001e e e the October 28 meeting um at this time FL to the flag United States of America to the repblic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all please pause for a moment of silence for little things going on um on top of that some of our Bo members are going through certain situations thank you in accordance with the open public meetings act njsa uh 10 uh 4-6 adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the record M Ste please uh call okay Mr Derek Mr Malo presid Mr folino F pres Mr Gaba president Miss Sanchez here Mr Ramos pres have for real quick please make sure you speaking to the mic they said there was the issue to hear on the the reporting so
002please try to speak into the mics for us thank you all right [Music] um sorry moment please um we're tabling the board minutes uh we have to have a few Corrections done so we're tbling a resolution 1 uh 3.1 and 3.2 uh motion to table those I make a motion a second all right second in by Miss Sanchez I heard that first Mr Mal made the motion yes yes I did I'll second that Miss Sanchez second okay okay um moving forward all in favor I moving forward um Dr TOMCO yes thank you Mr President good evening everyone thank you for coming those of you at home welcome again to our live stream event um I am I'm very excited and proud that this board has supported all of our initiatives uh since July 1st thank
003you very much um I know obviously prior to that too but some of the new stuff that you're all seeing some of the new programs all this excitement that we've had in the buildings is all um through their support so I wanted to make sure that uh I said that publicly and uh this live streaming event is their step more towards transparency um it's important that we get as many people involved in the schools as possible it's also important that you know we continue to acknowledge the great things are that are happening here in Garfield um that's why you see a lot of uh presentations that we'll be having now um within the next couple of minutes uh I'll talk about a few things um after these incredible um students and teachers get up here
004so without stealing their Thunder Mr President let's if you don't mind we'll go right to student of the month so uh Mr Moo I'm going to call you out for everything and allow you to good evening it's my pleasure to uh call up Mr Carlo social studies teacher at ghs makeer October student of good evening I'm here to introduce the ghs October student of the month Isabella conform sent out last month to ask for nominations Miss Jennifer Robin and I immediately messaged Issa on team to ask her for activity sheet because we both knew she needed to win this award she is one of the most deserving students and does so much for our school Community she is a three sport Varity Athlete on the cross country swimming and Spring Track teams she's in the
005early college program where she takes Bergen Bergen Community College classes and will graduate this spring not only with her high school diploma but with her associates degree as well she is the president of the Hispanic National Honor Society she's involved in TI the National Honor Society student government and helped organize our homecoming dance and pep rally she also volunteered her time over two summers to help uh when we had our summer arts program to health paint ceilings for Hackensack hospital so patients receiving different treatments have something comforting to look at while dealing with the scary time in their lives she is really just so special to our boiler maker family and she is one of the strongest people I know with the most heart out of every anyone I've ever coached I really cannot express
006how proud and honored I am to have been able to work with and get to know Issa over these last three years and miss Robin wanted to add something she couldn't be here tonight but she just wanted to add that she nominated Issa based on her kindness and the the fact that every single teacher knows who she is simply because she smiles and says good morning to everyone whether she knows you or not and she truly hopes you have a good morning and that's Issa I know she's going to be someone who would really make a difference in the world and we love you and congratulations Issa we are all Beyond proud of you [Applause] [Music] um I want to thank the board of U Miss B Miss Amo my teachers and my friends who
007are always here to support me this really means a lot to me I've worked really hard in Garfield High School I put a lot of passion in what I do and this really reflects it so um I'm going to use this as one more motivation to work harder and to give back to my community in my school thank you so much [Applause] if you can just one moment just one moment so this is something new that the board is starting so Issa Issa there more this is our challenge point this is uh thank you for representing our school district format that you do this is also okay so that you work on a regular basis and truly represent us as you represent yourself and your family and we appreciate everything that you're doing and we
008look forward to everything that you will do in the future and everything that we'll be able to be a part of mission thank [Applause] you congratulations uh excellent job uh now uh Student Government speakers or speaker I would like to introduce our um VI vice president sarahan good evening members of the board good evening everyone you met me and Frank last time um we just wanted to start off by um and by saying that we just we just held our October 25th elections and we are proud to say that we had excellent results and we now have three new representatives for Student Government we have a senior representative mag Delena we have a sophomore representative Elizabeth and a freshman representative so right now our upcoming events include hosting mental health awareness round table which we
009will be pairing up hopefully with c and another um outside project to bring into be the stigma around mental health we are also hoping to organize a Cod drive along with TI and then we also be hosting a dress drive to hopefully um ease the comfor of prom and make to make dress more accessible for students so that they can have a better and more fun promise period um we're also proud to say that we're going to have a club Fair which will be held during our school hours we want to have this so students can engage more in school and raise the school spirit and for them to be um able to join more clubs and activities and extracurriculars we also do want to plan an alumni night which will come more like into
010the year like um something like January and we do want to bring um uh prior alumni and from garford high school I've graduated have like you know done very good in their life to um kind of exemplify that you can come at GF high school and be gr and all that and have these examples absolutely we will also be hosting career n with which will either be during school hours or after school hours it will be in promotion of with the club Fair we will also be bringing a long night for that event to show that you can be out of guard to like create an excellent career path we're hoping that they long night can share their career path or educational setting and provide the students with any knowledge that they would like regarding
011their career field and hope to answer any questions that students might have regarding what they want to do in the future to help them set up for a better future after they come out of college thank you so much so much for your time excellent have any question for us no but I'd like them more so as representatives for each one of you guys you're going to be representing so these are pins that you can wear um wherever you guys are having your stuff of that nature so that you're representing RP when you're in regular clubes okay thank you thank you thank you guys for everything that you're do thank you so much have a great night and and uh just to uh reiterate um all those incredible things that you were all talking about
012career nights and alumni Gatherings and whatnot uh obviously you know you're you're going to work through your advisor then through Mr Mo um but we we I really want to stress and and again I'm I'm the new guy here but I want to stress that you know this board wants to support everything you're doing there and we we want to be able to offset whatever the building cannot do so please you know when you get to that make sure you include me and then I can include the board because this is such an active board that I know they probably have some alumni that can help out with career day or maybe some of them themselves so so please let us know that's the that's the way we're moving forward so you can also help
013out with the preparation that you guys are doing for the events and stuff of that the dress donation the suit donation and we will be we will be in contact we hope that in partnership with you guys we can create a better event for not only the C of blackfield but those that I to come so thank you again so much for help we truly do appreciate it and we hope that great events can come out of this partnership thank you so much than that's great I love how the student body is so active here I mean it's it's not every I know when you when you're from Garfield and maybe you you haven't been outside of Garfield too much and there's nothing wrong with that but I have to say I I've been I've
014been a few different places and and I'm I'm around the state a lot and there is so much activity here from our kid kids and our teachers our administrators I'm not just saying I don't have to say it really um but I'm very impressed um again been I've been here now 150 days and uh I I can't believe all the stuff that's happening here there's too many things to actually put down or you know I can't wait for this club Fair because I know I'm probably missing some stuff so uh so please so thank you again it's been excellent really has and then the segue into this now is an incredible thing um you know our njsla students uh and our teachers and administrators and how these students tonight we have 12 students who who
015have either scored perfect or near perfect scores on these standardized standardized tests I know places like here uh sometimes we you know we look at the aggregate scores right we take the entire District we say oh look at these scores they're in the low whatever percentiles and it's not about that because we we have families we have students we have you know just different things different hurdles that we go over uh that we go through uh you know in our in our city um but we need to look at our own the growth both of our own children right you have to worry about your own child right like I always say I have four children one of them is a great mathematician and one of them just isn't right but they could all grow
016right so that's what we have to look at but now to identify these students tonight that have perfect scores on these tests means that we're all definitely doing something your families are doing something uh and it's just an incredible thing so Miss Bellinger can you come up and please give uh um our board president the honor of uh introducing these individuals would you like to Jo me up your yeah we're getting we're getting the stuff if there any other principles that are here tonight that would like to come up and join me as well passing out yes all the principles please than welc to join [Music] so as Dr TCO said we have about a dozen students that scored a perfect score of 850 or a near perfect score of 850 on last Frank's New
017Jersey student learning assessment which measures Proficiency in math and Ela so anybody that I'm calling up today did just that either in math or Ela in their particular grade level last year scored quite high and I'm very excited to announce students the first student is nicool gallowitz who scored a perfect score of [Applause] [Music] 50 yeah let's line up next is aleandra M perfect score of [Applause] next we have Daria coal perfect score of 850 on the [Applause] ELA probably studying sure she get it thank you next we have Lis Flint perfect score of 850 grade seven Ela [Applause] next is Emily Su perfect score of [Applause] 850 next is Quia Ki perfect score of 850 on Ela [Applause] next we have sopia Reesa perfect score of 850 I'd like to ask Han zc perfect
018score of 850 Ela [Applause] P come on this side over here next is Emily khas score of 849a [Applause] next is Yolanda oras perfect your perfect score of [Applause] 846 next is Ashley Martinez 845 [Applause] and lastly perfect sport [Applause] 850 congratulations to all of you it's a combination of your hard work your teachers your parents [Applause] congratulations h h ladies come down come on to there chair [Music] [Applause] congratulations [Applause] everybody congrats I'm going to pass around two these coins that uh Mr Tom Co had U initiated and help design so everyone can see it so we're going start from the back bring it to the front nobody's walking out of here that doesn't deserve one so I'll pass it on once again uh I think that um that's a true Testament to what
019everybody does here every day for the kids uh in this city whether you're a parent making breakfast in the morning getting them here the bus driver driving someone to school the teacher making sure everything is in place administrator all the way up the central office that building Administrative Assistant the custodian everyone One Security I mean uh this just proves that you know every kid here can get to where he or she can achieve so again one more round of applause for these incredible young adults and their families excellent J so we have a few uh presentations right now that I think are really exciting um we added one a little later which I'm glad we got on today so it's a TI peer leaders presentation so come on up and so I would just like
020to introduce Miss paa Brown and Mr Christopher storms uh two guidance counselors and coaches at ghs and they are the advisers for both TI and Trend TI being the smaller Core group that's here they'll tell you more about and Trend which can involve basically the entire high school they never tell students they can't be a part of it so whether it's breakfast at 7:4 in the C in the uh gym and hanging out and doing activities that just bring kids together um or freshman orientation having people there around for meetings at night if I ever need students who are going to represent ghs in a phenomenal way I go to those two people who then bring everyone else on board so I'll let them explain what ti is going write all that down and hang
021in my office um so basically I've been a school counselor now for 18 years I've also been an advisor for the ti program for 18 years and I'm also proud of them I Garfield graduated in 2000 and I attended the uh lmti program back in high school in 1999 sounds like a few years ago uh I am also um an alumni of Harford High School I attended the program for years when I was in high school myself in 1997 and then in 1998 and when I came back to work uh at Garfield High School in 2008 um shortly after that Mr storms asked me to come on as advisor uh with him for this group and it was an honor because it changed my life when I was in high school and I wanted to
022be able to give back give that back to students um now um I want to recognize um this summer we were recognized as action group of the year for the state of New Jersey by the my so we Rec time to having a comprehensive plan um that cross different um areas and topics including drug and alcohol prevention um the students will talk a little bit more about our plan for this year but I wanted to recognize the students from our group last year so we have Maga is one of our students from last year annaya and Frank are all students that were part of our group last year and are now and back to the again this year um so and then we're going to bring up the rest of the ti students that can
023all stand up here uh while we talk a little bit about what we're going to be doing uh throughout the remainder of the school year so it's uh really these young people that make this group work it is peer-led so we are here to help guide them but it is them that do all the work so I'm going to turn it over to [Applause] magd hi everyone so we want to start off by saying a little bit about lmti so the mission of the Lindsay maritine Institute is to guide young people to realize their leip potential and encourage teens to create positive change without the use of drugs and alcohol a little bit about our Garfield tip leaders so we are selected through a nomination and application process upon being selected we attend the 3-day
024and 5-day lmti leadership conferences and this gets us ready for the school year ahead of us and and to create POS of change hi my name is jacn Ortega so every year we create an action plan to implement in ghs this year our goal was to create a positive change in our school Community by reversing negative stigma and building Garfield priz now you may be wondering how can we effectively create this or achieve this well we have created a plan to split our peer leaders up into communities called kmac kmac stands for knowled ation action change and Communications so let's hear a little bit more about them hi my name is Isel and I am honored to represent the lmti Garfield knowledge committee our mission is to raise awareness and provide essential information of some
025of the most critical issues te face today such as mental health and the risk of drug and alcohol abuse we are here to empower our peers offering the support and resources they can turn to when things get off one of our recent projects was a post on the ti Garfield um Instagram page called reasons to stay a message from us to our classmates reminding everyone that no matter how hard things can get there's always someone that cares and reasons to stay we also introduced the B am PL of nonviolence at our last CH meting through this pledge students committed to respect themselves and others to resolve conflicts peacefully and to stand up against boobie reinforcing a school environment where everyone feels safe and bed our goal as a knowledge committee is to help create a
026culture of care and connection thank you for attention and support and together let's get building a school Community where everyone every student feels seen supported and [Applause] safe hi my name is Lena sa and I'm one of The Proud members of the motivation committee our job as a motivation committee is to promote positivity and school spirit throughout ghs we want to make the students feel good so that they can do good hello Fridays happened the first Friday and last Friday of each month our TI leaders and anyone else who would like to join us arrive to school a little bit before 8:00 as students arrive to school we wish them all a cheerful good morning good morning let's make today a great day happy Friday we're giving our community at ghs a great start to
027their morning which we hope we still a great day as well our group also came up with another great idea to promote school spirit and most importantly Foster an environment for respect and kindness boiler bucks during respect week we provided every teacher with five boiler bcks if the student is doing a good deed has positive class participation or is simply just being a good student they receive a boiler book at our next Trend meeting in November everyone who received boiler books can put it into a raffle to win a prize our motivation committee has also planned a trip for TR Club to attend a haunted hay ride two weeks ago and we will plan more trips as a year goes on this is just the beginning of all the amazing things we're going to accomplish
028the school year since all of you are so kind and listen to my speech the board you each get a border book feel free free to pass it on to someone you catch in a random act of [Applause] kindness hello everyone my name is Rebecca and today I want to share the incredible work of the lindsy maritine institutes Garfield action committee a dedicated group of five peer leaders together we run Trend our school club focus on creating a safe and supportive environment for our peers CH meets once a month at our mission is to prevent drug and Al Al use among scenes through engaging activities and open conversations we understand that adolesence can be a challenging time and it's crucial to have a safe space where everyone feels valued and heard each month our committee
029collaborates design activities that not only educate but also Empower our fellow students from interactive workshops to fun team building games we aim to create connections and build confidence within our student body we want every student to know they're not alone in facing pressures and chall challenges our peer approach means we're not just talking to our friends we're engaging with them listening to their concerns and providing practical tools to make Positive Choices we believe that by sharing our own experiences and supporting one another can create a stronger healthier Community thank you for your support and let's make our school a place where everyone can Thrive again members of the board good evening as you know my name is Sarah my my name is Erica and together we represent the change committee the goal of the change
030committee is to a for a strong mindset that can help combat any negative influence or behavior with this we're aiming to create a positive change and a positive impact on every student of the garville community one of our first projects will be taking place throughout the course of this week us TI members will be going through elementary schools throughout the whole district and visiting s waers to talk about the importance of inclusion and acceptance we will be doing so through Halloween related activities because we're in October so we're going to get in the spirit and we will be also be doing presentations now we hope that as when as the progress goes on you hope to see it and we will hope to also create a sa space for open discussion the change comedy is
031also planning on presenting on to the fifth graders in order to make them feel more confident about going into middle school thank you our general goal is to help them have a strong and confident mindset that can combat any negativity through activities and presentations like this we'll create a chain reaction in which they will help other kids into becoming a better person for the future of Garfield and the world thank [Music] [Applause] you my name is Magna I'm Jackie and I'm friend and we're part of the communications committee so as members as the only members of the communic committee our job is to share everything that our kmac groups achieve with the world so we run an Instagram account as well as create both physical and digital Flyers to spread awareness about all events to
032the student body so we promote and we create we have also prepared our thank you letters to all of our board members and I will go distribute them right now we wanted to thank the board in our own very special CI way so T stands for the ti experience you provided us with h stands for how grateful we are a stands for the amazing time we had at Camp n stands for NE never giving into negative peer pressure K stands for kindness we are going to share y stands for youth we will inspire o stands for outstanding work we will do this year um and you some you stand for United together because we'll make great change thank [Applause] [Music] you Yankees thank you very much [Applause] okay okay now um we have a real
033incredible honor um to honor once again um the middle school for a purple star school recognition um I'm I'm very dedicated to the the cause of helping veterans or shuring that the message from veterans is is in the schools so so this is uh very important to me this group uh and I'm very excited that we have it here and I can't wait to get more involved in it so I'd like to call up Miss Marx and principal regoso come on up [Applause] here and then you can introduce your committee for your presentation of want introduce your committee good evening everyone thank you for having us and I just want to uh thank everyone here and Miss marrow has been with me from the beginning Miss dunker she couldn't be here but she um sends
034her her support I want to thank the veterans we have veterans from gville post 2867 that are here tonight they are great supporters of course I want to thank our Administration Mr the support of our program we're very proud of it and uh we really thank our veterans we want we're so supportive of our blue star children we're so proud of them so we have a little presentation for the history of the blue stars which is I think 12 years now that we doing this program 14 14 sorry 14 what oh okay the mission of blue star kids is to recognize students at Garfield Middle School who have immediate family members actively serving in any branch of the US Armed Forces we aim to support these students and their families by offering opportunities to connect
035with each other and local veterans for the past 12 years Garfield Middle School has proudly supported students with immediate family members on active duty through our blue star kids program this initiative began when students were reading a book set during World War II in class featuring many characters with family members serving in the military students related to the characters and began to talk about their family members serving our country the teachers decided to conduct an informal survey and were surprised to find 26 military students in the school uh our personal connections uh Miss Marx her husband served in the US Army for 4 years my brother Kevin Maro Jr uh he served in US Marines from January 2002 to February 202 3 and Donna duner's uh son served in the US Marine reserves from July
0362015 to December 2023 the goal of our program is to ensure that military connected students have the resources and support they need to succeed academically and emotionally we aim to provide emotional academic and social support to students who may face unique challenges due to frequent relocations parental deployments and other aspects of military life this is one of our favorite trips uh we do this every year each year we team up with the Garfield BFW post 2867 to honor deceased veterans we spend the day placing black tipped American flags on their graves symbolizing mning and Remembrance for their service [Music] volunteering to place these flags on the gra Graves of deceased veterans on Memorial Day can teach several valuable lessons patriotism and gratitude community and civic responsibility and respect for sacrifice empathy and compassion humility and
037perspective and historical awareness this tradition is Meaningful and helps students connect in individuals to the Past promotes service and responsibility and fosters a sense of unity in honoring the legacy of those who served we've been fortunate enough to embark on a series of Unforgettable Journeys that have taken us through the heart of an of American history and Into The Cutting Edge of modern Innovation from historic military institutions to iconic landmarks and even into the world of entertainment and technology these experiences have left a lasting impression on these students uh the West Point Military Academy one of our most memorable trips uh stepping into its historic grounds gave students a chance to walk in the footsteps of American Heroes Ellis Island in the St Statue of Liberty uh these places are more than just tourist destinations
038they are powerful symbols of freedom and Hope uh this trip gave students A Renewed appreciation for the American immigrant [Music] experience McGuire Air Force Base visiting this base was a thrilling and humbling experience it gave students a new understanding of the dedication and expertise required to defend our nation uh High Park and the FDR Museum this trip gave students a chance to Dive Into The Life and Legacy of one of America's greatest presidents and offered an intimate look into FDR's presidency the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum our trip to the USS in trepid was an amazing adventure the ship itself a veteran of multiple Wars tells the story of bravery and resilience 911 memorial seeing the memorial firsthand helped us understand the importance of resilience unity and Remembrance in the face of tragedy it
039was a powerful opportunity to honor the memory of those affected uh aside from our historical trips we do take some for fun uh at the Grammy Museum students immerse themselves in the world of music and pop culture the museum captured the energy and Artistry behind the world's greatest music including famous New Jersey M musicians the kids really like this one uh the LG experience students witness firsthand how Innovation shapes the way we live it was a fascinating glimpse into the future showing how technology will continue to transform our everyday lives in ways we never imagined each year our blue star students gather periodically to support one another and strengthen our sense of unity these gatherings are filled with fun and meaningful activities one of the highlights is making care packages and heartfelt cards for students
040deploy family members reminding them that they are in our thoughts these gatherings not only bring joy but also help us stay connected and uplifted during times when we need it most we are so proud of how much this program has grown over the years we have made lasting memories that will stick with everyone for a lifetime uh our blue star recognition letter from former First Lady Michelle Obama in 2024 Garfield Middle School received the purple star school designation from the Department of Education for providing outstanding support to military connected children making it one of the first schools to achieve this recognition program um the that we go on allows us to meet other people and you know have a connection and actually [Music] is [Music] we and get to see how our tell us about
041how it's such a great being our my name is j and I H love because we do many activities like we talk about what our what our family did and what it is to be a boost student and what responsibilities and responsibilities as and that's why I [Applause] we want to say thank you to all our sponsors of course the Garfield VW post 2867 let's give them a hand isn't here tonight but his son was actually one of our first blar students he's what really got us connected to the BFW so we thank him all veterans they support us they give us money for buses and things like that the Boys and Girls Club they've been a great supporter they paid for many of our trips mashos whatever we call him he answers the call
042and of course our Administration and I want to let everyone know that this year support of Mr M we're going to start it over at the high school and hopefully we can apply for the purle star designation for the high school and I hope one day every school in gardfield has his designation there's only 16 schools in the state there's only 16 schools in the entire state that have this and most of them are surround in McGuire Air Force Base so we're the only School up here in North Jersey so I really am proud of this and um I hope continues on after I'm done someone else takes over and does this because I think it's important for the kids and uh it's it's been a great experience for us I've gotten so much out
043of it so uh thank you to all the support that we've gotten through the years thank to everyone before we close out blue star I just want to recognize that Marie has been recognized through the state of running this program and the state has reached out to the city of Garfield and our school district next year is the 250 year anniversary anniversary of the Revolutionary War and the state has asked us to participate in that honor where now people are going to come to the city of Garfield to see what the city of Garfield was part of the Revolutionary War and a little history facts there is our namesake the city of Garfield well James Garfield's brother was one of the first people to sign up for the Revolutionary War One Two for the city
044of Garfield we have the Ford Monument on River Road and then three the Pake River when George Washington retreated right this is everything Marie does to the blue stars when George Washington retreated over the p River into the Clifton area the British were coming down the residents they were well Garfield wasn't called Garfield back then but the residents along the river the farmers made sure that the British didn't get over so they gave Washington enough time to escape and it was the city of Garfield and these are the things that people become to the city of Garfield this is what Marie's doing and the state has actually reached out for her to put a tour together for visitors to come to the city of Garfield so blue star is very important to the city Garfield
045to the school district and to everybody so thank you [Music] [Applause] Marie thank you very much it's incredible it really is I'm very excited so the board uh on behalf of your honor wanted to present your committee and the administration with this this uh this plaque we have one for each of you one for the for the building itself so says in recognition Garfield Middle School purplle star school 2024 to 2027 uh design the purple star schools program in New Jersey recognizes public and non-public schools that help military Children and Families Garfield Middle School has surpassed the purple star schools programs goals by helping military children transition to new schools developing programs that recognize military service and civic responsibility supporting the unique needs of military families and by providing resources for military connected students the
046Garo Board of Education recognizes the work of the blue star committee and the school administration for their dedication to the families in the city of Garfield courage strength sacrifice supporting military connected students congratulations thank [Applause] you now I gotta move back let's get this thing out of the way thank you [Applause] guys um briefly I see that we have a few of our veterans here um would you please stand okay so very quickly um this coin that we have is a challenge coin we have we got the idea from the military because we know that you guys have a tradition in which you guys exchange challenge coins I'm going to leave the details out and I would like to present each point of you with a challenge coin come up I'll come you you all
047got a thank you for your service thank you thank you for your service take a picture I go right ahead good evening everyone my name is David cast I'm the service officer at post 2867 on behalf of the post I would like to congratulate Miss Mar on the wonderful work that she does with us and the blar kids they forgot to mention that every year we do a Christmas giveaway for kids need kids that can't afford their parents can't afford toys and when you guys the community gives us donations we take it and we purchase toys and Miss Mars gets the blue star kids together and we set up a day where they all come down to the post and they start wrapping up these toyss for us and I want to thank him for
048that and also I don't know the day yet but we're going to have again this year Santa Claus and Miss Claus and we're going to be giving away toys last year we gave away over 800 toys and gifted 16 bites to unexpected children and they were very happy uh we also had the Grinch which left because this year we're going to have have uh the Avengers we're going to have Iron Man we're going to have Spider-Man and other characters so please everyone's welcome bring your children bring your neighbors children and have a great day again miss marks congratulations and thank [Applause] you thank you thank you thank you very much thank okay moving on we have our graduation pathway presentation um Mr back up thank you thank you okay this is definitely not going to
049be as good of a presentation as the ti presentation or the blue star presentation but a necessary one and um good information to to report um in order for students to graduate high school we obviously have to follow the guidelines that the New Jersey Department of Education has established for public schools um there it's not only the academic requirements or the attendance requirements um it's also the graduation the standardized testing requirement that's required for graduation so with that um every Junior um must take and pass a New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment during their junior year um that test is offered in March of their junior year for the class of 2024 actually took the assessment for the first time in March of 2023 students who then for whatever reason had to attend summer school also
050had the opportunity to take the assessment again in July and in the event that the student did not pass the exam one of those two times they had the opportunity again to take the exam last October um this also included students who may be moved to New Jersey from out of state out of the country or maybe were previously enrolled in a private or Parochial School and now had to meet the requirements of um public school and therefore had to take the assessment so students basically have three opportunities to take the New Jersey uh NJ GPA um if they pass it the first time that's great if not they have opportunities to take it again so the state knows that not every student learns the same way not every student is going to necessarily pass
051the NJ GPA the current cut scores or passing scores for uh the ELA and the math portion of the NJ GPA are 725 so that is the first way that students could meet their assessment requirement for graduation by achieving a 725 or more in both the math and the ELA portion of the NJ GPA if that doesn't happen students do have the um have alternate ways of meeting the testing requirement I'm not going to read through them but there's one column for ELA one column for Math and they can take any of those assessments and score that score higher and also meet their testing requirement for graduation at the high school we do offer students the uh PSAT we offer the PSAT to every sophomore and Junior and that again is through the support of
052the districts our students do not pay for the PSAT um that is paid through the District budget and we also offer the acup Placer to any student that might need to take it uh the third pathway for meeting this graduation requirement is something called a portfolio and that is an individualized approach uh where students do open-ended problems to show to demonstrate their Proficiency in both the ELA and the math portion so there's three Pathways to meet the graduation requirement based on this um what this chart shows is the pathway that our students took in order to meet their graduation testing requirements of about 327 students that graduated with the class of 20 of 2024 93 students passed both the English and math section of the um NJ GPA more students passed just the math or
053just the EA but this is showing which students passed both uh 230 students met their requirements by passing some sort of combination of um NJ GPA PSAT act acup Placer um and sat um portfolio appeals only six students um utilized the portfolio peel pathway in both math and Ela and then we had six students who utilized other modifications set forth in their IEPs um no student was denied graduation because they did not meet a test a testing requirement two students were denied graduation because they didn't meet another graduation requirement such as attendance or passing courses so again 325 students graduated with the class of 2024 and two students did not because they they um missed some other uh component of uh some other graduation requirement um once again we do offer the PSAT to all
054grade 10 and 11 students um this ensures that they have exposure to standardized uh assessments it helps them prepare for the SAT which they usually begin taking Junior and Senior year um the acup Placer is also offered to students as a form of a substitute competency and the acup ESL is a very good assessment for uh the students that we have who uh come to us from different countries and are English language Learners it allows them uh to learn a little bit of English and then to demonstrate what they've learned and it's um a much easier assessment for them than the uh NJ GPA again because of the length and the the content um and once again the additional support that we also provide is that students are placed in basic skills classes in junior
055senior year so they get extra practice in um both the NJ GTA skills as well as the acup Placer skills um looking ahead because we're always looking to um increase the number of students that pass by the NJ GPA and reduce the number of students who pass by portfolio um we this year we're beginning to use resources available through Renaissance for more individualized support uh students who have not currently met their testing requirement are scheduled for skill development classes either in the full semester or in the spring semester uh as far as RTI is concerned we um look at what students need individually uh teachers come to us counselors come to us um to bring up any areas of concern and then we make uh whatever adjustments are necessary to help the students sometimes that
056involves before school tutoring after school tutoring um we continually review data throughout the year to assess if we need to adjust anything we keep Communication open with parents and uh students as well we meet with students both in large group and small group depending on on what the topic is and once again we uh offer extended day classes once the school year uh gets going to all students and specifically to those students that might need extra support to pass the testing requirement um this is the conclusion of this uh Pathways presentation once again um I would like to acknowledge the work of the teachers and uh curriculum supervisors for continually revisiting what's going on and always looking to improve and as well as the District administration to um allow us to you know whenever we
057suggest new programs or we want to try something we're always greeted with absolutely how can we help so we are very thankful for that support always if there's any questions I'd be glad to address them thank you we have one more presentation from M Teo guys want to come up Dynamic Ma sorry for this I had had my stuff but I forgot okay so I'm going to talk about the D Dynamic learning math which is for 1% of our students uh students so the students that take the alternative assessment it provides instructionally relevant system that supports student learning the dlm measures what students with significant cognitive disabilities know and that they can do as opposed to the standardized test that the state gives which they are not capable of doing the DM is designed to
058give each student an individualized experience by presenting questions that are tailored to a students needs and their own abilities the dlm allows our students to receive instruction that's tailored to them in preparation for the test this informs IP teams of students strengths and their needs which allows for planning of the future classroom instruction it also enables the the schools to document and track the individual growth of these students the DM is designed to provide students with similar instructional and assessment experiences in order to prepare them for the exam it also helps teachers on the back end to make appropriate instructional decisions when working with these students the philosophy of the DM the creators created this test and they believe that students with significant cognitive disabilities are a highly diverse group who learn through multiple Pathways
059students with significant cognitive disabilities can learn at challenging levels that will prepare them for the future okay let's talk about how the uh dealon process begins it starts with the IP and the IP team uh and there are three questions that must be answered in order to have a student qualify for the dlm and they're very very strict we're looking at a percentage of our population at 1% um so the answers to these questions have to be uh quite particular the first question is does the student have a significant cognitive disability now how is that determined that's determined uh through the child study team evaluations primarily the uh school psychologist IQ evaluation we're looking for scores that are low in all the areas of the IQ a student who had a math score that was
060quite high or a score that was using spatial relationships that was high and a verbal score that was very very low would not necessarily be a candidate for the DM we're looking for all of the areas to be significantly lower so that it um shows a cognitive disability the second question is is the student being primarily instructed using the dlm Essential Elements as content standards the essential elements are goals and objectives but they're coming out of individualized tests so as I talk a little bit more I'll explain how the individual tests are decided but the essential elements are coming from there as goals and objectives and they are in the Imp so that would also have to be a yes question number three does the student require extensive direct individual instruction and substantial supports to
061achieve measurable gains in grade and age appropriate curriculum that's a lot of words but basically what that is saying there is that the student really needs specialized instruction in order to reach their goals uh specialized instruction beyond the IEP uh such as maybe um an ABA type classroom where there's a lot of trials for the skill or a life skills program that has extensive supports um and that uses those Essential Elements uh as standards to reach goals and objectives so those three questions must be yes and they must be an IEP team decision before a student is a qual a qualif fire excuse me for the DM okay okay the DM Administration so now we have our list of students who are eligible to take the DM and before we do anything we train the
062teachers uh the teachers need to have a certificate in order to administer the dlm the dlm is given on a onetoone basis so the teacher sits with the student and a device and they take their individualized testlets that are developed through these points here the first one is first surveys and that's a surve that the teacher develops by the prior work that has been done in the classroom and the PNP that's a personal profile IP is used case managers are used the files the um progress in the classroom and that all helps to determine students starting levels so that's how the testlets the dlm for each student is developed by those first surveys and pmps from there once the testlets are individual ized and they're delivered right to the students's device then there's practice that's
063what we're doing right now the teachers are all trained now they're doing their embedded practice that's taking place from now until December 20th so what's happening is the students are learning how to take the test they're learning the manipulatives that are offered they're learning how the format is given their learning their device very very important uh to know how to work the device we tend to think that students are wonderful with technology which they are but it's a specific technology that is need a specific skill a tested skill that's needed in order to give this test and this practice is imperative for students who have lower cognitive abilities especially in memory um then the second after we do that then there's a second practice session and that's scheduled in March we usually have the teachers
064spend about an hour with each student um so that they really are pretty strong in taking the test and then the testing window is open the actual dlm between early April to early June um students take the dlm tests in language arts math and science is given excuse me language arts and math is given to grades 3 through 8 and 11 and um the science is also added to the repertoire for grades of five 8 8 and 11 okay and then after we do all of that then the data is submitted for scoring okay the scoring is based on four categories one is emerging uh everything is going to a Target skill so the emerging are students who are working towards that Target skill um and um are uh showing some understanding of the of
065the content areas second area is a little bit um higher approaching student Knowledge and Skills are closer to the Target goal the third level is at Target students have reached their projected level of Mastery for the skill assessed and the last level is Advanced the students have exceeded the projected level of Mastery for the skills that were assessed uh in their individual battery okay our data because our sample size is so small meaning less than 10 students per grade level but in reality we may have grade three with three students grade five with two students maybe grade eight with six students um the data remains confidential um however all the results are sent home to the parents uh to review and they are discussed at the IP meetings with case managers and any questions are
066always um encouraged uh through the department to reach out to that or myself and just some strategies that we use intervention strategies for the teachers for professional days or staff meetings uh we have in the past that are doing it now generating a discussion with the teachers to just say how can we F uh further utilize the dlm in a classroom that's important because to go through all this mean we want it to use it as a tool not to just you know have a score on one of those four areas that I just discussed um second point we discussed with the teachers how to use the data in order to differentiate lessons and align them with the curriculum and the essential elements that we talked about before third Point encourage ongoing communication with teachers
067through the school year um we do this all the time uh have just small conferences um talk in the office do a zoom call those types of things to assure Fidelity of how the assessment is administered and the last Point uh reinforce the importance of practice sessions those practice sessions the one in the fall and the one in March are just imper imperative to prepare the students uh for Learning and some intervention strategies for the students um students should utilize all practice sessions available with the test administrator and they do we we do make sure of that um we want them to be familiar with all the manipulatives as said and how to use the um Tesla um information and the devices and the students need to um know all of this before the actual
068assessment takes place uh in April through June and then just lastly uh the students need to be in person to do this um during the pandemic this was a challenge uh some places did not have it um in person and what they found uh data in 2021 was that the in-person assessment was just imperative for this popul so teachers really need to be sensitive to the gaps uh for our most vulnerable population any questions thank you thank you again okay so I'm always teaching right it's a teachable moment so Mr Mr Raymond Mr Taylor as the board leadership vetted me for this position you know I think one of the questions I'll tell the story one of the questions was why do you want to come here right so it's a great question and I
069said why wouldn't I want to come here right a lot of great things happening here I hear from everyone you know around the state and every district has their issues but when these two gentlemen started talking about all the incredible things here rattling off the clubs the activities the facility all all these things the pride that was in both of them they were talking to me it was just an incredible thing The Pride that all of you should feel for your kids your City all of those things all these things we talked about tonight all these incredible things we don't talk about enough we don't we need to start doing that we need to change the dialogue here all right when someone talks about an aggregate score in Garfield they talk about oh look this
070you know that's that's a a black eye on everything that we just talked about tonight and those are only that's only a small piece of what happens in this city every day so this board's promise to this community is to make sure that every meeting and every chance we get we're going to Spotlight all these great things that everyone is doing but we need your help as well because the negativity not in not in just this this Township all over because of all the different polarizing things that have happened have really put a a stigma on education on our teachers nobody wants to go into the field anymore this is becoming a major issue so every chance you get to celebrate and I'm talking to the students now every chance you get to celebrate what
071we're doing here whether it's a win on an athletic field or a box competition a new club you're starting playing guitar whatever it is we want to be behind you 100% all right that's that's the new Garfield that's what we're doing here all right and and and that's a promise so what you saw tonight were some uh test results and things that people don't think you know anyone's doing anything here right I mean it's it's a it's a common it's common verbiage it's it's stuff I'm hearing so we need to change that we need to change that dialogue completely um so that's our promise to you and hopefully uh you definitely make the same promise uh to us moving forward so we're almost finished give me one second here sorry my computer it's like one
072of those bad timings right my computer just shut off it was like my dramatic my my mic dropped and didn't happen for me so but I'm very passionate about it again I I'm I'm the newest member here and and the pride that I feel already is is uh is contagious right but it's only contagious because of all of you so so let's continue to do the great things that we're doing uh I just want talk about a few more things these aren't presentations these are just things so it kind of goes along with the ti presentation uh cope cope is something that um that I I started many many years ago and and got a lot of Educators involved and I'm very excited to bring it here to Garfield with this board uh it's community
073outreach program in education and and it stems off of my 100 day uh uh entry plan trying to meet as many Community groups as possible nonprofit organizations uh VFW you know Boys and Girls Clubs etc etc the whole idea is is to grow a group of ambassadors here which I I tend to see we have already which is just an incredible feeling for me um that go out to these groups and assist them whenever they need it whether it's a 5K run and they're handing out you know um water or you know it's handing out flyers or it's serving pasta at a pasta night or it's helping to wrap presents and stuff like that so I think Garfield's almost there already uh to organize entire group of service organizations and and whatnot uh is something
074that's coming down the pike so I've met with oh excuse me I've met with Pastors in town uh I met with uh different types of activists uh so this is coming so I'm very excited to to have that welcome the first 100 days and you'll be hearing more about that but even more exciting that that that I learned tonight that we basically have an ambassador program already that hopefully uh this program can just kind of morph uh into uh and and with that my 100 day entry Plan update I will be having a formal evening out for all of our parents students faculty members to talk about my 100 days here and what I found and and just to highlight a lot of the great things a lot of the short-term goals I'll be recommending
075to the board and long-term goals I'll be recommending to the board that will roll into a new strategic plan uh I had the honor of helping the board do that five or six years ago now so I'm I'm glad I'll be able to help you guys do that again here as an intergate part of the of that strategy um but I did find um you know some immediate things that we needed to work on not not to blame anybody in the past or whatnot but you know policies and regulations regulations weren't even existing here you know how how are we a community or how are we a district that's forcing uh policies or trying to enforce policies and and no one even knows what those are uh some of them are outdated you'll see that
076today we we have some uh that we've updated we had some newer policies that we've changed because they they just really after I read them a few times didn't seem to make any sense for the city here um so I don't know if anybody wants to speak to that but uh I wasn't here for for some of those older policies but again um some of that is um you could see now if you go on to the regulations we made those public um there are regulations that didn't match with the things that we were doing and that's the board's responsibility is to basically you know make policy so that I can make sure we follow it and that goes along with regulations just so everyone's clear policy is a broad scope like you should have
077a dress code policy which we do you should wear this and that and this and then the regulation is more specific to Garfield and the needs of Garfield okay uh we had we have an issue with our grading policy our regulation didn't match what we've been doing now that's an issue for us here so so we're starting to do that so these are some of the things that we found in the 100 day plan just to make this place better for our kids for our kids because they deserve the best I always base things here on four years right four year spurts people some people argue with me on that but I say you know everybody has a great Elementary experience right you can always do fun things in elementary school but we need to
078get our kids our students everything they possibly need everything they possibly want in high school so that they're ready to leave here whether it's to join the military to open up a business to work in a trade or to go to college right it doesn't matter what you do as long as you are successful and we're we are the the U we're the the compass we have to get them there and we can't do that without communicating without talking without providing uh uh providing progress progress them so that's an important thing so I'll I'll be updating um uh the president and uh the community more on that probably I know that the the holiday is a little rough but uh I think I'll do it right around there when I get my uh my nice
079little presentation together we'll have some coffee and cake and uh we'll talk about all the great things that are happening here and how we can make it better 410 is District re-registration district reregistration is going to be happening in in Garfield um for the entire Community the entire Community from kindergarten all the way up to junior year right seniors obviously don't have to re-register um so anyone in those grade levels beginning in January we'll go through a re-registration process I will be rolling that out with with over the next few months but I wanted to announce it here publicly all right and what this does it does a few things number one it ensures that your taxpayer dollars are going to those individuals that live in the community right and I know it's very easy
080to say oh he doesn't live here she doesn't live here what's going on at the charter schools and well this is how we find out who's here and who's not I've been very successful with this in the past I've run it for different districts that I've actually worked for and worked with um and it's tedious work it could be done in-house for no extra cost it just takes the support of the parents and when you do get these requests from all of you to you know re-register your children please do that and don't think of it as tedious work think of it as something that's going to benefit all of the city all right so we'll be talking about this more um more often than uh in the next few months however my recommendation to
081this board is going to be to use a registration process sort of like how you get your driver's license different points right you could put this in for two points this in for you know column a column B um we're all used to doing that for our license so we can easily do that again um those students that are not re-registered correctly uh will be uh you know there will be their families will be contacted by the law by by the the letter of the law not the law but the letter of the law which would be like a uh first a letter and a certified letter then maybe a home visit uh and and we will ensure that by next year or at least by next December um we will have near 100% of
082our students will be uh garl residents so um just wanted to kind of put that out there um specifically tonight so that we are so I can start the process uh with the board being aware of all this as well uh just a few more things we also have uh an open public records request time and cost to the district section now it's 411 what this does is it lays out all the uh o requests or any public requests uh we're probably going to add another um section as well that discusses um Insurance fees that are not covered um this is something that I've done uh in my years as a lead administrator these requests um these filings and all these things that are absolute um the right of individuals to do that um are
083also your right as Citizens to understand that none of this is usually transparent and none of it is usually uh covered under insurance so these are fees coming right out of your pocket and a place like Garfield who has very limited to none I'm going to guess Mr D legal Reserve this is coming right out of your children's classrooms okay so you need to be understand that when we when we ask you for things now all right where these monies are going I'm also that type of superintendent that I don't like putting employee numbers down unless it's a violation of something okay if someone has a public record and it deserves their name on it you should need you should know their name as well so you'll start seeing that also um again in the
084within the letter of the law um those are important things because as you the public request this board to be transparent this Board needs to be transparent back and and that's that's exactly uh uh you need to be transparent back to this board that's that's that's the give and take uh I don't think there's anything wrong with that uh people can argue that all they want and that's great um but again these are all public records so request all you want um you know the insurance fees as well someone gets hurt on District property I don't think anyone in this room besides me and maybe a few other people understand how much that costs the board um if someone trips over a cracked sidewalk okay because we are a public entity and it's very easy
085to get an attorney no offense Mr gut Isler to get an attorney that's going to put a $12 lawsuit in U to try to get us to settle and that's what usually happens so it's time to be more transparent here uh also a few things on this agenda this board hopefully I'm looking for I'm recommending this board supports the security cameras I want to thank Mr kees and the committee for actually taking the time to walk around look at all these things there is nothing more important um than uh safety of our students I don't care what parent you are you are not dropping your child off in the morning hoping that they do really well in math today and not worry about their safety here okay and if you are that parent then we
086should have a conversation after all right um the math scores come and go but if your child is not safe um you know we have an issue this is probably one of the safest districts I've ever visited with the with our incredible security force or our guards um some of the other things I can talk about that are in place the uh I've had more meetings with the local police department and the SRO that I have I think in my entire career anywhere else so far um just the community outreach uh to make sure we're all on the same page even with uh the town government uh has been just uh just very welcoming to me but we can always do better right we can always do better we can always find things that are
087better and uh again I have to give Mr kees some credit for that um and you see uh the uh on here tonight for your approval are um are a bunch of security cameras um that that're very much needed and there's going to be another load of them coming as well we're looking for as much support as we can from Grants from safety grants or from other things that we can but uh but again uh this is a great start um to that I know that started before I got here in the summer so I just wanted to recognize it as well um and I believe that's it one more thing on here is um Power School power school is an incredible um CIS or student information system that hopefully with the board's blessing tonight
088we'll be starting to move over till to next year um we already have power school systems in place that you don't even recognize our power school here and some that we want to bring back like I would think of Naviance Etc um but even scheduler to help with the new high school schedule that we're possibly proposing to this board um you know new student information system Renaissance feeds into it U there your website the new website is power school so we already have a lot of the modules so tonight uh with the board's approval we're looking to move our Tire Cy and that system to the power school family uh just for you know just in my opinion incredible relationship um and and really great partnership with parents and teachers together um there's a lot
089of they have something called Power buddy which is not on for approval tonight but it's actually it's actually an app it's an incredible app and it actually tells a parent you know on your app you know your child didn't do their homework yet uh they need a 50 on this in order to get an A it's really an incredible tool and it's all comes through the student information system and it's all available and why shouldn't Garfield have it um that's the whole thing we're we're we're done with those days where ah it's okay don't worry about it no I want to be the first place to do things not the last place to talk about it um so that's all I really have to say right now progress thank you again for the opportunity appreciate
090it Mr President at this time you have any committee reports uh Mr President I have a question uh Mr Dr TOMCO do you have a timeline for the student re-registration I mean I'm not expecting right now but I know you're you may be formulating it but is yes we'll be uh sending out formal letters probably by the end of November to get everyone ready and we will start collecting January 1 great um so we'll start in the new year thank you Mr President thank you thank you m Dr TOMCO committee report yep good evening everyone I'm excited to discuss the following okay it's as good as it gets I'm excited to discuss the following facilities projects that have been completed since our last meeting I will give be giving a report once a month just
091to update the community the staff um and also the board about where we are please pause technical difficulties um just a few things uh Garfield High School the HVAC in the child study team the installation was completed very happy about that the field we spoke about security cameras the Vera cameras for the field 17 of them are installed the other 10 will be installed at the rest of the week the Middle School the induction fans were installed on the boilers this was a safety feature the fans create negative pressure which draws the flu gases out of the chamber and they ensure that they're safe and that it's safely expelled from the boiler system so that was a priority that is done and taken care of uh School number 10 we're working on repairing the wall
092in front of the building and districtwide we are up updating the security radios from analog to digital so the district can mirror the Garfield Police Department um safety as we just discussed it's a a number one priority for the district um and two last things were uh the district beautification the 107 trees have been planted districtwide at all the buildings please take your time go drive around to some of the other schools you'll notice it's it's really wonderful and the last thing we have scheduled right now are the water bottle filling stations they're scheduled for installation in the month of November that's it thank you very much Mr where are the uh water bottle filling stations being located all of the school buildings are getting them and they will be located primarily next to the
093cafeterias some of the larger scho SCH like the high school and the middle school it'll be cafeteria and then close so that this way you can bring from home your plastic water bottle fill it up with filtered water perfect and know that your child is always hydrated all day long perfect thank you Miss D I have a few questions if I may sure go ahead um we a lot of the things that we're getting I'm sorry A lot of the things that are um getting done around the district a lot of them need to be uh we need permits for we don't seem to be getting permits for any of the things that we're doing in the district uh we're not you know we're not exclusively we need to get those permits okay what permits
094are you speaking about specifically any kind of building that goes on that inside our schools that you know we we need to do it needs to be checked out by do you have a specific example that you'd like to give to me well the whole down stairs by the underneath the the Success Academy was not permitted were you were you on the board that time at that time when that was done so you were aware that it was not permitted I just found this out recently oh okay okay so that was before my time but I will look into that for you okay thank you for bringing that to my attention Okay is that's it for now Mr D apologize um all right at this time were there any committee uh meetings me okay uh
095motion to go into Personnel 6.1 through 6.23 motion uh can I just ask a question I'm sorry were there any committee meetings or there just no no reports and there were no committee meetings or I know there were no committee meetings um no committee meetings nothing that I was informed of no committee meetings thank you question if there was no committee meeting if there was no committee meetings how could there be changes in policies I don't understand that I mean we're we're we're supposed to be writing the policies not the superintendent and I understand with the he was saying with the um the different things that needed to be changed but this board should be doing the policies um I understand with the advisement of the superintendent of course but um right our board should
096be doing the policies do the chair can I answer that I I totally agree with you Mr D that's why we're doing it this way prior to me getting here was done incorrectly you were paying an attorney to help you write policy by yourself as the as the chair so how it really works is that's why there's two readings to policies there's a first reading and a second reading no changes to policies are supposed to be made in between until in between the first and second readings that's why you have the two readings so usually it's perfunctory tonight a first reading is just to get the board to kind of get the policies however just so you're aware the policy committee did receive the policies with some of the options in there that were easy
097options like for example how many board members do you have I mean I don't think we need an entire board to understand we have nine board members so that was something that was filled out now in between the first and second reading next month you have a policy meeting one meeting usually discuss those things and then the full Board gets the policies discussed after that's the the true protocol that you I don't think it's ever been filed here before but that's that's really how it goes so basically in between the first read the second reading the policy committee can then talk about it all they want now does it have to be done that way no there's no law but that's that's the really best practice that I've seen not one committee person going with
098an attorney and writing a policy and stuff like that which I think was happening here so so that's that's that's how I think we're moving forward so I answer the question uh yes okay thank else there once again motion to go into personel excuse me 61 motion by Mr Moo seconded by Mr Gaba sorry I uh any questions or comments I have one s uh yeah um I just want to let the public know because I don't know if the public um agenda has exactly what we have I'm not sure if the public agenda has the exact numbers of people's salaries that that are being hired or not I'm not sure that are you offering that to the public yes sir okay so all right I just wanted you to make clear that um because
099we do have a art teacher here that was U for $80,500 and um Mr Derek hold on one all right so I was just want to say if the public saw that the reasoning uh Mr TOMCO did explain that to me I just want the public to be clear that um paying an our teacher um 80,500 on step 14 um he had explained to me that there was no other alternative but to hire this individual uh for that price so if somebody sees that for $80,500 on step 14 there reasoning Mr TOMCO can you verify that well I I think the better way of saying it might be that you know this individual has the experience that's based on the gft salary guide so that's why they're being hired so to say if they're the
100best candidate yes that's that's the answer um this isn't back like in the 1980s where there were 4,000 people applying for a job and a board told the superintendent only step one only step one it's it's just not that way anymore uh however we're not just uh you know offering people uh money out of nowhere to have them come here that's not how I do that's not how I do business at least so these individuals are you know promoted to where you know they have experience Etc um but again we have to run the buildings these are you know we still have positions that are Miss Missing at the high school um you know we're still posting for positions so so I guess you're it's like being half right so what you said I clarifies
101it I think I just clarified it all right so the answer was that wasn't the only person that that was well it goes you have a process so there's there was a process set in place before I got here so there's a posting a committee you know I I I did change it a little bit now that the giving the principles a little bit moreal autonomy to make a decision in their buildings than just the superintendent picking someone which I don't even know how that was happening prior to me getting here um but that's really it but there is a process of how somebody you know gets gets hired um so that's what we followed okay anyone else all right do we have a call Mr D hi hi Mr hi Sanchez hi Mr Ramos
102I okay motion to go into Finance 8.1 through 8.15 so moved Mr President motion by Mr second I think Mr yes all right uh questions comments Mr D no if not uh roll call Mr D I'm going to abstain on the bush Law Group I and the rest I abstain on Bush Law Group I and arrest you're having technical difficulties here with these there's only one check number for Bush lawr 014 01 487 for $576 I abstain 8.1 8.2 I and arrest I okay motion uc1 I make a motion questions comments [Applause] hi I Mr I okay facilities 12.1 12.2 motion I [Music] second Mr hi Mr hi Mr hi Mr hi mche mr1 EXC excuse me Mr President I think there's a 15.1 Athletics no resolution thank you so [Music] moved I second um
103but these are the policies um yeah I'm going to obstain unhappy because um some of these were just changed I'm not sure about the regulations and I think that we do need copies of we should be receiving these copies I didn't receive a copy of um them and I can't log into board dos so I couldn't uh see them so I'm going to vote no on the policy Mr D no I Mr no Mr I this is the this is the poliy so I [Music] all right for those who wish to uh engage in public comment at this meeting guidelines regulations that we've set forth um that have been set forth at the previous meetings but we're just going to reiterate um while the Garfield Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on
104an ed on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest please be advised that the following guidelines shall apply members of the public who would like to address the board must State their name and address each member of the public will be limited to offering no more than five minutes of public comment no participant shall speak more than once as this is a public forum public comments may not in any way be disrespectful vulgar or threatening toward any member of the Board District faculty Administration or staff if any public comments violate these guidelines the speaker will be asked to refrain from offering any further public comment regardless of whether they have time remaining in addition the speaker may be interrupted and his or
105her privilege to comment terminated if the speaker comments are disruptive or otherwise violate these guidelines thank you in advance uh from the board for your anticipated Co cooperation and following these guidelines um and again it these guidelines are included in your packet so if you have any questions you could refer back to them public comment whoever wishes to speak is free to do so at this time all right um say ladies first where was uh signed up to speak go ahead there's no all right we normally sign up so that's why I said that will we ask for a show hands how many people want to speak okay it's Mar 67 more is that Garfield okay oh I don't like this did my time start can not start yet okay I can't see my notes
106okay the Oprah requests when you compute the amounts of costs please explain how you come up with the sum as in isn't the custodian of record responsible for this request as in part of the N 190,000 salary already made please explain to me how it cost the Board of Education $1,322 to tell a person that they cannot get cell phone records this only shows me that the either the custodian of record is incompetent or the attorney researching this took around 5 hours to find a way to deny this CR please I know you do this in Belleville but this is not Belleville this is showing the public that there are tons of people that care and want to know exactly what is going on in the Garfield Public School District good for them I would
107I would encourage more people to do op request to become more knowledgeable it shows that yes it cost a couple thousands for the taxpayers but that's nothing compared to the 2 million that it had been spent in the past 3 months on new job positions and new vendor contracts this is not including your Sal Mr super because on the updated budget the 2425 budget it still has the listing of Mr parado as a superintendent and his salary not yours then did it also CA the taxpayers a lot of money for your settlement with the previous register to be replaced with Mr creel's C through I get nervous as always I'm sorry through all the building and grounds approval I couldn't find your approval for Steve's B ERS to use your field during the Boys and
108Girls Club football game is this because they didn't have a permit or a health inspection and pretty much caus a lot of people to get food poisoning how much is this going to cost The taxpayers Who on the board of ed will be taking responsibility for this enormous mistake from previous events I can vouch the Health Inspectors and the boys and girls club are always on top of these things I would never believe it is their mistake this to me is a in my opinion is a perfect example of how the Board of Education favor their friends without proper protocol did the vendors get fines for illegally selling to Miners and their parents without a permit and a health inspection on school GRS um when will policy 3372 through 3374 be listed does policy 3374
109mean that any teacher that is brought in let's say to the middle school which is underperforming will automatically be tenured will these jobs be listed or go directly to friends how is this building morale with the teachers that are already in the district working toward their way toward 10 um are you also now going to allow School District employees to receive gifts from vendors as policy 7231 has been abolished um doesn't this open the Board of Education to bribes or is this to cover past incidents let's say example you give a member of Meridia a job can they now work on your house at a discount isn't abolishing this against the New Jersey state law not allowing gets from vendors um this is like directly at the board members especially the ones running can I
110please have the schedule for when the athletic complex is open to the public for our use it's in your re-election Flyers you sent out and publish I couldn't find a schedule and love to play some tennis um does it really cost $23,000 to do bus routing for 2.3 square miles and last question was Mr Derek removed from the committee because of politics or because of his work ethic that's synopsis you going to give me more time you just hand me synopsis you could have my whole speech I don't have anyone else hi my name is luris I son I live at 27 Garden Court I just want to know if there's a policy in place for vendors at the athletic complex and who's responsible for um Contracting vendors uh authorizing applications and verifying their permits
111why was a food truck with no permits or inspection allowed to vend at multiple school events on school property thank you good evening my name is Alexandra Bru uh 70 cage Place Garfield I have the question because when the kids finished Middle School they sign up for the languages in high school some uh I don't know what the kind of the languages you have because my son he signed up for the Italian when he came to the high school like the Freshman he got the Spanish and he wasn't not happy he uh even know why he sign up for Spanish instead he signed up for the uh Italian I don't know you don't have the teachers or what's going on like the last year you want to fired 100 almost teachers we hear that I
112mean yeah uh but wherever I want to ask you like the kids sign up for something I don't know why he don't have like the classes with uh I'm Italian he got the classes with the Spanish teacher also this Spanish teacher when I went for the back to school night she even don't say one word in English I mean this is not okay I understand like she speaks Spanish in the classroom because she teach them Spanish but back to school night when the uh parents come she's supposed to speak English nobody was understand what she's saying thank good evening everyone Danielle Marcelo 66 crackout Street so first I would like to express that I was also a former teen in teen Institute um member for 2001 in 2002 and membership in that Institute built foundational
113skills in leadership in humanity for me that I still possess to this guy and I couldn't be more proud to see that it's still alive and well in high school for those of you who've heard me speak before Children's Health and well-being are of particular interest to me even more so emotional and mental health are any of you familiar with the Vego robot so this device is a telepresence robot that my children's hospital has successfully rolled out in the communities that we serve in a different area in New Jersey over 10 years ago hundreds of children have been fortunate enough to have direct benefits of something that is often overlooked this device allows children who are on homebound instruction for illness or injury to be able to have a presence in the classroom in the
114hallways with their friends where some of the best memories of school are made at assemblies prom and even walking across stage at graduation to collect their diploma illness and injury can be isolating and it can create lasting effects on a child's emotional and mental wellbeing I'm familiar with the budget process and how far in advance planning begins I would like to ask the board to please connect with me so that we can potentially look at integrating this technology for the children in our district this device can be a huge step forward for the children and providing an inclusive opportunity for those children who are not able to physically attend in school for a period of time I encourage you all to reach out more than happy to help integrate it into our school system and
115if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them thank better [Applause] good evening Kathy 85 chest M Street just a short and sweet a little update on the coordinating par committee um we I think Danielle last time had given you a little bit of an update but I just want to say that we have connected with quite a few of the principles who have given us um the dates for the HS meetings for uh the year not many have offered virtual as of yet however those who have unfortunately there was no parent turnout so I am a little bit disappointed that although parents have signed up and showed much interest we're not having that show up yet even virtually so we're going to be pushing we're hoping that um this is something that will
116improve for next month um also uh just quickly sharing that we have raised already $1,600 towards the hsas for all of the schools so we're trying to figure out how to evenly distribute that probably with supplies um but more to come [Applause] anyone [Music] else um my name is Aaron fski I live onund Columbus Avenue and I'm currently a junior at Garfield High School and I'm just curious as to I'm taking I'm currently enrolled in chemistry honors and we've had uh first month in the year we we were in a class with um one of the chemistry teachers we were sharing a teacher and it was very difficult and now we have a virtual teacher and I was wondering if that virtual teacher is a permanent solution to uh not having a chemistry teacher is
117there going to be a change later in the school year [Applause] is there anybody else time can I answer to the chair resp is it okay can I answer to the chair thank you thank you Mr President first I to say I'm very proud of our students for getting up it takes a lot of courage and I mean it's an incredible thing keep coming up here keep telling us what's going on and I'm glad you brought that up so uh let's start with the virtual teachers for chemistry um actually I want to thank the gft they're here tonight as well but um coming up with helping us come up with a plan possibly to to get more teachers involved in teaching uh some of the higher level um Sciences uh some of you may know
118I was on a task force with the governor to talk about teacher shortages and we made some recommendations that are hopefully coming to fruition but uh but they're not happening quick enough for cities like ours um this is a a temporary fix I know we're continuing to post we're contining to look for additional teachers uh I know we're looking to expand some more schedules if we can so so we are working on it so it's absolutely not optimal and it's something I hate every day coming here that you guys have to go through that but please know that we are working on it okay and thank you for bringing it up here it's uh it's very valion if you do that uh and miss deo's here so I mean I'm going to put her on
119the spot now too uh with the other uh the mother in the back um with regard to the uh um maybe you can contact that Mom and uh talk about the you know selection process but just talk about scheduling and of itself um you know the guidance department does an incredible job because I I looked at the core selection sheets um you know like I said four years right we want to get our students the best that we can in four years so we see what the students want some years it's this some years it's that um and now of course with um you know Staffing and and what not being the way it is uh sometimes we have to make some hard decisions and only offer certain electives and I think last year um
120one of those areas was um um Lang foreign language so that may have been how how your child was affected but we can kind of talk about that in private um there there wasn't a 100 teachers laid off though let's just be very clear about that I don't want that getting around so um you know we have we have some other issues moving forward with that that I'll be discussing at my entry plan stuff um okay let's talk about food trucks let's talk about food trucks because I know that's a Hot Topic here um unfortunately unfortunately tonight the board didn't have a majority vote with regard to passing this first um reading that we just talked about a little bit which would have helped us even talk more about the food trucks and and how
121we can get food uh to our facilities outside because there is no kitchen yet the board I think the board did an incredible job waiting on that um when they built the Athletic Facility because really would have been an expense that someone like me now can kind of uh tail her in a way that uh it wouldn't affect the taxpayer so did did they did a great job waiting for me to get here um but unfortunately now as part of the old policy we have to use food trucks it's one of the ways we can do it um and yes if this was a board event um that food truck probably would had their proper certifications this what we're talking about this unfortunate thing that happened was not a board event um your field here
122is can be utilized uh by any community group um I don't know why we've argued about that before I got here um there's very small limitation on that uh part of the board policy that group they can't use grills right now they can't do certain things because that's what the board policy committee wanted and that's fine um trying to look change that but one of the things they can do is bring a food truck so that's what that group was allowed to do so the the the um onus on that food truck falls on the group that um was sponsoring the activity that that day uh not the board the board just uh basically leased out the facility um probably didn't pay for the facility because it was a nonprofit organization but it definitely falls
123on the person who who got the truck so uh I'm not saying that we haven't now looked a little deeper into how we can make sure it doesn't happen again I'm very surprised that a local food truck didn't know to do that and how it's never been approved I I I still can't believe it's not approved I'm not sure I'm not saying it is or it isn't but that was not the responsibility of the board at all 0% um so I don't know why everybody's bringing that up except here we go again we're not educated enough in the policies and that's what my job is but yes the board is allowed to lend out or lease out a field following certain policies policy is you can get a food truck here and the the things
124that go along with that food truck what the menu is how much they they pay you has nothing to do with the board um the board is just that vessel to get something here that's how that goes so so again uh that that that conversation you would have would be at a different meeting um not here um number two and in saying all that um with regard to I think someone uh asked a question about about you know when is it going to go open up to the public last meeting we posted for a ranger once we get what we call a park ranger or thing called it Athletic Facility Ranger uh we'd be able to open up for public we're we're we're starting to um interview certain people that's not really a job that's
125prevalent um with regard to 100 people knocking down the door to do that for the you know the minimum wage it's going to be uh but once we do that the board uh I recommend to the board a schedule to open up to the public we can't open up to the public until we have someone there to help watch the facilities a bathroom available um you have uh you know someone who knows how to work in AED uh that's the important thing so there's nobody you know sidest stepping any of that it's just a process right now and if you remember last meeting was when the board gave us the opportunity to go out and find that individual or an or a few individuals to do that um let me just see if I can
126answer a couple more things here um oh the the the uh the public record request Oprah I don't I'm just curious why anybody would be against putting it on there if no one's doing anything wrong what's the big deal right so if someone's not trying to use Oprah to weaponize something here then who cares if your name's on there it's public record so I just never understood why people didn't want to put it on there we put everything else on here contracts um leaves of absence everything else is public record but when we talk about public record everybody thinks it's something to take a step back for I don't understand why I still don't really understand uh why people complain about that and it's not it's not a you someone mentioned Beville it's not a
127Beville thing it's a it's an administrative thing and I think uh you know I don't think I'm the only uh person that does it in the State uh I don't think it's a popular thing because I I think most places don't answer oah requests Believe It or Not uh we tend to be a place here that answers them better than I've ever seen before um you know when we get stuff that doesn't really require uh legal review uh I know the business office gets it out immediately including my contract that was opened as soon as I got here um you know so those things are are I I again if it's not if if people that complain about other people knowing about opras those people are definitely weaponizing the the law the the spirit of
128the law was put in there for people like me to hide things so we can't hide things that's why that law was put in place years ago people that complain about their name coming out on that law or or on those requests are those are the ones are those the people that weaponize that request so and that that's coming directly from me that's not anyone else but me so so I don't know if that answers that um and and the but you know scheduling a bus route or bus routes is is not as easy as you know it's really not that simple you have uh you know you have you have certain things you have to think about distance is one pickup stops certain stops can't be less than 100 feet away uh there so
129what a program does it allows us to make sure that probably the the the one of the most important things with student safety is is Vehicle Safety um so we make sure it's done correctly I don't really know of any District that doesn't use a software program to track students and keep records of students and and different things we have something called a dtrs that we have to fill out every year that's actually due I think in a couple weeks uh to make sure all of our numbers are correct um you know and and again uh so that's that's something that I don't really understand uh would be an issue either for this board um and any type of any type of policy that was on here to be abolished or whatnot probably was a
130mandatory policy policy that was told to come off through state regulations uh no no there's no superintendent or board member that would ever abolish a policy uh that was not recommended by some kind of legal uh legal firm or the lawyers Etc uh and anything that has to do with any type of vendor or vendor fees Etc all of us up here especially are um regulated by the ethics commission um which I said as a member on um so all those things are you know those are criminal things that you were talking about so you know I don't think anybody in their right mind would abolish a policy to then create a criminal act for themselves so again I I I take exception to that question but I know it has to be asked because
131again we're not educated in those areas so I appreciate that question as well and my promise is to continue to educate people in the community uh so that we we understand those things a little more but you know those days of maybe hiding and sneaking things and all those other things that Garfield used to do I don't think this board wants that anymore and uh that's one of the reasons why they brought me here and uh appreciate that so that's it thank you Mr President I would like to ask a few questions just make sure you speak all right um Mr TOMCO you said that there was no um with the food vendors here we had several home games which uh I don't want to mention the vendor's name because it's not fair to him
132but um they're supposed to be any food truck that comes into the stadium is supposed to be having a city health inspection and a city fire inspection and a signed contract this is not being done this is not how it was supposed to be set up to do I don't know why we're not following this um policy and the way it was supposed to be and was also there was a contracts that are supposed to be written up for these things and I do respect and I understand what you said about how um you know if it's a city event or some other event that it's not a school event but I disagree that the we had several home games and those food trucks were there and we also had a soccer match which was
133a disaster because there was people drinking there and it was a really terrible thing and uh we can't have drinking on the premises and when I did reach out to call you and I had mentioned that you said there's no policy against drinking and I I just don't you know I don't think that it's you know it's ridiculous that we we should have had a police officer there we had almost a thousand people that day it was 100° out there were uh people were hanging out they were drinking beer and uh we only had one security guard there and it really should have been a police officer at that point uh to deter that type of Behavior Uh on school grounds I don't uh I don't I don't really think that's appropriate for school grounds
134is that it rich yeah through the chair I just want to provide an answer because I I usually don't like going back and forth but I mean again Mr Derek it's I don't know I must be missing conversations I'm having with you so I apologize but I'm I mean I never said that drinking is not part of the policy or not I said what I what I think I said was that there are events that the board can wave any type of policy and allow drinking on them that's the conversation we had so I I I understand that maybe you didn't hear it that way but that's exactly what was said and and I think I think I think I need to talk about this event for a second because you just mentioned there's a
135thousand people there which is an incredible event for the community and to talk about one or two instances of you know I know you also brought up someone smoking some I mean that's that's a pretty not a bad thing for a thousand people um I don't care if you had a th people from another town here for a football game you're still going to get issues you're going to get unfortunate um altercations or people are going to drop ketchup on the it's just the way it goes I mean it's life it's the way it's the way it is so to have a thousand people here and have such a successful event I I really don't I don't see anything wrong with it especially since it's a community thing and I and I I completely disagree
136with you know especially as the policy shair at the time the other people's vendors are 100% not our responsibility if they're following the policy so if if the board wants to do that and make that change where now it is our responsibility to vet the vendors of other individual associations that are coming in and re renting our field that's a whole other set of overtime and everything to vet all that we have we have more stuff to worry about with our own people and our in our own events to worry then to worry about other people you are a a public entity you have a taxpayer funded field that the taxpayers are have the ability to rent out or lease out if they follow certain procedures Etc and what I did say to you with
137all those groups I did speak to the group you're were talking about was that we would talk to them about a warning if anything happens again they would not be able to use the field again and that's permitted so so I don't really understand you know it's a horrible thing whatever allegedly happen with this food truck I I mean I know it's out there I know people are talking about it but I did get a call about it uh there's no one to blame uh at all on it I don't think think anybody purposefully uh did any of this uh now again yeah was there a permit or not I don't know it's not in our purview it's in the purview who rented the field from us that's the meeting that you need to go
138to um so so again I I think we're we're we're moving in the right direction we're doing everything we possibly can but I mean that's that's just the reality of it I don't I don't really don't know what else to say again for a thousand people um you know if there was someone drinking there or not I don't know I didn't I didn't see what that individual was drinking I know there's people were taking pictures which is absurd here people take pictures of each other here and post them which I've never ever seen or heard of before it's that's something that really has to change here it's that's actually despicable in my opinion um and it's disrespectful but um you know and saying all that I I don't know what else except moving forward like
139I said we'll we will put other things uh in the new contracts we're already working on that um but it's a public field you know you're going to have some of these issues that's why I appreciate the the ranger coming out um if you guys know anyone who wants to make a little extra money and be a ranger which is not going to be a fun job trust me but uh you know we're we're ready to open up a little more to the public to have our individual taxpayers walk around the track and enjoy that you know I mean listen when you have open up a field to kids playing soccer on a field or kids playing baseball on the field they're kids it's going to happen right are they going to have a friend
140from another town sure there's going to be a friend from another town you can't stop these things that's not a Garfield thing that's a life thing you know so we do the best we can and and again it's it's going to work out we just you know some new uh you know just a little bit new growing pains with the new field and whatnot so comments uh Mr President um I was I was a member of the field oversight committee uh we're really concerned about the recouping the cost and oversight of future contracts and the policy to protect the field of you know we we've made a big investment in this field want we want to ensure that it's used the proper way and I really welcome the opportunity for you to reinstitute and I'll
141be more than happy to be part of that committee for the field oversight to make sure that it's used properly as well as uh protected for the longevity of the life of the field in the best interest of the public thank you any else comments okay I talk through the microphone please public com exception so you understand the public Poli the public comment comes during session which was already over I'm sorry I just have a question I need your name and your address I'm sorry Mar out 49 Samson Street I just have a question cuz I saw that the lady over there she came up she said a lot of things and I feel like some of those things will not addressed like she mentioned something about a bus truck it caus like 23,000 I
142feel like some other things were not mentioned you have to tell me what else yeah I know cuz I she gave him the speech and I just to see like the other things you know is that all you have yeah I it thank you um I believe he just missed portion of it but he addressed pretty much 90% of everything um he has a paper in front of him probably show you after all the things he did address if that's a continued concern thank you for coming up and asking for making your statement um at this time I'd like to spin the meeting back from the negativity that it's going towards I'd like to thank you guys for everything that you're doing the positivity that you're bringing to the school and the school district George
143they can't hear you George that you're bringing to the school and school district and the things that you guys are doing I'm hoping can expand and go through all the schools I know a lot of you students uh struggle with a lot of things and there's a lot of things you know whether it be from your home life to your school life to your to your uh friend life you know there's a lot of things and the fact that you guys are willing to step up and understand and see each other and actually be there for each other is commendable and it's something that you need to continue and and we all need to continue so that we can learn to be a better community Through the things we see in our youth we're always
144looking for our youth to become better adults and better people through us but a lot of the times and you know there's a lot of things going on right now especially in social media seeing something like this is is heartwarming and welcome we want you to continue we want you to express and have all those other kids understand that you know the things that aren't true don't Define we need you to to help them understand that the only way that they can further themselves in life is if they believe in themselves if they stop allowing the opinions and ideas of other people to affect the way they look at themselves and I thank you for everything that you guys are are are about to bring to to the to to the high school and I'm
145hoping we could bring it to the middle school and I'm hoping we could bring it to the grammar school because we want them to be Way Beyond this point by the time they get here we want them to have a better understanding and we know that you know your generation is a lot different than our generation and in your generation you guys are a lot more intelligent you guys are a lot quicker to receive and understand things and we're proud of everything that we see that you guys are doing and we look forward to seeing everything that you guys will be doing from this point forward and hopefully it can expand and go through the high school and you know like wildfire and you know do something positive finally for the community and continue to
146do something positive for the community and maybe through that you'll teach us a different way to look at things and you'll teach us the better way to approach life the things that we may have missed and the poor examples that we may be setting for you guys because of the things that you know people can't get out of their way so I thank you and I commend you guys for everything and I and I pray and Hope that you guys continue to move forward in this and everything and don't allow anything to be a hiccup in the process of everything you guys are doing we're here to support you as much as we can and we're hoping that we you know with um with everything that you know we can do our part to help
147you build something beautiful in this community so thank you um I'd like to thank everybody who was able to make the meeting I'd like to thank everybody for you know um I don't know if everybody knows Miss cutup in audience Miss cutup was my art teacher in high school so she actually helped me put together a portfolio when I was going to college and she made me Express all these things that I didn't think I was was possible for me to do so you know it's beautiful seeing her you know one of my favorite teachers one of the one of the reasons I kept coming to school even when I didn't want to come to school was the excitement of what she could possibly teach me that day and you know the ability to actually
148be able to to express you know the things that I have artistically in her class so welcome Miss cut thank you for being here um otherwise I I'd like to thank everybody for taking their time and I see taking part in our board meetings you know bringing your questions bringing your concerns we hope that this continues even you know Far and Beyond this is not a practice that was common before this is something you know the home in school the things that you guys are doing to try to get the parents together the ideas that you continually bring up here that we hope that we can find ways to bring to the children soon enough you know I I thank you guys for the change that's going on in the city whether people want to
149realize it or not you know it takes a community to move forward not a people you know we you we're really looking forward to all the ideas and the things that come out from the public so we can start moving these things in a positive direction and continue to move in a positive direction we'd like to continually focus on the positive things because as people we have a tendency to focus more on the negative things then we should so let's continue to build up our children build up our teachers and build up our schools so we can be the community and the people that we need to be for Garfield thank you guys for everything um I believe that this is where we do part we make a motion to close the meeting so I
150make a motion second all right so we have too many motions all in favor I hi U Mr made it she second in he second in Miss Mark you want I don't know I still get my for