001one two two i'm going to turn off the camera right now while i'm you know while back on oh there we go everyone good um i'd like to call to order the january 6 2020 clifton board of education reorganization meeting and we'll start with a pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence please i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with gibberish the next order of business is the administering the oath the elected board members um we're just going to go in alphabetical order and congratulations to ms basford uh miss danny and mr paris so we're going to start with miss basford going in athletic order raise your right hand aye judith bafford bye judith basford do
002you solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear that i will support the constitution of the united states that i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new jersey and the constitution of the state of new jersey and that i will bear true faith and i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the united states and to the governments established in the united states and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so only god so help me god i judith bastard aye judith basford do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that i possess the qualifications prescribed by law that i possess the qualifications disbrot
003described by law for the office of member of the board of education for the office of member of the board of education and that i am not disqualified and i am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to and that i am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs rs 19 colon 4-1 19 colon 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction conviction of a crime nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in or an offense listed in njs njs 18a 188 12-1 12-1 and that i will faithfully then i will faithfully impartially and justly impart impartially and just perform all the duties of that office perform all duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me god so help me god congratulations thank you next miss lucy
004danny will be having um mayor and zaldi be uh swearing her in tonight ready lucy yeah good i state your name i lucy danny do solemnly swear do you solemnly swear that i will support the constitution of the united states that i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new jersey and the constitution of the state of new jersey and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government's established and to the government's established in the united states in the united states and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me god so help me god i state
005your name i lucy danny do soundly swear do solemnly swear that i possess the qualifications prescribed that i possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of the board of education by law for the office of member of the board of education and that i am not disqualified as a voter and that i am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs 194-1 um pursuant to rs 19 4-4 19 colon 4-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified because the conviction of a crime or offense due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in the njs a listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that i will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the
006best of my ability so help me god so help me god congratulations lucy thanks and next i'll be swearing in mr paris you raise your right hand i allen paris hi alan parish do you solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear that i will support the constitution of the united states that i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new jersey and the constitution of the state of new jersey and that all i will bear true faith that i will bear true faith and allegiance to to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the united states and to the government's established in the united states and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of
007the people so help me god so help me god i island paris hi helen parish do solemnly swear do you solemnly swear that i possess the qualifications that i possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education prescribed by law for the office of member of the board of education and that i am not disqualified and i am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to as a voter pursuant to rs 19 4-1 rs 194-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 or offense listed in njs 18 a 12-1 and that i i will faithfully and that i will faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform all the duties and justly perform
008all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me god so help me god congratulations [Applause] next i'll ask the assistant business board secretary to vote for a roll call please mr abu drabo here mr awad here miss bassford here ms beltran yeah mr canova here mr daley here dr danny dr danny she's saying here oh sorry sorry i was i'm saying here but i was muted sorry mr paris mr smith here we have a quorum next agenda item if i could ask our superintendent dr robertosi to read our mission statement thank you mr usee the mission of the clifton public school district in an open and reciprocal community partnership is to provide all students with a quality education
009develop to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a democratic society in an ever-changing world next i'll read the um reading of the open public meeting statement the new jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the clifton board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time in place thereof posted at the city clerk's office clifton public library administration building senior citizen nutrition center on cable tv in the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of
010parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy zero one six eight next order of business can i call for nominations for the president of the board of education for the 2020 school year mr chair can i nominate jim smith miss lucy i nominate joking over are there any more nominations i will close nominations then um i i left a piece of paper in front of you if you can sign who you're voting for per our policy and sign it and i'll walk around and collect them and if the the two board members miss danny and miss beltran if you could please type into the google meet which only the people in can see so it is private and i will be reading the votes aloud as well per our policy
011i'll just read them in the order i have i received them mr abedrabo voted for mr smith mr smith voted for himself mr smith mr awad voted for mr smith miss basford voted for joe conova mr paris voted for mr canova mr daly voted for mr smith mr canova voted for mr canova miss beltran voted for mr kenova and miss danny voted for mr smith so with a vote of five to four mr smith has a majority vote and is elected president for the year of 2022 okay we next we'll open uh nominations for the office of vice president mr president uh first of all congratulations second of all i'd like to nominate mr jim daly okay no to mr daley any other nominations from the floor mr smith i would like to nominate for
012vice president dana beltran okay dana beltran are there any other nominations from the floor say none motion uh to close nominations mr abu drabo okay same thing if you take your ballots and hand them to uh all right mr president i receive the votes i will tally them mr abadrabo voted for mr daily mr awad voted for mr daly mr smith voted for mr daly ms basford voted for miss beltran mr paris voted for mr daly mr daley voted for himself mr canova voted for miss beltran miss belfrand voted for herself and miss dr danny voted for mr daily on a vote to six to three mr daley has been elected with a majority for vice president for the school year of [Applause] okay well next we'll move on to reading of the school board
013member code of ethics bylaw0142 okay school board members shall abide by the following code of ethics for school board members i will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the state board of education and court orders pertaining to schools desire changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures b i will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race creed sex or social standing c i will confine my board action to policy making planning and appraisal and i will keep to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them d i will carry out my responsibilities not to administer
014the schools but rather with my fellow board members to see that they are well run e i will recognize that authority rests with the board of education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board f i will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the game of friends gi will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individual individuals or the schools in all other matters i will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its school h i will vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation
015of the chief administrative officer i i will support and protect school personnel in proper performance of their duties and jay i will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution okay all board members were asked to uh to sign their code of ethics and hand it into the business administrator all right next order of business uh number nine we have the um reading of the school board excuse me reading of the um so where's number 10 uh reading of the min of the meetings the designation of our meetings for the year okay do i have a motion motion post your mind miss bassford second by mr daley discussion seeing none vocal mr abhidrabo yes mr awad yes miss basford
016yes miss beltran yes mr canova yes dr danny yes mr paris yes vice president daley yes president smith yes motion carries all right next we have a selection of delegates and committee appointments and i'll leave those open as of now except for the last one there which is a member board of directors to the northern region educational service commission and dr robertosi will be appointed today all right next we have the superintendent's report dr robitosi thank you mr president congratulations to our newly sworn in board member mr paris mr paris i look forward to working with you for the betterment of our children here in clifton um i know you're here for the right reasons and i'm really happy to have you congratulations to ms basford on her 11th year as a clifton board of
017education member it's amazing it's really incredible always always know that your heart is in the right place so uh congratulations to you uh mrs basford and dr danny on the screen there congratulations to you right now you're our only educator well not really because mr paris has a teaching certificate but you're one of our teachers on the board of ed and and i think that you always bring a a good perspective when we're talking about certain issues so congratulations to you on another term and i believe this is also your 11th year yeah so congratulations time flies uh congratulations also mr smith on getting elected the president for another year look forward to your leadership and mr daley as vice president i don't think you're going to have to do much mr smith will take
018you i hope so okay good evening to all of our commissioners and members of the community who are here tonight and watching live happy new year happy and healthy new year to everyone this is the first time we've been able to be together since our last meeting on december 9th and a lot of people have the misconception that when we reopen schools on january 3rd that that decision was made by the board of education and i just want the public to know and i know the board of education members know this that we can only act the board can only act when they are at an official meeting and when there is board action to act upon so the decision to open schools on january 3rd in lieu of a virtual complete virtual option for
019the district was made by me and me alone for better or worse it's a decision that is is my burden so i know some of our board members took criticism it wasn't their call we are not allowed in between meetings to even talk board business if there are more than five of us in a room on a text message strand or in an email now i can talk to each one individually about certain business but i can't even take a poll on if we were to open schools and we were to vote on it how would you vote so i'm happy to discuss that tonight with any of the board members who might have questions about school opening but i want to give you a quick overview of why that decision was made and kind
020of where we stand today first i firmly believe that our children need to be in school in person for their overwhelm overall well-being my my time's up already for their overall well-being i know covet is surging i know it's ravaging um the entire country thankfully this new version omicron has been a milder version for many people especially for those who have been vaccinated even for those who are unvaccinated has been a milder version and we've struggled this week to keep our schools open because many of our staff members have tested positive for covet or have immediate family members who've tested positive but to those who are able to show up our teachers once again never fail to impress me never fail to go above and beyond and the ones that couldn't be here it's not
021their fault they're sick or they're quarantining but the ones who are able to show up once again went above and beyond in what is considered um you know one of the most difficult times there ever was to be a teacher so i want to thank our staff for showing up this week and keeping our schools open i've been in close contact with lori lalama the president of c the cea and although we have some differences of opinion on whether or not schools should have been virtual we can have an open and honest conversation and i respect that and i appreciate that and i appreciate the point of view of the many staff members who would have preferred or felt that it was safer for us to make this district virtual for a short period of
022time a couple weeks or three weeks like other districts in the state did but i'm also thankful to those teachers who sent me messages of support saying we support your decision we know it was a very difficult decision and we believe schools need to be open because we believe that we can keep our kids safe and i believe that too i believe we can still keep our children safe and our staff safe despite covet 19 surging throughout the community there has been some but little in school transmission through our contact tracing i can't say that there hasn't been any that would be untruthful but there is much less transmission in schools than in many other places that are open in this country and the fact that the first thing people want to do is shut
023down schools when walmart's open supermarkets are open everybody can go out publicly and go to restaurants and they can go to new year's eve parties and they can go to family gatherings but when it comes to school we have to shut down school i'm sorry i'm philosophically in disagreement with that and although my philosophical disagreement is very strong i understand there's also a practicality to it right and the practical thing is i can open a school if i don't have enough staff and that happened at school 13 this week they opened today i'm thankful to report school 13 open today but i could not open an elementary school with 18 teachers out i've been begging for substitutes for months by the way we're paying 250 dollars a day for substitute teachers if you feel like
024you can come and make a difference with children here's your chance so while i have physical philosophical differences and philosophical beliefs that schools need to be open because it is best for kids there are practical things and i'm going to do everything i can to keep our schools open but i'm going on record tonight that there may be a time where i have no choice to shut down a school but that decision is not going to be made on a district-wide basis it's going to be made on a school-by-school basis just because i had to shut school 13 down and go virtual doesn't mean i have to shut school 5 down difficult decisions it is absolutely the worst time to be a superintendent in the state of new jersey there is zero guidance from the
025new jersey department of education other than the decision is left up to the local districts in fact i am not permitted to give a virtual option to our students upon parent request when our schools are open according to the jersey department of education i can only give a virtual option when a student's quarantining or testing positive or an entire class is quarantining or entire school is quarantining or entire district is shut down due to the number of cases i'm not permitted to do it so i heard the parents when i said school was opening january third when i opened up my email and had over 300 emails from various staff parents community members with legitimate concerns please give us a remote option and how do i say i can so i reviewed our board of
026education policies and i spoke to some board members and i said we have this home instruction policy and there's some leeway in there that gives me the authority to provide a home instruction option and so i did that for those parents who didn't feel it was safe and ultimately that is a parent's choice but then i provided that home instruction option and parents some parents are upset that it's not a full virtual i get it but i'm i'm barely able to offer this home instruction option i was hoping by today the state would have come to their senses and given us that full virtual option but they haven't so i have to be able to do whatever i can for the clifton community to do my best and sometimes my best i'm sorry isn't just
027good enough it's not good enough some other quick reasons why schools are open and i intend to keep them open as long as i can academically many of our children fell behind and they still haven't caught up and the students who fell behind were most often our most vulnerable students our special education students our low-income students we do a disservice to them by not having schools open many children and teenagers are experiencing mental health problems the american academy of pediatrics recently declared a national state of emergency in children's mental health this is not fox news versus cnn this is the american academy of pediatrics says that there is a national state of emergency in children's mental health we see it we see it every day students going out for psych evaluations students cutting students attempting
028suicide suicide attempts have risen slightly among adolescent boys but surprisingly sharply among adolescent girls the number of er emergency room visits for suspected suicide attempts by 12 to 17 year old girls rose 51 percent from early 2019 to 2021. now i'm not saying that has all to do with shutting down schools there's a lot more to this pandemic than shutting down schools but the schools play a major role in a functioning society and whether or not what people think of the new york times i read an article the other day that's not their data but it comes from the nwea which is a respected educational organization saying data now suggests that many of the changes that we've made in schools to our school routines are of questionable value in controlling the viruses spread meaning a
029lot of things we're doing we don't even really know if they're working and some researchers are skeptical that school closures reduce covert cases at all in some cases school closures have caused more cases because students are gathering in other places other interventions like forcing students to sit apart from their friends at lunch may also have little benefit according to this article i read in the new york times and my own personal option we've been fighting this thing for two years we've been fighting this thing and we hit we haven't beaten it and it keeps coming back so at what point do we say we have to move on and i understand this is we're dealing with people's health too i get it it's a balancing act but i have to do what's best for kids
030so now on that statement you've heard me say i will always do what's best for kids so now here's the flip side of that the flip side of that is we follow the cdc guidance and the new jersey department of health guidance and anybody who's paying attention knows that that changes like most people change their underwear every day hopefully and over the break the cdc changed the quarantine guidance to five days and everybody said wow it's only five days now this is crazy and many people thought that was done just to appease big business for whatever the reason it was done and we were ready to implement that in our schools because that's the guidance we're going to implement what the cdc new jersey department of health tells us and the next day they come
031and says but it's not for schools it's for the general public it's not for school so you just continue what you're doing and before the break it was 14 days after the break it's 10 days so we call parents and it's very frustrating to parents and i get it i'm a father of four i've done it every one of my children have been quarantined at least once this year on different occasions either because of their own health or being a close contact so parents are frustrated we call the guidance is changed or the guidance is different than what we put in that very generic letter that i sent so i send home a letter and i say 10 days this 10 days this 10 days this but what people fail to realize is that i
032can't put every possible scenario that could happen in that letter people stop reading after the first sentence anyway there are so many variables that go into whether or not you're going to quarantine for 10 days or when your quarantine ends and you live in the same household and the next person's quarantine starts it's as frustrating to us as as it is to parents and i'm hoping that the guidance becomes clearer for everyone's sake and for more on that i'm going to ask my outstanding assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction janina kusalevis just to take a a couple minutes and expand on that janina thank you dr robertos good evening i'm just going to reinforce some of the key points that dr uh robert tosie already so passionately and eloquently explained this is a very complex situation
033the letter that we sent out was our general guidance for a typical case but the guidance as dr robertosi said did change over break household contacts went from a 14 to a 10. regular quarantining for a brief moment looked like it might be five days we actually gave the five-day guidance to some people over break and had to immediately call back and say oh no not for schools each and every case is individual context tracing is individualized case by case and the most controversial being the household contact but it's very individualized based on individual living situations it can only be an individualized decision unfortunately and frustratingly it can go as long as 20 previously 24 days it's very very important when the contact tracer be it the nurse the principal or someone from the health
034department called to trace your case that they're given accurate information because the information that you are giving if someone's been tested if someone has symptoms if someone is positive when that started can change the duration of the quarantine longer or shorter so it's very important that we be accurate as for instruction as dr robertosi shared there is no option for virtual instruction simply by choice but we can if need be based on health reasons or another emergency that lasts for three or more days offer virtual options students that are quarantined by the district do receive a synchronous virtual option if they're quarantined for other reasons they receive an asynchronous option the short-term home instruction that was offered this past week for these next two weeks was a release valve it was to allow families with
035serious covet concerns families who were looking for a test waiting on a test result unsure waiting for a call back from a contact trace or simply waiting to report to the school it gave a release valve for our students to be able to safely stay at home and work asynchronously on home instruction while the situation of the health issues was worked out to reiterate are quarantining students now if you're in school and you get quarantined or you test positive now simply report to the school you do not need to apply for home instruction again we will notify you of your synchronous or asynchronous option we know it's very frustrating but the situation is very complex and individualized even the our own teachers in our classrooms currently we still have the shields at our desks because
036that has prevented some of our quarantines although some people don't like them currently we are still leaving our windows open to a degree there needs to be increased ventilation in our schools the referendum will resolve that in the future but that is going to take some time so this winter we're still keeping windows cracked we have air filters in multiple in every location so we're trying to layer our health and safety protections while also managing very complex and individualized cases while by the way regulations keep changing so i hope that that clarifies somewhat and we have a section on the website where you can click right on the home page covet information as soon as you click on that link there is a dated section in the left column right now it's dated most recently
0371 5 of 22 and that's the most current guidance at the moment thank you so much thank you so much miss kusalevich so to our commissioners who any questions that you have tonight please feel free anything you're not sure about anything you have unresolved questions please don't hesitate to ask and i'll do my best to answer those questions uh but for the general public please please bear with us we we really are we're really trying our best in um in a really difficult situation and we would ask for everybody's patience and we would ask for everybody's cooperation to the best of your ability and finally mr smith i know as as president you will be creating new board committees soon i would just ask that i do need to have a student judiciary committee hearing
038a week from tonight so if as soon as possible if we can get that together so i can notify that's scheduled for next thursday night at 5 p.m thank you to our commissioners happy new year welcome back and congratulations mr president yeah just to follow up on uh the superintendent's uh outstanding presentation with miss khrusalevich as well i fully support the superintendent for many of the reasons he's outlined of his philosophical background there's no question in my mind at least that we're going to have this or some other um pandemic or or health issue on an ongoing basis in our world it's not just the united states it's not just clifton it's not just new jersey this is a worldwide phenomenon so if you go to the philosophy of a total shutdown you're shutting down
039the economy and that is going to be disastrous for our way of life and many others their way of life so you do need to take care of yourself and your family and be diligent about how you protect yourself i also come from a experience in terms of being a front line employee as they call them an essential employee i come in contact with thousands of public people on a daily basis so i've been doing that ever since this pandemic started and fortunately due to safeguards and other issues i've been almost 100 healthy throughout this time but everybody is different as we learned also from the pandemic so in general for our schools um i think we do need to be open we do need to have this and deal with it best we can
040and i don't think staying at home is the answer either for the educational and social reasons that the dr robertosi outlined so i'm fully supportive of the superintendent in in his uh effort to get our children educated to keep our balance of our human anatomy and and socialization that's so important for our society and particularly in educating our children so i and then i like to also thank all our students staff teachers and administration who've done such an outstanding job this is not an easy task i think everybody recognizes this no matter what what career you're in or what state of your life is in this is not an easy and something we cannot wave a magic wand and make it disappear this is going to be with us and we need to learn how
041to deal with it in the best way we can and again my support goes to you mr superintendent okay we'll move on to public recognition this portion of the media is open to the residents and non-residents of clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and are directly related to the operation of the clifton public school district residents and non-residents are requested if in person to sign the register provided for this purpose all speakers are asked to state their names municipality that they live in and subject matter before speaking comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and their response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate your questions may or
042may not be answered by the board members the board asked that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged 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 should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments anyone wish to address the board just assume that i can be first i it is my first time it is the teacher in me yes
043you are absolutely right um i can start i don't know if there's like a okay okay thank you superintendent robert cozy and commissioners of the board of education my name is lori ann desimone and i reside at 12 donna drive both of my children attend clifton early learner academy on brighton road i stand before you this evening to ask for formal written documentation of the policy dr robitosi spoke of earlier regarding household contact for exposure to cobit 19. i've asked my children's building principal the supervisor of nursing and superintendent robert chosey and it has yet to be procured for me the clifton public schools website i checked it right now states to discuss with the school nurse i have not heard from my student from my children's school nurse regarding household contact for covid19 my
044husband and i both tested positive for coven 19 on the evening of december 23rd after he was exposed at work the entire family quarantined for 10 days as per cdc guidelines i plan to send both of my children to school on january 3rd because as an experienced educator in a neighboring district i believe it's integral for all students to receive traditional in-person learning if at all reasonably possible and i applaud and agree with you dr robertosi for keeping the school district open during this time i particularly think it's imperative for students receiving special education services like my son henry to be in school despite this i was informed that my children would not be able to return on january 3rd because the school district was requiring a 24-day isolation period for household contacts of covid19
045like dr robert chozi said earlier this may be of questionable questionable value at actually stopping the spread of covid19 i was informed that i can test my children for covet 19 and if they tested positive the date of their system set could be used as the first day of their isolation period i tested both children my daughter tested positive on monday and was permitted to attend school on wednesday although this is in direct contra contradiction of every other correspondence i've ever received from the district regarding covid19 however it seems that it follows this 24-day household contact policy that i have yet to read myself my son tested negative on monday this may have been to the difficulty of swabbing the nose of a small child it may have been due to the fact that he
046is no longer infected with covin 19 i too tested negative although i was positive on a pcr test on december 23rd however according to the policy that i have yet to read myself it may also be because henry has not yet been infected with coven 19 despite having three family members that have tested positive for this highly contagious disease i was informed that my son would be excluded from school until january 18th i was also informed that henry is not eligible for a fully virtual option because the contact of covid did not come from the school district i was informed that he can test on january 10 and return to school on january 13th with a negative test although rosely was permitted in school with a positive test and now henry must test negative to
047return to school counting the holidays recess my son who has cerebral palsy and a global developmental delay due to a rare genetic disorder who has started therapy services at the age of nine months old due to his severe developmental delays and presently receives physical occupational and speech services in a self-contained multiple disability special education classroom will have been out of school for a minimum of 20 days i'm sure anyone with any experience with children could agree that this could be potential potentially detrimental to his already delayed development if not in complete violation of his iep i simply would like to peruse the policy that exclu is excluding a child that is one of the most vulnerable population like dr robertosi said earlier from in-person learning for myself i also urge you to meet with the
048department of health and certified medical professionals on the necessity of this policy i have not been able to find the documentation myself from a reliable source despite all my searching it also seems that it is in direct contradiction of your mission statement that says you are trying to create literate lifelong learners which is impossible if students are not in school if covet is 19 is extremely contagious how is it that a household contact may not be exposed to it until 10 days or more after their family members originally came home with it i continue to look forward to reading and fully understanding this policy that the clifton public school district is adhering to and i thank you for permitting to permitting me to speak before you tonight thank you thank you good evening tom whittles
049president of clifton against substance abuse i want to start by congratulating the three board members that were sworn in tonight mr paris good luck to you um miss danny good luck to you and miss basford good luck to you i want to start by saying you you know was telling that this year's election there were nine people running we didn't have the one two three wave as everybody always talks about we had mr paris number three miss danny number seven miss password number nine during the election process people came after miss basford pretty hot and heavy they were throwing a lot of mud out there once again miss bassford was the number one vote getter it just goes to show you that the citizens of clifton are smart enough to see through all the stupidity
050and nonsense they voted for lucy danny who's an educator as dr robitazi had pointed out earlier mr paris a newcomer who has an education degree and miss basford who has given her heart and soul to the students of this district for the 11 years plus that she served as a member of casa as a member of the you know the the special educations praise things along those lines so it just goes to show that the citizens of clifton are smart enough to step outside of the stupidity and vote for people that they feel are best for the students mr robitazi i don't uh you you gotta you got a tough seat there is no doubt about that because you are never gonna be able to make everybody happy um but good luck and and and
051you've been doing yeoman's job with it i i do believe that i i talk to our health officers pretty frequently here in clifton and i know you do as well because we speak about it um you got a tough tough job and you're doing you're doing a good job 2021 was a tough year for for but you handled it really really well um a couple of couple of other positive things that came out of 2021 of course was you got your referendum passed um football team did well a lot of the sports teams did well football teammates to the state championship those are all positive let's talk about the negative there are still right now down in the state department of education and trenton ethics charges that have been filed against board members here in
052the city of clifton i know of two right now we'll see where they go there was a motion to dismiss was denied was denied at some level we're waiting we're waiting to hear what happens next down there but that will be the legacy of the leadership of this current board um and on the last note if pulling a move by filing harassment charges against me and that's exactly what it was a move is a way of keeping me quiet it's not going to work it's not going to work i made it very very clear back in june that i will continue this until mr abu drabba resigns his position on the board and i'm not going away i'm not going away and every time mr abu drabba was up for something whether it's a board
053seat council seat assembly seat i will produce the tape where he admitted to endangering the welfare of the children i have the newspaper articles there's a whole bunch in the back but anybody wants to read them there's two there's one that was written when i filed the complaint and it was written in a newspaper called the jewish link by a board of education commissioner out of englewood new jersey and there may be more so i'm not going away i've made it clear i've made it clear to the board president mr robitazi you and i have spoken about it i'm just making it very very clear that that's the the positive stuff you got some negative stuff that needs to be cleaned up as well have a good night good evening everybody mark brunsiak holly street
054clifton i want to wish everybody a happy and new year and i want to congratulate miss basford miss danny mr paris on their uh election wins and they're swearing in today it was a very uh tough battle and i want to thank all my supporters as well and um i just want to let everybody know that i'm not going anywhere and i want to commend dr robert tosie for the tough decision and correct decision that he made to keep the school's option open and to at least give an option for asynchronous learning is it perfect no it's not and we've been asking you know the legislator has to give an option to those at the board level to make an option to have a remote option we've been asking for this for a long time
055to no avail even this sounds like it was very difficult to do and for two weeks and uh just like he said it's it's it's not good and he is not the only one that feels that way even governor murphy has repeatedly stated remote instruction hurts student learning the schools need to do everything they do to stay open and over the 600 school districts in new jersey as of this past tuesday less than 30 had mo have moved to the virtual option that's one half of one percent due to the covet 19 surge and um i want to thank miss amy keloje for writing this very good article in the clifton times and uh explaining thoroughly what it was and i want to give a shout out to to uh donna popowicz as well who
056thoroughly explain to many of the parents in this district where asynchronous learning is that option because a lot of parents thought it was it was a full remote option that is not indeed the case and we will continue so i'm asking this board to please contact the representatives the assembly people in our district the state senators i mean the only the only commissioner here that i've publicly heard stated talking to lawmakers is miss basford herself so i i hope the rest of you can contact mr giblin and uh whoever the state senators are over here as well in our district because this is sorely needed for those parents that are very concerned about their kids get an option and uh i'm sure the parents would be quite relieved those that are very concerned about it
057but it comes at a cost piggybacking again as to what dr robertozi said i think we we had the same article so we sucked some of the wind out of my time tonight and and the the name of the article from the new york times is no way to grow up and the lead is for the past two years americans have accepted more harm to children in exchange for less harm to adults by mr david leon leonhardt and it wasn't only the american academy of pediatrics but even the washington post has described how much increase in violence there has been and it's not just what happens at home it's a combination of things too and if you think these mandates are helping anybody psychologically they are absolutely not and it's especially devastating for the same
058people that dr robert tosie described before it's the most at risk minorities the poor these are the people most at risk this is not normal this is almost going on two years and this is what we're asking people are double and triple vast and they're still getting infected okay and uh i don't think it's going away so you do the best you can that's what we're asking for everybody and um lot of schools still haven't returned to normal lunchtime extracurricular activity assemblies school trips parent-teacher conferences it's still virtual as far as i'm aware of what's the long-term effects of this what are the kids going to say what are you going to say sorry you didn't have to get you didn't get a real graduation have a first kiss and if it wasn't for this
059man over here how many sports would have been played last year either that was a tough decision to make while we were full while a lot of a lot of schools were full remote so thank god for that as well and we'll know in a few years thank you for your time and god bless america have a good night everybody uh tommy keith for twin nelson street i really just came here for one thing to tell dr robert tosie thank you for keeping schools open both my children uh dustin goes to school five my daughter alice goes to the early learning school on brighton road they both love school they both are doing great and they did not want to stay home when i read that email that you sent about school's opening they it
060was like chris this morning all over again they were so excited and i thank you so much for that it's very hard decision but it was the right decision it was the correct decision for many points that have already been made i'll skip why because they've already been said um there are two other points i want to make we get these emails from school when we get a contact and they give this big scary paragraph oh cohen 19 and blah blah blah scientific and now you've got a quarantine or or proper notifications it's just there to scare you how about an email maybe weekly bi-weekly hey look your school guess what out of fifteen hundred kids four hundred uh fourteen hundred and ninety-eight kids are covered free something with positivity to counteract that negative email
061that everyone dreads myself included so that would be a cool point if that could happen and um that's really it i really appreciate you giving the option to everyone to try to make everyone happy it shows that you're trying to do the right thing and it's really important to me because it's important to my kids and i appreciate keeping schools open thank you very much good evening to everyone my name is lori lalama and i'm the president of the cea dr robertosi thank you it was a difficult christmas break working and talking back and forth now the idea is to keep everybody safe and that was the main thing and and to come up with ideas and solutions and even though sometimes we don't agree but we still work out so i just want people
062to understand that all right so i have a few concerns that i'd like to address the board i believe that the district needs more full-time custodians there aren't enough on staff especially going through covid for the last two years which i'm sure will not be ending anytime soon i asked my magic 8 ball and it said yes definitely they do their sorry they do the regular routine cleaning but they have no time to get to the cove cleaning and this is an issue we realize that is due to the shortage of staff as well as being quarantined or coveted positive i have been hearing concerns throughout the district and i want to make sure that everyone understands i'm not throwing the custodians under the bus but reiterating the importance of hiring more full-time custodians due
063to how large our district is as well as the amount of people that attend and work here i believe that the sr2 funds would help the staff has been asking for clean safe buildings since we've returned in september this is a recommendation from the abundance of workshops i have taken from the new jersey work environmental council and meeting with other custodians at pcea events and at the njea delegate assembly next idea i've received many emails from the staff regarding yesterday's ic condition and why wasn't a delayed opening called stuff some staff members feel that their lives were endangered and safety was compromised could you please explain this and how does the district make the decision to either decide on delayed opening or closing schools during inclement weather next one some parents are not following protocols
064and this has the staff extremely concerned i want to make sure that people understand that the kids come to school to learn and we are not babysitters so if your child is sick please keep them home because it just spreads to other kids and to faculty members and they don't want to bring it home either to their family and their friends in some of the buildings there's a issue with nurses and we know because they're sick staff members have been sending the sick students to the main office and they've been returning back to the classrooms so if something could be checked there i would appreciate it and i just want to wish everybody a happy and healthy new year and i hope everybody has a great evening thank you anyone wants to address the board
065samantha basford clifton new jersey um you know dr robertosi when you were talking about mental health rates of you know [Music] young students young professionals older people i think everyone mentally is being highly affected through the pandemic there are things going on it made me really think of how do peers support their peers right because there's only a certain amount of counselors there's only a certain amount of teachers not everyone is going to tell their teacher their counselor whoever that they're in crisis right and some people don't know what a crisis looks like internally especially if you come from a household where you know your background and your family does not let you express those mental health because it's not something that culturally may be accepted right we have those barriers as well [Music] so
066although i'm not technically an educator because my degree is in education but i have a lot of experience in higher education and something that i thought that would be great for your students is to get mental health first aid i've had a lot of college students do it 18 19 20 year olds just asking the question ask persuade refer right that's qpr that's if someone is thinking of hurting themselves endangering themselves a lot of times students don't know how to sit with anxious thoughts adults don't know how to sit with anxious thoughts it's okay to be uncomfortable and that's something that i think even anyone from any age struggles with and i think you know although we have covet and there's education and learning teaching those skills and teaching [Music] you know understanding how to
067reflect on your feelings and how to ask i think maybe the earlier generation can a little bit ask because it's normalized and social media tick tock and stuff like that but not everybody has that social skill set either right you see students with autism may ruminate on having ideation because once the thought hits them that's all they can think about but they don't really want to do something it's just scary to have the thought i think that's a skill set that doesn't get taught a lot i think a lot of students come to the university setting not understand that skill set so i've talked about diversity in the past and how to implement that into the school system but i do think you know mental health education is something especially at such a large district
068like we have and it's very easy to get lost in the mosh pit um that was a joke but i think that's something that um can be really really helpful especially when you can get lost really easy um the second thing i want to bring up today is you know mr whittles was right with talking about um great things that happened the past year tough things that have happened the past year and you know i really didn't want to get up to the mic i really been trying um you know some girls take out the earrings i pull up my hair if you understand that reference you know how i feel right now um but you know mr smith i hope as the president again that you are watching for conduct on the board i'm
069sorry it's very distracting mr awada mr abudrabo we're talking when other people are talking it's very distracting for a person like me who is very used to having eyes all around the room because i have to and you specifically do when the women talk and i'm not trying to say that you're being gender specific and you can shake your head you're doing it to me now as i'm speaking to you and it's very rude it is very rude and so you're commenting back and you're not supposed to comment back correct right keep the comments so why don't we give my my three second time back right but that's what it seems like i'm telling you about perception right if i'm sitting here and i'm saying this is my perception this is how i'm seeing it
070and if someone just because yes my name is basford but i'm here as someone's daughter today not as the commissioner's person that was the moment for my mother who living in my household through the the post on facebook that you have slandered her calling her a thief saying that she has stolen money and i'm not saying specifically you i didn't say who and making faces while she's doing is very hurtful to me you both have daughters how would you feel if you were having your moment and your daughter's watching you keith password clifton new jersey first of all i'd like to congratulate miss danny mr paris and my wife on your election good luck i'd like to uh thank the other people who ran and put your time into this you know i've been around
071a long time with these meetings and that and i look up there there's probably only one other person who knows jim smith better than me longer is jim daly and i watch these meetings for many years and i watch what goes on and i listen and i put everything together through through many years as mr whittle said his ethics charge is still going on jim you realize this is the most ethics charges this board ever had the most and you could go back many years okay another thing too i said always whatever goes on the board here it's board business it's board business but when it comes over to my closet my family it's another thing and some people don't understand that okay my door was right there's two people the maker made accusations that
072she stole money from school five pta whatever and money from casa they said they have the proof well if the complaint goes civil you better come up with that proof because if you don't my lawyer gets 500 an hour and i'm going to have that part of the suit till that he gets reimbursed okay this is a dirty election dirty why all sudden nine people run this year but in 2020 three years get a pass without anybody running you know why because she didn't want her on the board but i hope you like tom little said the people spoke they know this woman didn't start 11 years ago on this board she started 28 years ago with this school system mr smith like i'm saying watch what goes on on your board here i watch
073a board member a couple of meetings ago leave the meeting and go sit with the band parents meeting okay i was out in the hallway talking to a special ed parent who had a problem who's supposed to regulate that me somebody here no you're the president mr smith you're supposed to regulate it than that you want to get ahead with this board i have no promise of daily being vice president i have no problem you being president but it's time to pull this board together because you're going to ruin this city with this kind of board nonsense going on you know what happened on this board back in june is unfortunate but a lot of these i see a fist pumping bringing coffee this and that do you realize they stole from the taxpayers they
074stole from the children they ruined something that's been going on for so many years here with casa and that stuff fist pump let me tell you something it was me i'd say get away from me okay or invite him to to a party to se well to celebrate her uh hopefully that a board member would have got on in that stuff jim this is not like you and i'm being honest i street i talk straight forward to you you know you want to get on this board okay and you got on this board and i'll leave it at that right now but i'm gonna tell you something jim like tommy said he's not going away i'm not going away either if i have to write ethic charges i'll keep on writing ethic charges if there's
075violations with opmah open public meetings act i will file them too you guys will need a file box the time i get done so jim i'm asking you please strain this stuff out thank you anyone else wish to address the board seeing none motion to close motion closed by miss bassford second by mr avadrabo okay we'll move on to uh education uh administration we have ea uh one to approve our professional services so to move my mister uh wad oh you i'm sorry officer second by mr awad discussion roll call mr abbey drabo mr awad yes miss baspar yes miss beltran is miss beltran are you still available yes mr canova yes dr danny yes mr paris yes vice president daley yes president smith yes motion carries okay next we have personnel we have p1
076substitute appointments so moved by mr abu dhabi second by mr awad any discussion scene non-roll call mr abu drabba mr awad yes miss basford yes miss beltran yeah mr canova yes dr danny yes mr paris yes vice president daley yes and president smith yes okay motion to adjourn some move by mr abdrabbo second by mr awad any objection meaning is adjourned thank you all for coming