001Good evening everyone. I'll call to order the regular meeting of the Bagota Board of Education for June 17, 2025 at 6:04 p.m. Please stand for the flag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. Thank you. The New Jersey P open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Bagota Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the Bod Burough Hall, communicated by letter to the
002record, filed with the clerk of the Bureau of Bod, and posted on the Bota Board of Education website. Eron, Mr. Alic, Mrs. Alvarez, Mr. Alvarez, President, Mrs. Cruz present. Mr. Navaro present. Mrs. Solivo present. Mr. Reckett present. Mr. Chavez absent. Mr. Miranda present. We have the cor. Also present our superintendent Damian Kennedy. Board attorney Thomas Cobin, school business administrator and board secretary Epsil, assistant board secretary Elizabeth Ruiz, and our lovely Joanna Morales, student representative. I'd like to open the floor hearing of citizens on agenda items only. Do I have a motion to move? Motion Alvarez. That was Mrs. Ruckett and Mr. Alvarez for a second. Any board discussion? All in favor? Any oppose? Does there any any member who would like to address the board? You have five minutes. Please state your name. No one
003Kennedy have a motion to close hearing of the citiz of citizens. Alvarez. Alvarez. Do I have a second? Second. Alcal. Any board discussion? All in favor? Any oppose? All right, we move on to superintendent report. Mr. Kennedy, evening. Good evening, everyone. First, under the HIV report, we did have one HIB founded at Steen School. Next up, I would like to have our student representative, Joanna Morales, start with her report. Good evening, everyone. First, we're looking forward to celebrating our high school graduation tomorrow, June 18th. The class of 2025 is ready to take the next step, and we're incredibly proud of all they've accomplished. Thank you to our teachers, staff, and families for helping us get to this important day. Earlier this month, our elementary schools hosted the Week of the Arts, a celebration of student
004creativity through music, visual arts, performances, and more. It was a huge success and a wonderful way for our younger students to shine. Just two weeks ago, we held our district's annual awards ceremony where many students were recognized for their academic achievements and athletic excellence. Several scholarships were awarded and the night was a powerful reminder of the dedication and talent in our student community. And now it is hard to believe, but tomorrow is also the last day of school. And as we head into summer break, I want to thank the board, our educators, and this entire school community for making this year one to remember. Everyone have a great summer and thank you. Thank you. Now, let's begin the evening with a spotlight on a truly exceptional student leader, our student representative, Joanna Morales. Over the
005past few years, we've had some wonderful student voices join us on the board of education, but this year, Joanna has truly raised the bar. Her dedication, insight, and professionalism have made her an invaluable part of our meetings. To honor her contributions, we are presenting her with a plaque that reads, "In grateful appreciation for your dedicated service on the Bagota Board of Education. We have no doubt she will return one day as a board member herself. We wish her all the best as she takes her next steps this fall at Boston College. We're we're so very proud of her. I'll quickly chime in. Uh Joanna, it's been it's been nice having you to the left. you uh you brought a lot of insight to this board. I saw everyone tune in your first day and we
006were like what what who is this? So um I hope world sees you just as much as we did and through the same eyes and I wish you the best of success. You deserve it. Thank you. Thank you. As we bring this school year to a close, I want to take a moment to extend my heartfelt thanks to the entire Bota school community. Everything we have accomplished has been a result of true treat teamwork. From the dedication of our central office and administrative team to the passion of our teachers support staff and the unwavering support of the board of education, your collective efforts have made meaningful impact, one that will benefit the students and families of BOD for years to come. Looking ahead to the 2526 school year, we know redistricting will be a major
007shift. Our administration team have been hard at work to ensure a smooth and thoughtful transition. Early next week, families impacted by this change will receive detailed information on start and end times, uniforms, and courtesy busing to name a few. This is a new journey for all of us, and we will be closely monitoring the transition and making any necessary adjustments along the way. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of joy and celebration from award ceremonies to graduation highlighting the accompl accomplishments of our students. And tomorrow evening we cap it all off with the high school graduation ceremony. We are monitoring the weather and will send out a final decision tomorrow morning. But no matter what, we are excited to celebrate the class of 2025 in style. This year's graduating class is nothing short
008of incredible. Our students have been accepted to over 100 colleges, university, and trade schools, and have earned more than $5.6 million in scholarships and grants. Two of our graduates have gone have gone above and beyond earning associates degree from Bird Community College through the early college program, and we'd like to acknowledge them right now. First up, Joanna Morales. see her name and I don't see her but I still would like to acknowledge her. Iris Sun. Congratulation again to these remarkable students. Next, it's my pleasure to recognize the 2024 25 staff members of the year, dedicated educators who go above and beyond to support our students every day. first up and and she told me she cannot be here tonight due to a previous engagement from the high school, Angie Adams in the middle school. Vicky
009Shepard is there. Take a picture. Miss Shepard, come up and take a picture. [Music] at Eeroy Bixby. Jessica Povacowitz. Oh, I think that's Take a quick picture. And from scene school, Ariana Delosa Thank you. Thank Thank you for all your passion and unwavering commitment to the students of Pagota. Also, this evening, we will honor five outstanding educators who are retiring this year. Together, they have spent over 111 years of dedicated service to the children of Bagota. And I know a few teachers could not make it tonight, but I still would like to acknowledge them. First up, Miss Heidi Zakone. 18 years as a high school English teacher. I've had the privilege of working with her as her VP and principal. She brought professionalism and a nononsense approach to the classroom every single day. Miss Sakone
010is not here. Miss Pora Martinez. She has 19 years as a Spanish teacher at the junior senior high school. Always honest, always real, a trusted voice in the building, and someone I valued working with closely. Next up is Vicky Shepard. 24 years as a K6 teacher and the former BEA BEA president. When I first became superintendent, she helped me find my footing. I am grateful for her leadership and heart. Next, Miss Ununice Lee. 25 years as our elementary eL teacher. Her warmth, patience, and unwavering positivity helps so many young learners find their voice and their confidence. And finally, Miss Laura Ketchum. 25 years as an elementary teacher, always advocating for her students and never shy to share ideas to help improve our district. I will I will never forget popping into her classroom during COVID
011just to take the pulse of the staff. She was always honest and grounded to all five of you. Thank you. You will be deeply missed and we wish you a joyful, well-deserved retirement filled with rest, adventure, and maybe even a few visits back to Bagota. As we close out another successful year, I want to say how incredibly proud I am to be the superintendent of Bota Public Schools. Our future is bright and it's because of the amazing people in this room, our students, our staff, and our community. Thank you, and have a safe and wonderful summer. Uh we're we're going to break for a few minutes so everyone can enjoy some coffee, water, and cookies. I will leave it with um for those retiring, thank you for your service. I know most of us probably
012weren't here, but some of us did have our children go through your courses and your classes. Um, and it takes true dedication from educators to continue to just build our community. And it's a lot of years. You don't think about it, but it's not often that teachers retire young. And they they love it. And I hope that we've made you proud on this board and that you're leaving this district a much better place, a much better looking place uh than it was in years past. So, thank you for your service. So, can I have a motion to move a break for 10 minutes? So, we're estimating 6:30. I mean, sorry. Yeah, 6:30 return. Do I have a motion? Olivo. Olivo. Do I have a second? Alvarez. Mrs. Alvarez. All in favor? Any oppose? All right.
013See you. 6:30 Why would No, he did it. Roll out. We start off. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening everyone. Thank you. I'd like to open motion to open the meeting again. I have a second. Second. All in favor? Should I ask any discussion? All right. Moving on to resolution 43, which is for the approval of May 20th, 2025, 2025 regular open and close session meetings. Do I have a motion to move 43? Olivo. Olivo. Was that a second? Recky any board discussion? Roll call. Mr. Al, I have to abstain because I was not present at the last meeting and I haven't reviewed the minutes. Okay. Mrs. Alvarez, yes. Mr. Alvarez, yes. Mrs. Cruz, yes. Mr. Navaro, yes. Mrs. Tolio, yes. Mr. Reckett, yes. Mr. Miranda, yes. Motion carried. Moving on to uh resolution 51
014in the policy section, which is approval of the second reading of policies and regulation. Do I have a motion to move 51? Motion Cruz. That was uh Cruz for a motion. Second Alv Mr. Alvarez any board discussion Mr. Alcal yes Mrs. Alvarez Mr. Alvarez yes Mrs. Cruz yes Mr. Navaro yes Mrs. Stolivo yes Mr. Rekit yes Mr. Miranda yes motion carried Moving on to resolution 6.27 in the education section which is for the approval of agenda item 61 through 626. Do I have a motion to move 627? Alvarez. So that's Italia Alvarez and Robert Alvarez for a second. Any board discussion? Roll call. Miss Alcalde. Yes. Mrs. Alvarez. Yes. Mr. Alvarez. Yes. Mrs. Cruz. Yes. Mr. Navaro. Yes. Mrs. Solivo. Yes. Mrs. Racket. Yes. Mr. Miranda. Yes. Motion carried. Moving on to resolution 728 in
015the personnel section which is approval of agenda items 71 through 727. Do I have a motion to move 728? Motion. Navaro. Do I have a second? Olivo. Olivo. Any board discussion? Roll call. Miss Alcant. I Yes on everything except 7.4 which I should abstain from. Thank you Mr. Solver. Mr. Oliver, I have to abstain from 7.8, 7.24, and 7.27, but yes to all the others. Thank you. This should probably be registered as recusal. Recusal. You're correct. Yes. Uh, Mrs. Cruz, yes. Mr. Navaro, yes. Mr. Solivo, yes. Mr. Rackett, yes. Mr. Miranda, yes. Motion carried. Moving on to 843 in the finance section which is approval of agenda items 81 through 842. Do I have a motion to move 842? Alvarez. Second. Alvarez. Second. Alcal. Any board discussion? Von. Mr. Alcald. Yes. Mrs. Solz. Yes. Mr.
016Alvarez. Yes. Mrs. Cruz. Yes. Mr. Navaro. Yes. Mrs. Olivo. Yes. Mr. Rakit. Yes. Mr. Yes. Motion carried. Moving on to 910, buildings and ground section, which is the approval of items 91 through 99. Do I have a motion to move 910? Motion. Okay. So, um, what number am I thinking? You said it at the same time. So, I'll leave for motion. A second. Mrs. Alvarez. Any board discussion? Roll caller. M. Alcali. Yes. Mrs. Alvarez. Mr. Alvarez. Yes, Mrs. Cruz. Yes, Mr. Navaro. Yes, Mrs. Solio. Yes, Miss Rackett. Yes, Mr. Miranda. Yes. Motion carried. Uh, moving on to the addendum section which is resolution 103, which is approved for addendum 101 through 102. Do I have a motion to move 103? Olivo. Olivo. Do I have a second? Alcal. Alcal. Any board? Alcal patrol. I'm sorry.
017It's fine. Any board discussion? Roll call upon. Uh, Miss Alcala. Yes. Mrs. Alvarez. Mr. Alvarez? Yes. Mrs. Cruz? Yes. Mr. Navaro? Yes. Mrs. Olivo? Yes. Mr. Rackett? Yes. Mr. Miranda? Yes. Motion carried. Moving on to 11.1. Committee reports. Are there any committee reports this evening? None. Um, I guess outside of what we have come in the fields, uh, we've gone over the check, the punch list as we call it, uh, we've we've done several walkthroughs over the last two weeks, almost daily walkthroughs the fields. Um, they're almost good and ready. Uh, I think today they pour uh, they they grab the back pit, but because of the weather, I don't think they poured yet. So, I would recommend that um right before they do so, uh if you could do it this evening or tomorrow
018morning, just go to the very end for the board. They they've already sort of uh black top the back. They black top the back. So, where the new building is at, take a look at that. Um there is a So, at the entryway, you'll see how everything is divided. They've already divided the wooded. I'm trying to they already framed it for pouring so you're able you're going to see what it's going to look like. So just in case you know a lot of eyes take a look at that. Uh we've added another entryway. So this all happened after our last meeting. We've added another entrance uh to the park on an every day because the public's interest was towards the rear of the building. Uh when we walked through there, we founded that, you know,
019anyone h I'm not saying it's handicap accessible, but anyone who may not be able to go all the way around the or the pool is busy or something, they can park in those additional parking spaces, get onto the sidewalk, and there's another entryway. You'll see that. Really nice. Uh we had an opportunity to walk through the fields um after the storm the rainstorm we had on Friday. It was Monday because we walked the fields on Wednesday when we met with the architects. So last week it was Monday, Tuesday. Last week Monday. So we did it on it was Tuesday. It was Tuesday. Yeah. And I would tell you that uh the turf is amazing. I got just get on it. Just get on it. I think we'll all be able to take a picture there
020soon. It's amazing. It's ready to go. Uh the I will warn cuz as we should. Uh the baseball side, the burrow side has never been out of the flood planes like our fields were to get out. I think we, you know, there was still a bunch of feet that we have to come out. There was some water there, but uh within that 8 hour or 10 hour span, the water dissipitated, so it was good. U you know, we're going to be able to play on those things. I also know that we have already the board of already taken over the grooming of the fields. Um there was some power washing in the fieldhouse to clean it up. I will say that I recommend that the board considers I I've said it to the administration that
021we change the sighting um to match the building because if we're going to go new, go new all the way. Um the deck is going to be done soon. Um, yeah, we're ready. It's actually a good feeling when you walk through. I think we should all maybe take a day this week or next week and just walk through it all together because we did do it and um and it's there's a lot of pride that's gone into that and just take a look. That's all I would say. It looks good. Um, next on the agenda items, old business. Do we have any old business? Um, any new business? All right. So, we've already passed the voting stage of it and I want to congratulate Brian Appleton as a new athletic director as as as most
022of him as most know him. Coach Apps, I'll never forget uh I was at the rec center and I didn't know Mr. Appleton and we were we were I was sitting on the board of the recreation some years ago and someone said something about like coach apps and I remember looking through my phone looking for something called coach app. I'm not I never told them this and I'm going and I I'll never forget it was probably followers and I was like what is what is coach apps and they're like no that's coach Appleton and it was just in the middle of talking about how do we recruit for football. So when they said coach apps, I said, "Okay, there's a coach Hawk." Um, and it was so funny. I'll never forget it. When I finally
023meet him and someone said, "Hey, Coach Hop." I'm like, "Oh, if I ever told anyone I look like a fool." Well, now you know. I will say uh Coach Apps, right? Because I think you'll never lose the sight. Uh there was something very uh meaningful you stated and I and u I would say that uh we appreciate you stepping up. We know that you're a passionate coach and and in some, you know, you're going to maybe lose some of that, but you're going to be able to coach a lot of other programs. You're going to be able to oversee more coaches and more athletes. And I hope I only hope and I could say this from the board. I'll let them say it themselves, but I hope that I will say you're the first coach
024to get a brand new field in Bagota and and field houses. And as long as we're here and at least as long as I'm here, I can speak for myself. Any support you need, come to the administration. I think we've been very supportive. I think we measure process very closely and we take extra leaps and bounds and steps to make sure that we're making the best decision possible because botto decisions come with feelings. They come with personalities. They come with neighbors. They come with people who like you and don't like you. Um and some who don't even know you. So at the end of the day, you try to make the best decision possible so we can get the best performance out of BOD. And I would say that uh Bod I feel I I
025was I came here 15 16 years ago and it is a different place. It is it has improved so much. When I got here I was shocked that I left East Harlem because I didn't know I was like this is almost the same when you look at the small little rec center and you looked at those parks. I said I came from something better in what we call the hood, right? And to see that Bagota doesn't look like that. that everything has is shining. The new rec center that's coming. I mean, that's that's all yours. Have fun with it. Do the best and build legacies. I want to, you know, it's often we see these and I look back at the years and I don't know where we're going to fit the next 10 years
026of it. So, we'll find a bigger gym at the time it's needed. I just wish you the best. I think that everyone here is rowing in the same direction you're thinking and we appreciate you for stepping up. So, thank you so much. Anyone else? All right. So, we can move on. Oh, we have we have an executive meeting, right? You got to open the floor. Oh, okay. Shut. I'd like to open the meeting uh hearing of the public on absolutely anything. Um do I have a motion to move it? Olivo Alvarez for a second. Any board discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Um, any member please state your name. Um, state your name. You have five minutes. Anyone want to come up? All right. Do I have a motion to close? Anybody online? Nobody online.
027Anyone online? No. I have a motion to close it. Motion. Second. You got that? All right. Good. Any discussion? All in favor? Any oppose? Now, unfortunately, we have to be Uhhuh. We're going to go on into executive session 151 of the agenda. Whereas the C231 PL1975, also known as the sunshine law, authorizes a public body to meet an executive or private session under certain limited circumstances. And whereas said low law requires the board to adopt a resolution at a public meeting before now there are therefore be a resolve by the Boda board of education that I hereby determine that it is necessary to meet in executive session on June 17, 2025 at approximately 6:50 p.m. to discuss matters involving negotiations with litigation personnel and that the matter discussed with will be made public when confidentiality
028is no longer required and action pursuant to set discussion shall take place only at a public meeting. Action may be taken upon return from executive session. Superintendent evaluation is why we're going Oh, and we're going in for superintendent evaluation. Um, yeah. I don't I don't think we're going to have any action after no action. Um, and so they might may or may not see him here. Is there a motion to move into executive session? Leave them. Do I have a second? Alvarez. Alvarez. Any board discussion? All in favor? I. It will probably be 10 minutes or so. See? No. Uh regular order of business uh for a second. All any board discussion all in favor. Thank you. Any opposed? All right. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion. Mrs. Rocket, Mr. Alvarez. Any board
029discussion? All in favor? I. Good night, everyone. Because Matt Ration