February 18, 2021 - Clifton Board of Education Meeting

001so we don't yep no problem thank you yep I'm practicing nightly reading my book so I don't embarrass myself it really is nerve-wracking I mean I was a high school teacher and the first time I had to read a Dr Seuss book in front of kindergarteners I was shaking and I chose a I chose a horrible choice but it's my favorite when I was little TIY TIY Tempo oh yeah that's that's not an easy one it's a good book right after I sent that email I was like oh no oh no just confirming we're live on YouTube everyone I know it's a couple minutes early but we are live I normally read um all the places where we will go from fifth graders and fourth graders like going to middle school and then high schools

002this way it gets them thinking now I got kindergarten ah that sounds like fun if you want to prac to my daughter go go for it you can yeah I'll loan her to you the best thing is the little ones are the most forgiving so they're just happy to have somebody there somebody new but they're but they are the most inquisitive Oh They'll have lots of questions what is that why where's the well how did he fall it I'm I'm going to read Manchild in the Promised Land by Brown what great is that for who was that who was that is that Mr that was I didn't realize it was Mr daily because I see him twice it would be uh it would be in the uh let's put upper High School grades at the

003very least i' like to see the reactions on the kids faces as you're reading that originally published originally published 1965 they like who is this guy and what is he talking about wait 19 96 96 who a high school teacher assigned that to a group that I was in obviously the my teacher was very Advanced yeah it's a great were you were were you in that grade level when it first was published uh I read it when I was a senior in high school couple years after it was published just kidding because kova said it was published in 65 that's why oh that's correct sorry I had to throw it in there it's about a a child growing up in Harlem oh a personal what is it called again Manchild in the pis land Claude

004Brown is the author Manchild in the promised oh how's uh Nikki by the way I saw he was being uh put back in again good anyone waiting for RP cone I don't think so Dey I bet they're public speakers yeah I think we it was just Mr Lurch unless someone unless uh drosia had somebody else and I don't think so no not for me good evening everyone hey Frost how you doing hey Mr Smith Mr good evening evening Frank you doing hanging hanging I'm seeing F somewhere on the beach right now no I wish that was a uh photo I took at Clear Water last week uh somebody sculpted uh this fine piece of art by stand so uh you know just brought it back to Jersey and representing good evening Eric this I think

005but there's an error in it I'm gonna go step away make a couple coffee if you can realize what it is I'll be back how are you Frank hey doctor how are youe Joe Mr Presidente hi Money Mike Mr daily in the house [Applause] I got to have a snow day today did you have no instruction Frank no virtual no thank goodness how about tomorrow yes we're virtual tomorrow you get paid today of course it's built into the schedule very funny Mr daily gotta make sure the taxpayers get their money's worth they always get their taxpayers money worth with me I can tell you that all right we're going to start I'd like to call the uh regular meeting of February 18th 2021 uh of the Board of Education to order you'll all please rise

006for a pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence I pledge alleged allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all Mr usy roll call please Mr aad here miss bassford here miss belan here Mr Kenova here Mr Daly here M Miss Danny I actually see her logging in right now Mr Casper here here here Mr abrao here Mr Smith here we have a COR uh mission statement Mr Casper would you mind reading sure no problem the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with the quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and

007productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society and a never changing world uh reading of the open public meeting statement the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provision 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 website and mailed to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 I have adoption of

008minutes of the February 4th regular meeting so moved so mooved by second by Mr Kenova is there any discussion changes seeing none roll call Mr aad yes Miss bassford yes Miss Beltran yes Mr kova yes Mr da he's has a Thumb Thumbs Up Miss Danny yes Mr Casper yes Mr abrao yes Mr Smith yes motion carries okay communication and announcements we have none uh first reading of policy we have quite a few 0145 board member resignation and removal 1643 Family Leave 2415 every student succeeds act 24152 Title One fiscal responsibilities 24155 student surveys analysis evaluation 24 1520 every student succeeds act complaints 4125 employment of support staff members 53301 administration of medical cannabis 6360 political contributions 7425 lead testing of water in schools 8330 Student Records 9713 recruitment by special interest groups okay we have

009presentations and reports from the administration there are are two Dr roboy would you thank you uh Mr president this time I'll ask our business administrator um Money Mike USI to introduce uh our the district's auditing firm sure so um just to introduce real quick so the presentation is gonna be given by our district auditor his name's Mr Paul Lurch and he's on with us right now great thank you good evening everyone um so we're here to present the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2020 um let me start off by saying that this is obviously a little later than we'd love to be able to present the audit uh as everyone is sure certainly aware uh covid also has caused issues in the auditing world as well um you know we're six and

010a half months out almost seven months out from the end of your fiscal year um so co co absolutely U had an issue with it um the Department of Education push back the statutory deadline they actually did it by legislation is year um from December 5th and they pushed it back to basically February 5th um and so we're living in this world too um one of the other things that I do want to mention too is is why it's so late in the year again as well this is the third year now that we are including information regarding gby 75 that's that post employment benefits other than pensions it's that's just another way of saying it's the health benefit component um those numbers have to be included in your footnotes in your financial statements which

011they are um however they're prepared by an outside auditing firm KPMG does it for the for the state of New Jersey Division of Pensions um third year of imple uh implementing the gasby it's the third year that the numbers were delayed um we've had them out in December we've had them in January uh again and this year they came back out again at the very end of December um so we're hoping that in the future sure that these numbers can be provided on time and we can get back to that usual December 5th statutory deadline um and have a little bit more of a timely uh ability to present the audit reports but having said that so um the audit that uh the board received you should have received two documents one is the larger

012of the two documents that's the cfer report um I'll talk a little bit about and explain some of that stuff tonight with with with you um if you have it in front of you great if not you can clearly just go off the synopsis so that works as well um so in the audit report that's where all our opinions are financial data and then we have the small of two report which is the management report so we have basically three audit opinions that we're providing you uh the Board of Education um one is on the financial statements themselves one is a report on the internal controls on financial reporting in compliance with governmental auditing standards and the other is our single audit opinion uh we were subject to what I'll call a single audit that's

013the terminology that that we use in the accounting World um and that simply means that any District or any agency government agency that's receiving $750,000 or more spending $750,000 or more in federal and or state aid triggers what we call a single audit uh this was part of the single audit Act of um um 1986 now it's identified as uniform guidance regulations and that just means that that triggers in a an additional auditing procedure where we go and we test specific grants that we identify either to be uh they're major grants because of the dollar value or um we alternatively look at some grants that maybe perhaps are not considered a major Grant but yet we consider it a high-risk item and I'll get into that because we actually did have one issue with one

014of the grants that we did select um so we had no significant deficiencies and internal controls noted during the audit um and what I like to do at this point is is is and I and going back to those three audit opinions I should have started out by saying that the district did receive unmodified opinions I think I forgot to mention that um and that's exactly what you're looking for so those it's another way of saying a clean opinion so you have three unmodified opinions on those specific areas that I just mentioned so excellent then that's what that's what you striving to do um I'm going to look at the financial statements now and I'm going to talk a little bit about equity and where we ended the year for those board members who have

015the the larger of the two reports I'm going to work off of page 81 and for anybody else if you have a synopsis that's available it's going to be part of your recapitulation of fund Equity so page 81 is the last page of the budgetary comparison schedule exhibit C1 it is basically your operating budget your operating budget with revenues with expenditures shows the actual column so we have an idea of what the variants and the adjustments were uh throughout the particular year and how did we finish the year off so if I work towards the bottom of this particular page you could see that the district ended the year with fund balance at the end of June 2020 of 8,397 N5 it's $1,789 less than the year before and what is it comprised of how

016do we make up or how do we carve up that $18 million number I'm going to start from the bottom of the page and work up because it is a progression and this is how we go through the process of filling each each ladder and work our way up to the eventual last component and the last component is is when we talk about excess Surplus so the unass fund balance working my way up that page is $3,611 th000 generally speaking it is 2% of your operating budget and that's how you get to your three and there are certain adjustments that can be made and are made here but generally it's it's it's a 2% number um I know that there's legislation that was introduced on both sides of the house uh um that is proposing

017to allow the 2% number number to increase to 4% and that's going to be for the upcoming school year uh the other day I looked and I did not see any of that legislation passed so those were two um two laws that were introduced but certainly not acted on yet um working up so we have designated for subsequent years expenditures 3,625 that's the amount that you're currently balancing your budget as a revenue line item in your 2021 budget a assigned incumbrances we have committed incumbrances and assigned incumbrances 97,000 and the 1,320 incumbrances are goods or services that are ordered but not yet delivered or performed but I say it every year but a prime example is is the contract with the auditing firm us so what happens is the Board of Education contracts for us

018to do the audit um so you have a commitment and you have an encumbrance but of course the services are not performed until after the year end um if if you had something that was delivered and and services were performed then it would be an accounts payable so these are reservation of equity the biggest distinction between assigned and committed committedness means that they're contractual um typically contracts are construction type contracts then I'm going to go up into the restricted components and the first restricted components is maintenance Reserve so we have two two items one is the 19708 which is the aailable balance that's left the other of designated maintenance reserve of 1,259 Simply means that that's the amount of the maintenance Reserve at the end of June 2020 that you've appropriated and are using uh

019to balance the budget in your 2021 budget that maintenance Reserve is pretty much unchanged from the year before we started the year with 1.2 million and we ended with $1.2 million maximum amount that you can retain in for the city of Clifton is is is $8.2 million and of course it's to be used for the for maintaining the facilities just as it's it's it's labeled then we come up to capital reserve and we again we have two components here so we have the capital reserve which is which is the remaining available number which is 4,677 th000 and then we have the capital reserve which is designated the 1,9 $9 so that again that distinction there the designated piece means that's the amount that you've appropriated in your 2021 budget to be utilized for capital projects

020in the district this capital reserve and all the detail on this stuff is in the notes now if I go to page 40 you can see where the detail is on the capital reserve and how it changed page 41 would show you the detail on the maintenance Reserve so if I flip to fa page 40 you can see the activity so the activity is is when we started in the beginning of the year we had over $10 million in your capital reserve we had some earnings we had some unexpended uh projects that came back and then of course you do a board resolution in June which authorizes the business administrator to move monies U that remain per your direction into a maintenance Reserve or a capital reserve there's also an emergency Reserve that is available

021and so that's what we did so based on all of those things we added 2.7 but in the in the actual year of audit the 1920 year you you transferred out an appropriated 6.5 million for Capital facilities so that's how we got from 10 million4 now to $6,650 57 and then we get to the very last component as I said to you before we go through this progression um if there's any money left of the $18 million after we go through all of the the items that we just discussed then you come up to an excess Surplus and at excess Surplus last year we had none this year we've have $1,800,000 and that just simply means that when you build your 2122 budget that $1.8 million will automatically be loaded into the budget system as

022a line item of Revenue okay so overall it was a good year uh I you have a healthy Surplus I certainly have a healthy amount of of capital reserve as well if anybody has any questions I'll answer them on the equity side at this point but otherwise I was going to move forward and go to the um the smaller of the two reports are there any questions from board members on the equity okay thank you so I'm going to go to the auditor's management report um and that's the management report on the administrative findings and compliance and performance and I'm really going to just go to the last page and talk about what we have as audit comments here um we have three comments that we are reporting in the district's uh Financial audit the

023very first one deals with the application for Extraordinary Aid and as I started out the conversation we talked about H uh the fact that you were subject to a uh State and you are subject to a federal single audit so the city of Clifton the Board of Education of Clifton you had Federal expenditure of about 12.5 million so that triggered a specific compliance audit on what we identify in the accounting world uh by definition um to uh to audit and to go back and do specific compliance testing regarding those expenditures so we did test title one we tested the national school lunch program we also did idea basic in preschool we had no issues with any of those grants that we tested okay then we move to the state side so the state side you

024had uh almost $72 million of State expenditures and of course we're going to do quite a bit of testing there um normally um um you know the threshold for a major program is 750 but because if your expenditures is so large now we go back to a calculated version and we're about 1.3 million so anything that's over 1.3 million um we're identifying as what we consider to be major grants and typically those major grants need to be audited um to get compliance within the governmental auditing standards in single audit act uh we did test the state aid we tested the the FICA reimbursement uh we tested um in addition to that we tested the extraordinary Aid so when we looked at the extraordinary Aid we considered that to be a high-risk program so we actually

025did a little bit of switching here we pulled out um another one of the major programs and what we did is we selected um the extraordinary Aid component we haven't done it in in in a few years and we know that is a typically high-risk area um only because what's happening on the extraordinary Aid is that this is a is an application that every Board of Education files with the state of New Jersey and it's intended to provide funding back to the board of educations when you have extremely high cost of special education costs um what happens is is that there's a percentage that gets that gets returned back to each Board of Education based upon this application there's a pool of money that the state has available all the applications come in and then

026they Dole out the money based upon the percentages of the pool that's available um so here what we do is we go through and we actually do testing we do testing of the applications to make sure that the amount that we're reporting accurately reflects the the tuition cost for the students on the application um of the 45 that we tested of these applications we did a random test of 45 applications we had six applications that had discrepancies meaning that the amount that we reported on the application as a tuition cost did not reflect the actual amount of the the amount spent um for that particular student now it wasn't a dramatic amount it wasn't Millions we weren't off millions of dollars uh but when you get into the single audit component side you know even

027if we're off relatively what in my mind when you look at the dollar values and All the Monies and everything that's being spent is part of the district um those those values are certainly not Material um you know when I talk about all the money that you spent this program itself was only $645,000 and as I indicated to you before you had $72 million received uh but in regardless of that um these applications we had some applications where they were under reported some applications over reported um we had a we had a net amount of $41,000 um we've sat and explained it to um the administration we went over this um and they're fully aware of this and I believe that they've now instituted a different procedure and policy for the filing of the application

028okay and let me just get back to that last page one second okay all right the next item that we tested um that we were going to report on we did a lot of testing but we're going to report on the school purchasing uh program area and here we're talking about um this comment deals with contra cont TRS and as you know as board members um you know you have to go through the the proper procedure and policies when you enter into a contract you're always approving these contracts in the minutes um you have quite a few contracts that are going through your daily activity uh as part of the testing you know we look at to make sure that these contracts are awarded and approved by the board in the minutes um we also

029do a lot of other testing to make sure the supporting document patient is there for all of these contracts political disclosure uh New Jersey registration forms obviously um pricing issue is major issue um but one of the other things that we actually do test as well is not only the award of the contracts but anytime you make an amendment to a contract it has the same importance of awarding the contract in the minutes as it does when you make any kind of modification or change to a contract so we do a lot of testing here we noted four instances in in the contracts that we tested where the change order was not approved in the minutes the contracts were but there was some modifications that were being made during the year um and they were

030not approved by board resolution so that's in the report as a comment as well and the last item deals with Student Activity it's really at the athletic uh account here um you know you you you do um what I like to say is really you know the the the ideal method on handling Student Activities meaning that you're doing it centralized um so we don't really have a lot of problems in in the Clifton Board of Education on the Student Activity side um that is by far the most common error or exception we have it's almost in every single audit report it's so rare not to be there because most schools are doing this and decentralizing it and they're doing it at each location monies are being collected being dispersed they're going through secretaries at the

031principal's office um causes lots of issues you guys are doing it the ideal way centralized so we don't have an issue with that the only issue that we did come across is when we tested um deposits and timeliness of deposits on the athletic side so anytime you have any kind of games or events um general rule and it's just internal uh it's just it's just really a proper way of doing it is try to make the deposit twice a week um we had selected the various deposits that ran anywhere from 9 to 25 5 days after collections being deposited it's just common sense and you want to safeguard assets as well because a lot of these game collections are cash um and that that finalizes the report uh presentation uh I do want to say

032that um you know clearly uh your uh Administrative Office is very well-run um to have only these comments here and none of them are of a significant matter or or or rise to a level of significancy um clearly the business office has run very well um and um the the district is doing a good job on its Financial accountability uh thank you Mr Lurch are there any questions or comments from board members on Mr lurch's presentation just one comment from me Mr Smith I want to uh piggy back on what Mr Lurch was saying and commend um our business office run by our outstanding business administrator Mike USI and his assistant Eric thomasevich um they run the day-to-day operations of a $200 million budget and to receive an audit like this uh really is outstanding

033so thank you Mike thank you Eric and thank your staff for doing a really a Yan's job so and and making us look good so thank you much appreciated thank you uh Mr daily Mr Daly we can hear you they about that uh I just like to know if Mr uh UC or M thomasevich had any further comment on Mr lurch's report and um and how they've gone about addressing of those minor comments that were made by our auditor Mr usy um not really um attached to the agenda um which will become public there's a corrective action plan um so the board could open that up and um and and see what what I wrote about how we're going to correct these three uh minor issues yeah the reason for my question is to kind

034of explain that more to the public uh I've been through this many times uh the audit is fantastic uh but it's it's also Worth to hear from our administrators how they're addressing that and uh so it's more of a uh public information question than any concern that I have is in um Mr thomasevich did you want to say anything I just want to U mention that um speaking to Mike um Mike Lucy about um these three these three um findings and um recommendations um one area uh relating to theary Aid which um going forward I mean we're gonna we're going to review thoroughly um inhouse in the business office and um just making sure that not only that these um issues get corrected in the future but that the district's also maximizing the amount of

035Aid that we could submit to get reimbursed um you know going forward related to that one comment and yeah I can go through it there's no problem M Mr daily um to piggy back on what Eric just said on this the extraordinary Aid one um it's mainly just for everyone's sake it's mainly all private school tuition so this extraordinary Aid you get to claim students that you're spending more than $444,000 a year on so that's basically every single private school student so what happened with these when they tested 40-some um applications the six that they found that were either over or under a little bit were private school contracts it's claiming I mean we paid the private school at the correct price it's claiming it to the state of New Jersey for reimbursement um and

036there was just it's no excuse obviously but there was a lot going on in the spring and contracts are changing and this report is submitted in May uh during the pandemic so we're just going to have a tighter control on it and Max and as Eric said maximize as much as possible the um correcting corrective action plan for the change orders so this is strictly construction projects through the capital reserve um so they found four four projects that had didn't have change orders in by resolution that were um utilizing the allowance of the base bid in some contracts this was also during the pandemic so I'm going to review the ones that need to be approved and I'll bring it back to the um facility and finance committees and we'll get them approved by June

037and the athletic account we just need to enhance internal controls at the High School level where the money is collected and deposited that that's that's basically the corrective action plan okay thank you Mr usy are there any other board members who would like to comment seeing none I Mr Lurch we uh thank you very much for uh compiling this uh report for the board and uh presen to the finance committee earlier last week and now to the full board and to the public we appreciate your uh your diligence and hard work uh in doing this thank you thank you and and we certainly appreciate and love serving the Clifton Board of Education thank you thank you have a good night Mr good night everyone have a good night thank you just one thing quickly Mr

038President yes um we've made it a practice over the years I've been on the board to ask Mr not only to make his presentation the finance committee but the entire board and the public as a whole um we think it's highly recommended from a transparency point of view um and they do a terrific job and and and a very thorough job if if you read the report so um I just want to kind of reemphasize that at least as long as I've been here we've made a a coned policy that this is this is made before the entire board and in the public section so uh if anybody's got questions they can always send in to us the administration and we'll go from there so but thank you very much and close my comments on

039the audit again thank you Mr Lurch again have a good night Dr rosi you have the next item thank you uh Mr President good evening Commissioners and members of the community who are joining us um via live stream tonight uh I just want to make a a statement about the district's return to inperson instruction and uh it's a little bit lengthy but please bear with me and then I'll be happy to answer any questions from our board members uh at the conclusion so uh as I've been saying repeatedly over the last year this pandemic has taken a toll on many of us and and you know me personally the decision to reopen schools for in-person learning has been agonizing um it's an agonizing decisionmaking process um but I feel that we truly have placed the

040health and safety of our students staff and families first and foremost in every decision that was made that means when we didn't open up in September when we opened up in Mar in October and then when I had to shut it down in November and then people wanted me to open up in January we weren't ready I've been saying over the past several meetings that March March March was going to be the if the timing worked out was going to be the month where I thought we could potentially reopen um I know that some community members and staff members have concerns about returning to school at this time but here's what I want you to know our district adheres to cdc's State and local Health Department guidance to determine the propa proper safety measures in

041our schools my team my executive team meets with the Clifton health department at least bi-weekly mostly weekly as I'm sure you are aware guidance from the CDC and the Department of Health from the New Jersey Department of Health changes constantly last week after seeing a decrease in Corona virus cases in 48 out of 50 states the CDC made a big announcement that schools could safely reopen with proper safety protocols in place the protocols that they listed for the most part were protocols that we have already shown that we've been able to safely Implement when are in person in October let me be clear the decision to reopen schools has always been tied to the covid rate in our community I've said since day one we have not seen in school spread when we were open

042in October and November we did not see in school spread however Rising numbers in the community had brought too many cases into our schools making it unsafe causing hundreds of people to have to quarantine I've wanted to open schools all along but doing it safely and having confidence in our ability to keep schools open depended on careful timing we had to wait for the Health Data to start to Trend in the right direction and for a long enough period and it's finally starting to do that so looking specifically at Clifton we have seen a declining Trend in number of cases we've seen declining hospitalization rates and perhaps most importantly a 30% decrease in cases in schoolage children over the past month a 30% decrease I expect this decrease to continue and I'll be monitoring that

043data closely with the roll out of vaccinations being more streamlined and the district's health and safety measures already in place I'm confident that we can reopen School distance learning has worked well for many students but there are far too many students suffering academically and emotionally due to school closures and a lot of adults too by the way my role as superintendent is to see the needs of the entire Clifton Public School community and in doing so it often causes a divide between those who believe school should be open and those who think it's not safe I truly believe that reopening schools under a hybrid model can accommodate most of Clifton's needs I think it's the best decision in a group of really difficult decisions to make families who wish to keep their children on the

044remote track may continue to do so staff members who requireed medical accommodations have received them now while the perfect scenario would be to have every teacher vac V inated before reopening unfortunately that is way beyond my control I have been told that some people thought that I said I wouldn't reopen schools until all teachers were vaccinated that is not what I said that is simply not what I said at a at a public board meeting now it was certainly my goal to get teachers vaccinated the Clifton part the health department was going to help us to get our teachers to the front of the line but at the state level teachers have still not been added to the eligibility list for the vaccine we simply can't wait for everyone to be vaccinated but we can

045keep our staff safe by diligently adhering to our districtwide health and safety protocols these protocols include Universal masking on old school property no questions social distancing in classroom classrooms Shields at student desks daily deep cleaning and keeping windows windows open for increased ventilation and it sounds silly but it's a lot easier to keep windows open in March than it is in January and February now one of the primary tools that we will utilize to maintain everyone's health and safety and reduce the need for future shutdowns is the diligent and accurate completion of the daily health screening for parents keep your child at home should they display any possible symptoms or have any had any possible exposure to co inform the school if you plan to travel inform the school if you're waiting on a test

046result I can't tell you how many of the the cases that we had back in October November were due to people who got tested and were waiting for the results but still came to school so we need to take that health and safety screening daily screening very very seriously I don't want to have to open up March 8th and then close down two weeks later because the number of cases are out of control and the number of people uh staff members and students quarantining are too much to handle there's only so many teachers that we can quarantine before we have to shut down a building so I will continue to collaborate with the Clifton health Department rest assured if instances of covid-19 increase drastically in Clifton I will take Swift action just i' as I

047have done in the past but by remaining Vigilant working together being kind to each other in a spirit of openness and transparency we can keep our staff and students safe I'm a parent I'm a teacher and now as the superintendent I have this awesome responsibility but most of all I'm a human being who cares about others and understands that I have to make a decision fully knowing that perhaps half of our school Community perhaps half of our faculty and staff are not happy with and not comfortable with fortunately I have a supportive Board of Education and I have a great team Around Me Clifton is strong it's a diverse community that bands together despite our differences I'm hoping that we can come together despite our differences and opinion about this virus and understand that we're

048trying to do what's best for the Greater Community and lastly there is something that has come to my attention over the last couple days that I would be remiss if I didn't mention I talked before a little bit about timing and as you know we're holding a bond referendum in April April 20th to be exact and I have heard we have heard that some people some staff some members of the community think that the decision to reopen schools was because of this Bond referendum and they're making a connection between that that could not be farther from the truth please remember that we originally had planned this vote for last year last September all special votes in New Jersey were cancelled because of Co April 20th is our first chance to put this referendum on the

049ballot the timing wasn't our choice then it's not really our choice now it's not about timing it's about the needs of the district in fact the bond referendum was researched for more than a year before we set a 2020 vote dat and was is postponed till April 20th and then we still have another three years of work to make the changes happen if the bond referendum passes it's a long timeline that happens just to have covid Pandemic in the middle so anyone who has familiar with our building knows the conditions we face if you're not regularly inside our schools I invite you to learn more about them by going to our website where you will find information about the needs and the solutions that this board of education has proposed getting to the website is

050easy just go to our district website and click on Clifton votes I want to thank you all for your attention and I'd be happy to answer any questions from our board members are there any board members who have questions uh concerning the uh reopening of School Mr Kenova yeah I do have one um are we going to still take the the head thermometer reads in the morning when the kids line up for for School Mr Kenova yes at the very beginning we're going to but I have to be honest with you um the CDC is still not recommending it the thermometers don't always work correctly we're going to get some different ones and quite frankly I'm beginning to think that it's going to be a waste of time but we're going to do it because

051that's part of our reopening plan and we're going to reassess it after a few weeks and then I'm going to come back and before uh before we stop doing that I will consult with the board but I'm hoping to not do that for the rest of the school year any other board members vice president abrao uh thank you Mr Smith um super have we thought about or have you and your Administration thought about um phasing in grades so Elementary and then phasing in middle school and high school later why do I say that I ask that because if you have someone high school who all a sudden now becomes um um infectious let's say or or you know suspected of covid um then we have to try to trace if they have any siblings in

052elementary but at least if they if we open it just up to the elementary school level then we don't have to worry about tracing and then honestly I also believe that it may not work for all um but it it'll give um you know our high school level some sort of continued um working on computers to prepare for college or votch or whomever or whatever whatever institution they choose if they choose to go to institution um in the fall or or in the next coming years uh yes sir mrjo the it was considered it was dis discussed at length we had surveyed staff about a phased rollout but in the end the ultimate decision was that although we do believe elementary kids are more impacted through virtual instruction we still think there are far too

053many secondary students that really need to be in school and we didn't think it was uh appropriate not to give them that opportunity uh also um I I will be very honest with you the high school will be the most difficult school to keep open uh just because of sheer numbers it's it's why this daily health screening tool and having our community and our family and our parents and our students be completely honest and transparent with us about symptoms or about positive tests or about waiting for test is going to be critically important um thankfully we do not have to follow the guidance the guidance previously in October when we were open from the CDC was that if you had two cases in a school you had to close down the school that is no

054longer the case they moved away from that and I had spoken previously about that how that was you know uh really um in my mind a ridiculous uh piece of of guidance considering the fact that on any given day Clifton High School would have you know 700 students uh and two cases out of 700 is much different than two cases at one of our smallest elementary schools so when making the decision to close down it will be on a case-by Case basis in close coordination with the health department there is no set number of cases that will shut us down um it will depend on a lot of different circumstances and and really on a case-by casee basis so we we we think it's the best um scenario to open up all the schools and

055and to give it our best shot and I'm truly truly hoping we're able to stay open thank you and if I may just one more I I know you and I have talked about this in in the past and I know you mentioned also publicly in the past I just want to be very transparent to our um uh community members and I know some have been asking that question were curious so I just wanted you know the answer to come from you not from me or somebody else on the board um I as as a father I also think in a kind of can kind of also relate to others who are out there may not pertain to all but if a child has been struggling from the remote learning process phase till now um

056then they go back into in school session if they choose to or if they are if they opted that way um and they're doing better is there a way to assess that perhaps the remote learning process was the issue that was impeding on the ch uh whether on his or her academic work and if um there's a way to re-evaluate from a teacher perspective or Administration perspective um in Clif dur within the within the building um to reassess that child to make sure you know it's not that he or she did not want to learn it's he or she were unable to learn because of the the communication now that's geared more towards the elementary level yeah it's a really good question a really good point and I and I might ask Mrs kusich to

057weigh in after I speak on it but the we are going to be very flexible in our assessments this year because it truly is a year like no other um we cannot expect all students to be where we would expect them to be if this was a normal school year so we've changed the pacing of our curriculum to reflect what's going on and look we have incredible teachers that are going to be able to assess a student and see where they're at and what matters in third and fourth marking period always weighs more than what happens in first and second marking period I don't know if there's anything you want to add to that uh Mrs cevich I think that it's really in the hands of our teachers but at the same time our students

058in many cases have been doing better than we expected on our district assessments and everything has been re-evaluated for this year adjusted during this year and when we go back in person further adjustments and further considerations will take place including interventions that will be available for all students who need them this Summer as well as adjustments for how September will look and modifications to our in are pacing our instructional levels and our assessments for next school year as well okay U Mr kova uh for parents who are remote and decide they want to come in or parents who are in now and don't feel comfortable and want to pull their child and go remote um do we have flexibility there what does that process look like great question Mr kova and we'll be sending information

059out to all the all the parents uh our policy our board policy is that um parents can request it at the end of each marking period um so however having said that it's much easier to go from a student who was in person to go remote so any parent that had their child in person and wants to keep their kid remote that's an easy switch that's an email to the principal and it's a done deal little more complicated depending on the School depending on the classroom when a student wants to return from remote to inperson that will we will be following our policy on that we'll be making requests at the end of each marking period so we had some parents in the beginning of the year at the end of first marking period that

060requested they will have the first opportunity to come back and then so on and so forth the the issue will be the amount of students that are already in the class we can't go over a certain amount because we want to make sure we keep that six feet social distancing um but we will do our best to accommodate all parents wishes um it it may it may be that we can't get you in person in the class that your child has been all year would you consider another classroom would you consider another school so and I I don't want to you know we we don't want to do that to people we don't want to do that to a child and disrupt their learning but in some instances it may be the only option if

061there's already a class with 15 students in it and no room for an additional student that might be the only option vice president abrao sorry just to piggyback on commissioner kenova's um question um because I actually forgot to ask that one but we did so the administration and the district um took a survey of parents at the beginning of the year correct now okay so also piggy backing on Miss Cage's comment in terms of numbers have gotten better if I'm not Mis quing numbers have gotten better via remote learning than in class and we've seen better numbers somewhat um let Miss SCH if I misquoted I apologize um are we going to do another survey one more time if parents do change their mind so this way we have a better idea of what our

062classrooms look like or will be there will be will there be a running list um of how many are going to be in class in each class or principles be doing that or do they have that already or are they updated what thank you good question one of the reasons why I made the announcement this week is because I wanted to give uh our staff and our Administration time to prepare for March 8th so one of the things that all of the principls are doing uh depending on the size of their school the princip are making the phone calls but we're going to confirm with every single parent what their choice is and if they want to keep what they had or if they want to change so we then within the next two weeks

063we'll know if we have any additional open slots to give to uh to students who may want to return in person I'm not sure if that if that answered your question I think that's what you were asking right yeah so that's what we're going to that's what we're going to do CU remember that survey was taken last summer and you know a lot of things have changed but we will follow our policy those wishing to return in person it's got to be you know in writing it's got to be uh gen wrs at the end of each marking period the requests have to be in yeah and we'll remind parents of what that that policy is um Mr aad you had a question yeah uh just one um two two questions actually uh one question

064is I know the Clifton health department has uh the co vaccination set up on the high school campus you know if the high school students uh do come back to the building how does that work out with you know basically just too many people uh on the in in the on the campus good good question Mr aad the reason why we we chose and we worked with the Clifton Health Department to do it on Wednesdays is because Wednesdays still going to be a virtual day as long as we have the hybrid schedule um so it won't it won't conflict at all with the exception of there will be one Thursday um coming up in March because of a snowstorm we had last month people got their first dose and a month later they have to

065get their second dose so the clinic was held on a Thursday and we'll probably just probably gonna ask the high school students to be virtual that day I'll I'll work with Mr doctor on what the plan is for that and then I think uh in speaking to uh Mr beagle uh Clifton's Health officer when the number of vaccines uh increase the availability of vaccines I think they are going to try to add a Saturday so then that also won't conflict with our school schedule thank you uh my second question is um safety security wise um I know we're going to be having windows open are the classroom doors going to be open uh throughout all the schools I only say that because you know God forbid if you know an intruder or someone comes into

066the building that's not supposed to do we have a secure plan or an idea what you know with a lockdown or you know you know any basically event that occurs that we can basically have implemented and remain also cautious with covid yeah M Mr w we definitely have plans in place I'd Rather discuss those in executive so as to not uh discuss them in public but yes we do have plans in place for all types of scenarios and when we go into executive later I'll be happy to talk a little more about that Mr Canova um for child care services are the boys and girls club goingon to operate inside the schools as they were and are they now taking students at the Boys and Girls Club another good question Mr Kenova in my last

067conversation with um Mr Foster uh uh from the Boys and Girls Club he is pretty confident that they're going to get the St up and running by March 8th he could not give me um a final answer yet but he was hoping to he he will let me know and he will let the community know as soon as possible it's just a matter of him getting his staff back and getting enough people to run the locations he was pretty confident that he could do it but he didn't want to make any promises any other questions from board members Mr rad sorry final question uh Dr Rober toi once as many as you want once our students return in person uh not just for educational purposes our club activities and you know uh I know Sports

068have been going on but like Club activities and other uh uh activities in our district is that also resuming or is that staying on the virtual aspect a lot of them have been working well virtually so um I don't want to say for sure that they'll all be going back in person the ones that can certainly will the ones that want to remain virtual certainly will but they'll certain be certainly be allowed to do more activities than they than they were doing previously um and listen I'm I'm hoping within a couple months there's more people vaccinated and and things can start to open up even more and then hopefully by this summer in September I don't know I just we keep saying it we've been saying it over and over again we want to get

069back to that some kind of sense of normaly and uh we don't know when that'll be but there is light at the end of the tunnel and uh this is a big big huge first step for our district and for our community Dr roberi just to uh to restate it again um with the reopening of schools this will continue to be on a um hybrid um setup um and that would be until till further notice yes sir yes Mr Smith that's absolutely right it'll be a hybrid schedule exactly as it was in October and November um as conditions change uh that may change eventually but I would say for the foreseeable future that hybrid schedule will remain very good I just wanted to clarify that to the public vice president jao thank you president Smith

070um superintendent reperi so let's say School keeps going till April 20th right what we said for the special election yeah we do have a spring break uh last week in March okay but what does that look like in terms of the April 20 um day between between schools I know end at 1 o'clock 1:30 to 8 would be the election what would buses look like and any after school programs that would be and plus I that's a great I don't know if you read my mind or or what but that is on my agenda to bring up during new business tonight um I have a few options in mind but I wanted the board's input on what we should do so if you don't mind if if we could do that during new business tonight

071we may need to revise the district calendar thank you sir thank you all right any other questions for the superintendent okay thank you very thank you Mr Smith okay uh next we have a board committee reports [Music] um okay we'll start with the first one on the list uh pay County School boards asso iation Mr Casper is that you or is that Miss um yeah I put one in not realizing there was another one there Mr uh Smith uh Miss Mrs bassford is our delegate oh I'm sorry miss bassford you want to read those minutes uh yes the ones I submitted were rather lengthy so I'll shorten them down uh the county school boards Association met on February 8th um we a meeting was called order by myself I introduced my board my my board

072Kathy Kazan Wayne Charles carabello Bloomingdales Nancy Schwartz Pompton Lake she is the delegate to the board of directors Joe Kover he's the alternate delegate to the board of directors uh um Daniel Sinclair he is the immediate past president um we talked he talked about um the there's going to be new slate of officers at St County school um sorry New Jersey school boards Association um we have a slate of officers for president is Irene lafab if everybody recognizes that name she's the um 2020 board member of the year uh for finance Tamisha Smith uh for County activities Bruce young for legislative uh Karen cord U calino um if anybody wants to run from the floor they have to submit by March 31st at 5:00 pm have they need at least uh 10 members to sign

073from the state from five different boards and submit the petition to Dr fard um he gave a um a a board of directors report there was a lot on this so I'm going to try to condense it as much as I can there's a new series out please look in your email with the eye on the future as districts monitor student mental health it's a very comprehensive report we have a new person that's doing the steam uh with the Army partnership um they're working on uh Strategic Learning Gap um they're doing a partnership um he's doing a another task force on with New Jersey stakeholders and they are having a virtual new board member weekend um in in Le of the onsite one and uh there's going to be a lot of training so look

074out for that um P um Dan Sinclair gave the nominations for the pay County School boards Association the president vice president first vice president and second Vice President are up this year our terms are over um both myself and Mrs Kazan uh have reached two terms and so has Mr um um carabello so all three positions are opened um petitions are due by April 30th contact Patricia ree if you're interested email her Frank Casper gave his report on the unsung hero event uh the event is going to be uh a virtual event uh we're going to be asking one senior from each district to be um to be nominated the superintendent of the district gets to nominate that student um it's going to be um nominations to do on the 19th to Dr Robi please

075look for that email um out there for the students um the we also discussed briefly uh students getting a gift certificate and I just lost my screen um hold on there we go uh each student getting a gift certificate as a gift from the county Association uh from each School of District um Chris Jones gave a very detailed um legislative update um also Tamisha Smith is asking Bas and she sits on the finance committee she's asking for you to keep data on the chapter 44 contributions that are being made because uh supposedly there's um some talk down in the state house that Steve Sweeney is going to be looking at the burden on the districts so if you can keep a sep separate report on that you may be called by the state to find

076out what the nutshell is on on the district's burden because there's they're talk about putting some kind of relief out there so that is um um something really good I did include in the report some updates on some of the legislative stuff going on in the district um when um when the subresolution if you want to if you want to get a resolution for the delegates assembly um Kathy hel talked about um superintendent evaluation that it's going to be starting soon it usually starts somewhere in the uh area of February to March um so uh Dr do that year sorry dude that was making a joke you gotta do it uh because it will be held against with New Jersey qack um but um she also said for the board members to start talking about

077it she also talked about something very interesting that some boards have a preconference evaluation with the superintendent and executive session to see what we're looking for to evaluate you on so you can fill out your paperwork a little easier and that she said if you had any questions to contact her that she would be gladly sit in on something as that as well um the next meeting is the 15th of uh March at um it's going to be virtual everything's virtual right now at school boards any questions that was it thank you right Miss bassford if you would do um policy Miss bassford you're on mute Miss bford you're still on mute I apologize it's a habit I with work we constantly have to mute ourselves um the policy committee met on February 9th at

0786:18 uh p.m. in attendance was President Jim Smith myself board members Joe Kenova and Dana elron from the administration Dr Danny robotzi Mark tan Luis Ross and Michael doctor also was present was Rachel Harrington the following Strauss is a mandates uh mandated policies was discussed 0145 uh board member resignation and removal uh we changed the Clifton to be added in the second line 1643 Family Leave Strauss Isme recommended the fourth option on Page 6 and 22 this is a really lengthy um policy it should U be selected to provide for Rolling look back periods for purposes of defer def termining njfla or FMLA uh leave entitlements 24:15 every student succeeds act it this is the committee recommendation to select both options on page four relating to the type of Title One programs that are relative

079to the district it was recommended that the following uh revised mandated policies be adopted for revision 241 15.2 Title One fiscal responsibility 24155 student surveys analysis and evaluations 245.20 every student succeeds act complaints 4125 employment of support staff members 53301 administration of medical cannabis 6360 political contributions 7425 lead testing in water in schools 8330 Student Records 9713 recruitment by special interest groups it was also recommended that stous Esme that the following outdated updated and or replac policies be adopted in one resolution the committee read them over we agreed 24151 academic standards academic assessments and accountability 24503 highly qualified teachers TW uh 30 34 31.1 Family Leave 34 31.3 New Jersey leave um Insurance 44 31.1 family uh family leave 4430 1.3 New Jersey um leave Insurance 7431 school security um uh myself brief the committee

080on information garnered at a meeting uh and I uh about conferences that I attended about a vaccination policy there was a lawyer speaking about a vaccination policy uh and it was pretty pretty intense and also about virtual learning filters policy we're gonna we're going to look a little bit deeper into them but Dr roberi addressed these issues a review for the procedures are in place regarding the monitoring uh filters the committee will re revisit the items as needed um the committee then revised current bylaw 0155 board committees to clarify language in the bylaw to insert a mechanism to establish when the work of an ad hoc committee ends and discuss language proposed by commissioner Del it is recommended to maintain the original language proposed by the board with the addition of the word written between

081final and Report the revised language added to the end of the second paragraph would thus read the ad hoc committee will be automatically discharged upon submission by by the by the ad hoc Committee of its final written report to the board the committee feels that this is adequate address this this adequately addresses all concerns the committee heard then heard from uh Michael doctor the high school principal of CHS regarding the results of a survey forwarded to all staff regarding their interest of having their children attend Clifton public schools at a reduced agreed upon tuition rate if they live outside the city of Clifton the result the results revealed uh from staff that it would be add about 40 children to our district and there would um these would uh be spread out throughout all grades

082at uh with 12 at the high school six in the middle school and the balance in the elementary school grades K to five this amount is reduced if the programs were to be offered only to certificated tenard staff in regards to possibility of offering this option to the staff the committee discussed among other concerns and issues the following what would the tuition rate be and would it be paid over a 10 or 12 month period eligibility in sports clubs and extracurricular activities Transportation class sizes constraint placement of students special education students student discipline issues upon completion of the proposed policy by Administration and review by policy the policy committee will recommend that the board opt the pilot program for full-time certificated staff the meeting adjourned at 4:43 p.m. and Mr Ross uh wrote The U

083minutes any questions [Music] Del I have two items one one is on 155 the the minut do not reflect that the concerns I raised have been addressed the issue here is does this policy in any way interfere with the power or the authority of the president to appoint and direct committees and number two does it impinge on any board member who wishes to bring an issue up uh to the entire board these are still in question as the policy currently reads uh the other thing um I didn't unclick uh unmute myself quick enough but on the report from Pake County the issue of chapter 44 and 78 uh was been discussed in our finance committee and as usual our our board staff our staff and finance uh end are very much on top of this

084we are concerned we do know that uh our call cost of health insurance will increase as a re result of chapter 44 we're still determining to that extent and that will be discussed addressed when we put together with the budget with the with the administration thank you Mr M uh Mr President can I address Mr Del about the discussion that we had yes Mr we we talked about this in length and uh Mr Smith was there as well and um what happens with the ad hoc committee if they come back to the board and discuss their findings while they're their final report and the president is not happy with the ad hoc committee's findings or he wants them to continue their their work that's when he would make the determination um what we use a

085purple shoe wearing at the high school because we wanted to be we wanted to be just we didn't want to pick on it anything we said that um the president of the board um commissioned a purple wearing shoe um um committee ad hoc committee to find out why students are wearing P purple shoes um they met they did research they got information from the high school um Administration they got uh from the students they uh with the permission of the board they pulled the students um and they came back but their findings were incomplete because of Co so president and some board members questioned this so the board president at that point said to the committee your work is not finished I want you to do XYZ ABCDEFG and then come back to the board

086in six weeks with your findings and that's how this mechanism works the final report ends the committee's work and then the president basically says you're released from your charge it doesn't impede anybody's ability to do anything and that was never the intention of putting that word wording in there and the committee was 100% on board with this everybody felt it was a fair and a fair um way to um edited on there we had some issues over this over this last summer um with with another committee we wanted to fix it that's what the policy committee does when we have a policy and if it works we leave it alone if there's issues with it amends it Mr President yes Mr Daly yeah my my issue isn't any particular it has to do with the

087ability to the board members to act as board members and the Pres board president act as board president if what Miss bassford said is correct then there should be no problem the language that I proposed and this is what I I'll read it out loud not with standing this is after the uh the ad hog committee not withstanding the ad ad the ad hoc committee discharge of the committee provisions of policy 155 the provision does not alter inhibit or restrict the board's president's ability to create or disband any Committee of the board in addition this ad hog provision does not inhibit or restrict the ability of any board member to bring for the board for consideration any issue regardless if that issue is under review of a committee or not this clearly eliminates any ambiguity

088that is I believe is current in the current policy that's why I'm not supportive of of the current writing of the policy uh Mr Kenova yeah um so I was I was sitting on this committee as well and and at some point I even had uh I asked Jim Smith I said you're the president you know do you think about this policy and he was on board with it too because specifically we say uh in in the second paragraph in adoc committee may be created and charged at any time by the president or by a majority of the board members present and voting so to add additional verbiage to that to to us didn't really make sense it's already stated there that they could create any any uh ad hoc group that they wanted to

089at any point so I'm not sure what the added benefit would be to add that language what what would that prohibit from happening in your instance can you give me an example of how that would affect the policy yes I'll give very good example um uh if a board member has an issue let's choose the purple shoes again I says listen I don't think we should be uh going any further with this I think we should that that's an we've heard enough we don't want to take any action or we're going to take such such an action now does the current language create an ambiguity of a board member doing this I mean the ultimately forget about how many committees we have it's up UL ultimately up to the board what the board wants to

090do from a policy standpoint so I don't want to see any ambiguity well you can't do this because the ad hoc committee is doing this there is currently under all Provisions whether it's Robert rules of orders a board member has a right to bring up an issue be in front of the entire board if the majority of the board doent agree with that particular board member that's fine if they don't that's also fine but it doesn't truncate or create an ambiguity which is whether a committee's discharge that discharge whatever it's supposed to be doing that's the problem it creates an unnecessary ambiguity um Miss Gutierrez did you have an opportunity to look at that policy and language I took a look at it Mr Smith good um the only question that I would and Mr

091Daly in listening to Mr DA's concern in listening to how the policy was being revised is does the new language just take away the board's right or the president's right to discharge the committee before a final report if the committee if the board deci if the board let's say the board decides as a whole that they want to take action before the committee issues a final report I think that the way the language is written that takes away that ability from the board to be able to do that I I can't imagine what kind of an instance that would occur where that would happen but that's a possibility if the whole board votes to take action without the before a committee fines its report from how what I how I read that requiring that the

092report be finished before there's a discharge of the committee takes that power away from the board that was not the intent um in fact I referenced several times during the committee about how when I was on a uniform committee years ago that was going a little rogue and it was doing inappropriate stuff at one meeting I just made a motion to disand the committee and it was seconded and we just dism did it so the only reason why this was put in was because there is no end result about and it doesn't speak to when the committee actually ends so um I checked with other boards and they said when when the committee renders a final report and that's basically all we put in there maybe what you there was a lot of chatter last

093year asford you're muted I'm I'm asking I finished oh I didn't I didn't hear with the last piece that you said I said last year that we had we had an issue that I couldn't get my final report to the board and and it and it really was really upsetting to me that I we did all this work and we didn't bring this report to the board we didn't make it public and so like I said before one of the one of the functions of the of the policy committee is to look at a a policy and when I when I checked with other boards how they do it you know dinged in my head bring to policy let's fix the policy so that's all the intention my intention is not to tie the hands

094of anyone on this board and never will everybody has an equal part and the equal playing field on this board so it sounds to me that the primary purpose of having that language is to make sure that the the policy committee I'm sorry the ad hoc committee that the it's to clarify that the ad hoc committee is disbanded final report that's that's the clear intent what I'm saying is that the way that language is written that I believe then takes away power from the board to disband the the ad hoc committee before there a final report so perhaps the solution is to have the language that Miss bassford has asked to that the policy committee has thought should be included about including a a written final report but just add maybe a clause qu a

095short Clause that says that that doesn't take you know that the board still retains the right to disband an a hoc committee even before there's a report um Mr uh president through you to the attorney it's not the the it's the president's role to create and disband it's not we have a right to say or the um a majority of the board has the right to say that this committee is inappropriate or they weren't doing that's what happened with the uniform committee a couple of years ago when they it went off the beam um so maybe a CLA saying that um could you say the first part again what you said have to remember I just said I know I couldn't remember either um what I'm saying is that perhaps then adding a clause after

096your after the language that the committee put in that there's a written FAL report something that says uh the board either the board or the board president uh retains the right to disband an ad hoc committee even before it issues its final report okay so I would say the I'm going to change it up a little bit because it's just the president because he he's it's his it's his purview on this so he should come first in this in in the Clause itself okay the the board president Andor the majority of the board they should say because that's that's how the the uh body of the um the policy reads in the top in the top paragraph So I I would be okay with that I just would like to uh defer this to my

097other board committee members Miss belron and Mr Conover um would you like to bring it back to committee or you would you just like to add the sentence in now so we can move this thing and get and put this um this policy in place yeah I'm fine with an amendment okay Mr President yes go ahead go her first belron if she is she available to make are you okay with the change yeah I'm fine with the change okay Mr Daly Mr President uh Miss pord exactly made my point about the disbandment of the uniform committee and that that's exactly uh that should be the perfu of the board because uh board president sits there to to control the meetings and appoint committees the board is the one as a whole that makes an ultimate

098decision on a policy so I just want to make sure that is in is no way truncated and to Mrs Miss basso's point I agree totally with her example of the uniform committee that the that the board as a whole the majority of the board voted to disend the committee and that's fine that's exactly what I'm getting at okay so what I have is the board president and of the majority of the board has the authority to disband the ad hoc committee after that sentence with the final report is that is that what we have agreed upon the board president and or the majority of the board has the right to re yeah has the retains the right to discharge the ad the ad hoc committee before the issuance of a final report that's fine

099um uh through you Mr President to Mr USI can you please have that amended and put Place into record and then we'll read it upon minutes thank you everybody okay Mr J you're okay with with that new uh wording yes okay anyone else want to comment on that Mr President are we sure we don't want to create an ad hoc committee to explore this next vice president abajo yes vice president abajo I'm recognizing you you're muted yeah he's trying to find them oh trying to find out how to un mute all right we'll come back if you have a a question about that uh next we have the uh home and School Association committee uh meeting minutes Miss Bas yes so it's been a very busy week uh the HSA committee meeting minutes uh for

100two um February 17 2021 the HSA committee had on uh February 2017 2021 president was myself board members Mr kova Vice President fim abjo superintendent Danny robotzi all principles and a representative from each school's home and school association with the exception of 14 11 12 and 17 and Renee Janna what from Laura Bishop Communications the agenda for the meeting was communication regarding the upcoming referendum Dr robotzi began the meeting with a brief overview of the referendum project and expressed the uh need for these projects to be completed in our district Renee janowitz uh presented regarding referendum a discussion in ensued about tax impact and was explained that the chart detailing the tax impact on assessed value of homes would be added to our website parents shared what they were Hearing in the community about the

101referendum and shared concerns and ideas on how to get the vote out it was determined that Dr roberi Andor a member of the staff would be invited to individual HSA meetings to discuss the referendum with the parents there was a discussion about combining HSA meetings with possibly having one large group HSA meeting and the meeting uh concluded at 7 40 p.m. any questions okay seeing none um there is a uh there's a problem with the uh Finance uh minutes um Mr daily is it okay if we hold those minutes off to the next meeting uh I think that's very provent okay uh next we have the athletic committee Mr abrao are you yeah I'm good now I'm zoom zoom was spazzing out on me so I just had to reboot so I apologize to everybody

102um so the thugs committee minutes uh for February 17 2021 started at 7 :30 P I'm sorry 5:30 p.m and ended at 558m myself was present so it was presid Smith commissioner and commissioner Lucy Danny Dr Roberto and our ad Mal discussion topics were purpose of the committee to continue to support clipon students athletes continue to support atic program communicate with coaches and administrators on ways to improve the athletic experience at CHS point to uh facilities referendum three athletic subcommittee referendum uh four T the tennis courts um number five the athletic trainers possible retirement the summer next and next steps six creating a wish list for facility Supply staff Etc that's from Mr M to superintendent roberi uh meeting with coaches on um what expected uh needs are from our coaches and just to have

103transparency and communication with with the board last next meeting will include head coaches um meeting from the full season and the one thing I think not in here um president Smith and Dr roberi was the discussion about feeders programs in for the city so if we can just add that for the record I can certainly have those uh minutes of amended Mr adraa no problem at all I appreciate it and this is the first time we take we to we had to see that today because that meeting was yesterday so thank you to Mr mle for putting it together there any questions on the athletic minutes Mr Canova yeah I see um tennis courts are listed here um I know the last time we were in athletics we discussed a couple possibilities with tennis courts

104some being behind the high school some being uh using I think it was Robin Hood par and working with the city on that did any discussion ensue on those so there was so there was a discussion um luckily Miss Danny's also chair of the municipal lines committee so she was able to chime in um and Report or remind us from the mpal lines that there was conversation with the city in terms of using their tennis courts I believe we need four but there only three we're looking right now at um at various options in terms of what's be most effective and long-term um effective for our district whether it's to redo or um wait uh you know discussion with the city on um redoing Robin Hood or any other so it's still in discussion it

105was discussed about uh nothing imminent or nothing um no decisions were made yet but there are um reports that come back from Mr Maly on that aspect so that will be discussion all right um just just for for clarity can you add that going forward so we have some uh some view of what took place in the meeting instead of just like the general topic like a brief Mr mle did it yesterday I think it's his first time doing it for the board for us so yeah not a problem I appreciate it and Mr Robert if you can do that please absolutely not a problem I think Miss Danny wanted to add yes oh and we will be having a municipal Alli sence meeting we have put out dates um so when we get that

106we will ask about the tennis courts as well um just just to you know add to that thank you okay any other questions or comments on the athletic are there any other committee reports or committee minutes Mr Smith I actually had a question if possible sorry I wanted to ask Miss bassford U but I wasn't able because because my computer unmute uh in regards to I think it was 0154 I know it was first read today but it was in the policy uh minutes there was line number two it said the appointment to the position of mayor or other board committee can we just fix that line since we don't have a mayor on the board of ed um it's line two where you're adding in Clifton so if we can fix that to reflect

107the board and not the city side it's 0155 not 54 no5 is what discussion was with Mr daily4 I think is the other one that one's the that one that one is the um removal of member for missing unexcused three days that's 0145 oh 14 my apologies I didn't have it front of me I'll bring it back to the committee thank you anyone else all right uh next uh order of business is public recognition this portion of the meeting is open to the citizens of Clifton for the purpose of address addressing any subject matter pertinent to Andor directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents are requested to sign in the registry provided or state their name and their address for the purpose and to uh any subject matter comments are

108limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board ask 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 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

109are legally responsible and liable for their comments so if you would state your name and address for the record if you're a student you don't have to State your um your address Mr Smith um Max rubin's on the call right now and then I'm gonna let the next couple in while he's speaking okay uh we have a question from uh Miss bassford is there a phone number uh listed to call in yes let me get that while Mr Ruben's speaking okay um it went out in the communication it's on our website and social networking and email but I'll grab that and let you know uh in a moment thank you okay Max you're uh you're up first welcome to the meeting thank you Mr Smith good evening everyone um I have quite a few points

110to address tonight uh first off I want to talk about I think I might have mentioned it last meeting um the Clifton Student Union which is the organization I'm president of uh we were planning on creating a mental health survey for a while and we finally have a set time to meet with Mr doctor um and the two student assistant counselors for Clifton High School um Mr Baker and Miss Terry we're going to meet with them tomorrow afternoon me and the other executive members of CSU and we're going to finalize a list of questions asking students uh various questions about their mental health and the survey hopefully soon will be sent out to all the students in the high school and if it works out in the high school we can revise the questions and

111change the wording for middle school and Elementary School versions uh which would be really awesome if we were able to assess the mental health of everyone in the district um that would be our ultimate goal other than that I always mention that there's an SAT testing uh just give people an update on that uh the dates are still March 13th May 8th and June 5th uh and uh Mr doctor informed me to just tell everyone you should register as soon as possible um the space may or may not still be available at CHS um they might be taken but the only way to find out is just to try to register as soon as possible this is especially true for uh Juniors this is the time where most Juniors take their sat um and we're

112not sure whether colleges are requiring it for fall 2022 so I would just get on that as soon as possible um the referendum citizens committee um so I was lucky enough to be chosen to be a part of that committee and we had a meeting a few days ago um I just wanted to E a few statements that Dr Rober toy said earlier the link to the referendum website if anyone's still confused on how to get to the April 20th uh Clifton votes website for the referendum you can go to the Clifton schools website and there's a link in red bold with a little r rectangle it's at the very top of the website so you look for that if you need help finding the website um and also um if you're watching this meeting

113spread the word um Dr robertto said during the last referendum meeting you know if all all of the staff and all the parents vote and some of the students who are old enough to vote then the referendum should be passed so definitely spread the word about that website it's that red bold line at the top of the main page of the Clifton schools website um and then Wednesday March 3rd there's going to be a community Forum on the referendum for anyone who's still a bit confused on what's actually happening with the referendum um you can go to the community Forum meeting it's on Wednesday March 3rd and there's different 15 to 20 minute time slots for different topics of the referendum so you don't have to stay for the whole two hours if you're only

114interested in maybe the bathrooms you could probably go to one section of the meeting and don't have to attend the rest so it's very streamlined in order for as many people to attend and ask questions and listen to people who are involved in the referendum um and yeah I just also want to Echo a statement about I know a lot of people who have come to the board of ed meeting you know complained about how should we pass something that's going to improve the schools if we're not letting the students go to the school well now we are letting the students go back to the school but even without that the referendum is going to improve the district not just for students but for families and even the public you know the field at woodro

115and these improvements are going to last for who knows how long like decades so it's not just about right now it's even if we weren't going back to school you know everyone should really Vote for This referendum because it is going to improve the district for many many many years to come um oh yeah the other only other thing I wanted to mention is um the activists and academic Summit um that happened last last Saturday I believe um the two members who represented Clifton High School at that Summit I think are actually going to speak during the public portion and they should have more info on that um and then I just want to Echo in case anyone didn't hear the the um if you want to switch from hybrid to iners or in person

116to hybrid um I know uh remote to in person is definitely the harder one so just contact either your principal or your students guidance counselor and they should um the request should be made by either a parent or if you're a student who's younger than 18 your parent has to do it if you're 18 you can make the request yourself oh wait I'm getting oh 30 seconds left thanks just got a message that says 30 seconds left I probably just pushed it down to 20 by talking about how I have 30 seconds left all right anyway um check out the all right I I already talked about the okay check out the CHS Morning Show we're always posting important news and announcements and um yeah I hope everyone had stays safe and has a good

117night Max thank you very much for all the hard work you do for uh for the district for your fellow students and uh we appreciate you uh taking the time to come to our meeting so thank you very much Mr SMI if I may yes Dr uh M Smith I'm not sure and I defer to the board that Max as the student representative to the board is limited to five minutes absolutely not but that's Max just so you know Max you finish speaking Max oh I'm sorry what you're you don't have a time limit you can you're you can State any uh information that you have did you have more to say um no I I guess um I just hope that I was kind of I got a little lost in my words when

118I was talking about the hybrid iners uh dilemma so I just hope that wasn't confusing I basically what I was saying was that if you um if you want to switch from remote to iners or in person or remote in person or remote would be much easier just contact your child's principal or guidance counselor and the request has to be made by a parent or a student who's 18 or older that I just wanted to clarify that because I think I got got Mumble jumbled a little bit yeah thank you thank you for clarifying that and again thank you for all that you do and for coming to the meeting and uh making your reports the the board appreciates that a great deal thank you all right next up we yep next up we have

119Stephanie Langer followed by Mark runak to the April 20th votes website I do apologize I had the YouTube I had to pause in the background there thank you so much for giving me time to speak tonight I do have a few questions that I'd like to pose to Dr Robert toy and the board about our reopening uh I'm curious if you will be refreshing Administration and staff in our safety protocols it's been a couple of months since we were there and I think that in order to ensure everyone is on the same page maybe refresh those ideas would be helpful uh I have about the windows being open which is important since we don't have proper ventilation if we have some kind of storm whether it's rain or snow are we going to continue with

120the windows open if so how do we keep the kids dry because we can't necessarily move them away from Windows without moving them within six feet of one another um I'm curious as to some clarification about part of what we were told previously at one point teachers were reassured that if the covid questionnaire was not being completed that students would be switched to the remote learning track and I'm curious as to how many times it would take for that to appear as a pattern and for that to be enforced I know in the remote setting educationally I've been able to set my students up to work collaboratively in small groups using breakout rooms when we return to in-person learning it's my understanding that Middle School may be facing the challenge of teaching hybrid students as

121well as remote at the same time I'm wondering if the district has any headphones with microphones attached they might be able to provide to the in-person students to allow them to continue collaborating with their peers but more safely than trying to seat them together which we know we cannot do I'm also curious if we have extra Chromebook Chargers that can be placed in the schools in case the students devices run out I'm curious about what safety measures are being taken to make sure that we recognize and prepare for possible cases of hypothermia if students are sitting still in classrooms with all their windows open and they come ill-prepared maybe they don't have winter jackets we might miss signs like shivering or Blue Lips under masks and I'm wondering if we'll have places in the school

122where those students can warm up uh Dr Robert toosy you also mentioned a decrease in cases among schoolage children and you said you'd continue to monitor it I'm wondering what indicators you're going to be looking for specifically and at what point you would consider returning to remote learning I also know that we have spring break coming up in just a few weeks so students will have about six days of in-person learning before that happens afterwards will we be taking time to give families time to quarantine should they have chosen to travel on their spring break and I notice Mr Beagle from the health department isn't here tonight I'd be really I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I had a little more background on his opinion about this reopening process and I I just would

123love to hear his support of it and I'm hoping perhaps at the next board meeting when I imagine you'll be in person since the students will be perhaps he could join us in reassure those of us that are having some severe anxiety and fear over the threat to our lives from a a pandemic okay thank you very much Mr brunak Mr Brun how doing how you doing can you hear me yes thank you Dr Robert toy thank you uh president Smith vice president abrao and all the rest of the board members for me to speak tonight this is the first positive news we have had since November and I'm very thankful about the mar March 8th contingent uh contingency of having parents have the choice to send their kids back into school all we've heard

124over the past few months is a lot of negativity so again I'm very thankful for this positive news and uh in in a world that's been very dark and I want to know if the parents should feel confident that their kids will indeed be able to go back have that option to go back in person March 8th and does the board recommend that that the the parents who who choose this tell them now the issue is over the past almost calendar year now that the trust is essentially gone we've described in the past few meetings how devastated the kids the parents are are academically financially mentally it's taking a significant toll on them and so it's very important and on top of that I'm hoping that the district has some contingencies as well there's a

125lot of litigation going on in the neighboring district and the way I read the tea leaves it looks like it might be coming here too so I hope there's a contingency plan for that as well um regarding the referendum you made it Crystal Clear Dr robertto you made it Crystal Clear before so has nothing to do with the imperson learning it it has to do with safety protocol which you have made a decision in conjunction with the health department like you have said so I'm thankful for that and uh you know just so everybody knows that for this referendum all a sudden in the name of science that the voters are going to actually be allowed to vote in person so whatever change that's a possibility too and and the previous caller even mentioned regarding

126future board meetings if the kids are going to have a choice come back I sure is I sure hope that the Board of Ed is going to be having uh inperson sessions as well I look forward to that as well uh so I'm thankful for that and I'm begging you people to please do everything you can to keep these options open for the students it's absolutely been devastating again the positive news since November we need to try to keep the schools open for the parents that have that choice to Dr Robert toy also mentioned that the spread did not occur in school the mitigations are there everybody's got to wear a mask everybody's wear has a plastic divider between them this the closest thing that they can Pro so the mitigation is there so again

127all asking is that everybody do everything possible to keep these kids in class as they need it a lot of them need it Miss Yanina mentioned earlier that a lot of kids were doing okay remotely there are a lot of kids who aren't so that's what I wanted to say thank you everybody for listening and God bless America have a good night everybody thank you Mr brunak next okay the next three are Andrea orc Lori Lama then Victoria Olive evening everyone how is everyone as you know I'm Andrea Oro I am a teacher at school 12 and also the Clifton Education Association Pride chair I just wanted to um relay some emails we received um recently at school 12 we had a Valentine's cooking event and from our parents let me just go on my

128phone right here uh we received the email after the event with pictures this was from one of our parents Alan had so much fun thank you for taking the time to do these activities with the kids it means a lot to them especially due to covid so our parents are enjoying these family events we just wanted to invite the entire Community next week we have um An Invisible Thread the author Laura scof she is a number one New York Times and international best-selling author and keynote speaker is passionate and compelling voice on the power of small acts of kindness and mentorship Laura has fully committed herself to advocating and inspiring others through her books An Invisible Thread An Invisible Thread Christmas Story and Angels On Earth as a keynote speaker at over 300 events Laura

129encourages her audience to look for their own Invisible Thread connections and highlights the importance of opening up their eyes and hearts to the opportunities where they can make a difference to the lives in others this event EV is co-sponsored with the Clifton High School Key Club uh the participating members while supplies last will receive a copy of the book so we invite everyone it is on the Clifton um Public Schools site and also on our social media it will be on Thursday February 25th at 7:30 via Zoom other events we will be hosting for this month will be um 223 will be School 17 they're going to be having a paint in March uh school 12 will be having a Dr Seuss Cafe as you could tell I'm a little obsessed uh 311 School 14

130will be doing a St Patrick's Day mindfulness activity 3:16 woodro Wilson Middle School will be having a day in clay where they're having um artist come in and through zoom and we'll be doing clay with Clay um projects with them and then uh saila at the end of the month will be doing some spring planting so we hope everyone in the community will join us for these events also we would love to push for the referendum as well like we Max stated and everyone stated this is a perfect opportunity for our district to improve um it's not just a one-time deal it will be for future Generations so with that said I hope everyone has a good night thank you for your time thank you Miss Oro all right next we have mama L Lama

131hi good evening to all my name is Lor L Lama and I'm the president of the cea I'm coming to you tonight to talk about returning to school at the beginning of March I know many of my members were surprised to know we're coming back before the end of winter and be and before the staff members who choose to be vaccinated could be fully vaccinated which is the change from the governor and nothing to do with our District I know Dr Rober toy that you and your team met with Mr beagle the health director of Clifton uh for Clifton and discuss the health and safety of the kids and the staff regarding the reopening of the school district I know there are important CDC guidelines that must be followed as well as protocols that all

132schools and universities must follow we are actually in the orange high-risk m Matrix according to the covid-19 regional risk Matrix but it SK still gives the district the right to remain open pending a list of recommendations to make sure the students and staff are protected and to make sure no one brings it home to the respective families we need to be mindful of masking social distancing hand sanitizing and please fill out the daily screening before or students Andor staff enter the building these protocols must be followed by everyone my ask Dr Rober toy is to make sure that all of the air filters before we go back are changed in the district the dampers in all of the univ vents are open to 10% the windows must remain open to circulate fresh air into the

133classroom the rooms that do not have Windows please make sure there are HEPA filters or air scrubbers I just want to get the reassurance also that there'll be 6 feet distance in the elementary school from seat to seat because I know during um October uh that six feet was very difficult in some of the classrooms um we also need to operate the HVAC system uh in occupied mode one week prior to 31 if that could be done and HEPA filters are not electric static and not ionization just the regular HEPA filters and I also want to mention the referendum um I spoke to Renee from the pr group and I have the list of njaa members that do not teach in Clifton so as soon as the infographic or the brochure is complete I will

134would be glad to send it out to the rest of the members that live in Clifton because we need to get this ped this is for generations to come it's not for the now it's for it's for the next 60 years because to be in a classroom that has a a univent that's older than I am that's not cool so I think it's important that the community does understand this and that it'll be for their grandkids their great grandkids so this is a definite plus for the education for the community and for selling your property or buying property people look at the Education First and we have a darn good educational system here in Clifton so thank you very much and have a great evening thank you Miss Lama Miss uh oliv hi hello everyone

135and good evening my name is Victoria Olive and I'm a junior at clipton high school I recently represented the clipton Student Union at a summit on youth organizing which was hosted by the UCLA civil rights project and teens take charge a student activist organization in New York City the summit focused on racial Justice in the school system and I would urge all who can to visit the teens take charge website to visit the panels the summit allowed myself and ran aala the other representative to the CSU to see the action that other students and organiz ganizations are taking across the country to address racial inequities in education um okay the Clifton Student Union hosted a talk speaking on the power of student organizing and advised attendees on what to do in situations where they feel

136they are not being heard by adults what I was able to take from this meeting is that while Clifton is certainly on the right track when it comes to racial equity in schools there are still steps that we can take to give every student the best footing to succeed in the world listening to the summit has made me genuinely appreciate the willingness of our board to um the willingness of our board to listen to student speaking and their problems one young woman at the summit was banned from speaking at her school's Board of Education after bringing to their attention the abuse she suffered in her District special education program ran and myself are reaching out to help her and assist her in getting heard by the Board of Education and hearing stories like hers made

137me very proud of the Clifton Board of Education I would especially like to urge all members of the Board of Education to watch the panels from the summit they provide a view of the importance of racial Equity from the perspective of students Educators and professionals I would also like to urge any members of the diversity and inclusion committee who are watching to see these videos as well to get ideas for initiatives they can Implement in the Clifton School District in the future for anyone who would like to watch videos from The Summit please go to teamstake charge.com and find the event activists X academics thank you thank you thank you very much okay next we have um a phone number ending in 5380 caller with phone number hero you're up yes good evening this is

138Mary sraa uh number one I don't understand why this meeting is not on channel 77 or channel 40 while you're on Zoom it was able to be done with the council I don't understand why it's not there I'm getting lots of complaints uh with Texas from people no that's number one number two we've got to do a better scheduling of meetings and I'm not sure if this is your regular scheduled date but there are there were two important meetings going on today at the same time that's why I'm on my phone because it's the planning board meeting at the same time regarding the valley Regency so it's impossible for the citizens of clipon to be at two different meetings at the same time but the purpose of my call today is number one I did

139leave a message for the superintendent today but I didn't get a return call um I question is or comment with the referendum and I learned this with the leri park referendum when the school board puts out information about this referendum they are required to give all the facts not estimated cost based on an average assessment of a house it's a simple calculation what is the cost of this referendum per $100 of assessed value so each property owner can figure out what this will cost them each year for the next 25 years additionally I don't know who runs your uh Facebook page Clifton Public Schools this referendum is not just about HVAC and bathrooms each time you publicize this you must put in that it also includes Turf and the weight room and you are also

140required to show the cons of the turf the full picture must be presented again this was learned way back when in 2006 so I sure hope that it is changed lastly maybe it's time the board sells latii Park to the city of Clifton the city is more than willing and have has in the past has talked to the board about it and I think those Board needs money there's property sitting there that can be sold to the city but again I really hope and I will be watch looking to make sure that the the board gives all the information this chart that you put up today first it was was terrible I got so many calls about it first it's it's talking about monthly then it's talking about this most for example my property doesn't

141even fit on that because unfortunately in this case my property is assessed over $300,000 you need to tell all the facts it's a requirement by law you just can't be one-sided again I hope everyone has a safe evening I guess everyone is home from Zoom but I do hope that this meeting while on Zoom can be put on channel 77 I was expecting it to be on channel 77 this evening I believe there was some indication that it would so instead what was being oh it actually was shown on the screen that it said the Board of Ed meeting will be on so instead it showed something from 2020 with something a a a screen on the bottom saying it won't be shown again I'm a huge proponent of transparency we're in a pandemic people

142need to be able to look at these meetings and see it I mean these numbers calling in seniors were calling me today they were like what me what number do I call in which meeting how will I know if I really wanted to talk at the planning board or if I wanted to talk at the school board we've got to do a better job of not scheduling meetings at the same time again I hope everyone has a lovely evening and thank you for your time councilwoman councilwoman this is Dr Robert toy I just want to let you know I called you back today at 3:47 p.m. left left you a message on your voicemail uh so if you can please check please check your voicemail I called you from my personal cell phone number I

143didn't get it I didn't get it I have been checking my cell phone I don't know what the problem was but that's okay um those were my questions I asked were gonna ask you but I asked them tonight no problem thank you I just wanted I just wouldn't want you to think that I wouldn't return your call that's all okay thank you thank you good night everyone good night uh next Mr Mountain another phone caller um it doesn't have a number it just says Callin user so if you're calling in by phone this is you hello hi we can hear you you have five minutes okay um well my first question that I quot about was just answered I was going to call and ask why the meeting's not on TV my second question is

144it's to my understanding that our students when in school um like whether it's regular or or um alternating schedules or whatnot um we have a dress code and it's to my understanding that nobody's allowed to wear anything that um portrays a iCal statement which I'm actually against I'm a big supporter of the First Amendment and freedom of speech um I don't understand why Mr aad thinks it's okay to wear a black lives matter shirt uh to a board event meeting when we have students that have been sent home for wearing the shirt like that and or students that have been sent home for wearing other shirts um I have a student in the district who was sent home for wearing a 911 me me memory t-shirt on 911 was asked to take it off and

145change his shirt my wife had to bring him a separate shirt or he was going to be sent home um the rule shouldn't be do as I say not as I do and I have no problem with him wearing that shirt to the meeting like I said I'm you you I'm a big supporter in freedom of speech but if if the Board of Ed members are allowed to wear it then students when school returns should not be sent home for wearing black lives matter all lives matter abiding shirt a trump shirt a 911 shirt or anything else that states a political statement because that's a violation of freedom of speech and [Music] um I believe that anytime that the board of the school administrators or anyone tries to suppress that the the board or District

146should be facing a lawsuit that's that's why I called that that was my second thing to call to call about because I think it's I I I commend him actually for wearing that shirt because it's what he believes and there's nothing wrong with that but when school returns if my son or daughter gets sent home for wearing something to that matter to that shirt or an all lives matter or a 911 shirt I could promise you guys you will have so much my lawyer and so much litigation you won't know what to do because that's not right and I tried speaking with people about this when it first happened a over a year ago was about you know just not last September September before and I got the runaround I got we'll call you back

147I got this I got that fin I got to the point to where you know what I was like I'm just going to let it go and if it happens again next year then I'm going to get my lawyer involved and while next year we were in covid and not in school anyway but I just yeah if you guys are going to be allowed to wear it which and have a political statement then the students and teachers should be allowed to it shouldn't be one way or the other it's not something that should be taken lightly um everybody today is a snowflake with oh it offends me the the the black the seeing of black lives matter instead of an all lives matter shirt does offend me but it's freedom of speech it's our first

148amendment it's the Constitution and nobody not you not the principal not the governor has the right to stop that sir excuse me could you state your name and uh address for the record please um I'd rather remain anonymous um but I am a Clifton resident and I do have two children in in the school one in one in middle school one in high school okay hey thank you very much Mr Smith if I I would like ask that caller not to use the snow word because that could be very derogatory well I agree with him on on freedom of speech that should not be used if you'd like to you can do that with the administration at a later Point not during this meeting not to use the what word okay uh Mr Mountain if

149you give us the next caller please the next caller is also a phone caller phone number ending in 3640 okay 36 you have the floor Hi how are you can you hear me yes we can hear you okay uh my name is Kaitlyn white I live in Clifton my whole life and I still reside here um I know this probably doesn't matter because over the years when I've when we were live and in person voices of non-parents or non-educators in this town were ignored and bantly told to me you don't have kids in this system and I replied it takes a village to raise a child and my tax dollars do pay for it so my concern is one I it's frustrating for me to have to watch these meetings on my laptop it's just

150annoying um my family who was elderly and in Clifton have complained about how they cannot watch these meetings because they do not have internet they do not have computers and laptops because they are older they're seniors and yet they you guys want them to vote on a referendum I completely understand now when I was in school and the teachers used to tell us go home and tell the your neighbors that don't have children to vote the referendum to vote I get why they the adults would say nope not doing it because as I heard the auditor say you have 1.2 million in Revenue you have 1.2 million and some of these things have not been done I graduated in 2004 some of these facilities have not been updated before May and that's on you that's

151on people that came before you I hate to say this but half of our tax bills go to the school board and then there's fun so I don't understand why things weren't done like in a house when a toilet goes you go and replace it you go and fix things the fact that bathrooms haven't been updated in 60 years doesn't say anything about us not wanting to pay for it we have funded it but you guys haven't done your due diligence to keep infrastructures functioning when a roof needs to be replaced on a home we replace it people cting can't afford it anymore especially with a pandemic people have lost their jobs you know I could understand agac I could understand updating some things you have 1.2 million in Revenue left over you have more

152of our tax dollars coming in you know really we got to hunker down we can't just just because it's there doesn't mean that we can all afford it because we can't and I want those kids I say I always say academic over Athletics and teachers over Turf we are turfing everything and we need to get back to basics we you can't the the well is running dry and I hate to say it but it it really is we can't afford it especially in times like this we need to hunger down and honestly the people we feel left out because the people that don't have kids and you're not putting our the things on cable we have no idea about this referendum we have no idea the date if it's in person how much this election

153is costing we have no one has given anything to the average citizen in this town it's the village that raised the children I'm part of the village I I don't know most of this information and people that don't have Facebook or social media or Internet they have no idea they're even more in the dark than I am so maybe we need to like revamp something and think about the average person that's living living in this town that either doesn't have children doesn't have school AG children or can't have kids but they still pay the bill so it's just some food for thought just from the other spectrum of a non- educator in the town non parent of a child in the town but a person that's funding you know everything year there's a lot of

154us and there's a lot of seniors in this town and they're in the dark so we can get on cable so uh some food for thought and I hope you have a all good night thank you Miss White Mr Smith uh Mr Smith if I may only because it's been mentioned a couple times tonight uh by Mrs White and also by councilwoman cedra hula I'd like to address the issue with Channel 77 may I yeah I just want to see is there anyone else waiting in the in the no Mr Smith there's no one in the waiting room so that's it uh board entertain a motion motion to close motion Clos second by vice president alao uh superintendent thank you Mr Smith so um it the the previous meetings that we've had that have been

155on Zoom have also been on channel 77 what happened today was because of the storm the high school building was closed a staff member needs to get into to the building to have those meetings run they can't they couldn't do it from home the staff member was going to drive to the building in the middle of the snowstorm to make sure um that it was aired on channel 77 uh I didn't think that that was uh that was a great idea didn't want to put that staff member uh in danger so you got to remember this is the first time something like this has happened in the past uh before the whole Zoom meeting stuff has happened over the last year if there was a snow day in school the board meeting would also have

156been cancelled because uh the buildings were closed and it was a snow day so this is the first time we've actually had buildings closed but still had a board meeting virtually so unfortunately the the meeting did not air on channel 77 tonight um we will in the future have some sort of workaround in case something like this happens again so I apologize to the community I'm hoping that people uh were able to access it on on the other various formats that we have just an unfortunate set of circumstances that happened today and also just to add to that this tonight is not a special meeting this is our regularly scheduled board meeting um so uh other city meetings that are on the same night um we have no control over uh but our board meetings

157are um posted and uh listed and this was our regularly scheduled uh board meeting okay moving on okay we any unfinished business seeing none we'll move on to um education Administration uh we have one uh um expression of condolence two second reading of policy three abolishment of policies four attendance report five tuition students received and six appointment of special education services um Mr Smith if I may make a motion to pull ea1 and have a separate vote on the expression of condolence okay so we'll vote on ea uh two uh through seven is there a motion so move by Mr Daly second by Mr Casper discussion question Mr Smith yes M passord ea1 should be written out loud it is going to be yes thank you Mr Smith if I may um after hearing discussion

158happening earlier I'd like to pull aa2 to go back to policy and vote on it next agenda this way we can see the changes in writing I feel more comforable doing that ea2 the second reading of policy second reading of policy yes uh I'm okay with the change what do you want to do with 0155 you want to send it back to committee yes see the changes in writing and then we'll bring it back to for next agenda all right uh Mr da you're okay with that change yes I'm okay okay any other discussion so leaving ea1 as a separate vote sending ea2 to committee so we're voting on ea3 through 7 roll call Mr aad I see him said yes Miss bassford I am um voting yes everything and I think the policy is

159fine to go so I'm going to vote to send it back to policy Miss Beltran yes Mr Kenova yes Mr daily yes Miss Miss Danny yes Mr Casper yes Mr abrao yes Mr Smith yes motion carries uh ea1 uh vice president abraa would you like to read that please thank you president Smith ea1 Express of condolence whereas on February 13 2021 the community noted with sorrow the passing of Emanuel cologne Rodriguez whereas Emanuel was a lifelong student the Clifton School District having attended School 16 wooder Wilson Middle School and most recently the banan high school in Little Falls New Jersey now therefore be it resolved that the resolution be forwarded to his bere family to serve as an expression of condolences in the passing of their child Emanuel colog Rodriguez from the Board of Education

160the Administration Employees and the pupils of the Clifton public schools and be it further resolved that the contents of this resolution be noted in their entirety in the official minutes of the Clifton Board of Education for future generations to pursue dated February 18 2021 signed by superintendent Danny Robert toi uh business Minister Michel Uchi and the board education members do I have a motion motion motion byra second by Mr Casper any comments or discussion seeing none roll call Mr aad I see I'm saying yes Miss bassford yes yes um yeah I would like to vote Yes I would like to send my my extreme condolences to Manny Rodriguez's family number 20 on the praise uh softball team um their family is very involved in the praise uh um special needs um committee and um the

161whole the whole organization is really quite sorrowful about this major loss to our community this kid was a great kid a great kid very sorry to his mom and dad Miss Belin I'm Sorry Miss belan are you there yes Mr Kenova yes Mr Daly yes Miss Danny yes Mr Casper yes Mr abdrabo absolutely and Mr Smith yes motion carries okay next we have uh Personnel uh P1 is retirement two leave of absence three amendment of maternity leaves of absence four amendment of appointments five change in appointment status six administrative leave seven six period assignments eight additional stipid uh appointments for the high school nine additional appointments for the after school programs 10 additional appointments uh for the PBIS team members uh 11 stage lighting and sound technicians for the auditorium volunteers 12 student teacher practicum

162field observation placements 13 board conferences 14 conference requests and 15 Personnel appointments what's the pleasure Mr Mr Smith can we pull item six for executive okay item six being pulled for executive session do I have a motion on the rest of the group move the group except for six Mr daily second second second by Miss Danny discussion seeing none roll call Mr aad yes Miss bassford yes Miss Bel yes Mr Kenova yes Mr Daly yes Miss Danny yes Mr Casper I'm gonna vote Yes and upstand on my my name only on p13 Mr abravo yes Mr Smith I have to stay on p113 I didn't think added it as fast as they did I requested that this afternoon so I'm staying on P3 my name only okay make that adjustment okay motion carries next financing

163facilities uh F1 is acceptance of the comprehensive annual financial report for the 20192020 school year two two is approval of the corrective Action Plan Three is approval to designate date and times regarding special school election four is approval to set compensation for pole workers five is use of facilities six is the claims list do I have a motion so move by Mr Casper second by vice president abrao discussion seeing none roll call okay Mr aad yes Miss bassford uh yes yes and I'm voting no on check number 201 868 Miss Beltran yes Mr Kenova yes Mr Daly yes Miss Danny yes yes Mr Casper yes Mr abbyrao yes and Mr Smith yes motion carries all right next we have uh board member comments and I believe we're starting with uh Miss beltron yes I think

164it is up to me tonight um I want to think thank you to dry for um for making the hard decision to open the schools I think is the best decision and it puts students first uh which is should be thank you to all the callers tonight I really hope this level of participation continues when we don't have so much controversy uh we went years with you know having one or two people come in um and I hope that all these people once we are back in person continue to participate so actively um some callers tonight like to point out that there was a referendum in 2006 I was 16 years old in 2006 half of my life ago things have changed the needs of the school dist get changed we will continue to change

165and the needs will continue to change the main portion of our dis of our budget goes to salary Insurance of teachers the callers like to focus on that we need to focus on education that we need to um improve those things before we worry about the bathrooms but where would you like us to get that money from because the only way for us to get you know another $200 million would be to not have any teachers or take 20 years to do all these projects peace meal and once we were done we'd have to start again so it just really doesn't make sense to me anyway fiscally and I'm a very dollars and cense person I also am childless taxpayer so I represent the childless taxpayers by the same time I realize that if I

166were to have children one day or that these children will one day be my doctor the president the mayor they need to have a good education they also need to be comfortable as well as safe while doing so um and that's pretty much all I have for tonight I hope everyone continues to be safe um if you're celebrating uh the Lenton season I hope that you have um a meaningful fast and that's all I have thank you thank you Miss belchan Mr Kenova he good evening uh so first of all uh I want to say prayers are with the Gibson family wishing wishing bill that you get well soon um condolences to the Rodriguez family uh to uh to our finance team you know great job with the budget managing a district our size with

167our our type of budget and and our uh length of of budget is is a very difficult task and to see an outcome like that is really great to see um as for the referendum um and addressing some of the colors and addressing some of the things I've been hearing on you know out there in social media land uh yes it is a lot of money absolutely it's a lot of money but these are things that we need um things like like the ventilation right who would have thought that Co would be such such a big uh concern in these ages who would have thought that we need things like M 13 filters and HEPA filters and and uh different filtrations in schools to to be able to be hospital grade um these things sort

168of came out out of the left field for us uh and in addition to that with the everchanging society and Dynamics we need to worry about things like security you know there's there's been things that happened over the past five six years that are very concerning um and when you look at our schools as a whole none of these things have changed for many many years and we all know that's the case um and and we were in one of the the referendum meetings and the woman asked uh everyone who's here who has air who doesn't have air conditioning in your hand leave in your house leave your hand up and everyone here who doesn't have air conditioning in your workplace and and she went down the whole list and the only people who had

169their hands up at the end were the teachers because those are the ones that go to school and they don't have air conditioning in their schools um and there's concerns with with asthma and there's you know students who have issues and we have to put air conditioning in in the wall now um so those are our concern we want the students when they're doing these tests at the end of the year and and the schools are hot and we're showing the proficiencies throughout the year we want them to do well uh and the best way to do that is to give them an environment to do well you need to give them an environment to succeed and to flourish and uh it was mentioned that we have a $1.2 million um overage in our in

170our budget so if I was to take that and calculate it out at this $168 million referendum we're talking about 140 years um and here's the chance to have the state you know I I was very very much an advocate for getting State funding because we've been in in deficit from the state year over year over year over year and it continues to be that way starting to make the turn now but hopefully continues um here's a chance where we get to go to the state and give them 33% of this to fund that's an opportunity that just doesn't exist anywhere else um and and with the money that we're not spending on these things we can do things like go to zero percent which we have been very which we did this past year

171and I think it was 0 eight% the year prior um and we could do things like put money into alternate sources for Education um because that budget money will be there so for me you know this referendum is is a no-brainer to get out there and uh and make sure people vote um whether you support it or not uh your voice should be heard and you should get out and vote so please make sure that you register to be a voter if you're 18 if you're a student and you're 18 students could vote as well if they're 18 years old um so please register and get out to vote as for the decision to open school as many of you know I've been in support of that uh I think it's time I think we're

172ready and I think that when we were in school that when we look at the statistics there we had less spread in school than we did outside of school or less less students in school who who had uh an issue with the virus then outside of school and we also had zero spread within the schools so to me that's a very safe place to be I think when you put people outside of that environment and you have the the everyday life that pulls you in different directions and have parents who have to work and juggle schedules and I'm going to drop my kid off here today and tomorrow by their ant the next day by their Uncle this person's off that person's off you're getting people around and I think you're having more spread that

173way to be honest um so I'm I'm glad to see this decision and not only that for obviously you know our special needs team and the uh the mental the mental stability of our students so I am I'm absolutely in support of this and I'm glad to see it and hopefully you know it sounds like like saying I one day when I win the lottery but hopefully one day when we have no more Corona virus um you know this will be a thing of the past and we'll we'll sort of laugh it off um and that is all the updates I had for tonight thank you thank you Mr Kenova Mr daily uh thank you Mr President um I'll just be brief um a lot of good things going on tonight one of them is

174the announcement that we're opening the schools um it's it's a challenge no matter how you look at it but it's it's it's time to uh go take that next step and I fully support the superintendent and I know he'll always keep an eye on the staff and the students and their safety as we move forward I like to also uh pass on my condolences to the Rodriguez family and um I I could talk for hours about the referendum um just I just want to point out I think a very important fact amongst other very important facts the reason why we're doing a referendum as my colleagues have said is that we have the ability to get over $50 million back from the state we cannot I mean we could do this without a vote there's

175mechanisms to do it but we don't have the ability to do the 50 plus million almost $55 million uh we have an opportunity to do it we would be crazy not to do this this board as long as I've been on it and and all current members included we've worked very hard to keep our tax levy low we do not have the luxury that the city has of passing Bond issues without any voter scrutiny whatsoever um it it's an important fact in a fiscal decision uh the these projects have been at over the years some of them since I've been on the board uh ever since the uh ktic shooting the uh we've been ahead of the curve in terms of putting safety our students we now have the opportunity to address a myriad of

176safety issues as well as other issues that face this District the this will serve the districts for decades in the future this is an investment prudent investment to say the least I can in terms of transparency the job that our superintendent has done with his team and putting out the information is Second To None So if you if you don't what's going on if you can't find it there's people around to assist you and direct you where the information is we have been fully Beyond fully transparent both in our budget hearings our Capital Improvements over the last 10 plus years uh and all at the uh keeping the tax rate under 2% and as Mr kova said we did a zero last year and a 087 before that and uh and a05 before that so

177you cannot say this board has not been overly fiscally responsible and attune what what cost the taxpayers and at the same time addressing the needs the real needs of this District I wish everybody have a great evening stay warm sa safe and avoid the co at all possible thank you thank you Mr Daly Miss Danny uh yes I'll keep my comments very brief um just feeling a little under the weather today so I would like to thank all the speakers and um deep condolences to the Rodriguez family and keeping in my prayers um Bill Gibson uh thank you very much good evening thank you Miss Danny Mr Casper okay uh my condolences also go out to the Rodriguez family um on a a very tragic loss um I'm also sending out my thoughts to the

178Gibson family to a speedy recovery with Mr Gibson uh as always I'd like to congratulate our retirees so Mr Hoy congratulations on your retirement and thank you so much for your service to our district uh and I'd just like to add about um I'd like to thank Dr Robert toy and Mr Lurch on our reports this evening um I'm hoping that we can get our students and our staff safely back into the building um the only thing that I still working in a district that is working hybrid um the re uh some of the realities is the fact that when we I know the CDC has up you know lifted um some of the restrictions I'll just give you a quick example in the district I'm in now we went virtual two weeks after a

179uh after our Christmas break we were in four days and during those four days we had two separate cases at each building so we were closed down for another two weeks so I'm just concerned about the yo-yo effect that might uh occur once we start going back all right thank you everybody thank you Mr Casper Mr Awad thank you uh president Smith uh first and foremost my condolences to the Rodriguez family and uh prayers to the Gibson family for Speed recovery for councilman bill um I'd also like to send out my prayers uh and thoughts for you know our fellow Americans in Texas as we all know watching the news uh they're going through uh hard times right now uh prayers for everybody there hopefully everybody safe throughout Texas and throughout our entire nation um

180I would also like to ask uh Dr robery um it um if we may you know look into Why students are being sent home um or you know clothing if they're wearing or um you know if you know you know freedom of speech is something I take you know with great pride and something that's a blessing to be an American and I feel like you know if there is something implemented with a student's clothing as long as it's not showing any type of violence or profanity um I feel like you know we should always be able to let our students exercise of freedom of speech uh it is an amendment for us and it's something you know I really take to heart uh if we could uh look into that um also you know sorry

181um I'm really excited for the students to get back into and our staff to get back into school in person but you know uh after hearing everybody's comments I still haven't heard you know I've said it time and time again if the students and staff it's safe enough for them to go back in person then we should lead by example as the leaders of our district for us to also go back in person for our meetings because nobody is held to a higher pedestal than the other um you know and I'm for students and staff going back into school after you know Dr Robert toy meeting with the health department and and you know if they're seeing everything is uh safe and manageable then we should also be able to hold our meetings in person

182besides that to our fellow residents in Clifton I will always you know serve in the most honorable and respectful way uh no matter our differences of opinion uh I always put the staff the students and our district first and I really really am proud of what this board has been doing fiscally for the past uh years before even me uh becoming a member uh hopefully you know with this referendum in the near future we're not just setting up our students for one two years you know as you can tell our buildings are extremely old you know our referendum hopefully once it's passed with these upgrades are we're bringing our schools into the 21st centuries our schools are extremely outdated it's not just you know slight plumbing and ventilations in here that we basically got to

183do as parents you know as Citizens and as taxpayers we got to basically be able to put forth the highest quality possible for our future Generations because these students that are walking in our hallways now are Future Leaders for our nation future Community leaders future doctors Engineers future teachers and likewise um future um uh musicians you know our students you know we have to be able to give them all the resources possible to succeed as you could tell you know not just Clifton and other districts and throughout our nation we are sometimes lacking these resources compared to other nations around the world around uh and you know I I have visited many times in many different parts of our country and I've seen these modernized schools and you know it does take a toll on

184the students and hopefully this referendum does pass and we're able to you know tell a future Generations we have succeeded we have set you guys and we're able to uh pass over the pedestal to them so they may get the highest quality of Education possible and those are my comments thank you very much thank you Mr Awad uh Miss bassford um yes good evening everyone I'd like to thank all the speakers that came out tonight I'd like to thank them for their courage to get up and speak even though some people may not think it's favorable I put the policy 0142 uh 01 43.2 that's the student representative policy it speaks to the student representative that he speaks during committee reports so I just want them to know that they're part of the committee report

185as well and there was no time limit on a committee report um the other thing is through you U Mr President to our superintendent I emailed you a copy of New Jersey school board's um mental health an eye on Mental Health um if it's possible could you share that with the Student Union especially Max I think it would be very insightful for him to see what the adults are saying in in the State uh with their mental health as well um what else um I'd like to know if we're going to be uh if the rest of the board is going to be made aware when there are committee meetings so if we have input we can com uh we can email the chair with our concerns and questions so that U maybe some of

186those things can be resolved and uh be addressed um I have to say condolence to the pise family I forgot to mention them because there's a bunch of little young men women hurting right now because they lost their friend Manny um and uh the parents that run praise and especially to Gabby and Robert um I know this is really hard for you to take and I know how close you were to this young man so my my condolences go out to you as well um let's see to the people that celebrate lent uh those that are very close to me I hope that your reflection in the next 40 days bring some Enlightenment to your soul that you can uh move forward and find a better way and a better path that's all I have

187to say good night thank you Miss bassford uh vice president abaj jabro thank you president Smith um to miss all that spoke as the chair of the diversity committee uh I'll be sure to take a look at the teens take charge Summit and I'll forward it to our uh diversity committee members as well to take a look at it diversity is not just about race but it's about um uh disability gender all kinds of facets in in in our in today's world but I'll be sure to pass us around to our diversity committee Mr uh super roberi if we can perhaps our next diversity meeting have her I believe I don't know the last name but ran uh if we can have them maybe at our next meeting um to talk about this and perhaps

188what I would like to do is every diver every diversity meeting will tackle a certain um aspect of diversity in our district and I'll be sure to notify all our board members this way if anybody has any questions or or if they' like to join uh if we have any extra spots um so speaking of diversity um I to Super robbert You' like to revisit um what kind of clothing could be worn to school and whato kind of clothing can not be worn to school I have my own personal stance I'm sure people know and I'm pretty outspoken about it um between and I won't I won't say it here but there's a difference between freedom of speech and there's a difference on clothing and a difference between wearing something to initiate confrontation or conversation

189there's a difference me black lives matter shirt is a freedom of speech because once black lives matter all lives matter but that's all that's all I'm going to say um so I'll leave that there uh to the col spoke about transparency I think the board has been transparent I am darn happy for our superintendent um I think he's brought nothing but transparency and I am I applaud him for everything he's doing um if a person um you know spills out everything to all the board members and to the public as much as possible maybe we have to work better on the channel 70 but hopefully when we get back into person um things will get back to normal on that aspect to the caller who mentioned about fixing um your home as things happen when

190you are able to pay for them this district is all our homes whether you went to in this District or you are paying property taxes in this District it's all of our homes um so things need to be fixed this as Mr Canova said the state is paying onethird of the bill so now is the time to do it um I know Mr Healey has said um in in other aspects and other principles have said coming out of wro that you know that field is not just for wws students it will be open for for I'm sorry athletes but it be also open for a gym and and for other facets of the district um you know look back from 10 20 20 is when I graduated but 20 30 years ago when you graduated

191from CHS how bad was were those bathrooms what are they today what do you think think about any what are they today honestly I haven't seen a bathroom in quite a while I can imagine that they're pretty pretty disgusting um so if it's not not now the question is going to be then when um and the audacity that certain people have to say that opening schools is tied or the referendum is to open tied to opening schools how dare you I'm going to say that right here and then and people be upset of what I'm about to say and honestly at this point if you go one way and super th I tell I tell you this all the time if you go one way you'll have upset people if you go the other way

192you're going to have upset people the fact that schools are reopening because on numbers is truly what they are all about so it's not like all right you know let's open up because we need these people to to to to vote for the referendum no no these the referendum is something we've been discussing for quite a while and as super RI said it just happens to fall short because of the pandemic and honestly I ask you to really rethink to separate the two from each other and put in your mind what is very important at the Forefront of what the district needs and what how do we move forward we're we're losing students to other districts because they are fixing things within their District not just academics but the facilities and also in in outside

193the classroom so we need to do the same thing to keep up with what we're dealing with unfortunately education in this country whether it's K through 12 or in higher education has become a business unfortunately and it's not within the public schools it's outside the public schools but the public schools have to stay step by step with these non-public schools unfortunately and Tech schools so we need to update what we have to make sure we keep our district our kids in our district Money Follows a student um and also last but Mr President Smith if you can I know we talked about it but maybe if you can give board members because I know Mr Awad has said every single meeting um when would when would our next inperson meeting be um you know whether

194it's next meeting and two meetings and three meetings also people can mentally prepare for it as well so that's all I have to say and I thank you thank you uh vice president abaj jaabo um yes I was going to discuss uh with the board members on uh on uh going back uh when we go back uh to school uh on March 8th uh our next uh our next board Mee meeting after that is March 18th uh so we should be live uh back at the high school uh on that date it just is easier for us at the high school to keep the six foot distance the screens are set up uh Etc um so our next board meeting on March 4th we would still be uh remote and then when schools open up

195on the 8th uh March 18th we would go back uh live um at the high school Dr Robos is that the administration absolutely will make that work Mr Smith the uh the mar we do have the March 8th training that's going to be remote because it's of our presenter right correct just a quick clarification our next meeting is March 4th is a regular meeting and then March 25th March 18th 25th the board meeting is the 25th I'm counting March 18th we have a negotiations meeting yes we typically are the first and third but this was to to to fit the budget schedule correct my mistake yep okay so the first uh inperson meeting would be March the 25th um I just have quick comments um uh the February 14 through the 20th um is kindness

196week at the high school a kindness week in our district and I'd like to congratulate our Key Club uh they received a award for making Clifton High School a kindness certified school so a great accomplishment by our Key Club and let us uh all take lessons from our students and spread kindness and be kind to one another uh schools are also in the midst of celebrating their 100th day of school and um I compliment the teachers on having some creative ideas um in celebrating that 100th day uh many of the schools have posted it online and uh it's been very interesting to see how they are celebrating their 100 days of school um and not actually physically being in school um my condolences also to the Rodriguez family and of course Getwell wishes to councilman

197Gibson and Mr USI and Mr tomasovich um again um as Mr Lurch had said um kudos to you both for uh doing a wonderful job in handling the finances of our district um the citizens should be uh proud to know that our finances are in good hands and uh I compliment you both on great report and um and our M and our maintenance Mr Smith you're muted sorry I hit that on mistake uh and our maintenance crew uh for a fantastic job in the snow removal in our district um they always do a fantastic job but again with the weather being the way it was I know that they cleared our schools and uh had our properties in great shape so uh I commend our uh our maintenance crew and uh Mr Casper you had

198mentioned Mr hoey uh for those that don't know Mr hoey um he came aboard uh back when I was on the board my first time um he is an expert in the uh next to Mr Kenova he's probably uh the next best expert in the uh uh communication field and technology and uh he has served the district for about 20 years and um I know um Chris oey uh personally and I thank him for the service that he gave to our district and I wish him all the best in his retirement sorry to see him leave um and that's all I have Dr Robi thank you Mr Smith I'll be very brief tonight as I spoke a lot earlier uh first and foremost um my deepest condolences um to the Rodriguez family um I just

199can't imagine uh in my prayers second um I just want to touch base about the referendum communication um it's February 18th so we have two months uh we didn't put everything out all at once so within the next week people and the citizens of Clifton will be getting postcards in the mail the postcards will have referendum we'll also have uh a link to direct people to the website if you can get to the website there is so much information there all the information you could ask for is on that website we do have the social media posts we had a meeting last night with the HSA leadership we're getting the student vote engagement and and most importantly we're having a public Community form that everyone is welcome to attend virtually on March 3D um we

200just can't have that many people at a live meeting yet so that's still going to have to take place virtually so we understand not everybody is on social media not everybody is going to be online but there will be other opportunities to learn about the referendum the information is there if you'd like to know um that's really all I have to say tonight Mr Smith so uh I want to thank the board for their support uh in everything that we do here in Clifton and um that's it thank you thank you Dr roboy okay next we move on to new business is there any new business Dr roboy Mr Smith I just like some feedback from the board the board really is in charge of the school calendar so for the referendum uh vote on

201April 20th the polls will be open from 1:30 to 8 so we could still run our regular hybrid school day the the options are this for the calendar we could run our regular hybrid school day and then cancel after care we don't want students in the building when there's voting we could just run a district virtual day or we could close that day so before um we make that decision I'd just like some to get a consensus from the board I I think the best option is um I don't know if it's the best option but what I'm leaning towards is a regular hybrid day in school and we canceled the uh after care sounds good for everybody wants to give me a thumbs up and we don't even need to discuss it unless uh

202somebody feels strongly about it good with that I am good with that can can we hold off I mean when do you have to make because canceling I mean listen Virgo back to school when canceling after care could be a shot in the foot for a lot of people um but also if you go remote there it's like canceling after anyway um yeah I mean the three options are hybrid regular day cancel after care uh go fully remote or make it uh you know use one of our snow days and make it make it no school I think the least bad decision is cancelling after care but we don't have to make that decision ton I just want to get a consensus and hear what you're thinking we have we have time Dr Robert to

203uh as I understand that the the polls every school is not going to be utilize as a polling station so maybe you can look into that and still have your after care and depending on what buildings are going to be available for for voting or not you just cont that's right Mr D that's a very good point it will be limited locations Mike we don't have those yet though do we do we know the locations no we we have an inquiry to to the PA County Board of Elections but it should only be five or six locations if I had to guess similar to similar to November sorry yeah so then I think that makes the decision even easier I think that's uh that's good so can we not every building School building has Aftercare

204correct so if it's those five or six buildings can we work around and still have after care and the polls running at the same time at separate location I don't know how the County Board of Elections picks the locations that's what I'm not sure of Mike do you have any insight to that is it just can we at least maybe write in and request and tell them why do they keep it in mind I thought the governor had ruled that this was going to be an all person in-person election so all voting sites of a regular election will be in place if that's the case we're waiting confirmation from them I believe that's what the governor had stated okay so then let's just wait for further guidance again it's not a drastic decision if I'd

205like to give parents a few weeks notice so we have time but just just keep that in the back of your mind Mr Kenova yeah just the one point I would make is that U bringing them back hybrid they already know that if something happens and their child explosed within six feet to someone who's tested positive for covid that they're going to be quarantined um so this I think they're already on their toes and they know that that's something to be to be worried about and if we give this dateway in advance I think if they go to school and then they don't have after care I'm I'm sure they could figure it out just like a half day if you have a half day snow day just my opinion anyone else that's all I

206have Mr Smith anyone else for new business Mr Kenova yeah um so it was brought up to uh to go back with today's meetings in person so I just want to bring it up officially and see whatever how everyone feels about it I mean I've never I've never had a problem with it so I don't know if you want to bring it up here and then we we take a vote to go back in person if we need a vote well didn't we last time do same thing hybrid whoever wants to be remote can be remote whoever wants to be in person can be in person yeah correct so so we're going to plan on being back uh at the high school live for our March 25th meeting and anyone who wishes to be remote

207can still do remote and obviously if um if schools should have to uh be shut down for any reason we would go back to remote and anyone who wanted to speak they would come to this to the high school correct yep yeah we would have no no Callin um no call-in public portion it would all be a live public portion when we're back at the high school live okay anyone else comment on that okay we'll move on to excuse me Mr Smith I had a delayed reaction there uh you're gonna have to allow uh if any board member needs to be hybrid uh because after the what I went through being quarantined and I got exposed twice I had I had quarantine because I got a phone call say you were you were exposed so

208so you we're going to have to make a Arrangements if that happens to one of our board members that we have that um that option to quar to uh be remote as as I stated just before I haven't gotten the vaccination yet and and the other question I have is everybody GNA wear masks the whole time at the meeting because if anybody does not wear masks I Haven been gotten a vaccination I'm on the list I probably you'll get one in 2014 the way this list this whole distribution thing is going but um I have underlining health issues that I shouldn't even have to explain but if people are not going to wear masks I want to know how because I am not gonna sit on a day where people are not wearing masks I

209have to I have to worry about what I bring home to my home and to my family and that's my real concern with this whole thing I'm an elderly person I'm middle-aged I have serious health condition that I'm dealing with right now so I want to know is everybody gonna wear a mask Mr I think she had a deleted reaction to her audio so she probably didn't hear when you said whoever wants to stay home St do remote whoever wants to come in person come in person is that what you said Mr Smith yes yes okay but I'm asking the question is everybody gonna wear a mask on the day the whole time at the meeting Miss Gutierrez do we have have uh do you know off hand do we have a policy on that

210or uh Dr roosi do you have directive in the schools uh they have to wear masks if we follow our we have a universal masking policy in the district so everybody who in the building should be wearing a mask okay so there we go so all board members would be required to wear masks and any board member that is quarantined or does not feel comfortable attending the meeting they can attend the meeting virtually we will have that option available as well thank you yes Miss Gutierrez thank you Mr Smith not just board members whoever is going to be present at the meeting correct I was just answering on the day is Mr Smith do we know if the indoor limits have changed or or their lease I I I don't know I'm going to check

211that okay well we'll just have to check the numbers prior to but we have time for that but that's important to know yes I think originally he said they were and then he rended it it's hard to tell I I don't know I have to check it because now that the numbers that in restaurants are different I don't know if they've changed something um in the last couple of days so I'll find that back to we have time we have time to get that all in order for the uh for the March 25th meeting okay uh executive session uh M Gutierrez we have something for executive session we do we have a couple of issues uh one a Personnel item uh and another uh possibly a contract item um for a executive session and there

212will be action taken uh at the end okay and we it would I don't anticipate that we'll be very long right M Dr Roberto I think my uh Personnel portion should take no longer than seven minutes and the other portion probably not that long either so Dan I'm gonna hold you to it all right do I have a motion to motion executive session second uh vice president abravo second by Mr Kenova roll call Mr aad Miss bassford yes Miss Beltran yes Mr kova yes Mr Dy yes Miss Danny yes Mr Casper yes Mr abrao yes Mr Smith yes Mr Mountain if you take us in e e e okay return from uh executive session roll call Mr aad I see I'm saying Miss bassford she's still entering just one second everyone's still getting out of

213the break room I'm sorry there she is M bord Miss Beltran yes Mr Kenova here Mr daily yes Miss Danny here Mr Casper here Mr abrao here Mr Smith here have a okay the board met in uh executive session and we have a resolution to uh approve uh E6 and to change our uh board regular meeting date from scheduled uh March 25th to March 18 2021 so moved so move by Mr C second second by Mr Kenova discussion seeing none roll call Mr aad yes Miss bassford Miss Beltran yes Mr kova yes Mr daily yes Miss Danny yes Mr Casper yes Mr abido yes and Mr Smith yes motion carries okay motion to adjourn don't moved second by vice president abrao second by Mr Casper any objection meeting adjourned thank you all good night everybody

214good night