001hey mr casper reconnect your mic i gotta get maybe you gotta get close to your router can you hear me fine yes okay test one yep got it we still have a couple minutes two more members if you just joined us we are live and the link's going out to the public right now right next to me i'm running i have another computer next to me maybe that's it [Music] um eric just fyi our attorneys trying to get in i'm sure you're looking but chelsea spell and bruce young no it should be derelies bruce john is another member from a different uh organizat he's from another county so that's probably republic yeah usually if we're free we all visit each other's um re-org meetings it's something that we all do there's several of them tonight
002so we all take turns mike can you ask her if a chance she's using chelsea's account or chelsea's computer yes good evening everyone everyone yes it is chelsea um um mr mellon yeah she's coming in right now then next this is uh um it seems like you're getting a little better um okay i mean i can understand you um okay yeah that sounded a little better so hopefully it stays like that okay so are we ready everyone this is dr robertson he's here i think everyone's here okay i guess we'll get started so good evening i'll call to order the january 7th to 2021 meeting of the clifton board of education please stand for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america
003and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all this is our organization meeting the next item on the agenda will be administering of the oath of office to three elected board members from the november election and we're going to go in alphabetical order first uh mr fahim abhidrabo will have supreme court judge mala swear him in with the oath of office as soon as they're ready they can begin thank you one please set this up you don't mind i'm gonna take my mask off just for this moment okay you ready sir please raise your right hand and repeat after me do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that i will support the constitution of the united states that i support the constitution united states and the
004constitution of the state of new jersey and the constitution the state of new jersey and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same then i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the government's established in the united states in the united states and in this state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me god so repeat after me do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that i possess the qualifications that i possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of for the office of member of a board of education member of the board of education am not disqualified as a voter i am not disqualified as a voter pursuant
005to pursuant to rsrs 1919 colon 4-1 colon 4-1 and not disqualified due to conviction i am not disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense of a crime or offense listed in listed in njsa njsa 18a 18a calling 12-1 colon 12-1 and that i will faithfully and that i will faithfully impartially and partially and justly and justly perform all duties of that office perform all duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my abilities so help me god so help me god congratulations commissioner [Music] congratulations since we have this laptop already set up can we have it for mr awad as well on this laptop of course okay okay so next um the next member elected member is mr faris awa and he'll also have superior
006courts judge mala swear him in with the oath of office good evening everyone i'm just going to take off my mask that i will support the constitution that will support the constitution of the united states of the united states and the constitution and the constitution of the state of new jersey of the state of new jersey and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and i'll bear true from faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments into the governments established established in the united states in the united states and in this state and in this thing under the authority of the people and under the authority of the people so help me god so help me god okay repeat after me do solemnly swear do solemnly
007swear that i possess that i possess the qualifications prescribed the qualifications prescribed by law by law for the office of member of member of the board of education board of education i am not disqualified as a voter i am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to pursuant to r s nineteen now how are we gonna get heavy i am not disqualified due to conviction i have not disqualified the conviction of a crime of a crime or a status quo listed in perform all the duties of that office form all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me god so help me god congratulations commissioner and finally uh mr jim smith will have the city of clifton's mayor in zaldi swear him in with the oath of office as
008soon as soon as you guys are ready you can start they have unmute their microphone are we on yeah eric unmuted me i mean eric used me okay hi jim smith i jim smith do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that i will support the constitution of the united states that i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new jersey in the constitution of the state of new jersey and that i will bear true faith and allegiance that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government's establishment to the government's establishment in the united states in the united states and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so
009help me god so help me god i jim smith i jim smith who solemnly swear do solemnly swear that i possess the qualifications prescribed by law that i possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of the board of education for office of a member of the board of education i am not disqualified as a voter i am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to pursuant to rs19 call 4-1 rs 19 colon 4-1 am not disqualified to the conviction of a crime i am not disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense or offense listed in listed in njsa njsa 18 a 12-1 18 a 12-1 and then i will faithfully and that i will faithfully and partially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of
010that office or the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me god so help me god congratulations jimmy thank you thank you congratulations to our two incumbents and newly elected board member if we could just um uh be patient and allow them to get situated to give them a few moments just get situated and allow the officials to leave if they would like to does anyone need more time mr abbado mr water mr smith you're good thank you for your patience oh no problem i will now call for um roll call mr abby dravo here mr awad here here miss stasford here miss beltran here mr canova here mr daily miss danny here mr casper mr smith here we have a quorum
011next next is the reading of the mission statement the mission of the clifton school district in an open and reciprocal community partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to democratic society in an ever-changing world and next is the reading of the open public meeting statement the new jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the clifton board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at
012the city's clerk city clerk's office clifton public library administration building senior citizen nutrition center on cable tv and the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of the apparent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy zero one six eight our next order of business since this is our organization meeting is the election of the president of the board of education do i have any nominations yes i'd like to nominate mrs bashford for president i'd like to nominate mr abedrabo for president i'd like to nominate joe canova for president mr uc i like to nominate mr smith jim smith as president i'd like to nominate mr daley as president seeing no more i enclosing nominations per bylaw zero one five two i'm sorry per bylaw zero one five
013two each board member will provide me through our private zoom chat since we're virtual a written ballot with um the name of a nominated member they are voting for after i receive all the votes i will read them into record and i'll read them in alphabetical order as i did roll call so if you can give us a couple moments they're gonna give me their votes for these first nomination for president would you like us to send it directly to our public chat right now um you can do it privately or like write to me or in the chat so we're in a private zoom chat and um as soon as i receive everybody's i'm going to be reading them aloud so the zoom chat room is is is sufficient i think well later if
014on if we have people in here from public speaking they would see the chat now from what i understand they don't see the back chat but i'll be reading them aloud now mr all right i've received all the the nominations are the the votes i i apologize so i'll read them out loud mr rabbidrabo uh voted for mr abhidravo mr awad mr abba voted for mr abhidravo miss basford voted for miss basford miss beltran voted for joe konova mr konova mr canola voted for miss basford mr daley voted for mr smith miss danny voted for mr smith mr casper voted for mr smith and mr smith voted for mr smith so that is a four two one one that doesn't meet the majority five we need per policy so since no nominated member has received
015a majority vote um i have to call for nominations again are there any nominations for president i still nominate his password [Music] nominate joe konova again i would like to nominate mr abbott rubble again mr ussie can you put in the chat who is now nominated sure i if that's seeing none i'm closing nominations and i'll do that for miss danny and everybody okay and get please give us a moment again so i could uh retaliate yes um i have natalies i'll read them off in alphabetical order again mr abadraba voted for mr abu drabo mr awad voted for jim mr smith miss password voted for miss bassford miss beltran voted for mr konova mr canova voted for miss bassford mr daly voted for mr smith miss danny voted for mr smith mr casper voted
016for mr smith and mr smith voted for mr smith mr smith has a five vote majority so he has been elected the president for the year congratulations to all the nominees too congratulations congrats mr smith thank you thank you thank you so uh next order of business is the election of the vice president of the board of ed do i have any nominations casper i nominate joking over my name is rubble seeing no more did anyone nominate mr casper mr daley nominated mr casper i'll type him in the chat again so everyone can see type in just the last names mr uc it's just just who are the not people nominated sure thank you so um seeing none i'll close nominations and again if you just be patient while i tally their votes so okay
017i've tallied the votes mr abedrabo voted for mr abadraba mr awad voted for mr abhidrabo miss basford voted for mr canova miss beltran voted for mr canova mr canova voted for mr konova mr daly voted for mr casper miss danny voted for mr casper mr casper voted for mr casper and mr smith voted for mr abbadraba so we have we do not have a five majority it's three three three so as we did before um do i have any nominations for vice president mr mr canover please vice president are there any other nominations i'm sorry there was i'm sorry there was delay could you repeat yourself okay uh mr uchiyan mr abubo [Music] any other nominations i will then close nominations so there's two nominees again please be patient while i tell you the votes
018it was nominated uh mr knope okay excuse me okay i tallied the votes for vice president mr abadraba voted for mr abu drabbo mr awad voted for mr abu drabba miss basford voted for mr canova miss beltran voted for mr konova mr kanova voted for mr kanova mr daly voted for mr abedraba miss danny voted for mr rabadrabo mr casper voted for mr abadrabo mr smith voted for mr aberdrabbo so that is six to three it meets the five majority so mr abedrabo is the vice president for the next year for the 2021 year thank you thank you it's usually tradition the president will take over from now mr smith would you like to take over as soon as i am muted okay do we have any other business for the board yes so next
019is number nine on board ducks yep okay okay reading of uh school board member code of ethics bylaw zero one four two someone like to read that excuse me mr rob oci aren't we supposed to read the ethics form this is that right now that is this right now i think we're all supposed to read it together the if you'll attach the pdf the code of ethics there's the yeah we are supposed to breathe together yeah typically we uh we go around we go around the table and everyone reads um we read one of them that's correct if everyone could open it if not then someone if someone could read more than one all right we'll start with um mr abujabo and we'll go around do you want to meet yourself i'm having some board
020docs issues so you might have to skip me in the reading i can't get in dana uh we're doing the code of ethics correct does somebody wish to uh i'll do it uh the board member code of ethics i'll do one and two uh i will uphold you're supposed to put your hand up i will i will uphold and enforce all laws state rules and regulations and court orders pertaining to the schools desired changes should be brought only through legal and ethical processes on procedures number two i will make decisions in terms of of education welfare of children and will seek development and maintain public schools which meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race creed sex or social standings i'll pick it up from there mr uh mr president i
021will confine my board action to policy making planning an appraisal and i will help frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them you're on camera jim [Music] who's next anyone else want to read next if i have to read you have to go on news yeah all right go ahead here we go here we go that's fine ahead mr rawat thank you i will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well run i will recognize that authority rests with the board of education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action which i'll take the next one i will refuse to surrender my judge independent judgment to special interests or
022partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends i'll read seven i will hold confidential all matters pertaining to schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools but in all other matters i will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools i'll read eight as well i will vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer i'll go i will support and protect school personnel and proper performance of their duties i'll end if nobody wants to go i will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer it will not act on such complaints at public meetings only after failure of
023an administrative solution in the coming days i'm going to have everyone sign this um obviously we can't do it this second but it will be received eventually mr smith your music next we have board member qualifications can anyone want to start i think that's that i mean we could read it that's the bylaw i mean we don't typically read it i mean okay is everyone pretty much i'm just trying to say it's pretty long i mean it's bylaw zero one four two and anyone could see it on our website if they'd like to all right next order of business is the designation of meetings okay again starting with january 24th i have a question why can't we go back to wednesdays um thursdays is a little odd for me can we figure out too to
024make sure that we do not coincide with any meetings on the city side whether it's council meetings or planning or anything if they have theirs on wednesdays maybe it will conflict this will give residents right they don't have to choose between city side or board of vet side since we have a lot of parents who do watch the city side okay so historically the city council is the first and second tuesday of every month board of education used to be the second and last wednesday of every month we we we staggered we changed it last year to go to thursdays but thursdays is not working well for me so i'm making a request to change it back to wednesdays well i understand his best friend and i i agree with him on the tuesdays first
025first and for the city side but i almost talked about the planning board because that's important too and any other meetings but if everybody agrees on a certain day i mean i'm up for whatever but um i just want to give i know there was a lot of complaints um from residents in the past and that's why we changed the thursday so i just want to make sure we take everything in no the the meetings were changed to accommodate people's uh education schedules i i thoroughly remember the conversation and and we it's since i've moved to clifton 35 years ago it's been the second and fourth wednesdays of every month set by clockwork and the reason why they did that historically was so that we wouldn't correspond or conflict with any other organizations or any
026kind of meetings going on that's why we did it years ago you can ask um if it's fine if i might chime in uh wednesdays is difficult for me uh just for my my schedule i just wanted to just clarify that that's fine everybody wednesday is difficult monday tuesday wednesday friday saturday sunday not thursdays friday works for me thursday through saturday works for me um i can't do friday or saturday those are the days i open and close the store unless we're virtual forever we also have football games that are on friday so i wouldn't touch the weekend is there something we have to check with the cable station first well i would make a suggestion uh that we table it outside of designating the next next meetings we have a set next meeting and
027put our input to the superintendent and um uh let him work it out because it's going to be difficult um it's a little more difficult in the zoom than it is i think if we submit our request to uh our uh mr dr uh and uh let him work it out outside the 21st and also i would also suggest that we put a designated time for the start-ups meetings in there do change it and that's fine but um i know that when we get our agenda we don't have time on it here it's in the public notice but it's not on the agenda so that would be my recommendation suggestion i'll make a motion to that effect okay we have a motion on the floor is there a second second second okay uh thank you
028mr president i would just want some some clarification from the board of course the administration will be present any night the board is having a meeting but if uh is it a majority of the board can can make it on one night and some members can't how will i decide if it's a wednesday or thursday is it a majority of the board that can make it um you know i i just want to i want to do what's best for everyone's schedule but if there's one or two people that can't make it on a wednesday or a thursday is that decision going to be left up to me or to to you mr smith or how would you like to work that i just want some clarification for that mr smith through you to danny
029we changed this schedule to accommodate two board members we changed it i've been on this board it'll be ten years in april we were wednesday night you could set your clock by us i think the community needs some kind of stability especially now with what's going on in the world and i think we need to get back to the way we used to do things like that i would also uh suggest shooters double check uh with this city i know to sit with what the council meetings are on tuesdays um i don't know what wednesdays that the board of adjustment meets and i believe the planning board meets on the fourth thursday so i'd if you not that we should uh defer to i don't mind deferring to the council but i don't think we
030need to defer to uh to the board of adjustment or but it's it's not good that there's public meetings on at the same same time either so uh you could consult with the city double check with their their uh scheduled times are for the board of adjustment city council and um planning board um and uh i you know we should all and then also put in there and you know you could consult with us in the time period before the next meeting too rather than we're trying to do it i mean it's a little more difficult on the zoom process to to work it out i'm available anytime so i don't have any conflicts i'll get everyone's schedule and then i'll discuss it with the board president and we'll put a resolution on for the
031next agenda if that works so we had a motion in a second to keep january 21st and then discuss and have the rest of the meetings um to be to be discussed and then voted on the next meeting is that correct yes yes okay any other discussion on this roll call uh mr abedraba yes mr awad yes yes miss basswords no thursdays is conflict for me miss beltran yes mr canova yes mr daley yes mrs danny yes mr casper yes mr smith yes motion carries so we'll have the january 21st meeting and then table the rest of the meetings all right next is number ten excuse me number selection of delegates and committee appointments yeah i uh committee appointments will come [Music] as soon as i have an opportunity to speak to everybody mr smith
032would it be easier to set a timeline um for people who are interested in certain aspects of leadership committees and then from there you can decide whether uh you know where to who's going to chair what yeah well that's what i said i'll reach out to everybody and get their feelings and and we'll go from there we do want to pick the delegate and alternate of the new jersey school boards association and the delegate and alternate for the passaic county school boards uh is there anyone that's interested in this i am interested in being the passaic county school board representative i have to go to them anyway i'm the president of passaic county so i'd like to sit on that okay so uh make uh judy the delegate of that and uh mr casper had
033asked uh to be the uh of the new jersey boards so we just need uh an alternate for each is there anyone interested in being an alternate for either of those i'll be the alternate typically if no one is interested all right mr casper is offered to be the alternate for the county is there anyone that is interested in the alternate of the new jersey school boards okay we'll address that at a later time and we need a member of the board of directors to the northern uh region educational services commission mr mr president currently that's me um in in passaic county the tradition is that the superintendents in each district are the uh the members okay and nominate mr roberto dr roberto okay all right next is number 12 presentation reports there are committees
034there's nothing there right correct all right next we have uh public recognition mr mountain is there anyone uh nope mr smith there is no one in the waiting room sting none i might make a motion to close the public course okay motion by mr daley a second second by myself objection any objection all right uh uh [Music] i can read that yes number one uh mr casper would you like to read that okay okay whereas on july 2nd 2021 the community noted with sorrow the passing of miss arlena gresti and whereas mr gristi had served the board of education and children of clifton faithfully and conscientiously as a highly respected middle school mathematics teacher for 36 years before retiring in 2014 contributing her talents for the betterment of the school system mr gristi was a
035member of the clifton board of education from 2011 to 2018 where she served as the vice president was a member of the new jersey education association and was very active in the clifton teachers association where she served as treasurer now therefore be it resolved that the resolution be forwarded to her bereaved family to serve as an expression of the great regard in which mrs agresti was held by the board of education the administration employees and 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 peruse okay do i have a motion by mr casper second second by mr daley any objection okay new jersey uh school board recognition excuse
036me mr smith are we are we voting on ea one separately from ea too uh yes then can we have a i guess a roll call yeah i guess a roll call mr abby drabo yes mr rowan yes ms beltran yes mr canola yes mr daley yes miss danny yes mr casper yes yes mr mr smith yes all right uh number two and number three can we put those together it's only really two yes it's really only we have an ea too that's it move the a2 e82 second mr abhijavo somebody like to read this no whereas new jersey's 20 000 local school board members who receive uh no immerseration for their services act as advocates for public school students as they work with administrators teachers parents for the betterment of public education whereas school
037boards strive to provide resources necessary to meet the needs of all students including those with special needs and whereas boards of education provide accountability to the public they communicate the needs of the school district to the public and they convey to school administrators the public's expectations for the schools and whereas new jersey can take pride in its schools with rank among the nation's best in key achievement indicators such as the national assessment of educational uh progress scores and the preparation for college through advanced placement offerings and sat assessments therefore now it be resolved that the board of education does hereby recognize the services of local school board members throughout new jersey as we join communities statewide and observing january 2021 as school board recognition month and further be resolved the school board of education urges
038all new jersey citizens to work with their local boards of education and public school staff toward the advancement of our children's education roll call mr abu drabba yes mr awad yes miss password yes miss beltran yes mr canova yes mr daley yes miss danny yes mr casper yes mr smith yes okay um mr president excuse me yes i just wanted to mention it came to my attention from mr mountain that just as we closed uh the public portion our student representative max rubin um logged in he was having difficulty logging in as was laurie la lama the the cea president i'm not sure if we want to go back and allow that or if it's too late i just wanted to bring that to your attention sir any objection from the board no please yeah
039just no no objection but yeah i suggest we do that we just finished the uh d and e part and then um and we can pull in right after that yeah good call all right uh under personnel we have d one uh nurses for the covid 19 drive-thru vaccination clinic number two substitute appointments number three personnel appointments uh one two three i have a motion by mr daley second second mr casper roll call uh discussion roll call yes mr average about mr awad yes miss basford yes yes miss beltran yes mr canova yes mr daley yes miss danny yes mr casper mr smith yes motion carries okay under f it is uh board member comments oh i'm sorry we we're allowing max reuben to come in uh mr mountain is he available mr rubin and
040miss lalama are joining right now okay under ask max if you can uh hear us uh the floor is yours and welcome uh thank you sir um first off uh i hope you guys all had a great holiday break uh happy new year christmas if you celebrate that uh congratulations to uh mr smith our new president and uh mr abu drabbo the new board vice president um you guys deserve it you've been working really hard for the board for a long time now so it's great to see you guys in um in these positions now um i have a few points um first i want to bring up there was we talked about a few board me a few board meetings back the iem mastery scandal there was the um the corporation that we um
041suspected to be a pyramid scheme um you guys sent out an email to the district to families which i really appreciated um but just because we really wanted to get the message across um me and fellow students from the csu um created a flyer to warn kids against the dangers of joining certain potential pyramid schemes such as i am mastery academy um my secretary mustafa created the flyer we got it approved by mr doctor and mr robertosi um i believe it was from you who got who got the approval yeah um and we sent it out a few days ago on instagram on other social media platforms and it's been getting a lot of attention some positive some negative but it's been getting some attention which is good and more and more students are finding
042out about the dangers of joining such potential pyramid schemes um and i would just like to tell all the students out there if you go to the clifton student union instagram at clifton student union um we have a link tree in our bio with many resources such as the clifton public schools youtube channel the clifton high school youtube channel some resources if you're thinking about getting into foreign exchange or you get um people ask you to join certain organizations like i am mastery academy just beware and there's some links in our uh on our instagram page uh for videos and articles about uh those certain organizations and ways to get around them um i wanted to ask will there be any more in-person sat testing and psat testing in clifton high school and if so
043when um because i heard reports from fellow students who claimed that when they took the sat in school it was a bit disorganized some staff were confused about the procedures and there were little to no social distancing online i'm sure it was a huge undertaking for everyone but a few students of my a few fellow students were just alarmed at the atmosphere last time they took in-person sat testing so if there is going to be more in-person sat or psat testing i just hope that um everything is organized there's social distancing everything is planned out really well and please tell me when that happens so that my fellow students could be prepared um i also wanted to ask if students could pick up books and novels from the media center i know we when we
044were doing the whole digital resources uh website we created a platform where students can take out sat and act prep books um going on the digital resources website i wonder if is that just for sat and a ct prep books or is there another way students can check out just ordinary books like novels fiction non-fiction books um from the media center and if there is a way to do that i would love to hear about how to do that um a few other just important uh plugs for the chs morning show the cast program is continuing to make great content on uploading every morning just giving students announcements about upcoming programs club meetings sports tryouts and everything like that we're being more and more creative every week and um it's just a good way to
045stay up to date on what's going on in the clifton community especially clifton high school um also um i know it might be hard you guys probably the idea of putting on a musical production during the pandemic probably blows your mind but um it looks like this year we're going to manage to do it um mr pinto miss pogie miss sparrows mr stamnesky um just started uh tryouts and we already casted our spring musical review it's going to be a series of different musical numbers that we're going to be performing virtually um so yeah it's going to be really excited it's going to be really exciting i'm lucky enough to be a part of it so hopefully that's going to happen around the end of may early june so i would definitely look forward to
046that um and yeah that's it thank you so much for allowing me to speak and i will see you guys next time for the next next two weeks yeah max thank you very much for your uh your time and your comments and uh dr robitozi did you want to say yes thank you mr smith max i'll try to get that information for you um but the sats and the psats aren't run by the district um although some of our teachers may be working at those sites but i can certainly look into into what you know the confusion was but i do anticipate that there will be more in in person sat testing i i believe the dates are on the um on the sat website uh because they're universal dates that that everybody utilizes but
047i'll double check with that and i'll have mr doctor get in touch with you um and as far as the uh the library books i don't see any reason why we can't come up with some method for students to be able to access books at a certain time as long as we do it in a safe and socially distant manner so i'll also bring that up with mr doctor and see if there's something that we can uh do to arrange that for those that are interested always good to see you max oh thank you i actually got an email in the middle of that from mr walker and he said it's for all books okay so i guess that answers there we go yeah here we go uh thank you so much i'll see you
048january 21st thanks max thanks again max um mr llama you're up all right good evening to everybody i want to congratulate faras awad for his new mission and i believe you were a ccms student back in the day which absolutely dates me but that's perfectly fine i also want to congratulate jim smith and and fahim abu drabba for their second terms um the ca looks forward to working with the airport and there's something that i want to compare like my group as me as president and my vice presidents because each member is elected as an individual but you must govern as a member of a team so this goes for my group as well you didn't get to pick the team you may not even like everyone but you're the team and that's your team
049your success as a trustee is completely deposited of the board the public appropriately tends to judge the success of the board the board not what individuals do same thing for my group even though i'm president i have three vice presidents the secretary and we work together as a group and i think that's what propels us to the future and it's what propels you to the future because we're all interesting we're working for the kids our families and community and of course the staff this is how i guide the kids in class we work as we work collaboratively as a team students what i call kids we in order to bring them along we have to be successful as a group and that is me as an educator also that we all have to work together
050for the kids and staff and the community is very important and i want to reiterate that the cea all of us together will only improve clifton public schools thank you very much thank you miss lalama and uh happy new year and my best to your organization and your members thank you happy and healthy thank you mr mountain anyone else we have one edition if you're inviting additional folks we have one more the board okay with that okay mr mountain you can let him in miss i don't think she can hear us yet one moment miss langer if you can hear us it's your turn to speak hi there thank you for allowing me an opportunity to speak it's been a couple board meetings since i've been here i want to thank lori for her wonderful
051words on behalf of the cea and i just wanted to you know let let you know my thoughts on a few things i know that you are looking to build a reopening plan for clifton and i'm so excited for the opportunity to be in person with my kids but i also hope you will continue to put our safety first i have reached out to the governor's office on about four occasions using three different platforms including social media and his request form online because at the njea meeting he spoke about working with districts to try and help them get the funding they need to update outdated hvac systems if it was necessary in the reopening plan unfortunately i haven't heard back from him in any capacity or his office and the last time i spoke i
052had implored our board members to perhaps use your political connections to try and do the same and i'm just hoping that if you have not already done so that you'll consider reaching out i do think it's important that we get those hvac systems up to date with proper merv ratings before we bring us back in the midst of a pandemic i also want to thank you for working to get the covid vaccine pre-registration thing up and going at clifton high school i think it's fantastic that we're able to serve the community in that way and i hope to continue seeing us do that thank you so much for your time thank you miss langer happy new year to you happy new year hey mr mountain anyone else no one else in the waiting room mr
053smith okay next uh order of business is board member comments uh if we would just start uh mr abhijava we'd start with the with you thank you um first of all thank you to clifton for having faith in me to continue serving our students teachers in the city as a whole um i definitely want to extend my uh sincere condolences to the passing of arlene my family does extend her condolences to the gresti family um i was i never had um mr gristy as a teacher but i was fortunate enough to start with her on the board and got to know her in that perspective um my sincere condolences and prayers are with the skadoodle family i know um gina scadu um who lost her mother uh gina stay strong you are a strong woman
054and uh if you need anything my family is here for you uh for whatever you need to the kovith clinic um vaccinations i heard from a lot of people it went great um i was fortunate enough to know a lot of people who are in the medical field in the city in various places that were able to get the vaccinations the city did a phenomenal job from what i hear and a big hand in it was um high school staff from what i'm told was there dr robert tauzi and the um the nurses throughout our district and the city personnel it's a new year 2021 we haven't started off great yet but let's continue to do the hard work all around um hopefully every everybody's safe and continues the hvac information if i may uh
055through the legislative committee we've made contact um between the legislative committee and the superintendents and superintendent himself uh with correspondence and we are going to follow up in the new year and legislative will get back on it now that we're into the new year and the first meetings in the books so we'll follow up and dr robert tusi will help us guide the way with the administration on that end um [Music] i want to thank judge hanimoda i just want to make a correction mr uchi he is a superior court appellate division um the reason why i chose him it is a person i like tradition first of all and um we all choose certain people for certain things because they were the first in something to me not in an education standpoint religion plays
056a big factor in me are for me and i'm sure everybody here and everybody in the world that's a drive for them him being the first muslim superior george uh george superior judge uh appel division in new jersey to me is a great honor i've known him for over 10 years he swore me in the first time and to me tradition um i asked him no brainer the second time um great friend honest guy tell you the truth drove up here for me from from somerset county for 20 minutes and and drove back down that's who i call a true friend and somebody's always in your corner um miss la llama everybody knows me i don't have my bucks flag in the back but i'm going to twist your words a little bit by saying
057you're right a team is um it's not about a player it's not about tom brady it's about all the moving parts on a team that make a moving you know a moving motion that makes uh different parts come together to make sure that that the it's a well-oiled machine and that everybody does their parts everybody plays their position to make sure um that we score all the time and in that case the bucks are in the playoffs so i'll i'll leave it there and i appreciate you all thank you i'm sorry mr awad if you would go next thank you good evening everybody i don't think i probably introduced myself in the beginning of the meeting uh first and foremost hello uh it's an honor to serve the board and i would like to personally
058thank the city of clifton who had faith in me and trusted me and elected me into this position you know as time goes by i would uh hopefully you know get to know everybody on the board uh i am fresh onto this board i know the first year is going to be a lot of learning for me i'm ready to take on any tasks you know working with everybody on this board i'm uh very proud for the past couple of years what this board has uh progressed in and what they have accomplished and i hope to you know join uh you know with this board and continue the progress that we're doing you know with the pandemic going on and the chaos that's been all happened in 2020 hopefully 2021's a new year new chapter
059um you know we have a really strong team um also i would like to thank the superintendent you know you you have been doing an amazing job with the circumstances you have and for all our teachers and all our students you know you know all the teachers honestly are heroes not all heroes wear capes and i think you know in our school district the staff you know they have been heroes they have been working hard you know uh teaching online is not the easiest thing but you know what they do it with a smile you know the preparing you know the students in our district for the future what's come and you know getting through this i know it's going to make everybody stronger i hope everybody in the city are are safe and sound
060and as time progresses you know i will be always available if anybody needs me and hopefully as time goes by you know i get to get more comfortable with these zoom calls and you know we could do great for us our students and our staff thank you everybody thank you mr ron uh miss basford yes good evening and happy new year everyone uh first i want to start off on a somber note to send my condolences to the uh aggressive family to joe and maria on the untimely passing of arlene to gina skadoodle on the passing of your mom i know we've been uh in boxing each other about support um i uh i in time my friend in time uh welcome to mr awad to the board um you will have a lot to
061learn and uh i i emailed you the county meeting states i hope you show up to get some um your training in and and learn how to be a really good board member and a true board member in the right way as we begin this new year as many of you i was very excited about 2021 even though i knew we were a long way to go maybe my hopes were too high because after a few days 2021 i was sitting here very disappointed last night it was very hard to watch tv unfold real patriots are those who were on flight 93 who saved our nation's capital not the people that we saw on live tv and who were tearing it apart it would be unlikely that yesterday's events did not affect each and every
062one of us in some way some greater than others when you compare yesterday to real peaceful protests that occurred during the summer yesterday was one of those days that you will never forget you will always remember where you were and what you were doing no matter how what political party you are a part of what we witnessed was not only disgraceful but proves why it is important that we as a board do the best we can for the people who have elected us we have a duty to serve but more importantly to protect the health and safety of every child teacher staff member in the district and in this current climate that we are in i want to assure you every one of you staff student um teacher community member that i will continue to
063use my voice and my knowledge beyond just clifton we all need to pay our own we all need to play our own parts in making a world a better place better than it was before covet events like yesterday bring out the ugly truth the truth that we need better of and that we deserve better the question i leave each and every one of you tonight is what role do i play in making tomorrow of a better day than yesterday happy new year thank you i would just like to come out one day thank you very much for the kind email you sent me the other day and i know you mentioned that you had uh foot surgery i hope you're healing up well and you're safe and if there's anything i could help you with
064or you know your family i'm always a call and email away heal up we need you strong and hopefully you know you've been really responsible i think for that email i will be joining uh those meetings uh with the county it'll be really resourceful and if there's anything like that that comes by your way that you can help me relay that information it'll be a great very welcome mr awad i am a plethora of knowledge when it comes to school boards i have a very very long resume some people accept it and some people just miss beltran is she there okay i'll keep it short um i just want to say congrats to everyone who was sworn in tonight i welcome you uh us to the team i look forward to meeting you in real
065life person soon hopefully um congrats to the new president and vice president um i hope that we continued on the path that we're on which i think is a path of positivity moving towards a possible referendum and getting the kids back into school and everything else that's on our agenda for 21. um i hope everyone had a nice holiday and i hope to see you all in person soon um other than that i think that's all i have for tonight thank you thank you miss beltran mr canova hey good evening anyway everyone happy new year um first i want to express my condolences to joe agression on the passing of his wife i'm very sorry to hear that uh thoughts and prayers with you and the family um congrats to our newest board member mr
066awad nice to meet you as dana said uh hopefully one day in person we'll finally get to meet um and congratulations to mr abhijava and mr smith on not only their re-election but tonight to their appointment to the president vice president roles so congratulations on that uh mr rubin you mentioned that uh about state testing so i know i was on some county meetings where i heard some conversations and and state meetings about testing and uh there was talk about that there may not even be testing at all i don't know about sat specifically but i know uh placement testing uh they were talk or placement testing the uh achievement testing they were talking about possibly deferring those i don't know if anything ever happened with that um but the next time i'm on that
067meeting i could ask and see what's going on i know that they said they might not even do them all together because of the the way this year went with covid but thank you for your updates and thank you for always being on these calls because i'd like to hear what's going on in the schools and with the students i'd love to hear that you're thinking outside the box and putting on a show um can't wait to see that looking forward to that it'll give us at least something good to see in 2001 um it's funny i saw a meme that was online that said uh it's if this is my trial for my seven-day trial for this year i'd like to pass and go directly to 2022. um but no uh you know i
068i i again what dana said about uh the rfps and reopening of schools and coving there's a lot going on this year um i'm hoping we could keep that that momentum running we had in last year and keep on just pushing through and getting everything done that we need to do as a group and as a board and i'm looking forward to this new year thank you thank you mr kenova mr daley thank you mr president uh first of all i would also like to pass on my personal condolences to joe and maria on the passing of arlene um i enjoyed uh serving with her we had some differences opinions but that was not important and i think that's a little uh lead into uh what i want to say about our collective board here
069um i'd like to welcome first of all mr awad uh congratulations i look forward to meeting you and talking to you sooner than later i know we have our covert things but i think we can address that issue i welcome you aboard um and i'd like to congratulate mr smith and miss abedrabo on the election today president and vice president um but i'd also like to talk to to my members as general and it kind of is in line with lama said um we're looking forward however however we vote whether it's on an issue or who's president or who not we have to after that we need to look forward and collectively look for the betterment of our school district and support our superintendent uh and i think we're all up to that i don't
070have to uh think about chastising anybody on this sport at this time for not doing that but i'd like to reaffirm that uh that uh i look forward working with each each one of you i think we all have different uh talents and uh things to contribute here and we should continue to do that um and it's important that we look forward and grow and address the issues that are ahead of us uh i respect each and every one of you and uh and i and i don't have no doubt that will collectively do a great job going forward for 2021 and yet another uh trying year with the cove advice lastly i'd like to talk about the uh and i didn't prepare any statement about the insurrection that occurred in washington um yesterday i
071can't tell you how upset uh when i was watching that um we took an oath of office today and it's and part of the the south offices their true faith allegiance to the constitution protect and defend the united states foreign and domestic that is a staple statement from every public office holder and public uh servant from the president down to us i first took that oath when i was inducted into the military and those words still ring in my head i've taken it several times as as uh the commissioner on the on the planning board and and here at the um on the board of education and other boards that i've that are publicly designated um you really i mean more than the pledge of allegiance every citizen should read that and take that we
072have we all have whether we're elected or not or appointed or not a civic responsibility to seeing our government we don't have to agree on everything but we have to conduct ourselves accordingly what happened yesterday i've never seen anything like that and it's shameful and disgusting and it should never happen again and those who are going to need to look uh i'm responsible need to be accountable for those actions um i have no problem with uh peaceful demonstrations and if the if a demonstration is going south that you're involved with you need to walk away because you you need to differentiate things that are to the public good and your rights to express and address your grievances to elected officials that was not what happened yesterday it was a direct opposite it violated your your
073responsibilities as citizens uh it was just a porn and um i would suggest maybe we should talk as board members later on and i think this should be part of uh a civics lesson in or excuse the word civic some people are not familiar with government responsibility that we teach in in our schools uh we need to make our students understand what happened yesterday and why it was so wrong the the there was people of all kinds of political stripes who represent us in that those two chambers they were doing the job they were elected some took different paths but that was their prerogative under their elected you need to respect that we're not going to be happy with every decision that's made down there we might have different views we might push different agendas
074that is all fine but when you go in and disrupt and desecrate a place where our laws are our government is in doing their dually appointed authority that is no tolerance there you talk about no tolerance that should be it so i think we would like i would like to discuss this further because i think it's an important piece that happened in america it's never happened before since the british uh burned the capitol down in 1812 and it shouldn't and this was american citizens with american flags how how they desecrated the flag they desecrated our government by doing what they did in the place they did it there's no other way to put it so uh you could tell i'm pretty it's ginned up about this but i would like to continue this discussion at
075another time and and i think we should put forward our thoughts and work with the administration and making sure that our students understand their governmental responsibility as citizens of the united states with that i'll conclude my remarks and i wish everybody a great new year thank you thank you mr daley uh miss danny i'll keep my remarks um pretty short i just want to say happy new year um happy holidays and i hope everyone had a good safe and you know holiday that was a little bit especially in these times that um there was a little brightness um it's with a heavy heart that i you know say my condolences to the agresti family arlene ran about 10 years ago with us on the board and i had gotten really close to her and you
076know hearing about her sudden passing was just very very upsetting um so to joe and marie you know my deepest condolences um congratulations mr awad mr abhijabo mr smith um nice again um mr smith mr abu drabo obviously you're rejoining us mr wad um i look forward to getting to know you and working with you closely on the board um i i didn't want to run for any um office this time for the board the president or vice president i think it's nice um to see a change in leadership um you know new people new ideas new ways of doing things i always think that that's nice plus i have a full plate with my doctor and everything so um you know congratulations on getting president mr smith and vice president mr abu drabbo and
077look forward to um you know working under uh both of you and that's all i have to say thank you thank you miss danny uh mr casper all right thank you mr president i'd like to congratulate all of our winners this year in this year's election and um i look forward to working with the three of you uh throughout the year again i'd also like to send my condolences to the agresti and skatuto families please note that sharing my thoughts and prayers as you go through this difficult time um i have to wish everybody a happy new year i hope you all had a wonderful break uh mr awad i look um i look forward to getting to know you more and just sit down and i hope everyone has a video you want to
078go now or me doc you want to go you want me to go sorry mr smith after you sir okay um i uh also would like to uh welcome mr wad to the uh to the board um i will offer my help and assistance in any way that i can and i'm sure all the board members will um be glad to help you and uh i congratulate you and mr abu drabo and on winning a spot on the board of education [Music] i would also like to send my condolences to the agresti family while i did not serve with arlene or know her very well i know so many people spoke very highly of her and i send my condolences to her family i thank the board members for entrusting me with the office of
079the president i will do the very best job that i can that's what i will offer to each and every one of you and to the staff the citizens um and um i will do the best very best that i can and i appreciate the support of the board members with that i'd just like to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year and uh dr robitazi you could have before thank you uh mr president um congratulations to um the new board member uh mr awad who was sworn in tonight um ferris i remember meeting you at the board meeting uh you came to a couple board meetings last year and i remember meeting you and have a conversation with you after one of the board meetings uh and i also remember you had applied
080for the vacancy so i was happy to see that somebody who went out of their way to apply for the vacancy then ran for the election and won so looking forward to working with you i think that you'll bring a good and different perspective to this board um and i'm going to be in touch in the next couple weeks to help you get oriented to the to the district and try to get you up to speed on on some things that the administration would like the board members to know about how the district is run um i also like to congratulate um mr casper i'm sorry um mr smith uh for getting uh re-elected and for being elected as president um and also mr abrabo for being re-elected and elected as vice president i look
081forward to working with uh both of you throughout this year we have a lot to do there's a lot of big things on the agenda this year and we'll be working very closely together i also want to thank miss danny and mrs basford for their service as president and vice president respectively um you know it is extra work and you're still not getting paid okay as well as the board members your volunteers so i think tonight we'll pass a resolution where we're going to triple your pay that you currently get and i think it's well deserved so i don't think anybody would have any objections to that on a uh more somber note i do want to send my condolences to the aggressive family uh i met mr gresti she was actually a board member
082when i was interviewing for the position and she was on at least two of the interviews that i was a part of and and i knew that she was a supporter of mine she came to the board meeting when i got hired even though she was no longer on the board and just had very kind things to say both publicly and privately to me so it's very sad to hear about her loss uh you know as a board member and as a former teacher in clifton for for so many years so to her family my deepest condolences uh please know you're in my thoughts and prayers spoke to john beagle today um our clifton health officer and he called to really thank me and to tell me how incredible uh a job that our our
083nurses did at yesterday's first day of vaccinations at clifton high school he made sure to tell me about how awesome mr doctor our high school principal was and helping out with the operations our custodial staff he said everybody was just amazing just a great team there mr doctor's administration so i want to thank all of those people that selflessly volunteered to administer the vaccine or to work the registration lines and really to support our community um their dedication and this cause has given us all a little bit of hope that there is some light at the end of the tunnel and it's going to help support the safe reopening of our schools so speaking of reopening i just want to let the board know over the next couple weeks i will be working closely with
084the clifton health department the administrative team to determine a safe reopening date for in-person instruction we're going to be monitoring clifton's weekly positivity rates particularly in school-aged children we're going to be reviewing the new guidance that just came out from the new jersey department of health which will help us as there is no longer the rule that requires you to shut down a school for two positive cases the rule is now you should consider shutting down if you have two positive unrelated cases so i plan to after looking at everything over the next couple weeks have uh a tentative plan to return to in-person instruction unveiled at the january 21st board of education meeting that does not mean i expect us to be back january 22nd that does not mean i even have an idea
085of when um my recommendation is going to be to reopen our schools but we will have a plan that will be based on data uh and that's you know safe for for everybody so i will have something for everyone at the january 21st board meeting in addition at the january 21st board meeting uh we will be giving a formal presentation uh to the board and the community on the proposed referendum that we are uh hoping to have the public vote on uh april 20th so we'll get into all the details of that on the 21st and be able to answer any questions uh and open that up to any community questions so the new year has begun um and despite the troubling events that unfolded yesterday at the u.s capitol i still have hope for
086this year um it's got to get better this american experiment that we've been working on since 77 1776 still has many flaws and still has a long way to go but there's no doubt in my mind we are the greatest country in the world we cannot let the rule of law crumble like we saw yesterday we have to find more things that unite us rather than divide us i know we can have no doubt that we can and that i believe needs to start right here with this board we all have a common goal in mind and that is to do what's best for the children the faculty and staff and the community of clifton new jersey and i know that's why all of you do what you do so when it's time to disagree
087on issues that's okay we'll disagree on issues but let's remain steadfast and focused on our mission on making this district better for our children a superintendent needs a cohesive board a superintendent needs a supportive board so i've had that since day one i don't anticipate that that's going to change now and i so look forward to working with everybody again over the next year um to accomplish many major goals uh that we have set forth so happy new year i wish all of you good health and happiness uh throughout the year thank you mr president thank you dr robertos okay uh is there uh any new business i have old business that was supposed to be addressed tonight um policy number one four two oh one four four and oh one six four one six
088it was supposed to be second reading tonight we all agreed to have a second reading tonight it was uh that's the only reason why i agreed to cancel the second december meeting that we were going to move it tonight because this there is a there's an item on here that's imperative to to walking through the new board member orientation and that was the agreement so i'm going to ask for that to be put on the agenda quasi mr awa doesn't have the information in front of him uh being that he wasn't a prize to it my recommendation would be for him to abstain mr president i agree with miss basford and i recommend that we add that to the agenda that was an administrative mistake that i take responsibility for um there were no issues
089that anybody had with the policies there were no questions or additions so i don't think it would be an issue to just add a resolution to approve those policies for a second reading okay do i have a motion to approve those policies uh for a second reading i will motion second by mr casper is there any discussion mr abedrabo yes mr awad miss bassford yes miss beltran yes mr canova yes mr daley yes miss danny yes mr casper yes yes mr smith yes motion carries okay is there any new business uh before the board seeing none uh is there anything for executive session seeing none motion to close so moved beckon by mr daley second by mr casper any objective action so move move thank you everybody good night everybody good night everybody