001um mark sismar all right okay let's call this meeting to order due to the covet 19 health emergency and in order for the board of education to conduct its business this board meeting is being held via video conference and streamed live on youtube on the district website at www.ebnet.org in addition members of the public may provide comment at this meeting through zoom by entering the url meeting id and password you see before you on the screen upon joining the meeting your participation will be muted to ensure that there is no disruption to the business being conducted by the board of education will the secretary please call the roll mr carangelo mrs chu here mr sismar here mrs guas here mr hong kia mrs lex here mrs reese yeah mr winston here president becker here we
002have a quorum please rise to salute the flag i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states indivisible with liberty and justice for all 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 in accordance with the provisions of this act the east brunswick board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published at the board of education offices written notice was also provided to the sentinel the newark star ledger the home news and tribune and the municipal clerk of east brunswick all board of education meetings with the exception of executive session discussions or video tape for later broadcasts and individuals who speak at the board's public meetings should be aware of these
003videotaping rules good evening thank you for joining us tonight we're going to start off with the superintendent's report dr valesky thank you president becker and good evening everyone uh the science honor society held its 10th induction ceremony on thursday may 27th 23 students received their second year honor cords and 17 students received their first year pins and i was a pleasure to join them that night on wednesday june 2nd the national honor society that was last night by the way hosted their annual induction ceremony on the j doyle field at east brunswick high school 131 students including one of the sons of our own board members robbie reese were inducted during the first ever outdoor ceremony based on their scholarship leadership service and character in the east brunswick community so congratulations to all of them
004the east brunswick music department has begun its spring concert series unlike the winter when all concerts were filmed in a completely virtual manner teachers have now used a combination of live rehearsal footage and virtual performances to create their video productions all videos can be found at ebnet.org arts with an s education the east brunswick public school district was recognized on may 31st through a news story that ran on nj spotlight tv the piece highlighted the excellence that east brunswick has been able to maintain in their arts programs throughout the pandemic in ways in which we are starting to safely return students to live performances the story included footage from a recent successful three evenings of live performances by the ebh drama club at the community arts center with their production of the sondheim under the
005stars in addition to performances by our high school band and elementary district orchestra both students and staff were interviewed and featured in the news story additionally the east brunswick video also highlighted in a larger digital print story the importance of arts in school as we return from the pandemic and this article and video can be found on the arts education page of our district website under current events and a few important dates just a reminder it's hard to believe the last day of school for students and teachers is friday june 18th and graduation will also be held on friday june 18th right on our own j doyle field at east brunswick high school and we have ordered great weather for the event thank you thank you dr valesky a lot of people i know in
006town who grew up in east brunswick um have reached out to me and said that while their own children some of their own children graduated uh in trenton and the sun center arena they really are happy to see return to the football field for them it represents east brunswick and um i'm just thrilled as we all are that we're all going to be together and able to do this uh i think i think some of our own alum on the board may have graduated on that field as well i do too um i and they have mentioned it um but i just wanted everyone to know that i've been hearing from members of the community um who just expressed their um joy at seeing it on the football field i also wanted to just piggyback
007on what you said dr valesky uh congratulate our entire arts department um we have talked many times about no one can underestimate the importance of arts at any time but especially during times of trouble and crisis it is a place for people to seek comfort and solace it is a place for children to find a niche that will bring them comfort and solace i know that a cry has gone up around the tri-state area the news that broadway's coming back in september but there's a whole lot more to the arts in broadway and we um we are very proud to support our arts program here now this brings us to the good of the cause for the public members of the public may provide comment at this meeting by entering the url meeting id and
008password you see before you on the screen in order to be recognized use the chat feature select the zoom meeting host then enter and send your name to the host you will be recognized to speak when your name is called and individuals will be invited to speak in the order in which we have received your request the board of education recognizes the value of public comment and educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interests participants will be limited to three minute duration each is there anyone wishing to speak to the board tonight uh we have no one in the queue mrs becker okay seeing none i close the public portion and now we're going to move on to one of this board's favorite
009things to do and that is to honor by resolution and recognition of appreciation people in our district normally this time of the year we'd be having a meeting where we'd be doing in person 2021 staff and support staff honorees we wanted to send a special member to our honorees this year a special special message we're not able to honor you in person again in true east brunswick fashion however we adapt and my fellow board members and i cannot possibly end the year without noting your achievements during the school year please know we are making plans for proper celebration once we are able to do so in person we are now going to go round robin and announce the honorees at each school for this year and we are going to start off with bal monroe
010i am pleased to recognize bow monroe's teacher of the year for 2021 alyssa d tommaso alyssa has worked as a special educator and media specialist since joining our district in 2015 and our support staff winner cedric johnson a dedicated head custodian who began his career at shidduck school in 2017. cedric is known and loved by the bound community congratulations melissa and cedric at central school we have two special winners to share with you a gifted instructional assistant amy wasserman who funds creative ways to engage her young learners and student assistant specialist kara ennis who meets the needs of the students staff and parents with her warmth and her thoughtful counseling skills congratulations ladies cutic school we have two incredible staff members to recognize first our spectacular maine office secretary lucy reed who is dedicated over
01120 years to our district and elizabeth rielle o'connors a gifted esl teacher who treats each new esl family as her own thank you lucy and beth for your service to architect community i'm excited to present frost elementary school staff award winners for this year first our support staff winner donald whitmer school safety and security officer who is loved and admired by all of frost students and second our amazing teacher of the year ashley sachs who uses her creativity to prepare exciting lessons for the fifth graders in fact my daughter emily was one of her students so i can attest to that fact congratulations to these top fine individuals are very fortunate to have them at frost irwin school is blessed with two amazing staff award winners for 2021 first teacher of the year abby salgado
012who promotes healthy lifestyles in her fun and fabulous physical education classroom equally amazing is our support staff winner vikki dabari who makes every day a little bit happier for the staff and students at irwin school supervising lunch and recess congratulations to these incredible staff members lawrence brooke school excellence radiates from our two award winners first fifth grade teacher christina hoover who brings literature to life in her language arts classes and jessica acosta a former east brunswick high school student turned talented educator who has worked with our special populations for the past six years congratulations christina and jessica for everything you do for the lawrenceburg community memorial school holds a special place in my heart and those two staff award winners positively contribute to our school community our school of the year is christine simple who
013peels her heart and soul into making her classroom an exciting place to learn our support staff winner donna anderson also helped happens to be a retired east bronzing teacher but now dedicates her time to working as a student of science school aid congratulations to those fine winners it is with great pleasure that i share one store for elementary schools two staff award winners for 2021. first our support staff winner lori o'connor an instructional assistant who puts a tremendous amount of pride into her work every day and fifth grade teacher kelly stalling who expertly teaches math science and social studies with an unmatched passion congratulations ladies middle school the teacher of the year is our incredible media specialist lenoir catalano effectively known to her students as miss cat a woman who even the confines of her
014virtual existence this year could not extinguish her warmth and her connection to those students provides a support and exciting place for students to explore print and digital media our support staff winner is head custodian taser barsby who is called a mentor and a motivator by his colleagues and a hero by the pta congratulations to lenore and taser our hammer shoulder superstars and at churchill junior high school our support staff winner jeffrey uh jeffrey sedlecki who dedicated 35 years of putting the needs of churchill students and staff before his own so i guess he started right after i left there taking great pride in maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment our teacher of the year ashley fuzek makes history come alive every day with a tremendous passion uh for to inspire of lifelong learning congratulations
015to both jeff and ashley east brunswick high school has selected two outstanding staff award winners for 2021 our teacher of the year sarah murphy pairs meaningful instruction in literature infused with her passion for social and emotional growth support staff winner maria wood has an infectious smile and a deep enthusiasm for her work as a maine office secretary congratulations to these fine staff members with great pride i introduced susan lachino as the administration building support staff winner for 2021. susan joined the special education department in 2015 and quickly proved to be a valuable resource for staff and families known as the backbone of the department by her administrative team we all feel fortunate to have her congratulations sue and across town at our support operations building is a support staff award winner who is described as
016an excellent conscious and caring driver april montefusco joined the district in 2008 as a bus driver and her colleagues will tell you how valuable she is as a resource in modeling safety and customer service for all of our students congratulations april i'm so honored to read the names of our staff members who are being recognized for 25 years of service of the district first darren amy an incredibly gifted art teacher from churchill junior high school leslie anderson a passionate and creative science teacher from east brunswick high school sherry kagnina a caring and talented elementary teacher from central school the one and only ruth chang our spectacular supervisor of world language esl and bilingual education faith chin an incredible instructional system for memorial school who recently retired joseph satari first a devoted english teacher and now
017the principal of warstuffer elementary school peter elkins our incredibly creative math teacher from hammerschool middle school michael finnegan phys ed teacher to the stars at lawrence brook elementary school terry four our caring and skilled secretary in guidance at the high school gail freiburg another amazing secretary in the main office at warren store for school denise giorgenti our thoughtful and helpful system support specialist in the information technology department nancy orzolski first a bus aide and now a dedicated bus driver for our district eileen pincus our sweet and sassy instructional assistant from memorial school sylvia rosenberg a gifted art teacher and artist from frost school diane schenkel our incredible student assistant student assigned school aide at east brunswick high school carol smith recently retired wonderful secretary from the curriculum department christine smith devoted first grade teacher at
018central elementary school carolyn sowell another dedicated student assigned school aide from east brunswick high school recently retired laurie ann spinelli a unique and incredible spanish teacher at hammershould linda sterziak our wonderful and helpful information technology specialist karen celeski a caring and skilled special educator from lawrence brooke school our recently retired principal from churchill junior high school mark suter and kim tobin our creative and hardworking cooperative educated and cooperative education teacher from east brunswick high school and we are so grateful to all of you for your service to say this was a tough year to achieve excellence would be an understatement but our staff and support staff and administrators and central office staff do the impossible do the incredible every single day pandemic or no pandemic but especially during a pandemic and we are so grateful
019and so proud of all of you thank you so much we now have a resolution of commendation for our student representative anthony lippo anthony lippo has served as a student representative on the board of education for the 2020-2021 school year and whereas anthony has faithfully attended meetings offered insight as a student of east brunswick and effectively communicated the board of education's actions to his fellow students now therefore be it resolved that the east brunswick board of education recognizes and commends anthony lepo for his time in service to the east brunswick board of education may i please have a motion move by laurie second by leewoo is there any discussion i would just like to say and then laurie i see raise her hand anthony again being a student rep on the board of ed is
020an awesome responsibility and and um can sometimes be intimidating and to do it in a year where we were completely remote is outstanding you exhibited a poise well beyond your years and we so greatly appreciate your contributions we will miss you and we wish you the best of luck laurie yes and i want to say that i actually got to meet anthony in person last night heather and i were able to see him in action um and to actually speak to him live in person which is very exciting and just for the rest of you for the 131 families that got to experience um how wonderful and well-spoken he is at that ceremony last night you are going to do wonderful things my friend you are an inspiration you really did take a year that
021it was so hard doing everything virtual and you still got us excited about what was going on at the high school and the things that you and your peers were going through so i thank you for that and i'm so happy i'm sorry it was the end but i'm so glad i actually got to see you in person i'm going to say i knew you when heather i just wanted to echo what uh laura said it was an absolute pleasure to meet you in person and i also wanted to say as i sat there last night and thought about it it's exactly what president becker said it is a large responsibility to be the representative to the board and then there we sat last night to find out that he's also president of nhs which
022is in itself a huge responsibility and task in a regular year and during such a challenging year to pull this off as such an accomplishment and then this as well so congratulations it here's there's no ends to what you can do and manage and look graceful under pressure with and i am sure you will do amazing things uh victor dr valensky i just wanted to say uh last night we extended an offer to tony to return to east brunswick to a live board meeting uh to come to go to the cause so i hope he takes us up on that when he's home on break and i thought you were going to say we extended tony the option to repeat senior year and stay with us we who give it the diplomat can take it
023away only kidding in but you know president becker since we are running out of room those kinds of decisions we have to let them go you know we just do that's true we have to make room for the next class on to college for you sir yes uh all those in favor opposed abstain motion carries tony was there some word you wanted to leave us with you want to wait for your wrap-up report at the end of the night well first of all i just wanted to say thank you for the commendation but i can save my farewell speech for my committee report thank you very much we look forward to it our next resolution of appreciation is for our incredible pta lori would you please read the resolution whereas our pta spent countless hours
024supporting our 11 schools and more than 8 300 students contributing greatly to their school communities and helping promote a positive school culture and whereas our ptas fundraise extensively they may give technology and playground equipment fund mini grants to teachers provide scholarships and so much more and whereas the ptas generously arrange for and fund special programs authors and illustrators music and dance history and science assemblies and workshops that enhance enrich the learning environment for our students and whereas all those involved in our ptas are wonderful examples for our students modeling good citizenship and the importance of doing one share to make the world a better place now therefore be it resolved that the east brunswick board of education gratefully acknowledges the incredible support of the ptas and their dedicated service and devotion to students and staff
025thank you to bau monroe pta and president jessica todd central pta and president courtney blumig chitic pta and president andesa churchill pt and president jamie wasserman east brunswick high school ptsa and president for i think seven years now her last lisa clark crossed pta and president christine wall hammershould pta and president wanda miller irwin pta and president nikki taflowski lawrence brooke pta and president linda graham memorial pta and president brianne murray and warren store for pta and president sarah rubenstein and further be it resolved that the east forensic board of education would like to extend a very special thank you to the pta president the president of pta president's council jamie wasserman who has supported and encouraged the ptas in all of their efforts i please have a motion moved by barbara second by levo
026is there any discussion laurie i mentioned it but i just wanted to uh make sure that everyone realized lisa clark is leaving us this year her younger child is graduating and it's been i think i think i said seven years but she has done a tremendous tremendous job lisa you will be missed you have big shoes to fill um i know it's because we both went to high school and college together we're both proud eb hs and muhlenberg graduates um and your children as well so hopefully we might follow in our footsteps but you're amazing and i i think none of us can thank you enough i just wanted to make sure that you didn't slip away without mentioning how much you've done for this district and you've seen a true pleasure serving all the
027schools and my kids have really i mean just like you and i laurie just i mean we did well our kids are doing well it's an amazing district to grow up in and it was wonderful returning and just meeting so many wonderful people and i just can't wait to see the what the future holds for east brunswick so thank you everyone thank you lisa any other discussion uh first time ladies first dr volesky i have something to say and then you can um as a former pta president um so i was pta president when i ran for the board and i remember asking uh some of the current board members in in terms of time commitment what's a time commitment for a board member and they looked at me and they said you've been a
028pta president you were on the pta board for six years before that don't worry about the amount of time because you are putting in so much time hands-on time as a pta president the board will seem like a walk in the park compared to that i'm not sure about that last one however i do know how incredibly time-consuming this is and hands-on and being at every event and being ready to step in at every event and when you don't have enough volunteers being ready to step in on the events that you're already stepping in on it is time consuming it can be stressful but it is ultimately so rewarding and your schools are just lucky to have all of you dr volesky and then barbara i'll let mrs reese go first no i'm sorry barbara
029i didn't see your hand before i posted no no worries dr velesky you can go first well thank you i just wanted to simply say that you know recovering from a pandemic in a school district is is a pretty big lift and it takes an entire team of people and some of those unsung heroes are being uh recognized tonight our ptas and pta presidents who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes at their individual schools to create environments and opportunities for our students to have social and interactive experiences and in some sense of return to what may be our new normal but to have those experience and begin that process of recovery i just can't thank them collectively enough because they have worked tirelessly through the pandemic and continued to to think about the students what
030the students needed and how they could make that experience the best they could possibly make it so thank you very much my hat's off to all of you barbara i just wanted to echo what you both said and really the ptas are do such an amazing job uh i was fortunate to be involved as a president of the first pta but really these folks in the pandemic year you can't even uh imagine what what they went through to make simple events even happen and i wanted to thank lisa as well uh i mean i know her uh not as long as lori but i just want to thank you for she was always watching out from me at frost and and really she watches out for everybody and i thank you for everything you've done
031and uh you know all all of our pta uh uh boards uh presidents and the boards do so much and a little special shout out to jamie wasserman president of the pta council it's it's a it's a tough job it's a lot to do and she does a lot i don't know how she fits what she does in a day to be honest with you so i thank you all from the bottom of my heart as i know we on the whole board do thank you all those in favor opposed abstain motion carries edu lisa this is only till we see you again your grandchildren perhaps moving on to our board of education agenda can i please have a motion to combine items one through three so let's move jeff moved by jeff second by
032lee wu is there any discussion is does the roll call vote will the secretary please pull the rule this is true yes mr sismar yes with an abstention on number two for the may 20th minutes noted mrs guass yes mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries moving on to our community programs agenda we have one item on the agenda can i please have a motion for item number one move by heather second by laurie is there any discussion suzanna i just i just have a question then um i i love the variety of the enrichment programs the wide variety that's that's listed there i was wondering are any of those uh going to be offered over the summer mr giuliana is joe on here uh he is mr crotchfelt can are you able to
033answer that question yeah so i'm sorry um yes the nutritional programs are going to continue i believe that was the question the the the enrichment program oh i'm sorry uh yeah we're going to do in person and also uh offer the virtual enrichment over the summer where there are community programs ann marie is trying to drum up as much business as possible so we can recover and also offer as much as we can to the the students as we uh get back to normal yeah i just think it's great to be able to do that you know the kids have missed so much over the past year and to be able to um you know do do some more of these things over the summer i think that's great thank you it's a great great
034blog i think at some point we had also talked about um taking some lessons that we learned during the pandemic for community programs and also for extracurricular activities and maybe possibly combining them with some kind of remote or virtual experience because there are students who were able to participate in community programs or extracurricular that wouldn't have been able to if they were in person because then maybe they had to get home to watch a sibling or a transportation issue or whatever but we did hear from a variety of people that express their appreciation for having the opportunity to do something remote that they wouldn't have been able to do in person so i think we had talked about perhaps inserting some of that into as we continue dr valesky yes president becker and that is
035as willie aries and thank you for bringing that up that is one of the areas that we plan to utilize what we've learned during the pandemic and utilizing technology uh to to draw a larger audience in uh at the convenience of you know just using the technology to gain access for all of our students it builds equity across our our district community as well barbara yeah if i remember correctly from our community programs meeting uh ann marie was working on just just that like you're talking about and um in fact with some of the adult programs they've actually had more folks coming we were recognized by the state uh because they were able to come through the virtual classes when they couldn't make it to the in-person it's like a combo in person and virtual
036and she had been talking about just like what you're saying to combine some of the classes in the fall so the parents who are unable to make it and to come back to the school to pick up uh can take the kid home or what have you and they do it from home or let them go on the bus and then they can do the class from home thank you thank you barbara all those in favor opposed obscene motion carries before i ask to combine items on the curriculum and instruction agenda tonight is there anything anyone would like separated out see none can i please have a motion for items one and two on the curriculum agenda moved by jeff second by laurie is there any discussion this is a roll call vote will the
037secretary please call the role this is true yes mr sismar yes mrs yes mr hong yes blacks mrs lax yes am i muted yeah we heard you now i'm sorry thank you mrs reese yes mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries before i ask for a motion to combine items on tonight's facilities agenda is there anything anyone would want separated out seeing none can i please have a motion for items one through three move by second second by barbara is there any discussion all those in favor aye opposed obscene motion carries before i ask to combine items on tonight's financial services agenda is there anything that anyone would like separated out see none can i please have a motion for items 1 through 17. by heather second value second by libro is there any
038discussion on any items i don't think that was well i know that wasn't me i think that was lori i'm sorry oh in terms of motioning sorry i i can see your face i couldn't see the bottom of glory's face i didn't see her lips sorry laura can the minutes please reflect that it is noted that mrs lacks moved the uh package and her lips okay all right uh this is a there's no discussion correct so this is a roll call vote will the secretary please call the role mrs chu yes mr sismar yes mrs ross yes mr hong yes mrs lax mrs lax yes you're not hearing me again yeah i didn't hear that's why i didn't hear you before either on the first go round it it seems like it's very quiet i'm
039so sorry i know that's why i didn't hear you either laurie mrs reese yes mr winston yes president pecker yes motion carries can i please have a motion before i ask for a motion to convert can combine items on the food services agenda can i please ask if anyone would like anything separated out seeing none can i have a motion for items one two three move by laurie second by heather is there any discussion all those in favor opposed obscene motion carries there's one item on our hr agenda tonight can i please have a motion for item number one move by laurie second second by heather is there any discussion will the secretary please call the role this is true yes mr sismar yes mrs gloss yes mr hong yes mrs lax yes mr winston
040yes president becker yes motion carries we have one item on tonight's staff development agenda can i please have a motion for item number one so moved by the u1 second by laurie is there any discussion all those in favor aye opposed abstain motion carries before i ask to combine items on our student services agenda is there anything anyone would like separated out seeing none can i please have a motion for items one through three mobile second by laurie is there any discussion the secretary please call the roll this is true yes mr sismar yes mrs gwas yes mr hong yes this is lax yes this is rhys yes mr winston yes president becker yes motion carries before i ask for a motion to combine items on tonight's transportation item agenda is there anything anyone would
041like separated out seeing none can i please have a motion for items one through 10. move by laurie second by jeff is there any discussion i had a quick question of course just uh i i understand this is just you know renewal stuff are there any new bus companies listed on here that we didn't have in the past no it's all the same that's correct these are all um bus companies with which we have had contracts um we will see we have a batch of routes that do need to go out for bid but we'll see what those okay thank you you're welcome any other discussion all those in favor opposed obscene motion carries and this brings us to our committee reports information items including the clause of the board and tony we're going to
042start out with you good evening everyone i'm very happy to report that the restrictions regarding in-person ceremonies has been lifted a little bit and as a result there has been a slew of events in-person events specifically um there's an induction for language honor societies math honor societies and um in-person events for science honor society and as mentioned by mr squash and series and slacks who were there yesterday there is the in-person induction for national honor society um international club has also hosted a virtual collision which is normally one of the biggest events this year but it still had its virtual counterpart where there were a few cultural dances songs and even a fashion show so uh international club was able to make that dance and that big event still uh a part of our year
043and seniors have a few events upcoming with senior awards athletic awards and then the ptsa once again has come through the big event and giving us a senior night on june 10th so thank you to the ptsa for that and of course tomorrow is prom which is extremely exciting graduation requirements or at least graduation restrictions have also been lifted and the thing that appeals most to students in that is uh now families can bring up to four members so before it was kind of a difficult conversation a problem that a lot of households face deciding between which parent and which siblings would come and this is a very timely improvement considering that now was when a lot of families were just deciding who was going to come and now a lot of the family can
044come so that resolved a lot of problems in households and when the news update went out earlier today a lot of people in my class were like hey now now my sibling can come now my dad can come instead of my mom and my sister so it's a really good improvement um and yeah there's just been a lot of events which is kind of weird to say because normally i'm always talking about what could have been or the virtual counterparts but there's a lot of in-person events and it's almost a little bittersweet but it's okay because uh we're looking towards the future and the future looks a lot brighter and that's the sweet part and i guess the better part would have just been what could have been this year but i get to say
045now something that i've been waiting to say for the entire year which is that we're back and that's a really good thing to say especially considering that we're hitting the ground completely running and as i mentioned the sweet side is that uh i get to experience some of this at the end of my senior year and at least the next year looks considerably brighter which is good to hear at least after having a year that it was a little bit darker than normal i believe my replacement for next year is on call nora if you want to introduce yourself and quickly say hi that would be cool i don't know i believe she's here i am here she is i'm looking right at her welcome nora hi thank you for the introduction my name is
046norah hennessey i'm really excited to be working with you all next year we're excited to have you thank you for accepting the responsibility and we look forward to hearing from you tony i'm sure that my invitation to the prom got lost in the mail becker i was actually uh we talked about this month ago but you have a great time anyway thank you president becker i i wish i wish uh i was i was hoping that you would come as my date but i i've realized maybe you'd be a little too busy you know it's a friday night i'm sure no no actually don't don't eat tony she's gonna show up now she's gonna i'll be asleep by seven tomorrow night but i hope you and everyone else has a wonderful time i'm so glad
047we're able to have a prom this year a lot of students are very excited that was the end of my report i quickly just wanted to say thank you to everyone on the board for giving me a really warm welcome each and every night that i gave a speech uh i greatly appreciated this opportunity to speak in front of the board and to engage in a dialogue with everyone and i also appreciate the board entertaining and listening to my own opinions and any ideas that i diverged in my report it has been truly my honor and my pleasure to have served as the student liaison to the board of ed and i know that nora will do just as good as a job is not if not better than i will so you guys will
048be in good hands and i just want to say last of all thank you you have been an absolute pleasure and delight we wish you the best of luck in whatever you do you are just gonna soar man you're gonna do wonderful let us know let us hear from you we always say that to board reps and then we never hear from them again so um please let us hear from you because we really would love to hear how you're doing and nora again we look forward to having you join us and i'm sure you're going to be a wonderful addition to our group are there any committee reports information items or political of the cause for the board mark yeah we just experienced memorial day i hope it's not limited to that day and
049we never forget the sacrifices including the ultimate sacrifice that our troops and veterans have made over the years so we can speak freely and share all the freedoms that we enjoy in the best country in the world so thank you to all the current troops veterans and their families thank you very well said mark thank you for that jeff i believe you had your hand up yes and uh on this night of recognition well-deserved recognition among staff and uh you know teachers i think we left one off and i just want to throw it out there and if there's a way this could be added at some point that i would like to offer a resolution of perseverance to our students for this year and then a graduating class of 21 i would every every
050teacher and every staff member would recognize tonight i it's so well deserved and who they do it for for those kids and what they did over the last year being able to at their ages at in everything they were used to having their world altered and the grades have been great the experience was i think they got something from this that could never be taught ever ever again and will absolutely serve them well throughout their life so i personally and hopefully this board will at some point recognize the class the entire student body this year along with the graduating class of last year because they deserve a resolution of absolute perseverance thank you jeff also very very well said and now i'm going to have to rewrite my graduation speech because she just i think
051i was going to say very well said very well sorry no worries barbara no charge i just wanted to wish tony well and you know i i didn't get to see you in person yesterday i was uh uh running around a little bit in the bleachers but i wanted to tell you because i wanted to you know uh see if i wasn't from the you know with my husband but i i wanted you to know that uh you are so well spoken you are so articulate and intelligent and you're gonna fly like everyone said everywhere you go you're gonna shine and we thank you for being here and you always were a wonderful connection to the student body you explain you know explain your thoughts so well and we appreciate you being here all the
052time thank you so much it was a real pleasure to finally see everyone in person and not everyone but uh miss gloss misreason i've missed lax yesterday so i wish i'll see you i i i will say i will see you again in person you promised i will come during my break ms lex i promise and we'll see you at graduation anything else for the prom vicki i just asked him for come back on thanksgiving great i'm over the prom i'm done promised like so yesterday on to graduation or next year's prom nora we'll talk um heather i just wanted to say it was a privilege to attend nhs inductions last night um especially in person and if we could order that weather again for graduation that would be stupendous because it really was perfect
053for the gathering i i was surprised as somebody who's you know been teaching through this experience and gone through a lot of graduations how emotional i felt about watching students line up to take pictures together in front of the high school banner and talking and doing things that we often take for granted but the thing that i was proudest to see was the number of families that lined up and wanted to speak to dr valesky a great many parents came out of their way and commented to ms locks and i and some waited to speak to dr valesky and they wanted to offer their thanks for his leadership through this challenging year um and they were just so appreciative people spoke about the ongoing communication and the comfort they took from what he shared with
054the community and in a year where so many of the challenges were just rapid and fast flying and so urgent all the time and people's concerns were loud it was wonderful to see people take the time on their children's special night to come share their appreciation with dr velesky which i know we share but it was i was just really moved to see the community want to take the time to do that as well anyone else okay seeing them we do have a need for oh lori i'm sorry if you said something i'm not the only one who can't hear you i promise i know i i don't know i keep hearing thunder maybe it's my who knows um so yes i'm not going to beat a wonderful event last night i wanted to tell
055you guys quickly about another event that lee when i attended the week before last was the unveiling of the plaque for the lost souls memorial over the community arts center i would highly recommend you taking a look they're going to have a memorial there they're going to have some education classes um about the 137 uh lost souls they do an annual this was i think the fourth year rightly with the fourth year they read the names yes um and leewa and i got to be part of it this year and read it was very powerful um i think the youngest was a two-day-old baby um so it's just an unfortunate part of our our town's history but it was something that was nice to see that the unitarian church had taken on and um all
056the support that they had in the community um it was a it was a solemn but beautiful event so i would suggest that all of you uh get over there at some point take a look um they are looking for um some fundraising opportunities as well if you'd like to help in terms of the uh educational portion and maybe it's something we can incorporate um here as well i don't know how many um our courses at the high school talk about this particular event but it'll be something that should have some more light shed on it so i just wanted to let you know about that thank you so much lori thank you so much for bringing that to our attention very well said anyone else i'm looking i'm looking okay now we have a
057need to go into closed session whereas the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in public meeting and whereas those items are listed in tonight's agenda the length of the closed session is estimated to be one hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will not be taken can i please have a motion to go into closed session move by leewoo second by laurie is there any discussion all those in favor opposed abstain motion carries thank you so much for joining us tonight please stay safe have a good evening board members please log out and log back into closed session you