001give me a minute on you i'm going to start over welcome to the july 27th 2021 verona board of education public portion of our meeting we're calling the meeting to order at 7 and if everybody would please rise for the pledge of allegiance of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all the reading of the meeting notice this meeting is being conducted in compliance with the open meeting session that the verona board of education passed a resolution at its annual reorganization meeting held on january 5th 2021 the meeting set forth the schedule of its regular meetings which resolution was within seven days of passage the schedule was sent to the verona cedar grove times the star ledger the township
002of verona and the vea postings of this meeting setting forth a time location and agenda were posted at the verona board of education office and on the verona public schools district website the verona board of education operates under a consent agenda format any board member has the right to have an item poll to be voted upon or discussed separately copies of tonight's agenda and resolutions have been made available to the public and the press mr cruz will call for attendance sure thank you mr award mr day absent mrs trappy here mrs freshkey here here mrs prisco here thank you very much and this evening we do not have any formal presentations so we are going to go to our superintendent's report thank you mr freske good evening everyone uh i have several updates uh this
003evening as part of the superintendent's report um three key uh updates that i'd like to provide to the board of the public the first is the district continues to plan for september of 2021 preparing for full days of school with lunch in all of our schools we are following of course the cdc and department of health guidance at the last board of education meeting we shared that we were exploring mass optional possibilities um however most recently the cdc is now providing updated guidance as current as recent as today so we will continue to update and review that guidance with our district physician with our local health department we will await the guidance from the department of health and the guidance that's being updated again by the cdc um as i'm sure many people are keeping
004tabs on it in in the news is all around whether it could be mask optional in schools or not so a lot of things are evolving as we expected we are continuing to plan for full day every day as we were doing in the spring making sure that we have all the students in school in september we do anticipate that we will be providing some update email to the parents this week just to give everyone at the mid summer point uh the information as to where we currently stand at this point and that we are anticipating more of an update with guidance for our staff and for our parents and students uh later in mid-august a few weeks from now we are also working with dr miller our director of curriculum instruction and assessment and
005he's working with strauss esme who is our policy company around our board policies and revising and editing those um accordingly based on the new updated guidance we're working with our district uh board council uh and with our district physicians so uh we appreciate everybody's patience uh we are making really good progress uh and we expect a much better year this year uh and we'll continue to monitor what that guidance is we have also been uh very busy this summer with summer construction we have a number of projects across the board we have the hvac projects ventilation projects across the district schools five of the schools last summer verona high school was completed we have the hvac projects taking place at the four elementary schools and hbw middle school this evening i have mr o'brien our
006construction project manager and mr higgins who's our director of facilities here and i want to call mr higgins to come on up and just give us a brief overview and an update as to the status of the project so far good evening good evening anybody hear me all right so just a quick uh update here on our construction project we've got hvac project that we have going on we are still on track for the target date of august 31st to have all ventilation on in contracted areas um project this size there's a lot of coordination that goes goes on between ecc hates electrical and pse and g we've been in communication with uh ps eng to make sure we are still on track with um on track securing proper power forms of transformers and new
007telephone poles uh as of now we are waiting for three transformers one head forest one at fm brown and a swap of the transformer at hbw uh monday power was ran from a new transformer to the panel in manning's electrical room uh we had inspection this morning we passed by the town um electrical inspector uh the town has been very accommodating with our inspection requests so thank you goes out to all the inspectors in town for helping us out also at landing train is installing the communication wires for the unifens so that way our software on dennis's laptop uh the train software can communicate with the universe hbw has new univents that are positioned against the wall and piped in uh the electricians will be able to power up those unit events starting this week
008hbw also has new ceiling units that have been roughed in in classrooms 105 106 the music room and also the stem room forest brookdale and fn are in the process of having universe positioned against the wall and being piped in uh that's all the update that i have for tonight any uh questions thank you mr higgins and i do know that we have a couple of committee reports so mrs frisco's going to be updating on the facilities meeting that you had so she has the other updates to be able to provide to the public yes great thank you and then the last item that i have um a very important one is to give an update since our last meeting on the new athletic director search as those people know who've been uh following our
009board meetings we've had some hiring over the past several months uh an interview process uh since the last meeting we had mr merkler who's been promoted to the high school assistant principal position over the past several weeks the district has interviewed candidates for the position of athletic director screen process takes place so our candidates who are interested in the position they apply online on apple track which is the system that most school districts utilize from the postings that go out to local websites and newspapers last week a committee of staff members in the district interviewed the top four candidates for the position of director of athletics i am pleased to announce the recommendation for an appointment for the verona board of education this evening as the new director of athletics and special programs for the
010verona public school district my recommendation after the feedback from the committees is mrs laura palmerezzi mrs palmarezzi is no stranger to our verona family she has served our students the past 13 years as our head boys cross country coach winter and spring track and field coach she brings passion dedication and commitment to both academic and athletic excellence she believes in providing valuable experiences for our students through athletics where they will learn life lessons that will help prepare them to positively contribute to society mrs palmerezzi has dedicated herself over the past 18 years as an educator coach and pool manager during her summer months as an educator she has served on various committees and programs to help improve instruction and curriculum she has served on the professional development committee park and nj sla committees math curriculum
011committee and she was the lead member of the code blue team she has also worked on curriculum revision committees and has analyzed data in order to improve classroom instruction mrs palmerezzi began her teaching career in 2003 at florence avenue school in irvington new jersey for the last 15 years she has been an educator at school number four in belleville teaching both third and fifth grade throughout her tenure she organized jump rope for heart at her school to raise money for the american heart association mrs palmerezzi always throw always instill the importance of health wellness and fitness in her daily lessons and provided her students with the knowledge and skills needed to live a healthy lifestyle both physically and mentally in 2018-19 mrs palmerizzi was honored as a recipient of the governor's educator of the year
012award she began coaching at verona high school in 2008 as the head boys cross country winter and spring track and field coach she has had the privilege to coach numerous sec division championship teams county champions state sectional and group champions she received the essex county coaches coach of the year award in 2009 2013 and 2020. she has coached many scholar athletes who excelled both on the track and in the classroom mrs palmerezzi earned her bachelor of arts degree in psychology and her teaching certification from rutgers university in norfolk where she was a three sport athlete she received her masters of arts degree in educational administration from kane university she is beyond excited to continue working in verona in her new role as athletic director please join me in congratulating and welcoming mrs palmerezzi as our
013new director of athletics and special programs good evening i want to take this time to thank many important members of our verona community dr dionisio members of the board of education administrators and members of the interview committee a special thank you to mr merkler for his support always i'm looking forward to working together with him to help make this transition smooth a big thank you in heaven to my amazing parents who introduced me to sports at a very early age and who taught me the true meaning of hard work and dedication i know they are shining down on me tonight thank you to my brother and husband for being my biggest supporters throughout this process i would be remiss if i didn't mention tonight our verona track and field program and family 13 amazing years
014coaching the best student athletes around coach lep thank you for seeing something in me and recruiting me to come coach in verona back in 2008. you are one of the reasons i am standing here tonight thank you again to everyone for trusting in me to fulfill the job of athletic director i cannot express how grateful honored and excited i am to make this transition i look forward to this new challenge and working with all of our student athletes and providing positive athletic experiences for them over the last 13 years i've made many amazing relationships with our verona community verona is a tremendous place i am so thankful for this opportunity and i look forward to working collaboratively with our school community and continuing to build on the success of our athletic programs thank you [Applause]
015thank you mrs palmer we're really excited to have you join i know the committee is as well and we're here to support you your success is our students success and our community's success so we wish you well and uh thank you for your service as a coach for the past 13 plus years and we're looking forward to seeing you continue to build upon the future of verona thank you and that concludes my superintendent report for this evening i do know we have several committee reports to get through so um that concludes everything for me okay great thank you dr dean and mrs palmaresi i just want to say again welcome we had an opportunity to speak in confidential for a couple of minutes and i think the energy and positivity that you're bringing with you
016is going to serve our district really well congratulations um our first committee report meeting was education and strategy to meet yes we met earlier today um just a couple main items wasn't a very long meeting um so on today's agenda resolution number i want to say five and six i circled them so i would know where to find it um yes number five and six um they're just um updates to a current policy and or to two different policies that still had no child left behind language in there so those are just updates to reflect the current language regarding our title funding the teachers are still currently working on curriculum updates and they will hopefully be um on the agenda for the august 31st meeting for approval for the board so thank you for the
017teachers who are working on that over the summer um i know we discussed briefly that gcn um requires um according to paul's law which is staff training on epilepsy um so that's been added and updated and that is due february 1st 2022 the manipulatives for math for grades 1 2 and 5 have been ordered and then also additional manipulatives replacement manipulatives for grades 3 and 4 have been ordered once those comes in come in they'll be split up and sent out to the appropriate classrooms um and then oh and there was a collaborative federal desk monitoring report that also added a couple updates to some of our other title fundings and one esser um esser report so we just needed to update some of that language and then um finally we discussed um the interviews
018with diversity council consultants for this coming school year and the committee of teachers and admin were able to narrow the um the pool down to two potential candidates and we are now waiting on proposals um from those candidates to see how we are ready to move forward and we are aiming for early fall to jump in head first and get this ball rolling as quickly as possible um we had discussed also um specifically an egg committee um you know just looking at with this person really focusing first on hiring practices and we talked about you know next steps and what i think the administration kind of went through recently in the late spring having to find people as quickly as possible because when we hire a new teacher in june who is already contracted they
019have to give a 60-day notice and that really impedes upon our ability to find someone and get them in by september 1st um so we talked about you know how to look forward and get ahead of the game for next year um yeah so that was it thank you thank you mrs droppy does anybody have any uh questions mrs prisco in regards to this report thank you nope just all right so we're going to move on to community resources and dr diamesio myself and mr day met on july 15th we had a 4 p.m meeting it was a very short agenda uh some of it dr zenithio covered in his superintendent's report we spoke about the school reopening plan with the road forward and as dr dean easier mentioned we're going to be watching um
020the guidance from the cdc as that unfolds we also spoke about the search process for the director of athletics and we just heard from miss omarezzi so congratulations yet again we got very quick updates the vea and the vaa negotiation for new contracts is progressing as on schedule and the last topic that we touched upon and there's no recommendation or action tonight was in reference to non-emergent emails we get a lot of emails and we try to field them as best we can and some things require an immediate response and others are general topics so part of our discussion going forward and we'll break it down into our smaller committees again is possibly um coming up with a process to address those emails in part of our public uh session so we'll gather emails over
021the two weeks possibly and then summarize um for public during the next uh meeting session so that was just something that came up with ideas so that's something that going forward that we will speak about and other than that we were a very quick meeting does anybody have any questions or comments on that um let her fly thank you thank you okay um so when were talking about the process you said you reviewed the process for the athletic director um search process can you kind of just illuminate that really quickly is it is it's not much different than the processes for the middle school um principal or really any any of these other search processes process has been the same when i when i started here in 2014 we started to develop process to make
022sure that we had some consistency in regards to committee process for positions both administrative and teaching positions when we're talking about teaching positions we typically as long as time is not a constraint this goes back to what you mentioned earlier around you know whether we're hiring in the summer can we get students into the classroom to do a model lesson ideally we want our new staff members to do a model lesson demo lesson so that way we can see new teachers in action and use that as another data point in driving decision making among the other variables as well educational teaching philosophy um philosophy around um being inclusive of all children and all abilities um you know taking a look at people's experience so when we take a look at administrators you don't really have
023that piece of it so that's the only distinguishing difference from the standpoint of the interview process we typically we collect all the resumes through appletrap we post on njschooljobs.com we post on k12jobspot.com we sometimes post on nj.com which is very expensive so we typically do that in specific specific scenarios when we really need to attract a larger applicant pool we most recently did it a few weeks back because we were having a difficult time getting an ap psychology teacher um it was very expensive for the one posting was around just for that one posting and it really didn't result in anything tangible for us it was any different than the other websites but it is something that we will go to if we feel like we need to get another another resource um after we
024collect all of the applications um there's a screening process by a committee of administrators they start interviewing and narrowing it down and then narrowing it down similar to what we had with mr cruz when we did the school business administrator position and the hbw principle position we do a screening process we do several rounds we then do an interview committee and that includes teachers and administrators we collect both that qualitative and quantitative feedback we use that as data points from a number did the same thing with the director of athletics position most recently and then the final typically the final two candidates will then be recommended and come to the superintendent and the superintendent will then um have interviews there reuse there and do background checks and then make a recommendation to the board of
025education the board of education with administrators will have a meet and greet session but with the teaching staff that typically stays with the administration so that's pretty consistent across the board for all i like that it's not i like that it's the same all across and all across everything thank you thank you you're welcome were there any other questions in regard to community resource committee if new we will move on to athletics and co-curricular mrs prisca so i didn't meet with mr merkler back on july 12th it seems like it was decades ago but we reconnected again today and congratulations again to mrs pomeranzi um i look forward to working with you when you come aboard because i'm on the athletics committee i really enjoy your energy and your positive vibes so i really look
026forward to working with you so congrats again and there really is not too much to report um on athletics the softball trip they're looking to return the softball trip to disney come march of 2022 and again that's all based on disney's guidelines and the health guidelines so mr mergler is working on that with mrs hemsley so hopefully those girls will be able to take on that trip again this march they've done it for several years now and right now this week our teams are in the non-contact period which means this week is completely free of any team practices and tennis and football will begin up on august 9th and then the rest of the sports will start up on august 16th and that is all i have for athletics thank you mrs prisco does anybody
027have any questions in regards to athletics no and then we had uh buildings and grounds uh mrs frisco did you i'm building around so i met with mr higgins yesterday and that was yesterday so uh he did his report on the information for the hvac moving along at the high school there's tennis court repairs being done sidewalk repairs upgrade lighting overhead on the lobby curved wall new railings in the hallways and new doors and the teachers work rooms at lanning we are painting the multi-purpose room new shades in the multi-purpose room and sidewalk and driveway apron repairs at fm brown new stair treads in the main auditorium entrances sidewalk and driveway apron repairs and a new door to the counselor's office at forest uh they are receiving some new classroom shades and others will be
028replaced as time goes on and at hbw new floor and ceiling tiles and lights in the gym hallway which i think needed it it was a little dark in there and new carpeting in the music room and painting of the music room so and if you saw the lobby it looks fantastic out here as well so thank you mr higgins thank you very much mrs prisco any question or comment on that report if no we are going to move to public comments on agenda action items to be approved so if any members of the audience have any comments on those are the resolutions that we're going to approve tonight so if anybody has any questions or comments on that so please come to the podium and i don't see anybody so for discussion items on
029our regular agenda um the thing that the topic that i wanted to bring up is to just update everybody the full board has completed our self-evaluation and the evaluation of our superintendent dr deonisio the deadline was extended to the end of july and our new jersey school boards association field rep is miss peterson and she was unable to make it to this evening's uh meeting she had a conflict so she will be attending our august 31st meeting and at that point we will do um a public review of our board self eval and dr dean asio and confidential we will go over your eval with you and were there any other topics um that anybody needed to bring up during for discussion any new or old business up a question about um items or no
030wait wait wait i can't ever remember what we did uh uh or is that before yeah i guess right before roll call okay yeah yeah yeah all right so no other discussion items so we are going to do a roll call on our resolutions so i need a motion to move resolutions number one through 29 move move by mrs droppy and second by mrs prisca thank you and are there any departments on reputation uh went through 29. yes i guess 25 and 26. there's two different salaries here there's one oh i'm sorry there it is there's recent okay answered thank you okay any other discussion on any of those no if not mr cruz can you please do the roll call sure mr oller absent mr day absence this is strappy yeah yes is this
031freshman yes and mrs frisco yes [Music] and then we have addendum resolution and we just have one addendum resolution and i need a motion to accept the addendum resolution number one so move by mrs drafty a second that second by mrs prisco and is there any discussion on that nope uh mr cruz can you please call the role on that sure mr ollworth absent mr days absent mrs strappy yes yes mrs fresky and at this point we open the meeting up to public comments and that is on any topic that any member of the public wishes to bring up and i would remind you as you come to the podium to please state your name and your address please spell your name as well that'll be helpful and it's limited to five minutes per person
032yes thank you i'm actually glad that we discussed a little bit of hiring because i had some concerns when i saw the two selections for the vice principal of the high school and the middle school principal again they were both white men now i understand sometimes perception and reality aren't the same and you need data to back up your thoughts so i went through all of the minutes that were available publicly online since 2014 when dr theonisio took took the position of superintendent at that time there were 19 administrative positions that were open in verona since 2014 that i could identify just a note 2015 minutes are not available online so i had to back into that data they go to the agenda not to the minutes the links so yes even on the archives
033i hit every one of them okay so since starting in 2014 like i said there have been 18 administrative or what i've said leadership positions of these positions 16 have been filled by men that is 84 now this is i we did the math while we were sitting there to account for the new athletic director um before that it was 89 in case anyone's interested 16 have been filled by people who are white again 84 percent uh 14 have been filled by white men or approximately 74 percent three have been filled by white women or approximately 16 percent and two have been filled by non-white men or approximately 11 percent none have been filled by non-white women of these administration positions a hundred percent of them that are student facing have been filled by white
034people a hundred percent now my research isn't scientific it's looking through board minutes it but it has taken me several hours to compile this information it's not a it's not individual positions that i am upset about it's not the hpw principle was a woman and i was a man although my seventh grader is a little upset about that um it's the systematic and pattern of hiring that is disturbing it is disturbing essex county is the most diverse county in new jersey new jersey is the fourth most diverse state in the union yet we cannot find a non-white woman to fill an administrative position we cannot find a non-white person to fill a student-facing position there needs to be an examination of the underlying hiring practices and prejudices unconscious or not that are part of the
035hiring process in verona schools if you don't hire qualified non-white people you will never hire qualified non-white teachers or if you do they will not stay because they are not feeling supported they will move on so i'm going to end a little bit about my daughter my other daughter i have two who are in the seventh grade one is white one is black they have actually had very different experiences in the verona public school system if anyone would care to discuss those with me i'd be happy to explain them to you now my black daughter went to school the first day back in september after she had been home since march missing her friends missing her colleagues wanting to see her teachers she came running out of school running the first day of school so
036excited mommy mommy mommy are never gonna you're never gonna believe what i saw she said i saw a teacher who looked like me and i was like great you have a teacher who's black who is it i don't know who it is and she said oh no no no it's not my teacher i was walking down the hall and there was a black woman with a lanyard in the office she didn't have a black teacher she saw a black woman for the first time in a verona public school who was not an aide who was not a lunch attendant who was actually someone she thought was a teacher turns out it was a substitute but to her that experience of seeing someone who looked like her was so powerful it overrode her friends her teachers
037everything about what the first day of school back was in verona i'm sure my time is up but i thank you for your patience and to listen to me thank you for your comments i appreciate you coming to the podium thank you hi guys congratulations by the way um i'm here we need your name i'm getting to that uh i'm here because i'm reading a statement of another town resident who couldn't be here and they're not going to be able to attend and make public statements um so that's my name is christina ford i live in verona 50th street place but i'm here and reading a statement on behalf of wesley tashir rodriguez um he's a parent in town i'm just going to read exactly what he said um dear rhona school board members my
038name is wesley shishir rodriguez and my child attends forest avenue school i cannot make this evening's meeting because i have a board meeting at work here are some of the comments i would like to submit to be part of the official record i will try to have someone read this for them for me if allowed but if not i hope they would be acknowledged by the board on this email i you had talked about you're getting inundated with emails so i'll read one i think this is a way around it a little bit at least with some of them um hiring teachers and student facing staff i understand there are several vacancies in the district and was interesting these are hypotheticals i guess he's asking interested to know how verona is ensuring the staff interviewed
039and hired are reflective of the student body which has become more diverse in recent years are there va uh how are where the vacancy higher uh universities with diverse bodies might be a better place historically black community or universities or something there are a lot of pipeline programs around here does verona's administration compare notes with other schools that have success in hiring related to diverse educators diversity which is race ethnicity lgbtq non-binary non-traditional home settings how was diversity how was the diversity adverse ad advisory committee created advertised or recruited for no one i knew even knew about it the first time around further there should be a way for non-committee members to know what's discussed and even have a way to participate will it be coming back this next year in addition to the diversity
040hiring mean of meaningful diversity curriculum and activities should further what we are trying to achieve for our community there are myriad of examples that can be secured through neighboring towns personal experience the experience my child is getting in the district is wonderfully academically but socially it is not reflective of the real world and won't prepare her for life beyond verona i know several kids that go to college after verona and experience culture shock if they go to school with different demographics than our town finally i don't think my child brings to this school i don't think what my child brings to the school community is valued here as it would be in other places sharing our diversity culture's tradition seems like an afterthought that might only occur once a year around a holiday class project
041i look forward to working with the board and superintendent on these issues if i am welcomed thank you for your time and consideration on my comments wesley to shia rodriguez i actually never met him i'm just doing this because i was asked to do it i know that we have time limits but i would also like to speak on my behalf just my experience in town as a parent um again on diversity issues in school i grew up here i'm one of the lifers that people often criticize but i'm a lifer who left for an extended period of time i went to college it was culture shock i was surrounded by a totally diverse background of people and i think that as a good thing that was good i learned a lot ultimately i came
042back here to raise my family because there is value in verona this isn't all those these things are critical and we can be critical of the board and the school and the town council and all that there is value here that's why i participate in so many of the things that i do but there can be work done this needs to get better like funny we're going through these statistics and i realized i graduated 27 years ago you know what i have in common with the kids today the only black teacher in the school 30 years ago was a gym teacher and it's the same thing it's the same thing today there has been no progress and i understand that you use the internet and these school and tools to recruit it's not working like
043whatever it is is just the justification we have to do better we have a very diverse a way more diverse than when i grew up i know pam's brother was my senior class president when i you know when i graduated here it's a totally different town than it was and we need to reflect that we need to do better and a panel doing an interview i don't know what kind of applicants you got but like picture yourself in a similar situation where you're in panel trying to get a job and every single person on that panel is a different different race than you you gonna perform the best how do you become the best applicant in that you can't become the best applicant this is not about any individual person hired but we did we
044hired from within we did the same thing that we've been doing for a very long time it's the easy way out it's not going to be easy it shouldn't be easy our best applicants are people that can help our kids progress and do better we concentrate on academics how many ap classes that is not the only metric to get kids ready and uh i just really hope that i i i'm glad to hear that we have a female athletic director i don't know if that's ever happened in verona i that's historic maybe i think it probably is i can't remember and we didn't even mention that because that highlights how crazy it is that we don't have women in leadership positions never mind people of color and uh i think that can change and on
045a very short personal note you know we're we're a different household i we're two moms i grew up in this town it was horrifically closeted experience as a child it's very much different now but it's something that that can you guys can do better we can do better we have mothers and fathers day parties every year for every class and we didn't we just we don't address the fact that not every household has a mother and a father we don't do that we i know other schools address these things in different ways we put it on the teachers to have awkward conversations with the single mom or the two lesbian moms to like how do you want to deal with this what kind of special project you're putting it needs to come from up down
046and i hope that and i know that you're i know that these teachers are great i know that you guys are open to these ideas but we have to effectuate them and um i'm happy to work and work along with everybody and try to just make your own about it because it is a great time thank you thank you very much mrs borg i'm sorry do you want to give us the copy of the email that you read okay yeah that'll be great okay understood i am understanding it's annotated okay perfect thank you i appreciate that good evening everyone my name is carol flynn i live at 23 hamilton road i work as a researcher who studies demographic and cultural trends i have a few things i like to say about how demographic change is
047affecting american culture and why it's important for rona students to be exposed to more diversity in our schools teaching staff leadership administration and curriculum the first one i'd like to make is that our our kids generation is vastly more diverse than our own as a couple of people have already said uh in our lifetimes there's been a rapid demographic shift away from a majority white america our school age kids are the first generation that is 50 non-hispanic white and 50 a kaleidoscope of races and ethnicities as they get older the united states population will tip toward greater diversity second point is that young people today value their uniqueness they celebrate all forms of diversity through social media teens connect to peers in other countries they express their gender identities and sexual orientations in ways that
048were unthinkable when we were teenagers they want to feel safe bringing their full authentic selves to school they pay attention to how people with differences are represented and they notice when they are not they stand up for themselves and for each other with time the tastes values and ideologies of these diverse young generations are going to become mainstream american culture my third point is that we need to prepare our students for the world beyond verona when our kids go to college they will immediately be in a more diverse setting the same will be true in their careers corporations are prioritizing diversity and being held accountable to measurable diversity equity and inclusion goals businesses are going global and spreading teams across multiple countries even for those who plan to work in a trade locally their potential
049customer base is going to be more diverse cultural awareness and sensitivity will be essential tools for our kids to communicate successfully with peers professors customers and managers there is no turning back the clock on changing demographics and the globalization of our workforce if we don't make diversity an urgent priority in our hiring curriculum and staff representation we are preparing for roma kids for an america of the past being able to comfortably navigate diverse settings is as valuable a skill for our kids as the stem skills that we prioritize we need diverse administration faculty and staff to improve the experience of diverse students to prepare all of our students for college and careers and to give them a more complete picture of the world the academic experience in verona needs to look to the future and
050make sincere and measurable goals now towards diversity equity and inclusion thank you thank you thank you very much for your comments i have to bring the microphone all the way down for me okay i'm good all right i am here today to express my displeasure in the way that the board meetings are being shared with the public the board of education is voted in by verona residents to serve those residents needs and should therefore be available to verona residents in the platform that best suits our needs i am asking at the board reinstate virtual meetings in this day and age where we are expecting our teachers and students to engage in virtual and hybrid education it is not too much to ask the board and administration provide us with the opportunity to attend board meetings
051virtually it has been noted that when these meetings were shared by a zoom there was a much larger turnout than there has been when the meetings are in person as parents of children that are school-aged virtual meetings provide us all the flexibility to participate in the goings-on in the verona board of education as the board i would think that meeting the needs of those that vote you in would be a top priority virtual meetings serve many purposes for one many of us aren't able to leave our young children home on a tuesday night to attend those meetings that is the reason that i cannot be as available to attend in-person meetings i cannot leave my children home alone at their age especially at bedtime however i was able to attend every single virtual meeting we
052can also not assume that every family is a two-parent family with built-in child care virtual meetings also meet the needs of families that do not work traditional nine-to-five jobs on top of which they are a wonderful accommodation for any residents that have a variety of disabilities for example if a person has difficulty with their mobility hearing etc zoom allows that person to attend the meetings with the ability to meet their accommodations they don't have to worry about getting to the meeting or having the meeting interpreted closed captioning and instant access to a computer can handle those situations and many others don't we all strive to be inclusive i am disheartened to know that many residents have reached out to this board and administration and have been told that virtual meetings are not an option why
053what is the reasoning other districts are able to continue with virtual and hybrid board meetings why can't verona we have the technology and the ability so what is the reason that this board and administration administrators won't mean state virtual meetings more attendees and more diverse attendees mean the needs of our families and students are being heard that means that the board can better attend the needs of our community and school system a virtual option would provide us with the ability to reach more grown residents thank you thank you for your comments hi guys my name is denite braver i live at six cliff street i'm actually going to be speaking on behalf of two vhs students and then on behalf of myself so i hope that's okay um so first i'll be speaking on behalf
054of nandy webb she is a recent vhs she's a vhs student on class of 2023 and she wanted to speak to why diversity in school administrations are important today diverse administrations in schools are essential especially in predominantly white schools in a town like verona where there's already a small population of people of color our school system should have multiple non-white and other minority authority figures for the safety and comfort of psc students it is also beneficial for the large number of white students in vhs to become accustomed to diversity for their futures and higher levels of education and the workplace white students can become comfortable with their differences with people of color and respect them it is also important for white students to learn about other cultures and backgrounds a more diverse setting can also
055challenge negative stereotypes that may have been developed from a young age but more importantly students of color should feel comfortable going to an administrator that can understand them on a deeper level and their experiences as a minority in verona racialized students can also see themselves in their teachers principals guidance counselors and other leaders the hiring of more non-white leaders is critical for representation purposes representation is a great influence for students who want to have a future career in the school system and for other students to see that they can be as successful and influential as the people who look like them and then i have another comment from maria sarah hi my name is maria sarah i'm 18 years old and just graduated from verona high school as a 2021 grad i am a white
056pansexual genderqueer student who had an okay time in high school the only reason it was actually okay was because of a handful of students and staff that i found connections to finding the teachers that openly supported and defended the non-white non-cisgender and non-heterosexual students made learning an entirely different experience i was more engaged in classes where i knew i could talk to the teacher without fear of judgment or harassment in any form to those teachers i say thank you and to the administration i say please understand that understand that verona is diversifying and that as time moves on more students will feel comfortable accepting who they truly are and standing up for themselves we need the support of the adults in our lives in order to do our best as students and as young adults
057as a white kid growing up i never truly understood that all my teachers were all so white or were light-skinned latinx like me i started realizing the lack of diversity in middle school when my non-white friends would start to face daily harassment from teachers and students like unwanted hair touching comments on meals comparing tans to melanated skin i can go on i wish for these friends and for future non-white students to not have to deal with this and to have staff they can go to instead for advice and or someone to relate to an experience thank you and then finally i'm just going to speak on my own behalf so i'm also speaking out against a pattern of hiring decisions that have resulted in the selective hiring and promotion of white cis straight men in
058verona schools i come at this from the perspective of a white person who grew up in a public school system that got it right i'm from teaneck in bergen county if you're familiar with teaneck you know that tnuck was the first white majority township in new jersey to voluntarily integrate in the 60s you know that its faculty and administration reflect the diversity of its students so to give you a flavor my first bio teacher miss a was an asian american woman mr matthew my first chem teacher a south asian immigrant mr hawley my ap chem teacher a liberian immigrant miss prince my first algebra teacher a black woman woman mr rosales my favorite ap english teacher a latino man my favorite music teacher of all time was mr thompson a black man all three of
059my elementary middle and high school principals were black as a white young person and major nerd i revered my teachers my teachers taught me to think critically about american history and to challenge white supremacy as a young adult i need to question the white media's portrayal of black and brown people because media portrayals didn't reflect my reality in my reality black and brown people led difference was valued by stark contrast you must recognize that the teaching and administrative staff in verona does not reflect the growing diversity of its student body and the selective promotion of white cis straight men in our school system is harming all of our kids it teaches our students a very nasty untruth that only white cis straight men can lead it leaves children who do not identify as white or
060male without role models and mentors in the same race gender group and can i keep going okay i'll email you thank you thank you um is this here can you hear that you can hear me okay great i'm val brauber i'll spell that for you braver is being boy r a h v is in victor er i have two statements three today one is behalf of another resident who's a parent and one on behalf of myself the first is from jason hyman hyman spelled h-y-n-d-m-a-n he says as a parent of two black children in and entering the verona school system i'm deeply concerned about the apparent lack of commitment that this administration has in ensuring that all children are afforded a learning environment that they can thrive in we know measurable benefits that a diverse
061teacher and administrative workforce has on our students of color but we must also recognize that when we fail to expose white students to teachers and administrators that reflect america's demographic diversity were failing to properly prepare them for the already diverse and increasingly more so college campuses workplaces what opportunities will they be passed over because they lack the intercultural competencies to effectively communicate and collaborate with non-white managers and peers over the last six years this administration has failed to hire administrators who in the aggregate are representative of the backgrounds of the children they are educating without administrators that reflect the diverse background of this region the school district will not be able to attract and retain a diverse teaching staff in the last year we've also witnessed this administration's failure to even launch an initiative to
062address this and the other shortcomings of equity and inclusion it's imperative that verona actually invests in diversifying its teachers and administrators this cannot be accomplished by using the same hiring policies that resulted in a faculty that is even more disproportionately white than this already disproportionately white town the administration must commit to and implement concrete policies to attract and retain teachers there needs to be active recruitment for teachers and administrators of color and until there is a critical mass of diverse faculty to nationally perpetuate representative hiring the administration will need to invest in a competent consultant that is empowered to influence hiring decisions and empowered to implement policies to support and mentor new hires so jason's two questions to the board are one what policies and procedures will the boe commit to implementing to ensure that
063the administration attracts and hires administrators and teachers that reflect the demographics of the student population two will the boe commit to hiring goal of ensuring that by the year 2026 both the administrative population and the teaching population district reflect the overall verona population demographics that are reflected in the 2020 census data for the next part i'll read from myself val robert i would also like to add a few comments on my own about diversity and hiring so the same topic hiring diversity is not a criticism of the existing teachers and administrators or their qualifications verona does have really great teachers however the majority of the teachers and administrators are white which does not represent the demographics of our town our state our country or our world does not prepare our children for the diverse world
064they will graduate into as adults we all want our children to succeed and succeeding will require that our children enter college and or the workforce skilled and communicating and collaborating with peers mentors professional professors and managers who are not white if our children have mostly white educators teachers coaches administrators how can we expect them to learn how to interact with people who are not white how can we expect them to recognize and learn about the experiences and perspectives of people who are not white if we fail to provide our children with a diverse learning environment then we fail to provide them with the skills they need to succeed in our diverse world going forward the boe needs to increase diversity of newly hired leaders administrators teachers and coaches to prepare our children for success in
065our growingly diverse world hiring practices and policies need to change these policies can only change when leadership commits commits to quantitative measurable goals that are included in performance reviews so my question is will the boe commit to adding higher university objectives for all people in leadership positions who are involved in the hiring process and making hiring decisions so to give you a recap there are three questions posed by jason and myself one what policies and procedures will the voe commit to implementing to ensure that the administration attracts and hires administrators and teachers that reflect the demographics of the student population two will the boe commit to a hiring goal of ensuring that by the year 2026 both the administrative population and the teaching population the district will affect the overall verona population from the 2020
066census data and three will be a we commit to adding higher diversity objectives for all people in leadership positions who are involved in the hiring process and decision thank you all right um can you speak your address oh six cliff street thanks hi good evening um my name is madrid rodner [Music] that's okay um madrid brodner uh m-a-d-r-i-d-r-o-d-n-e-r i live on 33 morningside road okay sorry i'd like to begin with um a uh statement or comment by um nico teigen uh a vhs graduate sandra transitioning during high school has been one of the periods of my life i'd rather not remember in fact i would say the school essentially played zero part in my transition due to the lack of resources and understanding of trans students out of all my teachers i had only two
067that that i felt lucky for just merely having my identity respected the amount of times in my life i've gotten to interact with lgbtq plus adults is so rare that my initial feeling is oddly excitement when the opportunity does present itself part of the reason why being around lgbtq plus adults is such a valuable experience for me personally is that it serves as a reminder that even being who i am it is possible to grow and be a part of society often i and like the other youth lose sight of this because of how difficult it is just to exist as myself around others how can i imagine a future for myself the present is so hard having as having an adult in your life who shares similar experiences as you can be comforting in
068so many ways and now i'd like to make a statement for myself a school is a place where students are supposed to feel safe a school is a place where students should feel comfortable in their own skins and who they are as a person i think we can all agree that is an important part of the mission of public schooling w it must respect the individuality of students actually in verna public schools own strategic plan for the years 2018 to that is verbatim one of the commitments made along with a strategy to quote integrate experiences that value diversity promote cultural understanding and consider multiple perspectives so the ideas of diversity and inclusion exist here in our district and i would love to see the actions we can take to achieve our goals favorite quote favoring
069action is in fact another commitment the board the board strategic plan makes i want to tell you how favoring action in this instance by bringing in a more diverse faculty could do for me and those like me throughout my years through public public schools i remember when i was in elementary school my mom my mom made me lunch often like most other kids my mom is an immigrant from taiwan so i grew up eating traditional chinese cuisine in my household i never thought anything of it until i sat in my cafeteria at forest avenue elementary school when i took out my lunch smelling of spices and delicious home-cooked food other kids around me pinched their noses and were quick to tell me how disgusting a piece of my heritage was my cheeks became flushed and
070i was ashamed why did i have to be different i did not eat lunch that day and for many days after that what would have been different if i knew i had a trusted teacher that looked like me and shared an identity with someone who i would have felt comfortable sharing my experience with i think i would have felt safe and comfortable in myself if i had talked to this teacher i urge the board of education to follow through with their commitment to action and give students with different backgrounds somewhere to be themselves thank you thank you thank you very much hello my name is karen andrei and i live at 30 howell drive i'm starting with comments for myself um i graduated from verona high school last month out of the 24 teachers that
071i had during my time only three of them were people of color and none of them were black the only black female role model i have had from second grade to graduation in the verona public schools was my high school guidance counselor who no longer works here while i was lucky enough to have teachers who advocated for racial justice taught about black history and educated students about systemic racism today it did not make up for the fact that i never had a teacher that looked like me and could fully understand me i asked a friend at west orange high school how many teachers of color they knew of their answer was about 30 with five teachers being black additionally west orange high school has a black principal and three black guidance counselor i bring this
072up not to compare verona's numbers to west orange's numbers as they have a larger district but i bring this up to show that there are black teachers in the area that could be hired in my time at vhs at least a dozen new teachers have been hired but still men are black the only staff member i've been able to fully connect with and trust has been my black guidance counselor who looked like me current black bhs students no longer have the opportunity that i had as a district we must do better for our black students to make sure they feel seen and comfortable and safe in their schools i also have a comment from my friend who also graduated last month her name is brianna as a queer disabled biracial woman i was lucky to
073have an overall positive experience in high school i did experience harassment usually in the form of someone touching my hair without my consent or throwing jabs at me over my humorous shirt that says we are all lesbians but i never let it bother me but when those things did bother me i knew i had certain faculty members to go to such as mrs wallerstein and dr meyer and as much as these women helped me they are simply not enough the school needs more teachers that are not white cisgender straight or neurotypical because i and many other students who have unique experiences need someone to relate to we want to speak about our experiences and have them be fully understood we do not want therapists but we do want to know that we aren't alone additionally
074there are some topics that are crucial for us to learn but must come from certain perspectives for example african american history and literature would best be taught by an african american teacher considering the interest verona high school has shown in creating a more inclusive curriculum this seems especially important even if a specific perspective isn't needed having a new perspective in class such as film and english would be extremely refreshing it is ridiculous that the only diversity is among the language teachers there is no way to lose when hiring more diverse teachers all you will be doing is creating a more tolerant and vibrant community one that more people can look back at and genuinely smile thank you thank you thank you very much hi everyone my name is tawana brown n n t-a-w-a-n-n-a b r
075o w n and i reside at 91 hillside avenue as a former student i thought that it was imperative for me to speak on a topic of representation as verona public schools lacked significantly i moved to verona in 2015 as i was entering the seventh grade from seventh grade to twelfth grade graduation there were only three black faculty members throughout the entire district only one being a middle school gym teacher and the other a vhs school counselor that no longer works here as well as the black hiv specialist that joined verona for a short period the most diversity being demonstrated throughout the language department though i am no longer a student it is vital that i express my concerns my experience as a verona resident and student has unfortunately consisted of significant identity issues almost
076absolutely right absolute representation prejudice discrimination racism and sometimes flawed teachings of american history and diversity while i could utilize this time to simply tell you that verona needs more representation more specifically black representation across the board that is a waste of time those in the position of power board members hiring staff community members and residents all know that diversity is often talked about here however is not represented or implemented as the young black woman embarking on a new journey of life beyond verona i can say that verona public schools did not teach me to adapt and to appreciate a diverse world full of marginalized groups and individuals the irony alone being that i am a part of those marginalized groups and communities diversity and culture awareness and sensitivity is very important for students to be
077academically equipped and socially prepared to live in a world that does not solely consist of cisgender white males as verona becomes more diverse in student body it is it is imperative that the workforce does as well however noting that simply hiring diverse staff members will not be enough it is important that the board of education understands that creating a diverse work environment is also essential for ensuring that each hired individual regardless of their racial complex feels welcomed appreciated and respected enough to stay here continuing to promote and implement a disproportionate educational environment isn't ingest i do not have any questions for the board of education at this time however i do have suggestions i would like to advise the verona board of education to look into a website called equity institute for ratios for race
078conscious pedagogy a website facilitated by dr stephanie bates bosco along with dr batiste bosco's dissertation on moving beyond black history month how three teachers implemented and implemented and interpreted the new jersey almost dead in legislation dr bertis vosko a professor at montclair state university and assistant principal at fear long high school is no stranger to this topic as she worked to promote and implemented advanced diversity amongst staffing and teachings through her initiatives and a town similarly demographically to verona ultimately representation is important for promoting acceptance awareness education and respect i would have benefited tremendously from having a black humanities or arts teacher someone that can identify and directly speak to the curriculums that are often misrepresented misrepresented and mistake thank you [Applause] thank you hi i'm kristen donahue 31 south prospect street uh good evening
079i'd like to speak to the discontinuation of the zoom option for board of ed meetings first the benefits you've already demonstrated that you can conduct a zoo meeting we obviously have the technology and did so all last year higher attendance translates into more community engagement it accommodates more people's schedules zoom provides accessibility for disabled community members including those with physical sensory intellectual or psychosocial impairments second many neighboring towns and organizations in verona have continued to provide a zoom option cedar grove montclair livingston and several other surrounding towns all have the same option for their meetings our town council has also been conducting their meetings with this option i'm on the board of child and we've decided to provide an option going forward as increased parent as we had increased parent participation this year and we
080welcome that engagement additionally yesterday mrs frashy retweeted a message from the njsba county school board association allowing for their members to attend both in-person and virtually if board members now have this option for their own meetings our community members should have the same accessibility my question is what is the official position on zoom and the reasons why it's been discontinued thank you are there any more public comments since there are no other public comments i just uh first of all like to thank everyone who came up to share perspective and point of view uh with the board and the administration um while we all i know we all took notes here and we appreciate the feedback um and we will certainly take it into consideration and we thank you for everything that you shared um
081and while i can't go through point by point um i do want to just provide just a i know some people were coming in a little later and may have missed what we talked about earlier and we have more updates coming up but just a little bit of an update just to piggyback off of what mrs drafty mentioned earlier on the diversity equity and inclusion uh committee so we do have have a committee of uh staff members and administrators who have been interviewing candidates who are going to continue to be our consultants um and and we're looking to be able to pick up with that work again um and do that successfully this early fall so the the candidate pool of those consultants that will help guide the work here it's very important meaningful work
082for our community um we will be moving forward with that uh for the the early fall uh in addition to that uh we did send out emails last year for community members to really get a great participation uh we have about 80 people in the veronica community who volunteered for the committee we will be sending out another email to see if there are new people who want to be part of that process so that will be coming out in the coming months as well and we'll look to continue to do that so that way we can continue to increase the participation and community voice um one of the recommendations that came from the committee last year was around specifically the hiring practices piece and how we can continue to expand and the hbcus piece historically
083black colleges and the recruiting component around colleges was something that was brought up typically when verona administration goes and actively recruits at job fairs that tends to happen around january and february just with the timing of when that recommendation came forward we are going to and dr miller um was actually speaking about that today in our education committee um that is a focus to be able to go out in january and february um and continue to expand the schools that we're actively recruiting at um so that's an important piece so it is something that we do plan on doing to increase the diversity of the application the candidate pools that we have um and that's that's all i have at this time i would just can you hear me okay i'm sorry i would just
084like to add that um in the ed committee today when we were talking about that and discussing how you know that is the first real tangible step that the administration can take in terms of um attracting a more diverse candidate pool and i think you know that's part of the concern we've also discussed in past that as curriculum is updated to more accurately reflect diversity and inclusion that will also in turn attract a more diverse candidate pool but i think we also have this conversation with the understanding that like that's literally just the first step it's a big step and it's an important step but that that's not like where the job ends and i think dr danny steele made that very clear today during a committee that like yes the first step is attracting
085a larger candidate pool and at the same time there's just so much more work that has to go into it so you know i i just want to make sure that you know those who are listening and that one understands that even though we were talking about that today it's it's not like where everything stops and just because we are hiring or looking to hire somebody to help us navigate this monumental task of really making sure that we take all the right steps and do it very deliberately to make sure our students feel as safe as possible in their own skin at all times that's also not the end of it as well and it's it's a marathon if i will it's a marathon sorry she's a marathon runner um so i think that's that's
086just an important comment to say um i also want to thank everybody for coming out tonight i especially want to thank our young folks for coming out tonight and speaking your truth so thank you dr dinicio and mrs for additional comments and i echo the board sentiments i do appreciate everyone who came to talk at the podium did see us all take copious notes we do go back and digest and as they've said we are working our steps and hopefully we could um facilitate them as quickly as possible but your voices are heard so i do want to thank you again and if there are no other comments our next meeting is on tuesday august 31st uh confidential is at 5 30 with our public session beginning at 7 00 pm here in the heights
087auditorium and i do need to also add one more piece another is so that's something that we're not depending on tonight [Music] is [Music] and you're doing that and you knew this is gonna come up and yes you decided not to address it not to address it without addressing that but when are you going to address it are you going to address that are you another guest next month next month so mrs rozelle what i can share with you is the board made a decision several months ago to shift back to the recorded sessions as mrs fresky mentioned where the board is taking that under advisement the board will discuss it and then we'll be able to provide an update at a later time [Music] in a fashion where you're it's more accessible for you
088can you explain why that you can do that now since you were the one who repeated that i'm assuming you're supported as i retweeted to be able to have it so new jersey school boards meetings cover the entire state from the entire state those are excuse me i would like to just remind the public that our board meetings are for the board in front of the public it is not a back and forth we are listening to your comments and we are we're listening to your comments i'm speaking can i i'm going to continue to speak if you would like to listen you're welcome too okay so what we're going to do is we are going to take your comments and we will discuss it and then we can report [Music] so i had about
089five years where one of my children was diagnosed with crohn's disease just very seriously for five years that was very easy for me in the last five years there is no way i could have made a husband travels have an inability [Music] laura gson 100 london avenue we vote in the board of education because we trust that you are going to advocate for our students and for their needs right now their needs is for the residents of rona to be able to be at these meetings we have the technology our teachers have been forced to learn hybrid education overnight i am a special education teacher i run an aba program i'm also my school's behaviorist i understand how hard hybrid learning is aba does not work over resume i can tell you that but i
090still did it and i trained other people how to do it i understand that it's not ideal but you have all taken on a position that we have entrusted with you all to advocate for our needs and what we are telling you is our needs is that we need to be heard i have a chronic illness i will say that most of the time i can't come here because of child care but the reason i can't always come to these meetings is because i am ill because i put in my time at work i put in my mom hours and you know what i don't have anything left because i am sick in bed i am bed ridden but you know what i was able to do when you gave me that ability to see
091you on zoom i could attend every single meeting i have a child that has i'm an iep and i was and i had some issues with mr moriello i was able to speak that through onto the board of education platform from bed being sick still able to do my job though and still being able to be an advocate for my children you guys are robbing us of that ability by not giving this to us by not allowing us to have a hybrid a hybrid board meeting other districts can do it my district is doing it i i'm living it i don't understand and what is disheartening is that we email and we ask and we are told well when i was a parent i was able to make the meeting so you should try to
092make the meetings yourselves that i'm sorry but if i'm giving you guys my vote i'm expecting you to advocate for my needs and for my children's needs it's not for what's best for you when you had younger children thank you thank you very much i need a motion to adjourn the meeting moved by mrs prisco second by mrs drapey and the meeting is adjourned at 8 39 thank you very much have a good evening