openly say their goal is to replace Freedom with socialism they no longer even try to hide that they are socialists now which really means communist we have to stop this rhetoric and turn it around for the sake of
012the children our community and the country the math story sorry the math scores have declined we need to focus on academics not on social and alternative lifestyles I have a question I would like to know what organization is providing this new curriculum and what are the Publishers that are promoting this curriculum thank you [Applause] anyone else wish to address the board John manicone from aquatic I've heard it said blessed of the poor in heart the pure in heart when I was a boy about 10 or 11 I used to be out after school playing ball or whatever nothing's sanctioned by the town or anything but just having fun I come home for dinner each night about five o'clock my mom already out to work and she left dinner for us and so much fun pretty
013much every day after school I remember one night walking up the stairs into the kitchen saying to my dad dad I have so much fun it's so great being young but I don't see you other grown-ups having fun why is that do I have to stop at some point he laughed and said Joey we have fun too don't worry it's just different you know in reference to the sexual education that we're all talking about tonight I can assure you that my dad did not have in mind the poison that's trying to be put into our children's Minds today all healthy children are on a quest for fun for happiness and as we grow that search goes on if we're healthy if we're not poisoned that message spoke to my heart I kept looking for what
014Dad meant good clean fun I found it all my life I've heard people call me like the most joyful person they know what if my mind was poisoned at that young age instead given some toxic thoughts to go over repeatedly in my mind it's a trauma to a child's mental state it torments a formative young mind it digs deep gets planted and a life is forever changed a crippled mind a crippled life stolen innocence I believe it opens up opportunities for medicinal prescriptions we all know that kids are so described and then so often that life is over as we know it its potential for the fullness of life God what could have been is never known that life can end up being the next mass murderer what's going on right we're all wondering what
015is going on don't fool yourselves they're all on medication it's a dirty little secret you know this undertaking that they're trying to force is an experiment you're treating our children like mice or rats you're invading their innocence their childhood don't think you're not you're ripping it from them and leaving them with haunting and tormenting thoughts thoughts that corrupt that intoxicate I'm concerned for their souls I can hear the sounds the screams of future lost souls and that's haunting to me and I hope it may be haunting to you and by the way I'm I'm concerned for your souls too I really am you've been given this position of power to make your decision don't be fooled before you are curses and blessings life and death right in front of you choose widely my dear ones
016because your soul will forever be responsible for your choice thank you so much for your time [Applause] Ray Little 59 Stevens Road Clifton New Jersey I'm here tonight to speak against the curriculum changes are being instituted throughout the state we would like to thank you for all you have done as a board and we believe we have elected you to do the best for our children having said that is this the curriculum the best for our children teachers have retired because they do not feel comfortable teaching these subjects they are leaving the job before they have to we are facing a shortage of teachers and time where the standards to become a teacher are being lowered to encourage more people to the job things like this are turning away the very people we need for
017our children we all know this I am here tonight to say that should we all just give in to what the state and the government is saying I feel that the board and the majority of the people in this room agree that these subjects should be taught at home what is the supposed penalty for not instituting this curriculum we need to stand up to the state and the federal government government and see what the penalty is if so we must have a right to sue and defend our beliefs many towns smaller than us have stood up and said no so we must do the same in closing there is nothing more important than the innocence of children we must do everything we can to preserve that and let our parents do determine when the appropriate
018time is I would like to say to the people that are in the outside could they please come in and be inside with us the one standing in the hallway also the people that are here tonight you came for a purpose please come up to the microphone and make these people understand why we're here tonight don't walk away like We Do stand up and be heard this is the most important thing that's going to come about for our kids this is just under unbelievable really unbelievable that we're standing here tonight talking about this I can't believe it God bless you people God Bless America [Applause] foreign Father David Monteleone Valley Road and Saint Phillips church I'm the pastor there before I was a priest I taught ninth grade English and we went over Huckleberry Finn
019we went over to Kill a Mockingbird we went over Greek gods and goddesses we stuck to a curriculum that uh gave the children an imagination to let them run with it to see the rich history of our literature I was on the phone today with someone from the superintense office and she was assuring me that the guidelines can be interpreted in certain ways um that it would be more towards the letter of the law than the spirit of the law is there any guarantee that this would actually be followed through uh with some of the topics in the sexual education component of the health curriculum you know I read it online and there are some things that I found very disturbing that young children should not need to be exposed to I know what and
020kindergarten and second and third grade I was not exposed to any of these topics and I think I turned out all right right I fear for the over sexualization of our children and I may not have children of my own and you may say father you may not you should not really speak regarding this however I do have a niece and nephew who are 11 and 12 years old who I loved yearly I would never want to see them exposed or um jaded or turned off or turned on to something that is beneath their um level of education and certainly emotional stability as well this should not be just looked at as a religious point of view but certainly from a moral point of view the moral fabric of our society has deteriorated greatly in
021the past two years and I do not want to add to that Clifton is my home and it is your home as well too I would encourage you to please look at these standards again and maybe if we can pause them for a while or reject them as other districts have I know there is a penalty for the money but nonetheless I think children's lives are more important than a few dollars um I thank you for your time and I know you're this is a unpaid position that you have you're in my prayers and I pray you will do the right thing thank you [Applause] Steve Goldberg Charles Street anyone who has heard me speak about the Clifton school system in the past and testify to the fact that I have had nothing but praise
022for the education my child received there I was amazed at the wonderful education she received in school nine Christopher Columbus to high school was president of the marching band parents Association and you know she's now a fourth year medical student that's why it's so painful for me to be up here for it seems that with then and this is now the Clifton Boe seems more obsessed with advancing some kind of Middle East agenda than they are with advancing test scores and keeping all children safe I'm honestly so happy that my children are no longer of school age because the sad fact is a Jewish parent I could not send my children to a system that consistently allows my Heritage and that of my children to be attacked and denigrated over and over again the Clifton
023Boe might as well have signs up saying Jews are not allowed especially those that believe in the Holiness and sanctity of our homeland and you know what this is not only Steve Goldberg talking two major Jewish organizations one dress this week said this about the Clifton Board event the state of New Jersey had an obligation to assure that members of local school boards lawfully and ethically use their platform to create an unbiased educational environment for all students in their District said Roz rosting to stand with us instead respondents use their official platforms to promote bias and hate there is no legitimate place for anti-israel and anti-semitic rhetoric by school board members at public meeting they were talking about the Clifton Board of Ed I'm not here to debate the efficacy of Israel I'm not here
024to do that I'll gladly do that if someone wants to do it with me but that's not why I'm here for I'm here to debate the inappropriateness of advancing a geopolitical agenda whether it's at meetings whether it's with stickers or whether it's a a graduation when members decided to work fears to give out diplomas and one member even said it's time to represent my people I'm a retired educator I've been to 35 years of graduation never once did I feel children's graduation was about me and my people and representing them it was always about the children and should always about be about the children and it's not any longer it really isn't and it you know something needs to be done look and look I know what you're going to say everyone has the right
025first Free Speech absolutely and I'm not talking to those that are spouting this haters are going to hate I'm talking to the other people and I leave you with words of Eli wazel who said I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings adore suffering and humiliation we must take sides neutrality helps the oppressor never the victims silence encourages the Tormentor never the torment find your voice people you can't choose to be neutral on this issue and Eli Wiesel said I certainly won't be again you know this has to be addressed the two biggest populations growing populations in Clifton are the Arab population and the Orthodox Jewish population let me ask you how do you think this is going to work out if you don't address this people are going to get hurt
026people are going to get humiliated people are going to feel alienated no one no child should ever feel alienated in the school and it saddens me that if my child was of school age she would feel alienated I've spoken to her about this this is the school system she loved so again I keep hearing one Clifton one Clifton one Clifton well I guess is that one Clifton if you're Jewish or do I have to take a seat in the back because I won't take a seat in that thank you God bless [Applause] hello everybody my name is Milagros I'm a mother of 12 years old girl standing here in the podium talking from The View it's very difficult and I know behind me it's a lot of people uh probably is against what I'm going
027to say I don't try to move their sense but move their hearts and your hearts too and um believe me is very difficult standing here because my English is not good I am from Peru uh when we start this meeting I show you all of you I'm not married well I'm a citizen right now but I everybody of you standing here and I saw that you respect your flock my flock now and you turn and say this I pledge it Allegiance and my English sorry to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic to the Republic for which its stance of a nation under God under God if you say that all of you did you know this is my religions it matters religion but you talked about God so it's very
028important all of you respect the flag of God so in the name of God I'm standing here it's not me right now it's him I feel him please think about it think about your children I I want to say something when I was a girl I was a child molester for probably nobody I I say I'm a friend you know I was child molested and I had the what experience in my life it was so horrible but you know who was the person who told me how defend myself for that person was my parents and my priest very important priest and our life in our family don't let the parents are so important families are so important no more families in this country you know you don't want a third world country United States you
029want to be great America like used to be I wasn't here when I was born I was in Peru I'm from Peru but I want the children be a great you cannot pretend to take a bottom of the Rose and make a blossom if not ready yet to be blossomed don't do that with the children please so pressure so pressure creation of God please so make a more uh be a focused and sports and and academic choices more involved with that and they will they grow up they won't think about you know uh and crazy stuff you know like preparation and pornography and believe me I was all of you you you you you we were we know about this we know about that we we taught you probably a pornography or so something when
030you know curious but known that way try to reach out be innocent don't please please focus in families very important parents they have to be involved please thank you very much and I hope you touch your heart foreign my name is Carol galentine this is the book It's Perfectly Normal that may or may not be in your libraries in school and it's anything but perfectly normal the material is pretty obscene and if you'd like to take a view of it this is in regards to the curriculum that's being promoted this September I'm just going to read a few words from the 2009 New Jersey Code titled 2C it's the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice obscenity for persons under 18. obscene material means any description narrative account display depiction of a specified anatomical area or
031specified sexual activity contained in or consisting of a picture or other representation publication sound recording live performance or film which by means opposing composition format animated sensual details emits sensuality with sufficient impact to concentrate prurient interest in the area of activity obscene film means any Motion Picture film or preview or trailer to a film not including newsreels portraying actual current events or pictorial news of the day and which is seen taken by itself depicts a specified anatomical area or a specified sexual activity or the stimulation of a specified sexual activity or verbalization concerning a specified sexual activity and emits sensuality sufficient in terms of the duration and impact of the depiction to appeal to the puriant interest specified anatomical area means less than completely and opaquely covered human genitals pubic region buttocks or female breasts
032below a point immediately above the top of the aerial or human male genitals in a discernably detergent State you can look at page 37 in this book or even if covered specified sexual activity means human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal or any Act of human masturbation again in this book sexual intercourse in this book deviate sexual intercourse you want to glance at this or fondling or other erotic touching or of covered or uncovered human genitals pubic region buttocks or female breasts knowingly and this includes each and every one of you means having knowledge of the character and content of the material or film described herein or having failed to exercise reasonable inspection which would disclose its character and content exhibit means also the sale of admission to view and obscene material
033I don't think that would be covered in the school show means the cause or allowed to be seen though promoting obscene material a person who knowingly sells distributes rents or exhibits to a person under 18 years of age you've seen material is guilty of a crime of the third degree a person who knowingly shows obscene material to a person under 18 years of age with the knowledge or purpose to arouse gratify or stimulate himself for another is guilty of a crime of the third degree if the person showing the obscene material is at least four years older than the person under 18 years of age viewing the material admitting to exhibition of obscene film any person who knowingly admits a person under 18 years of age to exhibiting an obscene film is guilty of a
034crime of the third degree so as we go on and on and on there are legal recourses to this curriculum that's being promoted and I would just ask you to consider wisely your choices of promoting this curriculum because you might find yourself liable to prosecution thank you [Applause] yes my name is Dan Beck Tristan Road Clifton for those of you that know me you know I'm very active in the community I'm been involved with the kids baseball leagues in Clifton for years I have children that went through the Clifton school system I myself did not go to the Clinton school system by my oldest boys did and my youngest one is in high school now um honestly this this curriculum it's really it's it's disgusting I'm glad my sons my oldest ones are out of
035the high school now and they never had to sit through this my youngest one is in high school now and he's 15. he wouldn't have to sit through this either my nephew is young enough that he's going to sit through this no child should sit through this you're taking their innocence away from them if you promote this and you allow this to happen you're taking away their innocence they don't deserve it I didn't prepare anything tonight I wasn't coming down here speak but honestly I'd be wrong to sit there and listen to this and not say something all right it's your responsibility your responsibility to say yes or no to this and it's really your responsibility to say no to this curriculum leave the money on the table and let the kids keep their innocence
036I went through high school we learned about sex education in high school family life and grammar school and elementary school that's the way it should be family life not sex education in Graham Elementary School all right please don't do this to our children don't do this to everybody else's children are still going through this I implore you to please do the right thing thank you [Applause] anyone else wish to address the board good evening my name is Lori lalama and I'm the president of the Clifton Education Association I would like to respond to some of the things that were said tonight which has me quite upset as an educator for 38 years and also the president of the association I have full faith in our assistant superintendent of curriculum Janina kusilevic she has done a
037phenomenal job setting up reviews um nighttime uh PowerPoint presentations for families are teachers are one of the best prepared in the state of New Jersey New Jersey is the number one state in the nation for public education our teachers have Bachelors Masters and more professional development credits than any other profession out there our teachers continue to be highly trained they continue to work on professional development in all areas now according to the Southern Poverty Law Center which some people were discussing tonight is actually the family watch International which through this company or this extremist group was founded in 1999. in Gilbert Arizona by a woman called Sharon Slater and she touts herself as a extremist against the lgbtq plus community so this should not be listened to because we have students in this District we
038have Educators and staff members in this District that are part of this community and it should be all love and love has no label and this should be understood by this community so the teacher shortage part is not due to this curriculum it is due by treat by being treated unfairly in the news started by Chris Christie it's also had to do with salaries with being treated as unprofessionals so the teacher shortage has nothing to do with this curriculum so I want to thank the board for listening and I want them to understand that if they have any questions please reach out thank you [Applause] good evening my name is Fernando lobello um I'm actually a new company to Clifton this kind of hurts me because stop how I quote um I see this as
039a problem with the curriculum with a hypersexualizing the children to do things that they shouldn't be doing at the age of five six seven years old um you know I I um I see this as a spiritual warfare mental Warfare and physical Warfare spiritual because you're going to take the spirit out of these kids of who they are who they're supposed to be you know if if the boy goes up to be a boy then it should be fine the girl goes up to be a girl that should be fine we are here to be to nurture our good kids to grow up to be the people they're supposed to be and we're supposed to give them love give them the the nutrients that they need to grow to become the people they're supposed to
040be if you take away that spirit then they're not going to become who they're supposed to be if you take mentally they're not going to know who they are if you're teaching this at five six seven year olds by the time they hit 12 13 they're going to be so confused they're gonna they're not gonna have any a word for them because it's no longer be transgender or non-binary or anything like that it's going to be something totally different way out of our league and in the the physical part there are people who are transgender who are or uh alternative Lifestyles and they wish they never uh did anything to themselves in which they never had surgeries or anything like that we should not be endorsing it we should be trying to get them to
041be the proper with the way God made us to be whether they whether they believe it or not whether they want to believe it or not they like it or not we are we're supposed to try to help kids not make it worse you know it um in all you know uh administrations in all departments they always say Safety First I don't see Safety First here I don't see uh I don't see whether we're trying to make safer for the kids to grow to become good human beings they become council members like you guys to become um good Community people in the in the community if we don't have good Community we don't have a good Society then Society will go down and that's going to be a shame and you don't want it to
042bring put it as it started here don't let it start here let's try to make a good effort and try to do it for something that's good for our kids and for you know not just because I have I have a son I have a five-year-old I don't want him doing learning stuff that should not be learning you know I'm sure there's a lot of parents and a lot of people who feel the same they may not know what to do and this is and it's really wrong you know to teach them these things so please I I implore you to really consider not going through with this curriculum so um with the uh with the content and the hypersexualizing of these kids nowadays they have many many years to grow up and to realize
043what they want to be in life but let them do it at the older it's not a young age thank you [Applause] hello bored everybody how's everybody doing uh nabil's then click New Jersey majority of my life um I grew up in Clifton I graduated from Clifton schools I got married in Clifton have three kids in Clifton schools for the past nine years and I'm having a really hard time grasping the thought of why I stayed in Clifton for this long when stuff like this comes up and it's unsettling because I don't understand it and it's something that I've I'm gonna be 38 years old and I've lived in Clifton for a majority of my life for a reason you know it you look around the room it's a Melting Pot in here and it's
044not based on what gender you are what transgenderism you are what color you are what religion you are it's based on respect it's based on we respecting each other and to be honest with you I follow the Islamic faith so when I send my kids out to school every single morning we teach them the most important thing is have respect for every race every religion it does not matter who it is you are going to school for one thing and that's academic education that's it so for me and my wife when we sit up at night thinking to ourselves oh man what are our kids going to learn tomorrow that is outside the realm of academic welfare and well-being it does not make sense to me I don't want to have to worry about my
045kids going to school and learning about how to masturbate or is this fish a female or a male it doesn't make sense to me and I don't think it makes sense to majority of the people in this room and majority of people in Clifton and respect to the woman who was speaking before that is perfectly fine if you identify as blue green orange black white it does not matter as long as there is a mutual respect which is what I teach my kids and in my household and following my Islamic faith is when you have respect for them the people around you does not matter everything else is gray everything else is smoke but when it comes to education I send my kids to Clifton schools and I'm comfortable sending them to Clifton schools because
046and I'll shout them out School number three they have one of the most amazing teachers Christopher Columbus I had my reservations about my kid going to Christopher Columbus he's coming he's on the Dean's List he does obviously what he learns and how his Drive is is important but there's Educators who are doing it so when my son comes home and says Dad I need help with this project about gay pride I don't know what to do I don't know how to answer these questions of course I'm going to email the teacher and to be honest with you the email that I sent to the teacher respectfully and replied from her respectfully saying hey I'm sorry this is a part of the NJ Core Curriculum I will give him an alternative project about respect and I'll
047give him ample time to complete the assignment I don't know how to answer my kid when he asked me these kind of questions I don't and it's it's important that we all ask ourselves that question is are our kids going to school to learn or are they going to school to find out who they might become or who they think they are that's something that a parent and their child should discuss not a teacher and child should be discussing give them the tools let them build a house not tell them hey this is how the house has to look like or this is what you should look like thank you [Applause] Mr Rose Miss Beltran needs to be let back in Keith Bashford Clifton New Jersey I like to uh first of all agree with
048nobil what he's saying about respect after Mrs lamanna got up here and spoke what she felt about the sexual education stuff I couldn't see but a person in the back got a boohoo to a well you know what that's not respect she has a right to own opinion okay I've been at these board means many years and I always believe in respect I may not agree but there's respect in everything next subject we're going to touch on is what Steve Goldberg what he's been saying I'm going to tell you a little story most of these people in this audience know me my family and what we're about we don't discriminate against everybody's equal to us I'm going to go back to 9 11 2001. I remember I happen to be with my wife at school
049five she was a HSA president and at that time we only probably had maybe four or five Arabic families in our school when 9 11 happened that day everybody was frantic people didn't know what to do the next day my wife went to the school and we had some women up there from the Arabic community they got a hold of my wife because they knew as president the HSA he said Mrs bastard we need your help we're afraid to send our kids to school we're afraid to come up here now so my wife being the person she is you said you don't have to be afraid because I'm with you is there any problems you let me know and she stood there with these people shoulder to shoulder to show the other people in our
050school it's not your fault so people who did it therefore not you personally and everything these people are still around if anybody don't want to believe my story they still keep in touch with my wife on Facebook and that and do you know from my wife doing this courageous thing and doing the right thing this group of people have became the best supporters of school number five the best supporters it's about getting along together and doing things right these schools we never have problems in never had problems who's who what group you belong to because you're a different nationality or some never had this problem foreign it's starting again from the Deus up here everybody on this day is every commissioner is responsible for this school system and what goes on and what goes on
051with your board members and everything else these kids should be able to go to the schools and feel no different than nobody else and if they're learning from other people wrong behavior and how to act we have a problem we had a we have a problem I have 37 seconds and I just want to say please like people ask you to consider about the sexual education stuff think about this too where we're going to go we start off one way the wrong way we're going to keep on going the wrong way in these schools thank you for your time [Applause] is it yeah thank you thank you yeah I just pushed it thank you very good okay anyone else wish to address we're okay thank you um you guys want to propose a curriculum to
052our students I don't know if you're aware but um my little girl's in fifth grade going into six fortunately for the first time we were lucky she had covid because she missed the sex education with the boys on menstrual menstruation and her period her friends came over and they were saying how awful it was for two weeks the boys made fun of the girls about their periods about menstruation they showed pictures I mean what are we doing when I was in fourth grade the girls were separated from the boys and they had time to digest it you guys didn't even give them time to digest this as little girls why are we doing this and you guys want to propose a new curriculum I don't trust I don't trust it when I don't trust what's
053going on now [Applause] anyone else wish to address the board hello um hello Al Dubois Clifton I've been coming for about four or five months now straight mostly not against this board personally but what's trying to be mandated by the state constantly I started about a year ago with the uh draconi and face masks and the vaccination nonsense and spoke at a few meetings but again was told the state mandate State mandate we follow State dictates okay that has slowed down a little bit but might start up in the future again now we got to listen to this curriculum it's obvious there's a lot of people here that really care about what's going on um but it's hard for you leaders to sometimes do the right thing uh I wish there was a way of
054reflecting with all of yous without coming here publicly to do it where we can share and talk and open up dialogue and narrow it down to some main points and then go from there um I've asked the last meeting I was here I asked Miss basford and Mr Daly who both stated that there's no transparency publicly and that there's a lack of public trust to call me so we can discuss this further I don't get a call so I elect people to sit here and I'm asking you publicly to call me so I can learn more about what you guys made the statement on and I don't get no callback okay thank you Dr Robert Tosi you do respond all the time and I'm grateful for that however um I'm still waiting for the calendar
055and I'm concerned about the calendar because there's no Christian holidays all were taken out there are other religious holidays which is good but everything that relates to Christianity is gone and that's a problem because what we're talking about here is really God out of the picture I mean ever since they took prayer out of public schools we have no guidelines with the Ten Commandments to guide us how do you direct anyone it's whatever comes your mission statement is totally horrible and communistic read it I've told you now for the past three meetings that's why you have problems in an ever-changing world well of course you're going to have every whim that comes in in an ever-changing world look at it reflect on it there's nothing there of God absolutes or anything that's solid you can't
056build a community or anything without a guideline and for all of us here we can be guided by The Ten Commandments and then from there move forward this book I've asked Dr robitosi if I can go in the library to review all your books and that's what I would like to do Mr robotosi because there's books in there that are probably very again I don't want to put no blame so let's get the blame thing off we're not blaming anybody here things happen you can't watch everything but you have somebody with a different perspective come in to see something and say hey these books are a little bit too much to the left too much to the right let's review them and go forward so let's I'm not blaming anyone here please I know you're
057being mandated although that resolution you adopted excluded a lot of people in the community because when you adopt something that's only dealing with sexuality it's not dealing with anything with human being and soul and dignity it's dealing with a person's uh sexuality and whatever their dysphoria is that excludes other people who want to live differently everyone who spoke here tonight I can't say anything better they were all wonderful so what I've asked is look at that mission statement let's get some kind of guidelines back and take action let's have some meetings I'm looking for transparency Mr Daley Miss basford call me elected officials don't call nobody I like to speak to you on the side so I don't have to come up here publicly all the time to discuss these issues um finally I went
058through the high school and um there was some kids working from the Passaic County summer Workforce program and it was beautiful and it's it was so touching to watch them painting fixing signs and they're working throughout the summer so I just want to commend and I'm going to say to teach his name because I saw the one teacher there might be others so I'm not excluding anyone but Mr Culligan that is doing a great job with these kids and they work so peacefully and together it was amazing I like to just uh thank you for that and thank you for the time [Applause] my dear friends not to take too long my good companion brought me here I have to just say one thing it's clear I think some of you may have to tune
059your ears to my accent I'm from Sri Lanka 57 72 my age is 72 was a teacher for 45 years principle for 25 years handled more than 40 000 boys and girls and when the teachers were rather reluctant to teach sexuality I used to take up the matters but after 14 years of a child when the child is 14 years I took the subjects to give the sacredness of sexuality is not to just play the fool or to satisfy emotions or curiosity of anyone I'm just trying to take the Pulse of the situation since my brother told me I'm free to talk if there's anything I'm from Sri Lanka is really far east so therefore I would say very frankly let us not many words let us as Jesus said let the children come to
060me and he touched him bless them embrace them today we can't do it with the children with the situation as such but I'm not afraid you're not afraid even in America when the parents bring they say father I have carried few children I'm not afraid of it but the point is in this hello world honored or with the audience I would give the message to say take the growth of the child and learn the psychology of the child not to stir unwanted areas of the children mishandling things and the parents should be educated very much I myself did not know even after my becoming a priest how a girl is coming up to age and this and that we knew certain matters but still for all but mind you the age for sex education I
061would say my father is so so here she would be Beyond 12 13 14. not at the youngest age not that we are covering anything children will ask anything from the parents when they don't understand finally I don't know whether it's a joke or something I was talking to a mother who had two boys who are maybe about 18 19 in America American lady she said for maybe to play the fool of me father I did not know my blood was turning into milk maybe he was trying to pull my leg but the simple if it is true that may be that they were so clueless it's from the beginning we know how we allow the mother and things like that back again my conclusion is I'm supposed to ask my brother said say a
062prayer more than that my message is think seriously of the time the child can understand and get the things properly organized as hydrothering that books may be sent the making the child stir in certain matters talking about masturbation after all all the sins are being given Saint Paul gives Jesus gives everything these are not curiosity every word so thank you very much I hope back again think about the age of the child who can gather the things can be God bless you father thank you can we just have your name for the record father foreign [Applause] hey see no one else to address the board we'll make a motion to close it uh Mr Roberto second by Mr award will now open up to anyone who's virtual do we have anyone virtually it's a good
063thing I think it's a good picture of me I'm gonna address this in my superintendent's report please so if you want to go right into this muted we can do that first let's just huh it's muted it's muted you need to probably unmute your computer microphone man wait are you muted if you can unmute yes now we can hear you yes go ahead ma'am you can address the board now good ma'am you could address the board now I think she just wanted to say hi you could do you have something you'd like to address the board with you have something to say okay is there something you'd like to address with the board now you your time is now okay go ahead at seven o'clock oh okay ma'am this is this is a Board of
064Education meeting this is a you have a personal matter if you could call the uh the Board of Education tomorrow and we they could address that for you or if you want to give us your name we'll have somebody call you what's your name Yvonne and and your last name did you spell that can you spell that please okay we'll we'll uh look your phone number up and we'll have somebody from the board call you tomorrow I don't know you want to give that over the line we'll look your number up and we'll call you okay thank you good night foreign 26. I think you should come back to iPad 26 yeah they're still connecting foreign M can you hear us Aaron M all right we're gonna have to move on is that Jennifer you're
065in the public comment yes yes we can you may address the board now you're ready go ahead foreign dressing in school I think that's very appropriate I think that kids sometimes don't confide in parents as much as they would like to and I think it's great that you guys are trying to address that I think more of a concern for me and I don't know if it's appropriate to bring it up now is um the school safety and just thinking about the yuvave shooting um like what are we doing about like the locks in the classrooms and then also has there any has there been any thought around having not a uniform but like a t-shirt to identify kids Maybe by by grade or by school I think um I visited Woodrow Wilson uh this
066summer um and there's a lot of children just coming into the school and I was a parent I was standing outside but it's hard to identify right who's a bystander and who's a child I think those are my concerns right now for children that's it thank you guys okay thank you thank you gadir Hamden you're in the public portion of the Board of Ed meeting gadir Hamden yes okay you can you're five minutes to adjust the board did you want to participate in public comment I did please okay you're you're you can start okay ma'am go ahead you can adjust the board [Music] yes hi I'm I'm here to address the the new curriculum yes go ahead yeah so I've been going to Clifton Public Schools you know I went there my whole life my
067kids are in Clifton Public Schools I have one in high school one in Middle School two in Special Needs Elementary and this new curriculum is just you know it's it's scary all around to even consider my every kid learns differently I can't imagine sending my kids to school and having them having to learn about gender identity I mean nothing against anybody or their beliefs or what they choose to do I just don't want it forced onto my children and the way they think this is should be a personal matter between parents and their children and not in public schools I send my kids to school to get educated and you know to do academically I want them to learn to read write socialize but these public these these personal matters should remain personal and everyone
068should choose to teach their children their own beliefs in their own home I wouldn't force my beliefs onto other children I'm also a paraprofessional and public in Clifton schools and I would never teach my students my personal beliefs or what I think they should or shouldn't become I'm just there to teach them academically what they should do and that's that's basically all we're asking so that's that's that's the gist of it okay thank you very much thank you I'll try this uh one more time Aaron M you're in the public portion of the Clifton Board of Ed meeting can you hear us Aaron Aaron M can you hear us let's try Aaron M M okay that looks like it okay motion to close uh virtual motion by Mr abadravo second by Mr Canova okay uh
069I'm gonna move Mr Smith can you just explain to the public um okay I'm sorry what'd you want me to explain can you explain to the public why we cannot address directly during public repetition so they understand so they don't take us disrespect so uh um as we stated in the beginning of the meeting um Board of Education meetings are not a time uh for back and forth conversation um you can address the board the board can take notes and if they wish to address the public they can do so um under their comments or at another time but just so you understand there's no back and forth uh conversations with the audience while the board is conducting their meeting so everyone understands that I now like the superintendent to give his report that Mike
070uh help out with some questions Dr robitosi good evening Commissioners and members of the community and public here tonight normally I do my report a little later but I felt it was important to address some of the things that were said tonight and also I'm going to turn it over to our curriculum expert Miss kusilevich shortly to to address some of the things that were said tonight first and foremost thank you for being here if you have a concern if you have an issue this is where you should be and I thank you for bringing your concerns here however I want to clarify some things because there was a lot of things said tonight that are just simply not true not accurate okay first the word curriculum has been said over and over again to
071be clear the state of New Jersey sets learning standards the district The Local District chooses the curriculum meaning it's our choice of how we teach the standards so there's no new curriculum right the state of New Jersey has adopted some new standards by the way most of which would have been around for almost 10 years so the curriculum is not changing there's nothing that's being adopted by this board but there's a lot of misinformation out there ladies and gentlemen I had a parent email me the other day and said why are you teaching second graders about anal sex we're not that's not happening in second grade children are learning about feelings and sharing and caring for others and learning about how to call 9-1-1 and nutrition and healthy foods and self-care and hygiene we have
072done three parent nights virtually to explain the changes to the standards and how Clifton is going to Implement them those are all located on our website on our YouTube Channel please go back and look at those just from hearing what I heard tonight we're going to have three more we're going to have as many more as we need so that we can have it back and forth because tonight is not the night to have a back and forth to address some of the specific things that came up but at a parent form if you have a specific question we'll be happy to answer that so I'm not sure what you're reading or what you're seeing or what you're hearing but a lot of the stuff out there please please look at the source and if
073you're not sure please reach out to us and we will give you the correct answer I'm going to ask Miss kusilevich to go into a little more detail about what we're doing with the new standards in Clifton because I want to ease your minds I'm a father of four children and if you think I would do anything um to to harm children educationally physically emotionally or Implement any kind of curriculum uh any kind of standard that would harm children that's just certainly not what what we're about and our teachers you've met our teachers those of you who are parents and said your kids have been through the through the district talk to the teachers and say so what's going on are you going to be teaching this I read this are you going to be
074teaching talk to the teachers they're on the front line they're going to tell you so miss Goose levage would you please just take a minute to explain a little more in depth about what we're doing here in Clifton please absolutely Dr arbitosi thank you so much um my apologies before about the sound that came out of my computer it's because I actually went to make sure that those presentations which include some of the videos that we're going to be using in our instruction are posted on our website and they were in fact there and what you heard was the beginning of the Thomas the Tank Engine uh YouTube on fighting gender stereotypes meaning that boys and girls can both grow up to be anything they want to grow up to be not pushing any kind
075of agenda um among the things that we just um spoke about and what we've been hearing there are a lot of misconceptions out on social media in the news and that were also mentioned tonight Wheaton Clifton will not be using the controversial lessons that have been floating around the community we've seen them in different stores the lessons that were presented by organization called advocates for youth which is also known as rights respect and responsibility or the related amaze.org videos we are not going to be using those in our instruction we also do not have the book It's Perfectly Normal that was shared tonight nor do we have books like it in our media centers and I know this um because we just recently had a a public request for the listings of all the books
076in our libraries and that book and books similar to that topic are not in our libraries all Clifton lessons related to the Comprehensive Health and Fitness education curriculum are being locally developed to be age and developmentally appropriate our teachers are currently receiving training on the standards and have been working throughout the summer to develop these lessons please know that our teachers are professionals and many of them are parents themselves our primary goal is the physical and mental health and safety of our students disease prevention and fostering respect for ourselves and others as well as understanding and acceptance of those other than ourselves the teaching of explicit sexuality in primary grades is completely not appropriate it is not part of the standards and it's not what is being taught in Clifton the topics that were mentioned
077tonight begin in eighth grade and any lesson on Comp incomprehensive Health and phys Ed that relates to human sexuality must by law begin with the promotion of abstinence teaching abstinence first is a New Jersey state mandate what's taught in kindergarten is about respect and tolerance and accepting your friends our goal is health and safety not morality it's not pushing different versions of morality and we refer all of our students to their trusted adults at home if you look on our district website you'll see the presentation that was made at the board of education on 519 May 19th there are also links under the academic sanction under the health and physical education curriculum that show the three public forums they were virtual that were done in May at the next board meeting in August I will
078be going through topic by topic the entire Comprehensive Health and physical education pacing guide in order from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade um we will be doing additional parent information sessions just like Dr Robert tosy said I think he was joking that it's as a result of tonight because we were already planning on doing these additional sessions um for families in the fall and if that's not enough parents can always opt out the opt out for all any of these lessons is going to be clearly posted on the website when school begins and it also will be posted in the teacher's Google Classroom just before they teach the lessons so let's say a parent missed it in September they see the lesson is coming up and they can send in the opt out
079at that point our goal is health safety disease prevention and making sure that our children are taught in an age and developmentally appropriate manner thank you Miss kusilevich so again at our next board meeting on August 25th Janina is going to read from kindergarten lesson one to 12th grade end of year lesson in health the pacing guide which is exactly what it sounds like it's it's how the teachers Pace the lesson and what's to be taught in addition I would please strongly encourage you to take a look at the videos that are already on our website and please attend the parent sessions we have in September and I really do mean it thank you for coming out thank you for um you know being involved and wanting to know what what's going on you should
080be we don't have enough of this um I just want to make sure that you know the truth you know exactly what it is we're doing and then if you still say you know what that's not for my kid no problem we respect that we respect that parents have the right to direct the educational upbringing of their children but please remember we have a lot of students that for for for many of them the only trusted adult or the only um place they have to get a good meal or to to feel loved is at school not all of our uh children have the best um circumstances right so we have to you know try to do what's best for all our kids so I I really do I thank you and um and I
081hope that you will attend those sessions in the future and in our next board meeting uh continuing on with the superintendent's report um Mr Smith if I may uh Mr Dubois I was in my report tonight I was discussing the calendar of which you brought up and in our email exchange back and forth um I wanted to express that you know building the the district calendar has gotten more difficult each year as more holidays are added depending on the year which religious holidays fall on on which day of the week and we're mandated to get 180 days of school and we try to add a couple extra for snow days um this past June we did not have schools closed to observe Juneteenth of which I had a small number of parents reach out with
082concerns about that but if you'll remember that calendar was created more than two years ago which was before Juneteenth became a recognized holiday so in order to address um some of the issues that come up Mr Dubois brings up some very good points and the one specifically I remember at one of the board meetings he mentioned you know what why isn't Veterans Day on even if you're in school that day why isn't Veterans Day listed on the calendar and I think that's a very very good point so to that end uh it's I want to engage with a number of community members stakeholders board members and really take a look at our district calendar to see how we can revise it if necessary or how we could make it more um inclusive we never want
083anybody to feel that they're being left out so sometime before the school year starts I've asked Mr Dubois to be a at the meeting if you have anybody in the community that wants to be a part of this calendar meeting it'll probably be virtual in person and virtual so that everybody can make it uh I just want everyone to understand some of the challenges that we have for for example this upcoming school year we only have one snow day built in because getting 108 to 80 Days in the way the calendar Falls it's it's really tough next year I believe the state is going to change the rule of of using a snow day as a virtual I believe we're going to be able to do that that hasn't happened yet but I do anticipate
084that that's going to happen uh so you know I'm less worried about having to make up snow days at the end of the year if we could go virtual so anyway all those things will be talked about and I'll be in touch and I will update you I want to share some good news and congratulate our finance uh our business office uh for the second year in a row uh we have received asbo's international certificate of excellence and financial reporting as Bo is the state Association of business officials and we've received an international award uh certificate of excellence and financial reporting which is based on our comprehensive financial report and that's a testament to Mr UC who's not here tonight Mr shahada or assistant VA and our entire business department dealing with a 200 plus
085million dollar a year budget and to receive a certificate of excellence is really really well done so congratulations and finally um just want to give a an update on our referendum projects as mentioned at a previous meeting package one has been approved and is underway that includes all of the projects at Clifton High School the asbestos removal at Clifton High School is ongoing it is set to finish on August 19th and on that day the other contractors will be in to put in the new equipment simultaneously we're doing asbestos removal at school four we just completed School 11. the air sampling came back fine and trailers were delivered for the construction company to work out of at the high school so if you see those trailers at the high school that's for the construction companies
086as you know we pulled our Stadium project and our our stadium and athletic field projects from the bid package so that we can bid them separately we will be having a bid opening on August 3rd lowest qualified bidder will be approved by the board if everything goes well and goes through legal at our August 25th meeting and work will start on that the very next day or within a couple days of our next board meeting the professionals tell me that the Woodrow Wilson Varsity Field will be ready by next spring the field house might not be but the field itself will be ready and the weight room construction will take place during the fall will not interfere with the football season and once these projects commence we're going to have a ceremonial groundbreaking where all
087of the Commissioners will be invited time and date will be announced in the near future so if anybody has before I conclude my report if any of the Commissioners have any questions about anything I said tonight anything that was mentioned publicly I'd be happy to to answer them because I know sometimes you don't get a chance to to talk about these things and for the public we don't have um we have committee meetings but the board is only together in in all all nine board members and the administration are only together at these public board meetings we're actually not allowed to meet unless it's a publicly advertised board meeting to talk about some of these things so we meet in committees and then we get to the board meeting where we can talk so if
088you have any questions about anything tonight please please ask now Dr robertosie I'm Mr President if I may yes Mr Jones and Dr Roberto's you mentioned that um I'm going to take myself as an example this is an hypothetical question um you mentioned that if a parent has an issue with the curriculum that's fine so let's say I am Jane Smith Joe Smith Jim Smith whomever no pun intended uh and I have a student who I don't want them to take part of it what are my options we will the there there will be an opt-out form so you don't have to if a parent objects to one particular lesson you don't want you're probably not going to want to opt your child out of the entire curriculum for example like I said we teach
089fire you know as part of Health curriculum we teach fire safety you know we'll be in school when the firemen come in and and do fire safety that's part of the health curriculum um so anything that might be deemed controversial the the opt-out form will be readily available on the website teachers will have it posted in their Google meets for all of our parents that have children in school now they're pretty well aware of the Google meets and how that works it'll be readily available it's not going to be a secret and they can opt out of one particular lesson on one particular day if they choose it's very simply a matter of handing in a form to their child's teacher they could write a note to their child's teacher so will this form be
090available first day of school or can parents take a look at it prior so this way they can get familiarize with the form and understand what the process is it will be available prior to the first day of school any other questions from the days I have one yes password I um what is the penalty if Clifton chooses not to apply the standards what is the financial and what is the state penalty we don't know there there is it has been said that it's possible the state could withhold state aid I don't know that that's ever been done or if they would actually follow through with that the most realistic consequence would simply be a low score on our Cusack evaluation Cusack is how the New Jersey Department of Education evaluates school districts and a
091low score would mean you'd have to be on an action plan and show how you're going to improve I think that's the more realistic consequence I don't know about the withholding of state aid but that threat is out there one other question do you know of any other districts that are withholding or not implementing the standards um in your circle of superintendent um colleagues I have heard that there are some um boards that have adopted resolutions to teach this the old standards not the newly adopted standards and the old standards from 2014 yeah uh the newsstanders there's only a there's there's just a few small differences and I guess they're just eliminating those now what will what will the consequences be for those districts I don't know the truth is this if I really felt
092and this Administration felt that these standards were really bad for kids I'll take the consequences I just don't I just don't think they they are what people think they are and I think that we have to do a better job of letting people know what what what really is going to be taught and when we do that I think I I think most reasonable people will come to the conclusion that oh well this isn't this isn't what I thought Maybe I'm Wrong I Don't Know uh prison Smith yes um Dr Robert tells you know I've stated many times how I strongly am against the new curriculum it's just me as a father just how I was brought up I was raised how I feel about what our children should and shouldn't be taught I'm not
093you know me I'm never shy to kind of speak my opinion and backlash could happen regardless but I'm totally against it and I saw an article I believe I shared it with you I might have not that Governor Murphy's education department is from the New Jersey education report on their website Governor Murphy's education department announces districts will be penalized for not following the new sex education standards for me is you know I know these new standards might not be for everybody some people agree some people disagree but knowing and being raised in the United States I always know that you know we have our freedoms it's a give and take you know I mean not everything you want happens but I feel like with this certain subject is they're shoving it down everybody's throats and
094there's no conversation allowed to happen so basically you're gonna have to teach these kids this and if you don't we're going to pull the money what many people in the public don't know is yes we are Commissioners On The Board of Ed but we do have to abide by the state we are funded by the state we're funded by the federal government but when you have a governor and when you have an Administration that's basically saying it's kind of like a dictatorship sadly basically this is what's going to happen and you're going to be penalized if you don't follow through so where's the Democracy aspect in this and we have a large district with you know like one of the gentlemen said it's a Melting Pot a lot of people are worried for me is
095where's the red line going to be drawn this is just step one what else is going to come through down the pipeline for us is we have up top forms that might be able that might be fine now but in a couple months what happens if they announce that that's not allowed everybody has to do it and the Uproar happens and sadly it we're the ones that are going to be kind of you know outcasted and shunned when I always tell you know I was speaking with a couple of members in the public is you know the fight you could bring it to us but you also got to take it to Trenton for us is where we stand where can we draw the red line if we're technically forced upon it okay is there
096anyone else from the days that has questions from the superintendent's report that's where we're at now if you want to make comments you'll do that under your your personal comments but so just questions to the superintendent seeing none will move on uh next we have our um recognition of our pbsis um winners and um our district coordinator Miss Paula ragoza will uh present those now there's no film this time okay hello good evening wow what a what what an evening we've had um thank you thank you as always um Mr pres Mr President Smith vice president Mr Daly uh commissioners of the board sent Dr robertozzi and Central Administration thank you as always for affording us the opportunity to showcase what our schools are doing um with the multi-tiered system of of supports pbsis so
097tonight I want to bring to you something really excited that happened um this summer we have uh some summer programs right we have um we have in particular three summer programs that organically began using pbsis this includes the Jumpstart program Title One and title III summer programs now they are uh they occur at school 12 School 17 and there's there are two small groups that have students at the boys and girls club right and the total enrollment is about 232 students and the summer program service students pre-k through fifth grade very brief briefly I want to talk about what they do it's not my air of expertise but I just want to give you a backdrop on it so the Jumpstart program is um was developed for print pre-kinder some uh students to help them
098develop and refine their Readiness skills for schools for kindergarten titles one entitled three summer programs were designed to continue the development of reading language arts and Mathematics skills during the summer months you know so we can prevent that summer slide the programs run 8 30 in the morning till 12 noon and we are very fortunate to have small group settings with ESL and bilingual classes and support so what um these lovely folks did um was they took what was happening during the school year in their respective buildings being led by principal Joanna juareba she's the administrator for these particular programs and the coordinators that you see on the screen is Fitzpatrick Miss Rodriguez Miss fusitola fusotola and Ms caravallo what they did was they taught students the behavior expectations and what they wanted to see
099throughout the program then they developed their own Clifton cash and rewarded students positive praise statements thank you so much for coming in today as you've seen throughout the whole school year all of our instructional buildings partake in this but our folks are naturally doing this now in the summer programs which are amazing one of the one of the things that happens as you know at the end is that students can put in for Raffles and staff get rewarded as well here's the really cool thing besides these amazing students who um some of the amazing students who won prizes this is all happening organically which means all of our staff and all of our students are developing these positive relationships so that learning becomes more accessible so that that aspect of the school and instructional buildings
100being seen as a community Source holds true uh tonight we are joined by the by the lovely administrator and the coordinators of the programs and we will uh in a moment recognize them and I'll ask Dr robotozzi and president Smith to help me hand the certificates but more importantly I I just want to thank them uh because you see all of the hard work that goes in during the year and they just real they it's really absorbing into their day-to-day practices like hey this is good practice for our kids and the kids um when you ask them I know um Mrs kusilevich went in and she was able to see this if you ask the kids we see attendance increase over over the summer and we see kids saying or we hear kids rather saying
101hey this is really really nice and I like coming to my program day to day because I get recognized by my teachers so thank you so much um you happen to all be ladies here tonight um gentlemen if you will do me the honor we'll start recognizing folks um first up um Mrs warbeck [Applause] Mrs Fitzpatrick [Applause] Mrs Rodriguez foreign [Applause] hold on we got it thank you [Applause] I'm cutting this way uh Miss uh Miss ragoza uh you always do such a tremendous job of of congratulating other people uh for the great job that they do in their schools but if it was not for you and your leadership and encouragement to those people this would not be the success that it is so we truly thank you for all the hard work that
102you put into this program all right we'll now move on to adoption of the minutes of June 23rd meeting so I moved by Mr abidrabo second by Mr Awad discussion seeing non-roll call Mr Roberto yes Mr Awad yes Miss basford yes Miss Beltran yes Mr Canova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Paris yes vice president Daley yes president Smith yes motion carries okay uh I'm gonna skip over mine uh first reading of policy uh we have uh zero one five five point one board member participation at board meetings public and executive session using electronic device zero one six nine point oh one electronic communication among board members use of District issued paperless equipment zero one seven four Legal Services okay is there any discussion on those that Mr President yes Mr canola um so on basically
103one of the policies is um has the same sort of language about electronic devices then another one about access to board attorneys so let me start with the attorney so here it's saying that if any board member wishes to speak to the attorney first we must go through now the board president does that then mean the president has the ability to say yes or no or is this something that's just a formality for record keeping I don't know who the question is too but uh I have never not afford as my role as president I've never not afforded anyone to speak to the uh I'm not saying so I don't know I say you have I'm saying the way this policy is set up is if someone came to the board president and asked to
104speak the attorney is there a possibility for the board president to then say no are you sure oh miss Beltran is here um so in short the answer to that is yes the intention of that so that policy arose out of um uh regulations that were passed a number of years ago um fiscal accountability regulations and the intention is to um maintain a low cost of legal services so that every board member isn't just not only every board member but every board member every school principal every person that's in the district is calling the board attorney without without any sort of control the fiscal regulation the fiscal accountability regulations also speak to um sort of in passing to situations where the answer to something might be some kind of a simple answer that somebody in
105the administration like somebody in the superintendent the superintendent's office might have an answer to it or or maybe the business office so I would imagine that in a situation like that like some kind of a question that I'm trying to think of something really easy like when is the budget what's the deadline for submitting the budget to the accounting office or something like that that might be something that the board president could say listen don't don't call the board attorney call the business office they'll have the answer um but as a general rule the board pres it's really just to maintain some kind of order um so that legal costs don't Skyrocket um so my only concern with with adding this verbiage is then that one person can have the power to tell somebody no
106and if there's some sort of an issue there you know obviously we've seen things this year where people have cast different legal battles between each other so I don't want that to be any part of any policy I'd rather have everybody's we're we're nine members here and we all have the same access to everything that each other have and this gives power to one specific person so me personally I don't like this here so just just so we're clear the board policy that as it exists before you before it gets changed it before the proposed revision already although it doesn't say specifically that the person has to call the board member calls the board president it already includes language in there that there is a a mechanism a procedure yeah yeah there's a procedure so
107that my my interpretation of that is for logging purposes they mentioned like the board attorney I mean the uh the uh ba so I understand that piece of it logging it absolutely that should happen but I don't want to again we're nine members I want to keep everything even playing field I don't want you know personal grudges to get in the way and I'm not saying they are I'm just saying I don't want to set up policy in which could allow something like that and I'm getting one way or the other I'm just simply telling you what what was there what proposed so me personally I would I would say let's kick this back to policy but I mean we're just a discussion right now so I don't know if anybody else wants to chime
108in on this one anyone else I do um I think I agree with you Mr Conover about this um to leave the policy the way it was whenever I need to speak to the attorney I emailed this um the president um I had a I couldn't get a hold of him and so I went to the board um secretary what secretary sent it to him and then I still waited but um I I just think that there should be a mechanism because I'm going to say this and people don't understand that it says it retail that if we could we go to the president we can't get the president we go to the vice president we can't get the vice president then we're allowed to go back to the uh ba there may be an
109issue that somebody has on this day is with both the president or the vice president and they just want to go to the ba to go right directly to the um to the attorney so I would rather prefer to leave the language alone and this way it it I I'll see what the the issue is president Smith if I may yes Mr abdom thank you the issue is that there there needs to be order the board president is the board president because he needs to keep order or she not necessarily he um if the process and procedure is already being board president vice president then the ba then we need to make sure for future boards they understand what the processes organizations and procedures are and in order to do that we need a policy
110because if all nine of us left tomorrow then the next nine come on we need to leave a a handbook of a policy of a regulation or something so people understand how to pick up and move forward pick up that flag and move forward so it's not about grudges Joe it's not about anything else it's more about order it's more about no keeping bookkeeping and making sure that the procedures are are put on paper and as Ms basser said it's exactly what what she said which is president vice president and then back to the ba so it's exactly what she said but this but this time it's it's written down so I don't see what it is to kick back if that's what the discussion is happening and the written or the written I don't
111want to say argument the written policy is supporting the verbiage that board members are saying on this tonight but if you look at the verbiases being added that's that is what we're saying exactly so what what is there to kick back the policy that's what I'm trying to say but this is the time you're you're leaving what she just stated is the new language is being put in without that that's not in there listen at the end of the day Joe the board president is the board president the board president if the board President says no he or she that's something that we all got to take up because the board President should shouldn't be saying no unless you know it's something that in-house can answer we all agree on that right okay okay so
112if we all agree on that part and instead of spending money and having to at least rack up the bills no offense that we need to you don't we need to make sure that we can answer those questions in-house and if the boy President says well I checked with Administration I checked around I checked the finance I checked with Uchi and shahada there's nothing go ahead that's not saying no that's just making sure that we have all our books in order at home so that my kids tell me I want to go I want to go buy something I'm going to say no talk to my wife check with my kids make sure everybody's good there's nothing all right go ahead go buy it I can understand that but that's not what this says if
113you want to say any board members wishes to speak the attorney must first ask the president who will then research and ask XYZ and then come back to them and say if they have information but if they don't then pass them along then do that but that's not what this says but that's what it's intended actually that's the intention but that's not what it says which is why I think that at least needs to be rewarded and kicked back to policy because what you just said is not what this says well actually it minutes ago that yes the president would with this verbiage here could then veto this person's request to the attorney but again that's what we that's what we vote for the board president for to make sure that we keep order that
114I think you're misunderstanding I think you're in the misunderstanding the position of the board president they're not here to to be a dictatorship of one individual and be the gatekeeper for something that's not that's not the intention no but we're a unit of nine here so five really decides where we go with things Christmas Mr Daley you you were yeah yes um next suggestion on on the issue that about informing the um board president and the succession um and I think the board attorney outlined it exactly what the purpose is here is so things don't get crazy in terms of hours upon hours of board members eating up the attorney's bills so there's there's some kind of control I don't I don't think there's ever been an issue as long as I've been on this
115board almost 14 years of that happening so maybe if you wanted to tweak the language and have the that the board member would advise the board president of contacting there so there is a kind of a paper trail of sorts that that okay uh if Joe wants to talk to the board attorney he writes an email or whatever text or whatever to the board president maybe even a copy to the um to the board secretary and you know advising them that he's going to need to talk to the board attorney so it becomes less it serves the purpose of kind of looking at it and but it's it's not like and and I've never seen Richard Smith and I certainly during my tenure as president I never denied anybody either so isn't a case that
116we've had a history of that but I understand why uh as as the board attorney has said that the purpose was so things don't get crazy with members spending a ton of time talking to the board attorney so if you did an advisory things so there is a paper trail of sorts but there's not necessarily an edict that you know if you might have somebody here that's that's not here presently that would that's going to say no to you no to everybody else that that's not the right thing either so maybe you could look at putting in more and that the board president is advised of the board member and wants to talk to the board president so there is a kind of a paper trail on the other two issues I I do have
117uh an issue it's it's really kind of Draconian the language about uh devices um I don't know I mean we should certainly shouldn't be you could say in that that policy that board members shouldn't be texting other board members during the board meeting that is absolutely proper but um we all use our devices we may have a family member or somebody contacting us like my daughter just tried to call me that I didn't answer but um and and I use this phone regularly you know my my board emails on this and things like that and I if I call the board this is this is my only device to call anybody I don't have a home phone so I use it so I do use my personal phone do board business which is proper you
118know whether it's a phone call or a text but to say that you know you should have this on on the thing I mean it's a little Draconian to me um I I think it the policy should say that board members shouldn't be texting each other during the board meeting because that that violates the open public meetings or the essence of it I would say and depending on the text message yeah I mean if you know somebody says happy birthday at some of you but I mean in the general course of things one board member shouldn't be texting another about board business during a board meeting it's I I that's what I see or anything from the public or anybody from the public that's the whole point okay board business shouldn't be conducted correct on
119personal devices correct during a board meeting to parachute next yes I um back to the um the legal uh approval process and I know that both Mr Smith Mr Daley haven't been any issues with with approving that but I think Mr canova's concern is that you know there could be just a denial maybe there could could be something written in the policy as to an appeal process so it's not one denial that you'd have to go you can get you have an alternate route to also go and have your requests considered it so I I was listening just to kind of go back to where I was listening Mr daily was saying instead of having or you find instead of having received permission it would say a board attorney or contact the board attorney must
120first must first ask and advise the Boe president to speak the attorney instead of instead of ask for permission does that take away the The Angst of of you know the word no or the possibility yeah so if it all depends on what the intention is the intention just to to understand what the question is and then advise them accordingly if so then that's what you write into this policy so for clarity the current policy what it says pretty much pulled from the accountability the fiscal account but accountability regulations is that the Board of Education authorizes the establishment of the following procedures to guide such solicitation of legal advice one the designated contact person or persons shall ensure that contracted legal counsel is not contacted unnecessarily for management decisions or readily available information contained in
121District materials such as board policies administrative regulations or guidance available through professional Source materials and that's what I spoke to before if it's a question about you know that Mr Uzi can answer easily you would go to him two all requests for legal advice shall be made to the designated contact persons in writing and shall be maintained on file ended in the district offices the designated contact person shall determine whether the request warrants legal advice is necessary that's already in the policy that you currently have um and then it goes on about forwarding the information putting it on a log Etc and the thing with the log is really it only applies to school districts with legal costs that exceed 130 percent of the Statewide average per pupil amount should should establish the procedures outlined
122below and if not established provide evidence such procedures would not result in a reduction of costs I am I've been informed by Mr UC that uh Clifton's legal costs don't come anywhere near 130 percent of the Statewide average for people amount but that's just letting you know what's already in existence um so there's already a mechanism where it's a request that by the very fact that it's a request it can be it implies that it can be denied otherwise it wouldn't be called a request Mr President yes I have an issue with allowing text messages for requests we can't control that if you have an email that that can be controlled so um I think that would be better off um that's one of the reasons why the committee um previous committee put um that
123it should be in writing we we didn't want the text messages going back and forth to either the the president or the attorney as well so that was one thing um regards to um I think the policy should be left alone and it's fine the way it is in regards to the devices being used on the Deus um and that you need a medical advice is that legal to request that so let me look at the policy the way it's been proposed um [Music] board meetings only during board meetings only District issued electronic devices will be allowed to be used on the days by board members non-district just non-district distributed electronic devices shall not be allowed to be used on the days by board members unless their use is necessary for medical or emergency situations
124non-sanctioned devices shall include but not be limited to non-district issued cell phones iPads or similar tablets and laptops computers [Music] um I don't think that there's anything I don't think that it's illegal for there to be a policy that says that um electronic devices can't be used um I don't I also don't think that there's anything that would require a board I don't think a board member could be required to provide a medical certification for the use of an electronic device okay because um but but just let me just finish that point though really quickly I don't think that that's what this policy is asking it's just saying unless their use is necessary for medical or emergency situations I don't think that it I can't see that a board would be required would be able
125to ask the board member I want to see the other policy talks about submitting a medical letter the other one about the devices and here's his here's the thing that I'm a little concerned about because some of us use our phones to monitor our blood sugar or our heart rate um or um I adjust my my my assist well this is an assistive technology device yes exactly okay so if you were to exclude me from using that you would be violating my civil rights through the office of civil rights correct agreed thank you that's all I wanted to know I have family members that use not use uh cell phones for all kinds of medical assisted devices yes Dr Danny um so in in regards to um the you know the the chain of command
126for you know the designated person I mean I I'm I think that that's fine um I I think that if there an issue arises uh Mr Canova like I could see the concerns um then that's where you know again we just look it up but you know we we put its policy and we you know because there's I think you know again as it stated before with that designated person I mean I think it's good to have that one person I mean if we want to change it to vice president or whatever I mean I you know I wouldn't care who it is I mean it's good to have like something that it's you know present or vice president that it goes into command and good to have like one person obviously designated that you
127go to so this way it sort of keeps everything together rather than well I went to this one and then that one wasn't there and that you know so I think um you know what um Mr Roberto said for the sake of like um keeping it you know together um and like some sort of sense of order I I think it's good for clarity um the part with the electronic devices I mean I I don't think you know um I keep my password on there so every time that the you know computer shuts down I'm like oh my God what's my password again you know because I changed it all the time so you know I I don't think that it you know that would really be um you know necessary I mean you know
128maybe if you have like three four laptops I mean computer I mean that might start becoming you know some sort of you know issue or something um but I I don't think we're really like abusing the cell phones and again I mean if there was some emergency or something I would want to know you know something going on in the house my grandson or something so you know but the other one I I think is is fine but I'm not too keen on the the whole cell phone thing I mean I I don't think we'll really like you know sitting there abusing it um that's just me thank you Mr President yes Miss Belcher um my other thing too about the cell phone um policy is how would that be enforced because I know that
129we're not allowed to punish fellow board members we've run into other incidences in the past where board members have acted out of line and we weren't able to do anything so what would really be the mechanism of you know even enforcing such a policy don't do it I there is really is no there is no mechanism if if you're if the policy gets adopted and and you're using the cell phone then it would be a request to stop doing that because there's a board policy I presumably depending on the extent of not complying with the policy um possibly I suppose that there could be some kind of an Ethics complaint that the board members not adhering to board policies um I don't know I I don't have a black and white answer for that that's
130not not something that we haven't seen it that there is a concern if there are cell phones being used for conversations that are outside of the hearing of the public yes that's true um the legal um uh that not so much because you know any email that comes to me is really for the most part attorney-client privilege so the text message would also be but what you're I think really what you're pointing to is in order for there really to be a record would be to use the email you know I don't disagree with that but what what what could the consequence be you know there a board can't impose a consequence on on a fellow board member as we've known before we've learned that in the past so that's not the issue um I
131I just don't I don't think because charges have been brought to myself about using my cell phone Amadeus and I you and um the person was actually watching the video um I use oticon uh apparatus it's it's the application for the hearing aids that I have to use and I had to disclose that I wore hearing aids because the person tried to embarrass me but um the long and the short of it is it took a while because it I have it up right now I have it up to two because I can't hear you and um when Mr Brunswick blows on the the mic he blows my ears right out of proportion because I got a wizard so I gotta adjust it the night that I had um the issue my my left hearing
132which is my deaf ear completely deaf ear I could not get this thing connected to it I had to go on the back and and take the uh the battery out to adjust it and I was having a lot of problems so it was told that I was doing this so I'm really opposed to this because as Joe would say next month or next year we're all gone what kind of thing are you going to say to people is that you cannot use assistive technology device to have access to a meeting this brings me access so I can hear what everybody says that's against my civil rights and anybody else if you were to do this to check your blood sugar or whatever it is that you do it violates your civil rights and I
133become very very very fluent on civil rights laws right now this last call agreed and again I'm not I'm not advocating one way for or the other it's as long as everybody as long as the law is followed but what the board the board policy I keep having to switch to the other one the board the proposed board policy absolutely permits it's an exception that you can use it for medical or emergency situations my question to you is that in in the other policy it talks about giving a medical note to the president so yeah it talks about giving so if the if the president has again a medical excuse he gives the note to himself I'm not sure which policy you're talking about it's the other one there's two of them I only see
134three here I'm sorry I'm not sure what you're looking I might public and executive sessions no we have what yeah so we had one zero one oh I see I see Zero I see I'm sorry because I I was from what I've learned in the last I don't have to do nobody has to disclose anything to anyone you go for a job you don't have to disclose that you have a disability or anything like that I had a disclose which was very humiliating to me because I I'm 62 I have to wear hearing aids I didn't want to admit to that but I'm let I'm from covet I'm deaf in my left ear it happened I guess fever I don't know what happened but I I completely lost my hearing in this ear and here
135it is to prove to all he is now I can't hear and one thing I can hear this idea that side it's like wearing a headphone and all of a sudden the sound goes out on one ear can't hear nothing but I just I just don't see this necessary I I think that um we're all adults we're all professionals we know what we need to do I just think this is like like Dana said what is the what are the consequences if we were allowed to sanction board members we would have taken Reigns a long time ago to do that so I don't see what the necessary verbiage of this is I'm not going to support it either Mr President yes Mr knob uh the only thing I'll add to that is um with my
136job I'm on the call 24 7. I have an employee that works in Taiwan he works on our upgrades he monitors our system after hours there are times when I'll get a text message if something's down and I'll send it to somebody and say hey take a look at this happens between meetings sometimes between public comment I'll look at my phone and just make sure I'm not getting anything with my wife Etc I know Dana couldn't get in she texted me something I got to it after Danny had got to it these are just there's I think after covid what happened was people realize there's a work-life balance I checked this thing when I'm in personal time for for work things for uh for work and for board event and then when I'm here there
137are some personal things I come across we all have it I think it's just woven into the fabric of Life at this point so to put as Jim would say a Draconian policy like this to me I'm not really for it okay uh so you have a suggestion to move the one back to policy to reword um so what's that 0155.1 Joe was that the one you suggest to go back to policy yes no it's one seven four oh yes a one seven four no yeah legal services and I'll second that right yeah so wait wait because we're talking about yeah Joe just now you were talking about the use of the cell phone yeah so the use of this the any the policies that address the use of the cell phone is oh 169.01
138and no one one five five one one yes so you want those to go back to committee first we're talking about this one first we're talking about Legal Services okay fine I just want to be sure where I am Google services all right so zero one seven four we'll go back to committee and then the other two I would just make a motion to say cancel it well let's go for a second reading anyway this is the first reading correct it doesn't have to go to second we just cancel it now I think we we yeah we figured this out last time that's actually that's actually a second reading of policy if you want to take a look I'm on this road I'm right here so there is a motion to you're making a motion
139to not have this go to Second reading that's correct Mrs policy zero one six nine and one five five right yep all one one five four one five five okay you have a motion by Mr Canova and a second by Miss basford correct okay any other discussion scene not roll call this is the pool now this one is to deny zero one five five and zero one six nine Mr object no Mr Awad no Miss basford yes Miss Beltran yes Mr Canova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Paris yes vice president Daley yes president Smith no motion carries right zero one seven four is uh sent back to committee all right now Mr President yes the policy committee would always have the opportunity if they wanted to rework that to noting the common absolutely correct okay
140we'll now move on to um board committee reports I don't see any on mine is that correct no we know we have the president I know why don't I see him online I'll click on content or scroll you go anymore so Mr President there's one I don't see on here and that is the uh the Personnel committee were we supposed to see those meeting minutes until here under the executive content excuse me Mr President uh Joe we had two SNL meetings and they haven't the minutes have not been presented shared with the committee I thought they were uploaded I'm not sure I'll take responsibility for that I could probably upload it now but I don't think we were reading those anywhere for you to read right yes in the committee we had asked that the
141board get they get it so they if they had a question to ask you what was going on and we wanted it to be a confidential just like the um residents and security is confidential we asked for the board to be shared with them so yesterday it was sent to the committee it didn't go to the whole board but I'll share with the whole board right now yeah I think we discussed two in committee um possibly having like a scaled down version just saying we discussed hiring lunch AIDS we discussed hiring bus aides like what things like that not into detail of um any sort of riceable conversation but just uh I mean I think the one we could get their Lisa's opinion but I think the one that we drafted and sent yesterday is
142that you know vanilla that might be able to be read but I would want to release to read it first there um I don't think you should be reading any Personnel committee who reports the public a blanket that's the legal advice that's what I would go we use we asked for the board to be um because you wanted to be able to read them yourselves right well we we have one on here that's confidential we have one for security and and um um residency it says confidential on it we get that but the public doesn't get it yeah so why can't the rest of the board get the uh the the Personnel media minutes um if I'm on a committee game is on a committee gyms work right that's what we were asking for oh
143no I thought I don't know we won a memorial we want to document and memorialize that we actually met in case there we ever have to go back to saying when did we have a person on me when did we just speak about this got it no I I for a second there I thought you guys were creating somebody was creating some kind of a nope and that's when I said no the whole board was I said that fast enough didn't I try transparency yes for you all to have it in like you have executive content that's fine all right so um we'll do uh residency and security courses Paris yep thank you Mr Smith uh The Residency and security committee met on Wednesday June 22nd 4 pm in attendance where Dr Robert tozzi Mr
144gingaro Mr doctor Mr Constantino Mr Fieldhouse from the board myself Miss Beltran Mr Daley and Mr Smith agenda items included uh resident under residency Mr doctor gave us an update on residency investigations he explained that regular residency investigations will be continuing and all new registrations will be verified by our domicile investigators during the course of the school year an update on registration within real time he also explained that the Registration Department is hoping to roll out the updated real-time registration portal by July 1st but it will likely not occur until August 1st under security Mr gingero uh updated us on monthly security drills Mr Constantino explained the May and June school security drills maze drills consisted of a cold and bomb threat June security drill was the choice of the building administrator he shared with
145the committee that the drills that he observed in May and June were completed properly an update on school security Personnel interviews Mr gigaro shared the first round of interviews for school security Personnel positions had occurred and six candidates were offered positions these positions and candidates accepting jobs are listed on the June 23rd board agenda all candidates will receive school safety specialist training prior to the start of the school year additional discussion included the district's communication with the Clifton police department and the police department's visibility in schools specialist services offered I informed the committee of a security specialist who would like to share his knowledge with us concerning the district's security and Mr gengaro agreed to reach out and speak with him concerning a school's Security administrator position Mr gingero explained that the job description was
146finalized for the position and would be on the June 25th 23rd board agenda the job title was yet to be confirmed with the superintendent concerning alert training Mr gengaro explained that alert training requested was requested by the police department myself and Mr Daley inquired as to the perception of security at our schools and I shared some safety concerns that I had received from the school nine parent in relation to parking traffic and signage issues Mr giguero explained that the concerns would be looked into and handled by the appropriate people and coordinated with Clifton PD thank you okay any questions to Mr Paris all right seeing none we'll move on uh policy would be next Mr Robot thank you president Smith uh minutes of the July 5th policy meeting policy meeting begin at 5 305 PM
147attendees are myself Dr Danny uh administrators were Mark and Gerald Lewis Ross and also president was the attorney to release Gutierrez from AGL the committee reviewed by by law zero one seven four Legal Services the committee recommends the following language be inserted after the second paragraph before the third paragraph any board member who wishes to speak or to contact the board attorney must first and ask and first receive permission to speak to the attorney from the Board of Education president the board member May request permission by contacting the board president via email phone communication or text message the board member is unable to reach the board president via the above methods then the board member may contact the board vice president via the same communication methods to request said permission if they are unable to
148reach the board president or board the vice president they should then contact the superintendent or designee in his or her absence followed by the business administrator or designee in his or her absence meeting was adjourned 314 PM respectively submitted Lou Ross the July 11th meeting the July 11th policy meeting began at 308 PM attendees were president Smith myself and as well as uh Dr Danny Dr Danny Roberts excuse me um Mark gingero Lou Ross and principals hamda Gaba and also Yeager also president was Julius Gutierrez from egl committee reviewed the following policies won 5511 dress code the principles of the middle schools and the high schools briefed the committee on the review of the current dress code and advised that the policy has currently exists is sufficient fair and adequate they further advised that they
149will disseminate clear expectations to the students regarding the dress code prior to the commencement of school year they will further compare the dress policy regulations in the handbook for discrepancies for informational purposes discussion was held regarding a possible policy pertaining to administrate serving as athletic coaches or volunteering on the coaching staff no recommended action at this time number three the committee discussed the use of personal electronic technology by board members while on the days during meetings the committee recommends the following language be added to both bylaw 155.1 board member participation at board meetings public and executive session using electronic device and bylaw 169.01 electronic communication among board members use of issued paperless equipment during board meetings only districts issued electronic devices will be allowed to be used on the days by board members non-district distributed
150electronic devices shall not be allowed to be used on the days by board members unless there is use is necessary for medical or emergency situations non-sanctioned devices shall include but not limited to non-district issue cell phones iPads or similar tablets and laptops computers this language shall be inserted prior to the last sentence of the first paragraph to the section entitled electronic communication among board members and bylaw 155.1 and prior to the last sentence of the paragraph of bylaw 169.01 number four the committee next discussed board member Communications the board president and superintendent Administration will present proposals at the next meeting regarding a system of communication between board members the board president and superintendent number five the committee will discuss at its next meeting if it will propose any challenge changes excuse me to policy 7435
1517435 alcoholic beverages on school premises and 7436 drug-free workplace number six discussion was held regarding a mental health policy and the committee will send discussion of the matter to the education committee the meeting was adjourned at 4 21 PM respectfully submitted Lou Ross any questions to Mr abajabo I have a question yes um it's a little bit more of um I guess like for it's for you um Mr President um why was there only two board members present at this meeting I know in the past um we invite people if like someone can't make it um you know if someone is an app center et cetera there's seven of us you know that that could possibly attend um so I just wasn't sure if there was a reason why it was only you and faheem
152in this meeting what else was on it I don't know it just says you and Fahim so I was you know if it's gonna it should be at least three I would think it was the go ahead sorry I was going to join but I had a medical emergency last second and I reached out to you if you don't remember so I hopped on but I left immediately the moment I hopped on because something occurred so I should have been there yeah because in the past it used to be three and then the board president on most committees so I don't know I know we might have had someone leave this committee so I don't know if we can appoint somebody else to be on it um for the remainder of the term right did
153Mr Daley has been filling in all already okay it was Lucy Daly myself and you we have our three plus board member he uh for us for us was filling for I said I want daily um but then the moment happened and I popped out there was a miscommunication on who was gonna hop out and who's gonna take over I think that's what occurred so then I wound up just being two yeah because I feel like there's a lot of beefy things discussed you know and it shouldn't it it might not be too unfortunately there was miscommunication who was gonna jump in who was gonna and then ended up just both not showing up and that was like literally last minute and well in the future I'm always available great I can plug my earpiece
154in at any time most times you know I am uh luckily as the benefit of owning your own business so if you ever need me to jump into a meeting since I am only on I think two committees um I'm more than able to hop on Mr President yes Mr on the issue about uh supervisories being on coaching Athletics or as in a as a volunteer uh there's no stipend about however the question because this uh this uh when my first year on the board was there was a very controversial issue about that um so the the real question that was raised is that a supervisor or um or somebody of the similar stature their responsibilities go further so and usually uh with the teacher you know we have teachers who are coachers uh coaches
155and get a stipend but their obligations to to teach in the student ends at certain period of time which allows them to coach so there was always a strict line that if a supervisor or a similar position uh want to do it it's a conflict that they're getting so they certainly wouldn't get a stipend so if if somebody wants to help out and not get a stipend and do that after their duties are legally completed by the contract I don't have an issue with that so I don't know where the conversation went with that you know it's brief and that's fine it's minutes but I just want to ask the question you know what was the tenor of the conversation so there was a discussion about a supervisor at the time I won't mention whom
156uh who wanted to coach correct not important who wanted the coach but the question is the question became where do we stop where where does it end where does it become where you know coaching come comes priority over teaching or comes priority over over Administration or it becomes or being a supervisor or director so the question was um where does it stop and where do we stop where do we start so the best thing we got was it was was to discuss and say you know what let's just leave that alone because that's a A can that we wouldn't be able to close yeah that would be in line with the but I would just correct I did right correct thank you I just don't know where it was going and I thank you for
157filling that in yeah no no of course okay next we have uh Food Service Transportation Miss Belgium my first minutes of the year I'm so excited okay um so we met on July 19th president was myself Mr Paris um Mr abadrabo um president from the administration was um mark and jarrow um Ahmed Elizabeth Nick and Alex Rosenberg the first thing we discussed was a school 13 kitchen this is being funded by the cafeteria Surplus which has to be spent on Cafe related expenses only not local or cap Reserve uh by compliance we can't roll large surpluses forever currently we are rolling large surpluses uh surpluses must be spent on upgrading the cafe and can only bank so much Surplus year to year um so this is kind of like a we need to spend it
158on something situation other food options we explored and we're options were exploding were too costly for the district there are options on the menu that address dietary and Allergy restrictions there is a menu attached I'm not sure if it's going to be attached on the website um it will be okay so there is event a menu that is now for Halal vegan options um there are also other options that are naturally occurring but this is going to be a menu That's specific to those two dietary restrictions um comptonian is going to go back and explore some other options that we discussed in the meeting uh we talked about the free and paid option as of now all lunches are not free for this year so we implore everybody to fill out the forms once they
159are sent them on the student portal um everyone should should fill it out even if you think you don't apply um you should fill it out because it only helps the district because the more participation we get the more likely we are to get Federal funding uh to have free and reduced uh continue as a program uh the next topic of discussion was the transportation we are currently looking for bus marking um the bus depot needs to fit six new 54 passenger buses coming in October um we're looking for plots of land in Clifton to accommodate new buses so if anybody has any plots of land feel free to reach out to the superintendent um we talked about the electric buses unfortunately we would not uh granted the the grant to get the electric buses
160which has kind of led to our um overpopulation of buses because we needed to keep buses um in order to be able to remove them from the road um how the grant works is you have to actually destroy a bus um you have to like put a something in the like a hole in the engine something like that so that it cannot be used you're not allowed to sell them um so we kind of holding these buses that are kicking up parking spots um in the hopes that we are granted the grant for the electric buses the next round other items have disgusted we talked about the extended school year the esy program and we talked about out of District contracts for the for the extended school year program any questions yeah Mr President yes
161Mr Canova so is his I'm sorry this is here that uh some options were explored and were too costly for the districts what types of options was that um it was mainly halal meat um so we were exploring options of bringing in halal meat um as an option and pomptonian indicated that it was too costly we need to it was needs to be a state that was like a dollar fifty I think a meal there was um I might know the numbers more than me so our federal reimbursement is about 413 that pomptonian gets and the meals that pump Tony was looking at was a little over six bucks so we would be in a deficit if we went with that option I also trying to um figure out the demand so we talked about
162possibly issuing a survey to students that are choosing the whole meals um I brought up that there are such things as hot dogs um you know things that are lower cost and that could be an option as well as pre-made meals that I know exist out there not that the kids might want to eat them but I know there are halal meat microwavable meals um so it was more of a discussion to to go forward but this year there will be a vegan Halal menu being offered to the kids so this and this came from the last food and trans committee uh last year when the principal was school three was um was the one who came in and actually requested that a menu be put forward in this District in the district as this
163much another option too I was thinking about after they didn't pop up the meeting that day is kosher kosher is also another substitute for Halal that's also another option that I think would be good across the the board for many students uh yeah correct good well because they have a mixture they have a separation of dairy yeah yeah the Jewish faith has a separation of uh Dairy and meats but um the kosher can be eaten by uh anybody does the Halal that's that's my fault it's cousin um but yeah and that was prompted from school three your home base piggyback on that um going down to the free and paid option I know we talked to the legislators and we had our committee meeting about that um is there anything that we could do I
164mean me personally I feel like lunch should just be a part of we pay tax and then they're footing the bill now just continue doing that like I think that's so much easier for everyone um it creates an inclusive environment for everyone there's no one being shunned with these cheese sandwiches and all these other issues we had we know the demographics of the children throughout the state I think it's just something we should do um and I would I would like to move something forward and draw some attention to hey we should be continuing to do this and make some sort of movement but I don't know where to go can can we recommend and there was a discussion from last time Dr Roberts Ozzy is it possible to draft a letter from your end
165to the state legislators and and maybe even for us as a board to sign on to something um and send to our legislators and say listen it's about time we talk about free food Universal free food across the board I think that's how we move it and then that's how we discuss it at our next board meeting as a follow-up to the letter at the end of the day we need to start pending stuff I mean you know we need to send a message that listen they're on our side we all know this they're on our team and we need to make sure that we get our point across so I agree with you on that job there is no hope that they will extend it for this year especially with everything that's going on
166because they did extend it for the summer so but it was a very last minute switch so we're hope we're you know kind of hopeful that they'll extended for this year given the economic environment so we'll see what happens but definitely writing a letter I think will be if nothing else a little squeaky wheel but if I'm not mistaken usually the funds that go into the summer are surpluses or excess from the previous school year or not in the school you're moving forward right or is that no I might think it's just higher ed that's the way it works okay all right um I have a question in regards to the SE program um and actually more for Miss kusilevic I'm sorry just so I'm sorry just so we can clarify Mr Canova so are
167we sending a letter from the district um you want to make a resolution why not do both both okay so yeah like one of those long resolutions or like this so by says you like unscroll it like this we're in favor of um having uh paid lunches for all um so let's have a motion and getting other boards decided to that as well I mean that's a big part of it too is really not just coming from one group uh I want to motion that Joe Joe brought it up so Josie sure I don't care uh my motion that we have a resolution as well as um have our our superintendent look into sending some sort of a letter second Emotion by Mr canovas I can buy Mr Roberto any other discussion roll call please
168Mr Roberto absolutely yes Mr Awad yes Ms bassford yes Miss Beltran yes Mr Canova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Paris yes vice president Daley yes president Smith yes motion carries [Music] Mr President yes I have a quick question for the um food committee um prices are very volatile now uh extremely and and it's hard to set a program like we'd like to have this when things are going up and down like on a weekly basis and Dana might know more because this is her this is our business um and I saw a report the other day where cattle in particular is the farmers are cutting back of course they can't can't afford the transportation they can't get the Grain and so on and so forth so that would seem economically that that's that price of
169beef is going to go up was was that raised or pomptonian raised anything about that I know actually the um they said that they're the economy of scale that they purchased at that they were you know they were okay to to absorb the costs okay so the consumer side is seeing I mean the restaurants are seeing it as well yeah the but the consumer side is seeing much higher price raises whereas the restaurant side are still able to buy you know the generic brand so like you know what they're using in the back is different maybe than what they were using in the past but you can still I think okay if they're stable to maintain their costs I just felt you'd give us that yeah definitely in the as we go along it you
170know it might be a conversation that we have with pomptonian it didn't come up and this meeting but you know if we do have a future meeting you know I'll definitely make sure to bring that up Mr Robert I'm sorry you you were speaking and I cut you off yeah that's okay agent for beauty um so uh I I've been wanting to kind of plug this in and figure I figure out how but since SC was was mentioned here um for the added for the extended school year program do we know how the scn CLS program was going on this summer I know it's a title one and other programs were discussed um earlier before Ms kusilevic and I noticed because mrtola is here and I've heard great things about um SC and CLS and
171you know it it it's it's a great program that that's needed in our district and I think it doesn't get the Kudos that it actually deserves so um just because levage I appreciate everything you've done as well as your staff as Mr Rotolo as well and if there's anything you want to share with the public please feel free but we will be doing a comprehensive presentation um probably in the first September meeting um going over all of our summer programs numbers of students successes pictures um but the CLS and esy program were phenomenal this year um Ms Rotolo working together with Bahia abidrabo um Elaine pick and Richard Rando ran two great programs CLS is only here because of Esser funding esy is the program that we typically have we did have several hundred students
172in those programs but there were many other summer programs going on as well but the esy and CLS served our special needs population thank you okay moving along um unfinished business is there any unfinished business no okay we'll move along to uh education Administration uh we have uh ea1 through EA 18. hi Mr abadravo second Mr rawad discussion seen on Roll Call yes Mr what yes Miss basford yes Miss Beltran yes yes Mr Cordova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Paris yes vice president Daley yes president Smith yes motion carries next we have Personnel we have uh P1 through p50 so I moved to Boom by Mr Robert second by Mr rawad discussion seeing none roll call excuse me oops sorry um I you need to pull uh 5 11 and in the back room they're
173um administrative leaves I would like I don't know anything I can't vote on it because I don't know any the details um uh I know we had previously asked and I sent an email to the superintendent that when any person I'll get um a um an increase we put the prior amount in the resolution as well what it was from what it goes to so we can see if what the what the uh percentage rate is so to say there's a couple of um I have no problem with the raises being proposed to three of the individuals on this um on this resolution but I'd like to see what it was and what it's from because I have to go back to last years and I have to look it up it just takes more
174time so it would just be for housekeeping purposes can we please do that as well and I would like to pull number 50 in back room for discussion hiring of about you know 40 people so I don't want to separate it out because I want to do this in an appropriate way so I am asking to do it in one shot so unless you want me to pull just the one I I can do whatever you like but I just figured it was I'm just I don't think it's fair to 50 people to pull it for executive if you want to discuss one person okay um hold on I gotta go into my computer I'll give you the initials because I can't count with this thing here um ffk the president superintendent I've made a
175recommendation I stand by these recommendations I have nothing to offer an executive session except that these are my recommendations um they're not employees so they don't need to be talked about an executive um so be happy to discuss it in public or I'd be happy to um you know you're talking about the appointment I'm talking about I'm talking about the item number 50 Personnel appointments okay but uh five and eleven should be an executive um 45 I have a question about 45. um are there any costs associated with this or is this um I've never seen this before so is this like a blanket kind of resolution uh do we have anybody that's traveling in are there associated costs that go to this I believe this is the same resolution this password that we put
176on every year I don't these are the local um no there's no cost to these anything that has a cost would have to be a separate resolution all right so p p uh five and eleven um are for uh executive and uh we have a separate vote my separate vote on um unemploy a potential employee Frank Casper anyone else right so we'll do the group minus 5 11. and um Frank Casper from 30. 50. not from 50 sorry 30 50. thank you guys real cool please Mr Robert yes with the abstaining on p25 and P38 Mr Awad yes Ms Bradford yes with the one being pulled yes Beltran yeah we don't have anything being pulled oh just a separate vote five and eleven have been pulled already right and I want I want a separate
177vote on Frank Casper I thought I made myself all right number 50. right okay uh Ms Beltran I'm sorry yeah yeah Mr Canova yeah 45. Dr Danny yes Mr Paris yes I'm standing on 39 40 and 46. 39 40 and 46 abstain 39 39 40 46 thank you very much vice president Daley just to be clear are we voting on pulling or the whole all all the items except 5 11 and uh Frank Hasbro number 50. and we're not having a vote on that we are having a vote yet we will ask you a separate vote okay yes all right and president Smith yes okay motion carries okay a separate vote to approve uh Frank Casper congratulations from uh p50 oh yeah oh motion please it's separate vote so we did it as a separate
178motion motion by Mr Awad second second by Miss basford discussion seeing non-roll call please Mr abujabo as a super sisters recommendation a bit on the fence yes Mr Awad yes MS basford Miss beltron I'm choosing to abstain Mr Canova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Paris yes vice president Daly yes president Smith yes motion carries all right next we have uh Finance facilities we have Mr President I'm sorry um since there's people here oh I'm sorry Mr personnel does anyone want any anyone who is uh just approved wish to come to the microphone [Applause] I'm not child go first uh good evening president Smith vice president J uh Mr Daly board Commissioners I'd like to take this opportunity to formally thank you along with our Administration Dr robitosi Ms kusilevic and my mentor Mr gingero for
179appointing me to the position of director of School Safety and Security um I am humbled and honored to be fulfilling this role its importance has grown increasingly evident for the last 14 years of my career I have had safety at the Forefront of my mind so first as an athletic trainer developing emergency action plans and coordinating in services and trainings for emergency preparedness then as my role as dean of students and then most recently as vice principal as vice principal I would oversee drills Fire Security for our largest and most densely populated building in the district that was under the leadership of Mr doctor and now Mr Honda two individuals along with Mr gengaro that were instrumental in my career so I can stand up there tonight and say I'm truly grateful for them and
180the role that they've played um just briefly I want to speak directly to parents teachers staff in the room just to say that I am committed to making Clifton a model district for security not just on a state level but on a national level people will come to our district to see and mimic our best practices our Technologies and our procedures so I will work tirelessly to ensure that thank you again for the opportunity and uh congratulations to everyone else here have a good night foreign [Applause] but I just want to take the time to thank each and every one of you and thank you for everyone that was in my interview committee and thank you to Mr Tolo for all your support for the past 11 years um I started out in kindergarten at
181school five here in Clifton went to Woodrow Wilson and graduated Clifton High School so I'm very proud to be here standing here as a supervisor in the school I grew weapon and I'm very dedicated to this community to the program particularly the special education department and the autism program and I'm very excited to begin this new job and I'm very thankful to all of you thanks [Music] thank you I'll try to make mine as brief as well good evening president Smith vice president daily Commissioners District administration staff students parents and all stakeholders present in person and online I'd like to take this opportunity to express my utmost appreciation to Dr Robert Posey Mrs kusilevic Mr gengaro Mrs Rotolo and the board for placing your trust and confidence in my abilities to assume the role of
182supervisor of special services for middle schools and non-public services as I eagerly anticipate the start of my new role I relish at my own educational journey and how it has come full circle as I am a proud alumna of Clifton Public Schools along the way I have parented a former Woodrow Wilson Middle School student who's sitting in the back patiently and Have and Have and continue to proudly serve this District in a myriad of professional roles from principle and training again special thanks to Dr Robert tozzi for your mentorship Mrs kusilevic and Mr gengaro for your constructively beneficial support throughout throughout my pursuit of this worthwhile endeavor shout out to school 14's Administration my principal internship mentors Jason habedank and Tara's petrosheen to what I'm proud to share former coordinator of the title one K-5
183academic support summer program it was nice to see that they were acknowledged this year and to my primary position and role on child study team as a school psychologist and education specialist Mentor these opportunities have allowed me to hone my craft which will ultimately serve to contribute and promote the mission of our District's high standards of excellence for students of all abilities with that I would now like to extend my also my utmost gratitude in regard to my supervisor and Mentor Mrs Heather Rotolo my predecessor Frankie Rosa and special education department supervisors among us tonight Amanda Hempel and Linda Chavez cheering on from home Lindsay Aslan and the clerical Administration for their guidance and support during my appointment earlier this month as the co covid learning support CLS and extended school year esy summer programs
184coordinator I'm so incredibly honored to be among such phenomenal Educators and leaders a tremendous thank you to my partners Elaine pick and Richard Rando the staff students and parents of the CLS and esy programs as well as Mrs Beck Mrs guerbe who is here tonight honored and Mr Constantino thank you [Applause] thank you to all child child study team and related service provider colleagues across the district that have been part of shaping this juncture to Clifton School parents and Guardians thank you for your trust and the rewarding opportunity to support your children finally I'd like to thank my family my daughter my son and husband who have been here all like and a member of the PAC Community Center for their unconditional support it's always a great day to be a Mustang but a little
185more so today thank you thank you congratulations to uh to everybody we're we're sorry uh that we made you uh wait but um All Good Things Come uh at the end so we're so very fortunate to have such dedicated and hard-working employees in our district and uh we wish them continued success in doing great things for Clifton schools and our kids so congratulations to everybody tonight and again my apologies for the people in the back that waited all night for this but thank you so much foreign all right so we'll move on to finance and Facilities we have F1 through F21 second by Mr Awad discussion seeing non-roll call please yes with abstaining on F21 the whole thing yes Mr Awad yes Miss basford yes abstaining on uh check number two zero eight zero seven
186three two two four nine two o and two zero eight one four I'll give you a list the rest yes sure um Miss beltron yes Canova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Paris yes vice president Daley yes president Smith yes motion carries all right we're next we're going to move on to uh board member comments uh Joe I believe it's you let me just a little too let's see July is Joe yes all right um so good evening everyone congratulations to the PBS is teachers and administrators um I love seeing what you're doing and I love how kids are engaged and interactive in in what you're they're learning uh congratulations to all the new appointments I know you're going to do well um as Mr Smith said you know we have dedicated staff and teachers here
187that do a great job um thank you to all the music Angel donations I saw there were many on the support agenda so thank you for that um I saw some of that at play so to speak at the ISE the integrated summer enrichment experience today um I know my both of my daughters attended both my oldest and my middle child um and it was a great performance of The Lion King prior to that there was a strings and band uh performance there really great job the kids did amazing job there um and and Mr Paris and I were even saying that the next coming coming years we're gonna have a pretty good uh pool of talent there for the band um and the only other thing you have to say is happy birthday to
188my daughter Nadia who just turned eight today so happy birthday to her and that's all for tonight thank you thank you next is uh Dr Danny uh yes I have no comments tonight okay next is uh Mr Paris thank you Mr Smith uh I just wanted to uh second what Mr Canova said the integrated summer enrichment experience uh their showcase today Woodrow Wilson was phenomenal to think these were big some of them were just beginning to learn instruments during this program um also the uh the play that was put on I don't know how they did it in in just a few weeks time with a few hours a day uh the kids did a phenomenal job uh as well as all the other areas for art and science and math and music technology and
189encoding uh just a wonderful program uh something I think Clifton should be very proud of um also just wanted to make a note it's not although not directly uh a board of ed function but I attended the Clifton theater Leagues play Mana La Mancha last week which was phenomenal and and what really struck me was just the professionalism of it and the fact that I had a Broadway experience here in Clifton and that's in no uh uh not Not only was the play fantastic but the venue that we had we just have a we have a world-class performance venue there Clifton High and uh I hope to see more of that it was phenomenal uh thank you to pbsis and congratulations to the uh all our new appointments in the district have a great rest
190of the summer thank you next is uh Mr he's not here um Mr uh Awad no comments uh Miss Beltran I would like to say thank you to all the speakers who came out to speak tonight even though I wasn't here I was here virtually on the computer over there um so I was listening to everyone in a very up close video of everyone's face and even though I may not always agree with everyone who comes to the podium I just like to applaud the continued involvement from the community and the Democratic process for the first three years that I was on um this board there wasn't so many speakers we'd go meeting sometimes without any or just one um so you know even though right now we're having like controversial discussions I hope this
191continues even when the controversy ends because we don't really hear from the community unless you guys do come here or send us an email um it's it's really um it's really encouraging to see and I hope it continues and finally I just like to say Enjoy the last month of Summer and continue to stay safe and we'll see you in August um I don't think we we have a meeting the next meeting is before the start of school and then we have one late in September so um you know they're We're not gonna have the opportunity to welcome you so much but um I look forward to seeing you guys at the end of August and Miss belchon you'll be happy to know that we there was a very nice picture of you up on
192the screen for everyone to see why you are not here uh Miss basford oh sorry about that um I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight um and voicing their opinions and what matters with their children this is a right as a parent as a taxpayer as a resident of this great city of ours um and you should be able to voice your opinion and whether in opposition or in agreeance and we should do it respectfully and what happened to miss Lama was not just unfortunate but um uh an embarrassment because that should not happen uh Clifton's great Clifton's a great City it's a phenomenal City great School District we have an awesome superintendent we have great board members um and I think we're doing a phenomenal job in what cards were dealt with
193I don't have anything in particular but if I may take a minute um president Smith I just want to address something really quick so children are always our most precious people as a parent a resident or a board member Project Graduation a year ago was the biggest decision I made in my life as a parent if my child was in the position where where their safety was put in Jeopardy I would want someone to keep my child safe as a board member it was a split second decision in keeping our children just that safe if I can go back I would have grabbed the principal art administrator and told them what was going on but at that point I had to decide the best recourse to keep our children safe if I was 40 years
194later I'm confident to say that while the ethics commission had found my decision faulted the office administrative law judge found myself reprimand enough for me to keep serving Clifton so which means that this is over stepping down as vice president was not easy making that decision was not easy but thinking of what happened during my project my Project Graduation in 2003 is still not easy with the death of one of my classmates that night I'll always live with that mistake but waking up the next morning to a similar unbearable stories what ran through my head that night while those kids should have been on that bus they should have they could have been turned away with a different ending and thank God they returned home safe thank you everyone who supported me during this time
195and I look forward to putting this behind me and continuing serving our children staff and this great community of hours to the city of Clifton thank you thanks Miss basford yes I'm not going to comment on any of that because uh somebody from the community will take care of that um thank you to all the speakers that came out tonight I just want to want you to understand uh it was quite a showing of religion here and and like the one speaker said under guard um it's unfortunate that some things are misunderstood um I would like to ask the superintendent to if he could talk to us in uh executive session about what happened with one parent that got up and said the boys weren't separated from the girls or if if there's more time
196you need to find out what really happened I'd really like to know what went wrong or if that was the way it's supposed to be because it seems like there needs to be some kind of sensitivity training given to the young gentleman about that this is a serious issue to young ladies and it's not to be joked about kitted about or teased about it's a a part of the their bodies and it's really when a young woman comes to a certain age especially if they don't have any guidance at home and they don't get any of the information it's quite overwhelming to them to go through um so thank you to the speakers that came out tonight there there was so many issues going on with this there's so much misinformation um I hope that
197I hope to attend one of the open forums I looked at the videos but I have a lot of questions about them and we will we will try to answer everything we can in an appropriate manner the second thing I want to talk about is um I was asked from the trustees of Casa to make an announcement so this is a public service announcement I do not speak for the Board of Education I know do not represent the Board of Education this is a message from Casa on on August 31st at eight o'clock in the steps of City Hall 900 Clifton Avenue Clifton against substance abuse will have their second annual overdose awareness Candlelight vigil a night of remembrance and awareness for the lives lost to the overdose and understanding how addiction affects every one
198of us so it'll be on City Hall property weather permitting if it doesn't if it rains it will be taken inside to the uh the chambers uh in City Hall so the members of Casa asked me to please share that so Dorothy I shared your announcement um getting back to um I asked for something to be pulled um there's a reason why I vote and I did not want anybody else on that list had nothing to do I wanted to do it in an appropriate quiet manner but I wasn't allowed to do it so this is the code of ethics that we're all supposed to sign and and um abide by I make decisions that I that I try to gather information from I asked a superintendent question I asked him a plethora of information
199this month because this this this agenda because I have to formulate the decision and decide is this is this the right fit for students is this the right decision that I'm making because at night when I go to sleep may I yield a couple more minutes please thank you um when I go to sleep at night I gotta rest my head on that pillow and knowing that I made that that decision in the appropriate manner I had questions I wanted to discuss things with my fellow board members I did a lot of research I had a lot of information and as soon as that agenda hit public and that thing was added yesterday my flu my phone lit up like a Christmas tree I got contacted from people I had questions sometimes I agree with
200the superintendent but I am also allowed because I talked to school board and I'm not doing anything unethical or in any with which way shape or form that's inappropriate I'm allowed to vote no and I take that seriously three points in the ethics rules is I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children I will carry out my responsibilities not to admit it to schools but to make sure with my fellow board members they are run well and number H I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available under consideration under the recommendation of the superintendent anybody wants to contact me why call me and uh Mr uh Dubois I will be reaching out to you I did not hear that you wanted to speak to me or I would have
201called you the next day um so I'm sorry that there was a little bit misunderstanding you have my email you can email me at any time I didn't know that you were looking to talk to me about transparency and I think you took the contents of that whole transparency thing way out of proportion I was talking about Committee of the whole that we don't know what other board members know when they go to committee meetings it was an internal thing I will explain it to you so you understand it it had nothing to do what this district is doing nor the administration is doing it had to do with the committee process being on a committee I would like the committee as a whole because I feel like the flow of information does not come
202directly to me uh thank you for everyone and have a safe rest of the summer enjoy whatever days come your way enjoy being with your family and make the memories that count thank you and good night vice president Daly thank you Mr President um I'd like to again uh will do acknowledge the PBS and all the new appointees I wish him all the best and with the PBS program uh continue to do the great work um on the physical education issue um uh I think it behooves anybody's particular board members to have an open mind and ears so uh I know that a lot of information that was brought to the attention here is not even close to what we're attempting to do here as the superintendent has said but I will be looking at
203that and I'll have questions for the administration as we go forward on a basis uh in general the things of a sensitive nature that are truly sensitive not things that are rumored but things are truly sensitive are the purview of the parents particularly in the elementary school I am not convinced that that is happening uh as what will go forward in the district but I will look at all the material with a very open mind to make sure I according to how I feel about how that goes forward the education is necessary but we need to to separate the nonsense and the misinformation out of this and look at it for what it is and what's go actually this District as the superintendent has said what this district is going to be put forth in
204the classroom not what you hear from the state not what you hear from social media and all the rest I'm very interested in what this district is going to be put putting forward and with that I'll conclude my comments and wish everybody a good rest of the summer thank you uh again just to uh thank all the people that came out uh Miss Beltran I agree with you let's hope that they can come out on another uh things and and uh voice their opinion um I do think seriously this Board needs to re-look at the uh the virtual end of this and the call-in it just does not seem to be working um so maybe uh through Administration they can bring it to the technology committee um but it's just uh doesn't seem like it's
205working and uh we said we wanted to give it a try um I think we've we've tried it and uh it's just not working uh here so if we could bring that back to technology to to address that um Mr Daly um I know was a difficult yeah I don't know whichever one we're both uh Mr Staley I know it was a very rough week for for you um in the death of your uh your cousin um who I know you were very close with and took care of and uh watched over and um your your cousin um was truly blessed uh and lucky to have such a great uh cousin in you that really watched over her and took good care of her uh very up to the to the very end and um
206I I extend my condolences to you and to your family for your loss um when uh when one of us is hurting all of us are hurting so uh again I extend my condolences uh to you and everyone tonight that was uh approved for whatever position uh you've been approved for uh congratulations and we wish you all the best in your your new Endeavors as you now now become an employee of the Clifton Public School District those that were promoted it just shows that hard work and dedication truly does pay off and we know that you will continue to do great things in Clifton so congratulations to all and that's all I have for for today uh we'll go to a new business is there any new business casing none uh executive session we have
207one item for execi executive session that is a Personnel matter uh we have P5 and P11 and um the one per Personnel matter um [Music] Mr Paris and Dr Danny you will not be able to be part of that discussion um so we're hoping to be back out uh 30 minutes action may or may not be taken um sorry right actually I actually will be taken oh action will be taken may or may not may or may or may not I guess yeah okay action may or may not be taken we're hoping to be back in 30 minutes to uh to uh close out the meeting um so motion for executive session by Mr Awad second by Mr abajabo any um any objection okay uh we'll convene to Executive session uh the board is still
208meeting an executive session uh we should be back out uh 15 to 20 minutes but I'm going to say 30 minutes to be safe uh if we're not back out at 30 minutes it's I will come back out and update everyone again thank you level thank you okay the board met an executive session to discuss uh Personnel matter uh as well as P5 and P11 so uh motion uh to come back from executive second um roll call please yes back from executive yes yes sorry Mr Roberto yeah Mr Awad yes Mrs basford here miss Beltran here Mr Canova here Dr Danny Mr Paris he's going for the evening excused uh vice president Daley president Smith here okay motion please uh for uh P5 and P11 motion motion by Mr Robert javo second by Mr rawad
209any discussion seeing none roll call please Mr Abu drobo yes Mr wad yes Ms basford yes yes Miss belgeron yes Mr Canova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Paris vice president Daly yes yes president Smith yes motion adjourned a question to adjourn by Mr abajavo second by Mr Awad no objection meeting adjourned