001I'd like to call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bono. >> Mr. Harris, >> here. >> Mr. Holmes >> here. >> Mrs. Perez. >> Mr. Rivera >> here. >> Mr. Silva >> here. >> Mr. Sabrana >> present. >> Mrs. Katispati >> present. >> Obi Oakafur. >> Is Obie here tonight? >> Okay. In compliance with the New Jersey open public meeting law, commonly referred to as the sunshine law, the Vinland Board of Education has caused notice and posting of this meeting to be sent to the following announcing time, place, agenda, etc. The Daily Journal, SNJ Today, the Press of Atlantic City, Vistueno, the clerk for the city of Vinland, and the administrative office public and public public bulletin board. We could have our many students come on up today. Would everyone please rise
002for the flag salute? To the flag of the United States of America and to the standice for You can be seated. Bono arrived at 502. >> Thanks, Scott. President. >> Mr. Mtoell, is there a resolution for executive session? >> There is not. >> Mr. Jano, do we have any special presentations? >> Yes. My team and I will present the learning and leading 2526 school year launch update. Thank you. The team and I wanted to make sure we had an opportunity to present to the board our plan for the school year. Last year, we ended the year with a lot of statistics and data around chronic absenteeism, our school plans. This year, we're just going to kick off with a few slides on what comes next. Uh want to remind everyone that we are in year
003two of our strategic plan. In our strategic plan, we have five goals as noted on our presentation. In November, you'll see a a year one update that closes out a lot of the activities that we conducted in year one. And we'll talk about our year two plans that's coming soon. Uh for our goals for 25 and 26 school year, we want to align all of our goals with our strategic plan. So, we have a student learning and achievement goal noted here on our presentation and just going to read one of them to you, which is to strengthen our reading and math skills in the early grades using our bookworms program, Go Math, Dibbles, and MClass. That's just one of our goals underneath student learning and achievement. Our second major goal area is all around attendance
004and engagement, specifically reducing chronic absenteeism, promoting a showup culture. Every school has a plan as noted on our agenda tonight as well. Uh for goal number three, our third area is around student well-being and school climate. And our major efforts here are around expanding our social emotional learning and mental health supports. Uh in goal four, family and community partnerships. Uh again, that's linked to our strategic plan speaking directly to family and community engagement. Uh we're going to make sure that we have more opportunities for our families to partner with their children in their education. All of our school leaders have many plans set up throughout the year to engage families as we have done in the past. Number five, excellence and in teaching and leadership. Uh we're going to be diving even deeper into professional
005learning aligned to the curriculum and our instructional goals. And goals area number six, facilities, resources, technology, uh making sure that we maintain safe, modern, and energy efficient schools. Uh this is a big year, year one of the EIP uh that you've heard Mr. Musterell speak of quite often. There'll be an update in probably January, February on the EIP. So those are our major areas that we have uh launched as goal areas for our school district align with the strategic plan. We want to make the strategic plan a live breathing document. This year we are lucky enough and I say that you know laughing that we're going to be uh reviewed by the DOE uh under New Jersey QAC. QAC is uh the quality single accountability continuum by November 15th. We have to review uh five
006major areas instruction and program fiscal management governance operations and personnel. We have to upload a lot of evidence into New Jersey Home Room and then our county partners will be reviewing our paperwork, making sure everything is in order. This is done every couple of years and it's our turn to participate. So by November 15th, we will have submitted uh a DPR process to the NJDOE and to the county office. Uh it's going to be exciting. Not really, but a lot of work and we're ready to do it. Uh you'll note that we talk about positive attendance quite often. Uh all of our school leaders have a very specific plan and all those plans are linked to the agenda today under our corrective action plans. Every school that has 10% or more students who were chronically
007absent are expected to have a chronically absent uh corrective action plan. All of our schools in that zone have a plan and it's an extension of the plans that we put into place last year. Being very proactive and attacking attendance every single day, making positive phone calls, home visits, having attendance teams, connecting with families, calling families, and working with them diligently. So, all of our school leaders are well into their plan at this time. Uh, okay. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Susette. Good evening everyone. So this year our preschool program um is piloting two particular curricula. The goal is to identify one and launch that program for year 2627. The two programs that our preschool is piloting at various um sites uh is frog street and tools of the mind.
008So we are excited to see the work that um our classrooms are doing with these uh various pilot programs and um by the end of the year we will know which program preschool will be choosing as we enter into the 2627 school year. Our gifted and talented program we are entering year two of our redesigned program cla the lists have been set officially today. Parents will be notified by next week if their child will be participating in the gifted and talented program. We are very excited for year two. This summer, our teachers worked very hard ensuring that our project projectbased learning approach um is really going to challenge our students. Um and our two sites for our K to5 is at Rossi School and Sabotair. And for our middle school students, we have our individual
009middle school programs. K to 5, lots of great things happening. Um last year we introduced um our bookworms program which is based in the science of reading. Um we launched K and one during the 2425 school year and this year we launched uh bookworms in grades 2 and three. Next year for 26 and 27 we will be expanding that program into four and five. Uh this year uh we have implemented MCL class. So this meets the new legislative um requirement that we are to screen all students in kindergarten through third grade um for those literacy gaps and provide targeted instruction. So our teachers are working diligently screening our students. Um and this gives us real time data. Um so our teachers are able to get that immediate data so that we can provide targeted instruction
010to our students. >> Yes. >> Explain the grade again that you just mentioned. >> I'm sorry. >> The grades that they're screening >> um K to three, but we actually screen K to five. The legis the law requires K to 3, but we screen K to 5. Uh ELA 6 through 12, our secondary instructional coach is supporting our teachers at our secondary schools. Uh our middle school curriculum was revised this summer um with teacher feedback. High school, all curriculum has been updated. college honors advanced and our advanced placement courses. Um we did expand our journalism class which focuses on more advanced writing. Um we also expanded our close reading course at Vinand High School. Uh we had one we had one section last year, we have three sections this year. Um in NJGPA we did
011see an increase um as we had noted in the summer uh in ELA students that uh demonstrated that they were not um graduation ready had have an opportunity to retake the fall administration of NJGPA on October 7th and October 8th. Math um we are in our second year of our go math curriculum. um elementary curriculum has been revised this summer. We have been implementing we implemented um a bridges intervention program. Um and this is a hands-on activity-based uh program that helps students um strengthen their foundational math skills. In six through eight, our middle school uh curriculum was revised. We are in year three of our re reveal math program. So within another year uh we are going to be um reviewing uh our curriculum and bringing together a curriculum team for collaboration to see how
012we move forward um with our our math program. And this is our year two of I Ready. All middle schools are um utilizing I Ready. And in 9 through 12, again, math has been all updated, our curriculum, and we implemented for our 9th grade academy our pre-alggebra and math lab course. And next is Miss Godlooki. Good evening everyone. Um as many of you know uh under the student services a lot of our initiatives and um programs that we focus on are basically marching orders sometimes from the DOE. So right now uh we are uh embedded in inclusive education. It is a um a goal of the New Jersey Department of Education to in increase the number of our students who are receiving their education within the general education population or within the home school home
013district programs. Uh I think at the end of last year we talked about uh Vinand uh applying for the allin grant which is was sponsored by which was called the New Jersey center for inclusive education and violin was one of the few districts in the state that received that grant. We're very proud of that. Uh we are piloting that program in many um and in Barc. and they provide uh professional development uh free on-site coaching uh for the teachers so the students uh so students can have the opportunities to be in the least restrictive environment or the general education programs. Um our administration will attend um uh the community of practice which is uh a professional development opportunity for all of administration uh throughout the districts that received the grant. uh they will be attending
014on October 24th and we have our coaches coming in to see areas of strengths, areas that we need to focus on, uh get some feedback from the teachers, just kind of get that overall look. So, we are excited about them coming in and making our programs become um stronger and better than what they already are. Uh the other thing I finished up with last year was is that in our monitoring we did receive uh an overall performance rating of meets requirements. uh which is the highest rating. But under the meets requirements, there were subcategories that uh are areas of focus. And as my colleagues will talk about, there are areas of focus broadly that the district is doing, but we have funneled down to to target our special education students and the same, you know,
015the same type of things, our graduation rates, our test scores, our attendance. So the those are areas of focus for our our special education students as well as all the students within the district. Um some very specific student service special education initiatives that we're uh doing uh is that we're looking at our programs and we know that a lot of times our programs are expanding. We have new teachers coming in and maybe not have the experience in those programs. So, we are working with the teachers that are currently teaching in those specific classrooms and we're putting together uh program guides which would be in addition to the curriculum uh which targets what materials are being used, what strategies, who to call, uh what supports are there for for our new teachers as well as our
016second thirdyear teachers that are just to support them. Um I am also working with the uh curriculum department as well as HR. We've developed a a professional development platform for new teachers. It's called Vine. Uh one of the things that I will be doing is uh part of in those professional development uh opportunities removing or taking giving opportunities for our special education teachers to talk about very specific um topics to our program. Writing goals and objectives, how to collect data. uh those are the types of things that are inherently special to special education. Uh we work with the curriculum department for updates and trainings because as we know all of our students participate in the general education uh curricula as well. Uh I'm sure all of you know too uh we at our 18 to
01721 year old program that's at the high school. We uh are working to establish uh a larger ver a variety of partnerships and collaborations uh for job shadowing and internship opportunities. Uh I put at the bottom some of our partners and actually Inspira Medical Center just came on as one of our partners. So, we have a student that will be going out volunteering um in that site as well. So, we're very excited about that. Uh under student services, we also also have our health services. Um as many of us know, uh that's an area in this area of South Jersey. Health uh wellness is an area of need. Uh we have partnered with FAM care to support our students at the Violent High School. uh they are stationed at the north building but they can
018provide services for both the north and the south students. We are also um have a a partnership with complete care their health solutions um program as well as the wow van and they have been on site to help with our uh physicals immunizations and uh dental exams under the support services with Mrs. Ralpho. Uh, part of what is new this year on the testing level is that New Jersey has revised their NJSLA and their NE NJ GPA, which are the state uh administered assessments. Uh, so we are in preparation. We have to do a fall um administration of that test, but then in the spring it's as we've tested all the grades every year. So we are preparing uh our schools uh our students for that first round of that new test. Uh we are
019continuing our restorative practices. Uh we are continuing our peerroup connection. Actually, they we had students here today in that next round of peerroup connection and we are continuing our ongoing partnership with Brett Denovian Associates and they're providing behavioral supports uh to both students and teachers throughout our district, not just special education, but our general education students and our families who who need that additional support for student well-being and student health. And at this point, strategic programs and grants. >> Next slide. Sorry. A portrait of a graduate. I'm sorry. >> Thank you, Terry. Thank you. >> All right. So, I'm going to take a moment just to talk a little bit and uh highlight our portrait of a graduate. Again, launched in uh 2023. The portrait of a graduate really reflects that collective vision of the
020goals and aspirations that the community has at large for the all the students of violent public schools. Um there are a list of competencies that are on the slide there that you can see and in addition to those competencies being embedded within the curriculum, being embedded within lessons. Uh there is a a monthly lesson and activity that's been established to really highlight those competencies. And uh this next slide uh just is one example of that. Uh in particular, you can see responsibility here and it's just one of the activities uh that one of our elementary schools, Barcy, um had that really uh allowed students to reflect on what responsibility meant and there was an activity that was associated with it. All right, next up, uh Dr. Speakman. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, everyone. And
021the success of all the programs that you just heard describe really depends on the strength of our teachers and our staff. So, our human resource department, I certainly hit the ground running building on the work of our previous HR director and we have three areas of focus. Our recruiting and hiring process, our onboarding, and our community and culture throughout the district. So, just some um a factoid since April, we started hiring for this school year. Uh we filled six certificated vacancies before day one. That is just teachers and administrators. We had over 60 support staff hired before day one of the school year. And we did this through an expanded outreach trying to recruit the best staff because who doesn't want to work for Vinland public schools? Our job fair in August was a huge
022success. And the feedback we received from candidates was that they liked meeting our our superintendent in fact interviewed staff. Uh we all jumped in. They liked meeting building administrators, teachers, and seeing the faces behind the district. Uh we recruited I believe 15 hires just from that 4-hour job fair uh certificated hires. So we are on social media, we are on LinkedIn. Uh Mrs. Godlooski and I are traveling to Stockton next week. So we are on the road. Uh we still have some open positions that we have filled but we do uh you know want to keep recruiting as we have retirements come up. Our pipelines we're strengthening. We are partnering with Stockton Rowan and other universities to get candidates even before they graduate to have them think about Vinland public schools. So, not only do
023we want to hire them, we want to support our new teachers through a strong onboarding process. And we want to create a culture and community of care so that we retain our staff. And one of the ways that we are working to do this is a new program beyond the required mentoring program for teachers. So, uh, collaborating with Mrs. Marching, Miss Scalooi, and our central administration, we are working and kicking off this year a year-long induction program, Vine Vinand innovates for new educators. So, we want to have both formal and informal ways of professional development for our staff to set to stay. and Vine will be really teacher new teacher le and driven topics of discussion and support and professional development throughout the year to strengthen our teachers and again have them become part of
024our community. So not only that do they thrive but they stay. I think I'm going back to Suzette. Okay. So, we are in year two of both our dual enrollment grant and our advanced placement grant. Uh, in the two years for the dual enrollment grant, um, we earned $28,000 um to assist students um with earning college credit. Uh, so right with their high school courses in conjunction with RCSJ. That grant ends December 31st. And of course, we are actively looking um for opportunities to expand the dual enrollment opportunity um for our students. Our advanced placement grant ends at the end of the school year and for over the two years uh we have received $118,918 um to support our advanced um placement courses and teachers. Um last month we submitted for the impact grant submission.
025It is the instructional materials for professional advancement and coherent teaching. Uh and the grant is designed to um support school districts and again furthering and strengthening tier one literacy instruction. If we receive this grant, it could be up to $400,000. So cross your fingers um that we do earn um this grant. And next I believe is Susan. So I'm just going to speak briefly about the ninth grade academy. Um you know there was a lot of work and planning uh all of last year and throughout the summer to get the nth grade academy off the ground. And while it's only been a few weeks of school at this time it's hard to really say uh you know the the total impact. But there's been some great positive momentum in terms of the the thoughtfulness that
026went into the staff that are are they are part of the 9th grade academy. the way that the classrooms are um they're organized to mitigate uh and to lessen that movement not only between classes in the building but even between buildings. Uh the administration at VHS has really done a phenomenal job to um plan and and they're really working hard to build that culture. So we're excited about what the nth grade academy is going to bring and we're hopeful in the future we can share with you some data that supports uh the great work that they're doing at at VHS. Okay, our VIL's partnership is up and running. Um, our each school, each middle school, uh, has an instructional technology coach. Um, and all the coaches just returned from a week-long professional development opportunity called
027Coach Camp. So, they were able to join coaches from across um, the United States that have earned the VIL's partnership for cohort 12, which we are in. Um we over the summer uh we received over 2,000 student uh Chromebooks. They were distributed during the week of September 8th. So all of our students um do have their Chromebooks um through our VIL's partnership. Um each device has the LTE connectivity for both staff and students. So this is definitely an exciting opportunity um for our middle school and our middle schools. and we are actively pursuing the same opportunity at Violin High School to be part of cohort 13. One of the thing that one of the things that's uh extremely important to us is helping us make connections with the community. So uh we brought in our
028peer group connections uh group which Terry spoke about a little bit earlier. 100% of our sixth graders will have access to a mentor, a trained eighth grade mentor. Uh we have a McKin Vento pantry uh in our building and we're also expanding uh food banks throughout the district. We have our CPAC meetings coming up soon. They're going to be uh an awesome addition and continuation of the work that we've established for the last couple years. And we also have our CPAC, our special education parents advocacy group that meets quite often. Our back to school extravaganza was an exciting event this year. Our second one uh over a thousand guests, a couple pictures up here for you to see. A few of you uh of our board members were able to participate and see, you know,
029the community come out, our our teachers, our administrators, everyone working together to have a really positive day to launch the school year. Our meetings are coming up, superintendent meetings. I know this is something that is uh quite exciting for me. Uh we're bringing in our fifth grade students this year and uh we're going to meet at the elementary level, the middle school level, and the high school level. I welcome any of our board members to join me. Uh we've had quite a few join us in the past. I know Mr. Bona has been there. Uh Mr. Rivera has joined us and we had a few other board members as well come and visit with us. Anyone would like to attend, just let me know. And we have an opportunity to talk to our students. Susette
030So during the 20 uh 425 school year, we began the PL planning phase and all professional development to launch our Danielson teacher evaluation rubric. This is the updated rubric rubric which is 2022. Prior to this year, we will you utilizing the 2013 rubric. Um we are underway. Uh evaluations have begun. Uh administrators are utilizing the new rubric. And one thing I just wanted to highlight was that all administrators took and passed the calibration assessment. This was something that we felt as though was very important. Um so our administrators are calibrated across the board. They received uh professional development certificates. Um so we are excited for this launch. um we will evaluate the program and areas that we need to provide teachers for professional development. Um but again, we're definitely excited for this implementation and um
031are uh and the calibration assessment was definitely a huge success. New programs that we are utilizing this year um are our bookworms program that I spoke briefly about um earlier. Our I Ready platform in all of our middle schools and magic school which is an AI tool um that our teachers, our administrators can utilize and technology. >> All right. All right. So, I'm just going to take a few moments to highlight some um some of our technology here. We have leveling up. We have a $3.7 million investment into some of the backend technology to improve that infrastructure. Uh the $600,000 Chromebook investment. And there was a revitalization of that 5-year technology plan. Um we also wanted to highlight our broadcasting van. There's a exciting venture between the broadcasting van and the studio production course at
032VHS. So, we're excited to see students have an opportunity to really have access to a van um you know, with with that level of technology that's not something that a lot of other students um would be able to kind of uh utilize in a classroom setting like that. Did want to talk also just briefly about school safety. Uh again, surveillance upgrades uh throughout the district. Um we do have our raptor visit visitor management system at each of our buildings. Um we have an updated standard response protocol for emergencies as well. Uh Mr. for Wolf and I have um we spent quite a bit of time over the summer uh refining that we shared that with administrators uh at the beginning of the year and and you'll notice that those uh protocols and procedures are seen
033throughout the buildings and we also I wanted to highlight our partnership with Allied Universal uh this year at the start of the year we were able to have an armed security guard at each of our buildings which we were very excited about. >> Hi everyone. I just want to talk briefly about the relaunch of the Vinand Education Foundation. Um, as you know, we are an organization committed to enhancing education within our community. A lot of you participated or attended our spaghetti fundraiser um dinner last year, which was a lot of fun. And we have a couple upcoming events this month that we're really excited about. Um, one of which hasn't been announced yet, but the one I want to talk about tonight is our game against the Harlem Wizards coming up in a couple weeks,
034October 17th, um, 7 o'clock at the VHS Asselta Building Gym. This is really exciting. The Wizards are basically a version of the Harlem Globe Trotters, and they will be playing against our Vineland Allstars, a bunch of our staff members. Um, our team will be announced next week, which we're really excited about. Um, a lot of them were chosen by our principles and our students at the elementary school. So, expect a lot of tricks, a lot of slam dunks. Um, our staff members will have a lot of fun. Information about buying the tickets is available on our website or you can reach out to me directly. We have a bunch of different ticket tiers. Um, there's some courtside seats available where you get to meet and greet with the players. Um, go on the court with
035the players. a lot of different fun um opportunities and obviously all proceeds will come back to the education foundation which will then go back into our schools to benefit our students and staff. >> So, as you can see, we're off to a great start. A very energetic, exciting school year. We look forward to, you know, the support from our board of education. None of this could be uh possible without your support and your partnership as we continue this process throughout the year to be the best and greatest school district in the state of New Jersey. So, thank you again and if there's any questions before we leave. >> Any questions? >> All right. Thank you so much. Are are there any questions or comments on the HIP report or the suspension incident report? Approval of
036minutes. September 3rd, 2025 combined meeting. September 3rd combined 2025 combined meeting executive session. September 3rd special meeting September 3rd, 2025 special meeting executive session. Any questions or comments? >> Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bona? >> Yes. >> Mr. Harris? >> Yes. >> Mr. Holmes? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Perez? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rivera? >> Yes. >> Mr. Silva? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sabbrana? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Katispati. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Committee reports. Does anyone have a committee report for this evening? Mr. Holmes. >> Yes. Thanks. Curriculum and instruction met on September 22nd. President was uh Superintendent Yano, Mrs. Deari, Miss Galooski, Mr. Soprano, Mr. Bono, Mr. Selvin, myself. We discussed the following topics. September's district-wide professional development survey results. November's district-wide
037professional development day. Gifted and talented uh will begin midocctober. Accelerated and middle school courses. There is a meeting scheduled to discuss entrance and continuum criteria. Studio production VPS band integration all-in grant and next steps. the New Jersey Center for Teacher and Learning Partnership and School-based Youth Services Grant. The transportation committee met the next day on September 23rd. President was uh Mr. Rivera, Mr. Bono, Mr. Harris, Superintendent Yano, Mr. Bermudez, Mr. Musterell, Miss Blakeley, and myself. There are 143 drivers budgeted. There are 131 drivers needed. There are 126 total filled packages. There's five drivers on leave, 23 substitute drivers, and uh two employees are in training. City employees, six are in training. Average absences in the morning for September 2025 is 11. Uh which has improved from September 2024, which was 13 at that time. The
038average absences in the afternoon for September 2025 was 12 which improved from last year uh being 15. Open registrations 29 are all in review or pending documentation. Uh we discussed joint jurors with Millville for transport to Atlantic County Specialty Services. The co-op total year to date is 10. There were four accidents. No injuries to report. We discussed personnel matters related to the transportation department. Professional development occurred on September 2nd and 3. Uh, no new business for the garage. General information, my view currently has 2,35 users, two pilot shuttle stops created, one for Violin High School and one for Memorial to help students get to school. We're on the outer edge of the walk zone. Thank you. >> Do we have any more committee reports? Uh, President Kim, can I rewind the clock for a second?
039>> I just want to bring up the, uh, suspension incident report. Is that new to our agenda or is that something that we've done in the in the past? Just out of curiosity. This is the first time I'm seeing it on the agenda. >> Recently, we had a conversation with our solicitor who gave us um an update that we should be including that on our agendas moving forward. So, we added it and hopefully it's in an acceptable form, right? Yes, we can discuss form. >> Okay. >> Understood. >> Yes, it's it's as per our board policies and regulations as well. >> Is there a public meeting report by the board solicitor? >> There is not. Thank you. >> I do not believe our senior class president is here this evening. Okay. Public comment on agenda
040items or any other matter. Please limit yourself to three minutes and state your name. Do we have any yellow sheets? >> We do. Victoria Santos. >> Good evening. My name is Victoria Santos. I'm a parent of this community. I'm here to share my grievances about violent public schools. My child was constantly bullied at Johnstone Middle School. Completely unprovoked. She was pushed. Lies were spread about her, cursed out in front of other students, and more. Under poor leadership of the principal of Jstone, no matter how far I went up the chain of command, not enough was done. So, we removed our child from Jstone this year, and we put her into a private school. But not every parent has this option. So, this is why I'm here to speak on behalf of my child and every
041parent. You, as a board, have the duty to uphold the rights of our children. I believe evidence is being intentionally withheld from you and hidden so that you do not know the full story. I have a warning for parents. I've spoken to several lawyers this week about this matter. This is what they say. The HIV form harassment, intimidation, and bullying report is for protected classes only. If your child is experiencing what would be called a generic bullying, you as a parent would have to be insistent so something would be done about it. Unless there is permanent physical or psychological damage, the administrators know this and try to brush it under the rug. I have come here today to shake that rug and to pull it. The board will be aware of what's happening in schools
042and should get the full story. Parents, bear caution when the principles tell you to write a statement about an incident. These forms can be used against them. Demand that you have a copy of it before it is submitted to your child. You can also be on the phone as they write it. There are schools that are controlling the narratives about real things that are happening to our children. In my case, the validity of my claims were hidden. My witnesses were not added to the forms and specific camera footage was intentionally not shown to the board. My advice to parents is this. Know your rights. Keep the policies online and study them. Keep your own records. Bring a witness to every conversation that you can or have the school email you so you can have a
043written record. These are my closing remarks. I'm here for every parent. A principal who can only use discipline and interrogation on our children rather than mediation is a sign that he lacks the skills to address the behavior. This is weak leadership. Parents at Jstone Middle School need to speak up. By playing these games, you erode the public trust. There are not enough adequate safeguards in place to prevent bullying. We need more transparency from principles instead of intentional vagueness so the board can properly address these matters. And we need consistent communication. But parents, there is hope. You are the final authority in your child's life, not the school. You have the right to walk into any office and demand protocol to be followed. These are my questions. As I stood in a once in a meeting,
044I was told as I turned to my husband, frustrated that I need the Lord by a supervisor that has >> I'm going to have to ask you to finish up. >> There were seconds still left. Thank you. Thank you. I was told by a supervisor that no, we don't need the Lord. I am here to tell you that we do. I have three questions for you. How will you reform the approach to handling all types of bullying? How will you ensure that employees are submitting the correct forms and not hiding evidence from you? I suggest you call the parents yourself. And how will bullying be tracked outside of cases that are protected classes? We need change now. That is all. Barbara Orto Cadet Major Josiah Santero Centenno, Cadet Major Yasmin Martin, and Cadet Colonel Erica
045Robinson. Good evening board member members, central administration and community. During the summer today, we are going to talk about what our the AFJC has been up to during the summertime when the school is out. Cadets are still actively involved with the community. Some example of events that we've been active in was the Puerto Rican parade, the back to school extravagana, and the freshman orientation. The freshman orientation, we showcase what our program has to offer. When we talk about our personal experiences on how ROC has helped us throughout high school is a eye openener for upcoming freshmen. So, they are eager to join our program. students in JRTC, they have learned to grown very a lot of speaking skills, especially public speaking skills because they've learned that they need to go more out of their shell
046and be more open with the program because they need to understand that this is all like one one unit and not just going out as one single person. So everybody's coming in as this shy person, but they're coming out with more social skills, more public speaking skills, and more opportunities in life with the with the more like speaking skills we give them. We just we're trying to open up them to like more opportunities and help them, especially new cadets coming in who are just very shy and don't want to come out their shell. But we try and make them seem like more comfortable and try and just know that let them know that they are like welcome to our program. We don't want to shut anybody out. We don't want to discard nobody whether it's
047their background, ethnicity, or where what education skill they have. Um this year we have um 148 cadetses in the program and we still have more on the waiting list. Um this year we are one we are number one unit in New Jersey. We are top 10% in America and we are top 20% worldwide. There are over 900 uh ROC programs in the world and we have made our list on the top. Thank you. [Applause] Is there anybody else for public comment? >> Motions and resolution. Superintendent recommendations. Requesting discussion and approval regarding personnel items 1.1 through 1.3. >> Questions or comments? Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Second. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bono. >> Uh, yes to 1.1. I have to recuse myself from 1.2. Uh, yes to 1.3. Thank you, Mr.
048Harris. >> Yes, >> Mr. Holmes. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Perez. >> Yes, >> Mr. Rivera. >> Yes, >> Mr. Silva. >> Yes to all. And I have to recuse myself in 1.2. >> Mr. Sabrina, >> excuse me, >> Mr. Excuse me. >> Yes. >> I apologize. Go ahead. Apologize. Excuse me. I have to recuse myself in 1.2 as well. >> Thank you, Mr. Sabrina. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Katispati. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> I'd just like to congratulate the VA. Um, I know we had a a remarkable contract negotiation. Um, I believe it was probably the shortest in the history that I've been on the board that we've had such a um a quick but I I do have to commend the board administration and the VA negotiating team because everybody worked so well
049together and um it was very nice. So, I congratulate you on your contract. Requesting discussion and approval regarding procedures and operations items 2.1 through 2.9. >> Questions or comments? >> Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bono, >> yes. >> Mr. Harris, >> yes. >> Mr. Holmes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perez, >> yes. >> Mr. Rivera, >> yes. >> Mr. Silva. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sabrano. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Scottisbati. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. 8 Z. >> Requesting discussion and approval regarding finance items 4.1 through 4.24. >> Questions or comments? Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bono. >> Yes. Mr. Harris. >> Yes. Mr. Holmes. >> Yes. Recuse on 4.15. >> Thank you. Mrs. Perez.
050>> Yes. >> Mr. Rivera. >> Uh, yes to all. I recuse myself from 4.18. Mr. Silva, >> yes. >> Mr. Sabrana, >> yes. >> Mrs. Katispati, >> yes to all. And I need to recuse myself from 4.14. >> Mr. Masterrell, >> I need to recuse myself from item 4.21. >> Noted. Thank you. Motion carries. >> Regular agenda items, none. Proposed items for review or discussion? None. Um, do we have any questions or comments on the approval of bills? >> Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bono. >> Yes. >> Mr. Harris. I need to recuse myself from vendor number 1074 and 1333 and yes everything else >> that was 1033 >> 1333 thank you >> Mr. Holmes >> yes >> Mrs. Perez >> yes >> Mr.
051Rivera >> yes >> Mr. Silva >> yes >> Mr. Sabbrana >> yes >> Mrs. Scottis body. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> There are no emerging items. Old business. No new business. Board member superintendent remarks. Mr. Holmes. >> Nothing at this time. >> Mr. Bono. >> Yes. I'd like to start off in uh thanking Superintendent Yano and the Bon Public Schools administration. Um, for line item 2.7, the attendance corrective uh corrective action plan. Um, I appreciate the proactive approach that Violin Public Schools um and administration took for listening to the uh guidance department's concerns with the attendance intent issues. uh you know recognizing it uh the district's attendance problem and taking the appropriate steps of implementing this uh corrective action plan. So thank you. Uh my hopes and wishes are that all the school's leaders
052and educators u follow through with this plan of action doing your part to instill the values and the importance of what it means to show up and do your best on a day-to-day basis. Um, I'd like to acknowledge a few of our VHS fall sports teams. Job well done to our VHS uh field hockey team on a off to a great start. They're 6 and0. They have a game tonight. I'll be attending after this meeting. Um, if time allows, Miss Katispati, >> that's up to you guys. Um, also to our uh, VHS women's tennis team on another great season thus far. Um, this past Monday, uh, they had the first round of the Cape Atlantic Group Four playoffs and we defeated um, Williamstown. It was a great match. Also, our VHS football team had their
053first uh, big victory over Clear View 49-6. It's always great great to see uh, the first big win of the season. Um, on a very serious note, I want to mention something about a recent negative incident that happened in Von this past week to one of our young middle school female students during her work walk to school. Excuse me. Please know that this community, myself along with many other strong women and men of violin will not tolerate and allowed devilish acts like this of what took place to happen again. uh we will not sit back and do nothing. We will always come together and do what it takes to root out this type of evil. Um an example of that will be this Friday uh along with superintendent myself and some other community members, people
054on the board, uh we're going to put something together to to show the community support for Memorial School and the students. It'll be happening this Friday. I'll let superintendent elaborate a little bit more on that, but just the support to our students to know that this type of behavior is not acceptable and we will not tolerate it in our city. Um lastly, to the families um and the you know the parents, guardians along with the attendance corrective action plan, please, it starts with you guys. We need you to do your part in getting your children to school. Superintendent Yano, myself, and anyone in this room can't do this for you. Uh, it starts with you. No matter how tough it might be, no matter how hard things get, teach your children the values of showing
055up every day and doing their best. Thank you, >> Mr. Press. >> I'd like to echo uh Mr. Bono's comments about the corrective action for um absenteeism. It's a job well done and we look forward to seeing the fruits of that labor in a positive turn. Also, I'd like to um thank um Superintendent Yano and the administration for their quick action on this situation that happened this week and keeping everyone informed and working with the violent police department. Um it was an unfortunate incident and as Mr. Bono said will not be tolerated, but thank you to the administration for keeping us informed. Mr. Rivera, >> thank you to the uh students from many school for leading us in a flag salute. Um to touch briefly on what my fellow two board members uh spoke about
056the incident that happened this week, I want to thank the violent police department and all our law enforcement partners that um took quick action and we appreciate your your support. We appreciate um what you guys are doing to protect our kids. We're here in the business to protect our children. Our children are our number one reason why we show up every day, why we sit at these this table, why all of us show up to to work every single day of all of our buildings. And when one student is affected, we all are affected because we are a family. And I'm glad to see that we are united in that front and we are here to protect our kids and we will do anything that it takes to protect our children. And um I also
057want to uh wish a a happy fast to all of our Jewish uh community members that are that are commemorating Yanapour tonight. Thank you and have a good night. >> Mr. Harris, >> I want to thank the many schools uh students who let us in the flag salute. Did a wonderful job. Also to the ROC students, thank you. you also did a wonder job and congratulations on uh where you ranked. Very proud of that. Keep up the good work. Uh I'd also like in light of the events that took place to thank the Violin Police Department for their hard work. They were able to wrap this up quickly and I thank them for their work. Oftent times we don't acknowledge the hard work in our police departments nowadays, but we have one of the police
058departments in the state. So, I'd like to thank Chief Triantos, Sergeant Starkley of a juvenile unit, and Sergeant Day and their units for all their hard work. I appreciate it. Thank you, >> Mr. Silva. >> Yes. Like to thank the menace school students for the flag salute. Um, our junior OTC's, thank you for the update and congratulations on your ranking. Um, the entire administrative team, thank you for that lovely presentation. It was very wellreceived. and also uh would like to thank the Violence Police Department for their quick response and helping us get the person that was involved in that. Thank you, >> Mr. Sbran. >> Um, also thank you to the flag saluters and u Mr. Yano and your team. That was a very comprehensive report. I've seen enough of them and been involved in
059them. I know how much work it is to put it together. Um, a lot of positive aspects to it. of course also portends a lot of hard work by a lot of people as we move forward this year. I especially was pleased to see our third incantation of the broadcast vehicle finally a physical thing and being out there and and that our class and um that particular area is filled up. Um also it's been a pleasure serving with this group of people and on November 4th we have an election. Um, please go out and vote whoever it is that you favor. That's your a privilege and also a responsibility we all have. And um, close friend of mine said that people get the government that they deserve. And that means that if you get out
060there and vote and advocate for people, then you you get the the kind of government you want. And if you don't, then you get nothing. So, November 4th. Thank you, >> Mr. Riano. >> Yes, just a few announcements. Uh, quick shout out to the Meny's team uh for their flag salute with a polished team and nice performance up here. I see our principal out there, Mr. O'Donnu, and uh Mr. Donado was here earlier as well. Special shout out to the pillow crew that I see back there as well because this is National Principles Month and we are excited to launch our partnership in recognition of our principles who are here uh and who support our students every single day. Uh, also, you know, busy month coming up. CPAC on the 10th, Harlem Wizards on the
06117th, the 10th annual family night, fun night, uh, hosted by the city on the 22nd at Violin High School. 10:25, we have our homecoming parade at 10:00 and football game at 11:00 at Katon. Uh, just actionpacked month and we are >> and November 1st, >> safety patrol breakfast. get your pancakes November 1st. They are delicious. >> We have um had a challenging week. Uh but when times are challenging, the team comes together. A special shout out to, you know, the memorial staff who really stepped up. Uh from security, administration, our guidance counselors, uh the support that we're there to provide to our students is is incredible. uh to the partnership with uh the police department. It's always uh an impressive uh thing to see in action when our police department gets their eyes on something
062and they want to resolve it in the quickness and they did an amazing job. So again, special shout out to all of our team members and our board also for bringing in uh you know the addition of allied security. Uh our staff feel very uh much secure having additional personnel on site. uh they are very active and proactive uh at Winsow today. They helped us out with the situation we had at the school and they were very much involved in the day-to-day operations. So Allied is doing a great job. Uh that's it for today. I think we've um we're halfway through Hispanic Heritage Month, too. A lot of events. Tomorrow evening, there's an event at Pway, I believe, uh for Hispanic Heritage event. So, looking forward to attending that as well. Thank you. Um, I'd
063like to echo what all my fellow board members have had to say, um, what the superintendents had to say. The correction action plan looks really good. I have to thank our administrative team, the superintendent. Um, I know it's it's been a little bit of a rocky start. We've had some things happen with the incident with Vinand. And that's all I'm going to say is I just like to thank the Bham Police Department and our district and Memorial for working well together um and to making it run a little more smoothly and making a little more comfortable for everybody involved. To our junior ROTC, um I'm so excited for this program. My husband's retired um law enforcement and Air Force and Air Guard, so this program is my heart and I just love to see how
064you guys have grown over the years. I've watched it from like nothing to where you are and I am so proud of you. We are so proud of you. Keep up the good work. I can't wait for inspection. I think that's in December, right? Yeah. Well, I'm going to be there. So, I can't wait for that. So, make sure you let us know when it is. And for my board members, if you haven't been to an inspection, go. If you can get there for an hour, it's a wonderful, wonderful day for you guys. It's wonderful for us, too, because I'm proud. So, go ahead. Just want to clarify that the petway event is next Tuesday, not tomorrow. Just don't want anyone showing up tomorrow. It's next Tuesday. >> Um for our um to the VA
065negotiating team, for my board members, for the district, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This was a pretty smoothly run to our business our business administrator. You know, we we actually we got this done and I'm very proud of everybody. So, thank you. And with that being said, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Just >> one question. Superintendent, are you playing this basketball game? >> I'm being strongly pushed in that direction. You don't want to really see me play basketball, but for comedy relief, I may be signed up. And >> height he >> we don't want to have him go out on workers comp. So, you know, it's going to be a great night. So, hopefully everyone can attend and and it's going to be it's going to be so much fun. >> Do
066I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So, move. >> All in favor? I >> Okay, we're going to adjourn for 10 minutes and then we're going to go into the second meeting, special meeting. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bodto, >> present. >> Mr. Harris, >> here. >> Mr. Holmes, >> here. >> Mrs. Perez, >> here. >> Mr. Rivera, >> here. >> Mr. Silva, >> here. Mr. Mr. Sabbrana >> present. >> Mrs. Katispati >> here. >> In compliance with the New Jersey open public meeting law commonly referred to as the sunshine law, the violent board of education has caused notice and posting of this meeting to be sent to the following announcing time, place, agenda, etc. The daily journal, S&J today, the press of Atlantic City, Mr. Buueno,
067the clerk for the city of Vinland, and the administrative office public bulletin board. Would everyone please rise for the flag salute? United States nation indivisible. >> Mr. Musterell, is there a resolution for executive session? >> There is. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the city of Violent School District will convene an executive session for the following reasons outlined in NJSA 10 col4-12. Discussion is about the board member vacancy and any matters falling within the attorney client privilege to the extent that confidentiality is required in order for the attorney to exercise her ethical duties as a lawyer. >> Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Second. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bono, >> yes. >> Mr. Harris, >> yes. >> Mr. Holmes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perez, >> yes.
068>> Mr. Rivera, >> yes. >> Mr. Silva, >> yes. >> Mr. Sabbrana, >> yes. >> Mrs. Katispati, >> yes. >> Um, we do have a public comment. >> I was going to ask you that. >> Please state your name and you have a time limit of three minutes. Jamie Dempsey, come on up to the podium if you like. Thank you. Hello. >> Okay, I guess I can start. I'm new to this. I'm so sorry. >> Yep. Whenever you're ready. >> Okay, so I have a question. the grandparents lunch. If my child does not have a grandparent, can parents attend? >> I can uh we can reach out to you to discuss because I'm not sure exactly which school we're speaking on. So, >> Rossy, >> okay, we have your information here. We'll reach out to
069you directly so we can answer that question. >> Yes, please. Because I feel like, you know, if children don't have a grandparent, I think it would be best if parents do get to go because the time that the grandparents do have with the kids of lunch, they get to also go to the book fair. And I think it's only fair if the parents do also attend. You know, us parents always contribute our hard-earned money into the school. We go to all the field trips. And I think it'd be best, you know, you get more money spent. More parents always spend money. I have six kids. I'd be buying for all six of my kids books. You know, grandparents sometimes they just maybe take her, they'll only be buying for her, not sometimes the other children.
070So, more money comes out of my pocket, the more money goes into the school. It benefits the school a lot better. Or maybe just one night of parents attend maybe a school fundraiser. Her school had that in the past down in Rio Grand. It was a big success. A lot of parents showed up. Kids were also there with crafts. We enjoyed it. We had a good night of story night. It was a very successful event. Um, also attendance I know we got a thing about if parent if kids miss two days it's 20 hours of school. We have a wise assembly that's an hour long. They're missing math time. They're missing class time. They're missing a lot of time in class. I don't mind a wise assembly. It is a very good successful thing. It's
071just if we're getting told about attendance and trying to push appointments around school time, which is from 9:00 am to about 3:30 p.m., how is that success successful? When Cool Koala opens at 8 and closes at 2, they do not open on Fridays do they do not have weekend hours. My one son has a surgery coming up. He will have to take a day off of school. Would that even be considered a successful misattendance that he'll have a surgery to go to? It seems like it's not. I know the principal put out that it would only be not considered an acceptable attendance if they come in late or they leave early to go to a doctor's appointment. Not all appointments are near home. He sees a feeding and um cardiology nutrition which is in Maze
072Landing. We all know from here to there is 40 minutes drive. So he'd have to either come out early or show up a little late to school or even her dentist appointment. Cool Koala, he she would have to come in a little late. Even if I make it, sometimes people get pushed back. Other patients show up late, you know, and it pushes back her appointment. So now we're not leaving till 9:10. She does get late to school. That's the problem I have. If you're not going to consider doctor's appointments late, why do we have the wise assembly? We're missing class. And why is stuff not being considered? I want to ask that uh Mr. Bermudez uh at the conclusion of your remarks just have a quick conversation with you. We have your phone number. Mr.
073Bermudas is right over here. He'll uh answer some of your questions and then most likely we'll reach back out to you after we have a chance to speak to the school leader. >> Perfect. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Any further comments? Would anybody else like to speak on public comment? >> Thank you. >> Uh we're going to have the presentation of the applicants. Hi, good evening. Um, we're going to ask you to introduce yourself and then I'm going to start with the questions and then after the fifth question, I'm going to ask you something completely that you're not expecting. So, >> okay, sounds good. Please state your name. >> Uh, Francisco Santiago. >> Okay. Mr. Santiago. Question number one. Board members are expected to act ethically, respect confidentiality, and maintain professionalism. Can you share
074how you would uphold these expectations, and manage potential conflicts of interest? >> Sure. As a long-term educator and administrator, it is part and parcel to what I do every single day. Um, I have over 20 years experience and I would uphold these expectations through my value system that I've learned through my parents and also as a Christian. Any potential conflict of interest, I would recuse myself andor speak to the board president or um stakeholders within the board to go over anything that might put the district in a precarious situation. Um overall I would also um allow for a better practice and standard to be where if I if there is a conflict I would be able to communicate with each of you of what my conflict is and hopefully have a solution for that. >>
075Thank you. Question number two. How would you handle a situation where the board and executive leadership are in strong disagreement? It is my personal practice to ensure that all parties are heard and also to gather information. I think most times we talk past each other and aren't listening to what is being said. So as part of what I do every day as an administrator is actually when there is a conflict to sit down to parties and have them speak out what their concerns might be. And so as a as someone who would be part of this board and there might be disagreements within uh the team, we should have ground rules that are set so we can have conversations that are productive and if we need to table something, we can table it hopefully and
076come back to it more information and be able to provide a better answer or solution for what's happening. >> Thank you. Question number three. Board work requires making decisions that impact many stakeholders. How would you approach making a difficult decisions where community opinions may be divided? >> As a board member, I'm a standing representative of the community of violent first and as such the constituency of violin along with better practices should be incorporated wherever possible. And as I stated earlier, my value system allows me to make decisions according to what is needed at that time. Ultimately, as a board member, we are leaders in the community, but also stakeholders as well, as well as being taxpayers. So, we'll be part of that process. Whatever happens in district happens to all of our families, and we
077want to make sure that we represent our families well. >> Question number four. In your view, what is the primary role of a board member and how should it differ from the role of a district administration? >> Our primary role as board members is to oversee policy, evaluate the superintendent, and provide a voice for the vin school community, their families. District administrators oversee the daily operations of the schools, evaluate staff and faculty, budget priorities, and also provide a vision for Violin Public Schools. Um, as an administrator working in the district I'm in, those roles are clearly defined. And so, we're able to differentiate between what a board member does and what the superintendent does. As superintendent, Mr. Jonno is obviously the CEO of the district. And so he would we would help him make decisions,
078but we'd also lean on him for best practices regarding their expertise in education. >> Question number five, if there are budget cuts, what do you consider to be off limits and why? >> If there's a riff, no riffs, no riffs, I would first look at teachers. Um teachers first just because we don't want overcrowded classrooms. one um we've seen the effects of overcrow crowded classrooms in different districts in Jersey City when we had rifts um it was untenable uh classes were overpacked students weren't learning and so teachers would probably be the first one my second one would be sports and after school activity vocational programming these programs provide much needed outlets for students being able to play a sport being able to cheerlead being able to particip participate in vocational programming that's allowed in our
079district. It gives an opportunity to express themselves as well. Um and the last thing would probably be basic skills programming. I've seen in Morristown where I work the how important it is and vital it is to um utilize basic skills programming to allow students to get to level as far as their their their work um their capacity to complete assignments. So basic skills probably would probably be one of one of the cuts as well that I would not that would be off limits for me. >> Okay. Question six in your final which you don't know about. >> Yes. >> The board vacancy is only for approximately 60 days. What do you hope to accomplish in this short amount of time? >> I don't know anything about violence. So what what I would do is identify
080what are the needs. Um possibly speak to each board member, talk to teachers, talk to community members who are in the community who know what the issues might be. I don't pretend to know it all. I'm an administrator in Morristown, but I live in Violin. My family's in Violin. And so I would look for ways to identify what our needs really are. Um, one of them could be our, you know, our I saw that our in New Jersey performance data that our math scores met standard whereas our ELA fell a little short. That might be an area that we might have to look at, you know, as a district or even our U ELELLL students, right? We have close to,700 students here who are multilingual learners. And how can we reach that benchmark because that's
081another standard we didn't meet and there are ways to do that as a district. Okay. Thank you. You can have a seat. >> Thank you. Hi. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Um, we're going to ask you to state your name and then I'm going to ask you the series of five questions that you answered in the back. And then after we've gone through the five questions, you're gonna get a surprise question. So, okay. So, just state your name. >> Lissa Daniel. >> Okay. >> Question number one. Board members are expected to act ethically, respect confidentiality, and maintain professionalism. Can you share how you would uphold these expectations and manage potential conflicts of interest? >> Yes. In my current position as a civil servant for the state of New Jersey, I have an obligation to
082deal with sensitive matters both ethically and confidentially. I am also required to work with community partners which requires me to share with respect and professionalism data information and working relationships. In my past position as the director of the violent municipal court, I was required to follow extensive guidelines that were included in this over 60-page code of conduct. I did so without fail and also with great pleasure. >> Question number two, how would you handle a situation where the board and executive leadership are in strong disagreement? Uh I would attempt to utilize my ability to mediate the situation with respect, grace, and patience. I feel that it is imperative that when working amongst a team that we are all able to exemplify patience and respect for the opinions of others. >> Question number three, board work
083requires making decisions that impact many stakeholders. How would you approach making difficult decisions where community opinions may be divided? >> I feel that dealing with varying opinions, it is important for partners, community affiliates, and representatives to be given the opportunity to be heard out, meaning they should have the ability to express their opinion. uh such a difficult situation would require me to weigh the pros and the cons of each perspective while also prioritizing the effect it would have on our students and community stakeholders. >> Question number four, in your view, what is the primary role of a board member and how should it differ from the role of district administration? In my opinion, I feel that a district administrator has an obligation to deal directly with schools, leaders, teachers, and students. They should also consider
084the community opinion. While I think a board member is held to be a bridge between the community and the above listed, a board member should be a community representative or a liaison. They should be a voice of the community with the administration. Question number five, if there were budget cuts, what do you consider to be off limits and why? This was a difficult question. Uh, realistically, I felt that nothing should be off limits when you're up against the possibility of deciding how to move forward with either doing more with less or doing the same with less. Uh cuts often require deep consideration of the long-term goals and the day-to-day needs. Uh prioritizing the importance of various factors may require new or out ofthe- box thinking to resolve the matter. I feel that I'm not able
085to stand in just one thing that it would be effective if I was able to be realistic and say it would have to be weighing each situation and circumstance for what it is. >> Question number six. The board vacancy is only for approximately 60 days. What do you hope to accomplish in this short amount of time? I believe in a short amount of time that being a member of the board would give me the opportunity to understand how the workings are. I have two young children that I parent that are students in the district and I feel that having a better understanding on how things function and how this the these type of decisions that affect their education are made would be both educational for me and my surrounding community as well. >> Okay. Thank
086you. You can have a seat. >> Thank you. Good evening. We're just going to ask you to state your name and then I'm going to start with the five questions >> and then you're going to get that sixth surprise question after you're done. >> Yes, ma'am. >> You can state your name. >> Edwin Alisa. >> Okay. Question number one. Board members are expected to act ethically, respect confidentiality, and maintain professionalism. Can you share how you would uphold these expectations and manage potential conflicts of interest? >> In my in my opinion, in order to be fair, I would evaluate all issues brought uh before the board with an open mind, address all issues on its merits and make decisions without any preconceived judgments. I would be judicial and not bring my personal thoughts on the on
087the matter and make decisions on what is known such as proven facts and what would be in the best interest of the students. >> Question number two, how would you handle a situation where the board and executive leadership are in strong disagreement? >> I would evaluate the points of contention and try to mitigate the their differences. I will listen to both sides and make every effort to bring both parties to the table and allow both parties to voice their differences. Then try to bring them to a point where they are willing to compromise and agree on a on a solution. >> Question number three, board work requires making decisions that impact many stakeholders. How would you approach making difficult decisions where community opinions may be divided? I will listen to all sides, evaluate the differences
088and try uh try to u find middle ground. At times this may not be this may not work and I would make I would make a decision with the best interest of the students, teachers and school staff. I recognize that not everyone is going to agree but there are there comes a time when hard decisions need to be made and for as long as it is in the best interest of the students the community and at where I live I'm sorry is community I can live with that decision making making the decision >> question number four in your view what is the primary role of a board member and how should it differ from the role of district administration The school board members are are uh they govern they do not take part in day-to-day
089operations. I believe the primary role of the board is to evaluate the resources available to the school districts. Have oversight on how those resources are used. Evaluate effectiveness and make adjustments as needed. Periodically look for what is working, what is not working and how can we improve. Provide advice and guidance. uh based on my training and experience and education. >> Question number five, if there are budget cuts, what do you consider to be off limits and why? >> Student resources such as learning tools, mentoring programs, and security. I believe that it is important not to take any programs and resources that empower our students to succeed and everyone involved should have the security of our school student school students and staff at the top of their priorities. >> Question number six, the board vacancy is
090only for approximately 60 days. What do you hope to accomplish in this short amount of time? Okay. Can you repeat the first part, please? >> The board vacancy is only approximately 60 days, >> right? >> What do you hope to accomplish in this short amount of time? >> Wow, that is a short time. I would uh again evaluate where we're at, where we need to be, and how are we getting there. I would make every effort to expedite decisions and and give advice to areas where I see that there might be some improvement. I would again evaluate what we have, what resources we have available and try to implement what changes for the betterment of the school, the safety of the of the students and also the uh uh provide for the staff. >> Okay.
091Thank you. You can have a seat. >> Thank you. Good evening. You can state your name and then we're going to go into the five questions and then you'll get that sixth surprise question. >> LS Vasquez >> question number one. Board members are expected to act ethically, respect confidentiality, and maintain professionalism. Can you share how you would uphold these expectations and manage potential conflicts of interest? Uh first it would be very important to become well-versed in the specific roles and responsibilities of board members and superintendent responsibilities that is clearly outlined in the New Jersey SBA school board association. It's a great resource for a new board member with questions and answers of potential conflict and scenarios and that is what I would recommend. Second, if there is a question of potential uh conflict, it would
092be wise to bring it before the board to council and to run it by council for their recommendations if in fact or determination if there is a conflict. >> Question two, how would you handle a situation where the board and executive leadership are in strong disagreement? It is in my opinion it is imperative that the chief education officer slup superintendent complies with the board as it pertains to the development of policies and procedures or request to modify the policies to ensure the district is wellrun in s in a scenario where there there there is disagreement. I would recommend a thorough time of discussion to work through these issues of contention. If no agreement is reached during this additional time of a thorough introspection or a debate, then at that point I would uh recommend seeking
093counsel for the recommendation of what the appropriate next steps could be for the board. Question number three. Board work requires making decisions that impact stakeholders. How would you approach making difficult decisions where community opinions may be divided? As a board member, it is a responsibility of the board member to have as much information as possible in order to be able to substantiate to the public why or how that decision was reached. As a representative of both the community and the district to the community, you should be able to thoroughly explain how and why a decision was made and why you feel it was in the best interest of the students and the and the public and be prepared with uh data if that in fact was utilized in order to reach that decision. Question number
094four. In your view, what is the primary role of a board member and how should it differ from the role of district administration? >> Uh the primary role of the board member is to ensure the district is wellrun through the development of policies, goals and objectives that are given to the uh chief education officer which is the superintendent. uh the board member in fact uh is depending on the superintendent for the day-to-day activities and to implement those policies, procedures, goals and objectives that are first established by the board member. The board member is not involved in the day-to-day activities. That is the responsibility that is in charge to the superintendent. Uh the su the board member is not directly involved in the day. uh but does hold the superintendent accountable for the implementation of whatever
095is decided among the board members. >> Question five, if there are budget cuts, what do you consider to be off limits and why? uh the responsibility pro to provide the best possible education uh that our budget can provide for our uh students here in the district is the responsibility of the board and the administration. If there are budget cuts that are necessary and there are many years that uh the possibility is is is high that budget cuts have to be made. Uh the following are these three that I feel are the non-negotiables and should not be touched for budget cuts. Uh reduction of teachers. Uh this impacts instruction and the ability for students to receive the support needed to succeed and reduction of teachers also includes special education teachers. busing. This impacts families and they
096pay enough in taxes uh without having to deal with limited transportation for these families and security guards and regular security. The safety of our students and staff is a priority especially in this day and age that we are living in. >> Sorry, question number six. The board vacancy is only for approximately 60 days. What do you hope to accomplish in this short amount of time? >> As someone who is running for a three-year seat, my goal, if it is your desire, to allow me to sit for these 60 days, is to become familiar with the process. uh to be able to sit along with my board members to uh make decisions, not serious decisions, but in terms of the day-to-day business uh to be that vote and to work along with board members to continue
097the business until this uh the year is up to continue to fulfill the responsibilities that were f that were fulfilled by the previous board member that is no longer there. I understand that in two months there's not much that can be done, but I can say that uh my intent would be to fill uh his spot and not have it vacant and to be someone that can work with the rest of the board and whatever decision is going to be made until the new board comes in in January. >> Thank you. You can have a seat. >> Okay, we're going to retire into executive session. We will be back out. I'd like to bring the meeting back into session. I'm going to ask our solicitor to explain the process. >> Yes. So, board president will
098ask for nominations at which point we will seek names of all the nominees. It will be seconded or not. And then we will put the nominates the sorry the names of the whoever's been nominated up for a vote by the board members. >> Do I have any nominations? >> Yes. I'd like to nominate LS Vasquez. >> Do I have a second? >> I second that. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bono. >> Yes. >> Mr. Do I have any other nominations? >> Seeing none, >> we can do other nominations. >> Roll call. >> You have to vote on this one first, right? >> Say all nominations first and then >> never heard that before. Okay. >> Good. Mr. Bono, yes. >> Mr. Harris, >> no. >> Mr. Holmes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Perez, >> yes.
099>> Mr. Rivera, >> yes. Mr. Silva, >> yes. >> Mr. Sbrana, >> no. >> Mr. Mrs. Scotty, >> I have to recuse myself. >> Motion carries. Five votes yes, two votes no, one recusal. >> Welcome. [Applause] Do I That's it, right? Just adjourn it. >> Yes. So, I I believe the business office or the administration will will be in touch with some additional uh forthcoming steps. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Oh, >> sure. I just want to say thank you so much for your support and I will do my best for these 60 days to be a help to you, not to be a burden and uh to be a an important part of this important work that you do. Thank you. >> Do I have a motion to adjourn? >> I I just before
100we adjourn, I just like to thank everyone that came out and put their name in the ring. It it's not easy to do that and we appreciate it. Um because you know a lot of times you'll hear this is a thankless job. I don't agree with that. Um but thank you for coming out and hey if you want to be on the board come out and put your name in the ring and and and run you know get voted in. >> I'd like to thank everyone also and to those that you are running for this year's seat everyone. Um good luck. Now do I have a motion? So move second. All in favor?