001Wait there. I know. Okay. Making sure nobody already. Yeah, we're live. Want to make sure he he takes Yeah, we got family. So, all right, let's go. I'd like to call the to order the regular meeting of the Pagota Board of Education for Tuesday, March 18th, 2025. Please stand for the flag salute to the flag of the United States. United States of America. One nation with liberty and justice for all. [Music] The New Jersey open public's meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of the public the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Boda Board of Education has caused notice of this
002meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the in the Boda Bora Burough Hall communicated by letter to the record filed with the clerk of the burrow of Bagota and posted on the Boda board of education website. Heron, Mr. Al Mrs. Alvarez present. Mr. Alvarez present. Mrs. Cruz present. Mr. Navaro present. Mrs. Olivia absent. Mr. Ruckett present. Mr. Chavez present. Mr. Miranda present. We have the court. Also present. Superintendent Damen Kennedy. Board attorney Thomas Cobin. School business administrator board secretary. Assistant board secretary Elizabeth Ruiz. and our wonderful student representative Joanna Morales. Welcome Joanna. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Um I would like to open the I would like to motion to open the floor hearing of citizens on agenda items only. Do I have a motion to
003move? Alvarez. So that was Alvarez. Was that Chavis for a second? Sir, any board discussion? All in favor? Any there's any member please state your name. You have five minutes to discuss agenda items only. We have any hands. I have a motion to close citizen hearing on agenda items only. Motion. Mrs. Rocket. Do I have a second? Second. Second. All in favor? Discussion. I'm sorry. That was only board discussion. Any favor? I. Any oppose? No. All right. Moving over to the the superintendent's report. Miss Kenn. Good evening. First up, I'd like to um have our student rep give her report. Joanna, good afternoon everyone. Spring sports are in full swing with teams including softball, spring track, and baseball all underway. Eighth grader Angela Dy has been officially published in two young writer anthologies. Additionally, eighth
004grader Emily Romero and ninth grader Anna Co have successfully published creative short stories. Melanie Abar, Lauren Huha, Saul Villar, and Sophia Sonabria all had their artwork featured in the art show at William Patterson University. The multicultural club is preparing for an exciting field trip to a Hindu temple in Robinsville, New Jersey, and the Notradam production, The Hunchback of Notradam, has wrapped up with great success. We also had a lot of fun during the senior versus faculty game, which was a highlight for both students and staff. On top of that, the environmental and gardening clubs are gearing up for a field trip to the Bronx Zoom next month. Finally, the junior class is taking part in a college fair this week at Monontlair State University. They will have the opportunity to speak to many representatives about
005scholarships, college applications, and additional information. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You took us for a ride there. Okay, first up for me, uh, HIB. We had one out of district student, um, report on HIV. Um, the high school is responsible for that, so that was unfounded. Uh, upcoming events to note, March 24th, middle school will have their spring concert. Uh, I also had to reschedu the redistricting meeting. I'm rescheduling that for Wednesday, April 2nd. Uh, that will be a virtual meeting. Also, Monday, April 7th, will be the Steen and Bixby spring concert at the high school. And then finally, Tuesday, April 8th, we will have a literacy and math night where we are going to share resources and tools to help parents support their students at home. All are welcome. Also on this agenda,
006we are accepting Ununice Lee's resignation as she is retiring, and we just want to give a heartfelt thank you. She's been a dedicated uh ESL teacher in the Bagota and we just wish her well on her well deserve retirement. Also on this agenda, I am updating our school calendar. We had two snow days to give back. We were very fortunate not to use any this year. The first one we are giving back will be on March 31st and that will be in recognition of the Muslim holiday peter. Uh, also we had to change our single session day from June 3rd to June 10th to accommodate the primaries. Originally I had June 3rd. It is June 10th. And then lastly, the last day of school will now move from June 20th to June 18th because of
007the extra day we have to give back. All this information will be sent out later in this week to our families. I'm also proud to announce our graduation dates. We will be doing the Bixby graduation on June 11th. the steam graduation on June 12th and the high school graduation will be June 18th which will be the last day of school. Uh that will also get out as well. Also very excited to announce on this agenda I am recommending we hire our first CTE teacher which will be a culinary arts teacher. Uh we are still in the process of trying to hire other teachers but we were happy to lock up our first TE CTE teachers and we could start scheduling that program for next year. And then lastly on this agenda agenda we have our
008prim pre prelim pre preliminary budget that we have to send to the county that we will be presenting at our uh meeting in April the the total budget but uh the finance committee as long as the business and obviously uh Mr. Esso have done a wonderful job and we're going to be excited to announce that because uh we felt we did a good job to uh the district and also to the taxpayers this year. So again, that will be coming up in our next meeting, which I believe is April 29th. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Moving on to section 31. Uh, no. Cor incorrect. Under section five, we have no policy under four minutes. Oh, I'm sorry. I Well, okay. Moving on to section 4 41 which is approval
009of agenda uh approval of the minutes for February 25th 2025. Do I have a motion to move? Motion is there. Okay. So that's Mrs. Rocket. There's a second Mr. Chavez. That correct? Any board discussion? Mr. Alcander. Yes. Mrs. Alvarez. Yes. Mr. Alvarez. Yes. Mrs. Cruz. Yes. Mr. Mr. Navaro. Yes. Mr. Ruckett. Yes. Mr. Chavez. Yes. Mr. Miranda. Yes. Motion carried. Thank you. There's no policy section. Moving to 613. Resolution in the education section which is for approval of agenda item one uh 61 through 612. Do I have a motion to move 613? Chavez. Do I have a second? Second. Rocker. Board discussion. Roll callif. M. Alen. Yes. Mrs. Alvarez. Yes, Mr. Alvarez. I believe it's recuse myself from 6.1, but yes to Alvarez. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Cruz. Yes, Mr. Navaro. Yes, Mr. Rackett.
010Yes, Mr. Chavez. Yes, Mr. Miranda. Yes. Motion carried. Moving on to 7 resolution 77 personnel section uh for approval of 71 through 76. Do I have a motion to move 76? Motion. Sorry. Motion to move 77. Motion. motion. Uh, that was Navaro. Do I have a second? Second. Chavez. Any board discussion? Roll call. M. Alcala. Yes. Mrs. Alvarez. Yes. Mr. Alvarez. Yes. Mrs. Cruz. Yes. Mr. Navaro. Yes. Mr. Rocket. Yes. Mr. Chavez. Yes. Mr. Miranda. Yes. Motion car. Moving on to 8:17 in the finance section, which is approval of agenda items 81 through 8:16. I have a motion to move 817. Alvarez. Alvarez. Do I have a second? Alcali. Alcali. Thank you. Any board discussion? Roll call. Mr. Alcali. Yes. Mrs. Alvarez. Yes. Mr. Alvarez? Yes. Mrs. Cruz? Yes. Mr. Navaro? Yes. Mrs. Rackett? Yes.
011Mr. Chavez? Yes. Mr. Miranda? Yes. Motion carried. Yep. Um, moving on to resolution 91 and buildings and ground section which is approval of 91. Do I have a motion to move 91? Motion. Mrs. Rucket, do I have a second? Second. Chavez. Is that what I heard? Chavez. Any discussion? Roll call. Mr. Alic. Yes. Mrs. Alz. Yes. Mr. Alver. Yes. Mrs. Cruz. Yes. Mr. Navaro? Yes. Mr. Ruckett? Yes. Mr. Chavez. Yes. Mr. Miranda. Yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Her fun. Moving on to committee reports. Is there any committee reports? Uh yes. Finance committee just met um as Mr. Kennedy expressed to review the preliminary budget which will be turned into the county. Um at such time that this preliminary budget becomes finalized, we will review it again and then we will share it with the board.
012Thank you, Mrs. Rocket. That was a good one for sure. Uh anyone else? So um I in this agenda which we all know we voted on a personnel. So we've already started with um in the hiring of a landscaper uh full-time permanent under the district to meet the needs of our new fields. um just for the record so that everyone knows because there's been some questioning over the last uh I would say a week or two about who's taking care of the fields and what's going on ZAR but so just for those who were there and we've said it here at public meetings the board will be responsible for the upkeep of grass clippings cutings uh the look of the fields that includes it's part of our interlocal agreement it also includes the burrow side
013of it. Um at that portion at that juncture they will split 50% of the cost that goes into doing into the upkeep or machinery or things that we may need. Um I did suggest to Mr. Kennedy and at the town side when I was on the council um because at the time the council could not afford beautifying parks, I tried to find band-aids, things that we could turn to clay. the more safety precautionary things. And one of the things that I first did on the council when I was a councilman was uh you know other than converting the wreck from a commission to a committee so that the town could have better control, better oversight of the spending and what was happening and getting rid of sodas for natural juices for kids and and personalized
014coffee cups and stuff like that. More taking care of the children and here we are doing it. I also uh I had gotten a side and one of the other things I've gotten was um the towel actually got uh was a a tiller machine to turn the clay over to make the clay soft so that you can play softball and baseball and isn't chipping away at your face. So that machine is practically brand new because I don't think it's we haven't really had something to use it for if that makes sense. So I was sitting to Kennedy and I spoke to our liaison Nicole. She's going to go back to see if we can use those machines because that machine at the time was like $17,000 and it comes with the whole raking system and
015does a lot. So hoping that they can nurture that back to us some way work it out so that person can use it. uh Kennedy, myself, we're talking about training to send this person out for training for turf um maintenance maintenance, you know, to see what goes into that because it's rather expensive after what is it 10 years or something that you have to pour the rubber chips, the rubber pellets into the fields. So, if you get someone that's trained and we have the right machinery, then we probably, you know, could help keep that ourselves. So, you know, looking to cut cost or save money, if that makes sense. Um, so that's part of that. Um, I just want to bring to everyone's attention. It's it's part of my emails. Um, was interesting. Um, I
016might have been delayed personally in understanding how the appointees to the library. So, I've had some back and forth discussion. I put that on record so that no one's surprised. I had a board member um who has some conflicting times and had asked me very very very early almost the week after the appointment that the that would occur. I I personally wasn't aware that it happened every month. So because we don't to this day I don't see an invite coming through on anyone's email about when the library meetings happen. So I had sort of change I asked the request for change but as I do always if I find something doesn't make sense to me because I'm wondering what are we doing at a town library? We don't have a say. I never seen a
017board member here tell me that we were we were voting on behalf of the district. It's always well they're painting faces or they're doing this. I never heard we took a vote. And that to me was a bit cumbersome. They say, "How does how does vote transpire when none of us know what that vote is?" I don't get a a redacted record that shows me what we're doing on behalf of that. Well, sure enough, I through I hear a statue come up. Someone quotes a statue, which is the library director quotes a statue. Um, and I get curious and we look for the statue and apparently it's dugged in somewhere. When I find the statue, I I think we've been wrongfully appointing. I don't think it's under my jurisdiction for what I understand it to
018be. Unless Mr. Kennedy sends it over to me and then I decide to do it, it still doesn't make sense to me. And I'll consult them more in depth with you. But I'm not I want to for the record, I want people to know that I'm not trying to make a fuss out of it, but what's wrong is wrong. What's right is right. And because I've been in Moda elected for quite some years, I have found a lot of wrong in the, you know, they simple simple fixes, nothing major, just simple things. And I found out that any president making an appointment to the library is wrong. It's it's not the statute. Um, it's actually Mr. Kennedy's appointment. Um, it's solely Mr. Kennedy. So, there's two members and and because I heard the word ex
019official, whatever. No, they're members. It's the mayor and the superintendent. My my question is what do we have to say at the library? We have our own library, our own books and we do a lot of our things. I have to read the statute more because when I read the statute. So for years I'm assuming that a board member has been voting and those are invalid. I would say they're invalid if I had to fight in front of anybody a court of judge. So they're invalid because that person wasn't supposed to be sitting there and they definitely weren't appointed by a candidate. they were appointed by the president who shouldn't have been appointed. Right? So there's arguments to that. My dilemma is that as I've read the statute and the mayor because I got the
020mayor involved. The statute clearly says and I've heard a little difference. I'll look it up. The statute reference that Mr. Kennedy has to appoint himself. You know, he's he's the member, but obviously we have Mr. Kennedy doing a million things. Not that they're more important. There's buildings and districts and kids that we really have to look after. he has to appoint principles or educate or educators. It it really says administration or principal. I would assume that the third party would be educators. My problem with that is that when you do that, as you all know, Mrs. Rucket as well, there's a situation with monetary value, uh 12, 14 hours a year, union discussions about all this extracurricular activity we're demanding from our professionals. Not to say that someone won't decide to do it for free,
021but even if they do it, what are we gonna have them sign a contract and you're never going to go to the union? I'm I'm just bringing this up. So, when that came to light, I said, you know, we're so strained in personnel and the amount of programs we have going on that I'm I'm not sure how any of this makes sense. Now, I would say the statute was built in 1951. Is that correct, 1950ome? It was 1951, 1953. It's it our school districts were not as well-developed and grown as they are today. So those are just discussions. I don't want them to be later on blurred that I'm trying to be a jerk or whatever the terms are. I'm just trying to be right properly for us. I also am not looking to strain
022because if we have no true input, it's I I care less I'm sorry for my personal standing. If the state came to me and said, "Why are you doing let's say why are you having legislation in 1951?" you have because it further says that anyone sitting on that position cannot be paid. So then what does that do if we do assign a principal or teacher and we give them a small stipen so they can be contributo to that library right? So there's a lot of answers and questions and answers I have. I I just I'm again I'm not trying they they talk about all these boards do it and it really came up because the president or chairperson of the library made a fuss about one of our board members meeting other things doing other
023things for the district could not make that a meeting and they wanted to um it it sort of as I read it and I understood it u they want to dictate who they want and you know that doesn't work right here I put it out at the beginning of here I ask who's coming I don't here. At the end of the day, unfortunately, I make the decisions as I best see fit. But I do consult with every single one of you and and where it fit, it fits. So for them to make demands and not realize who are they making the demands to, I'm just trying to make sure we have a better understanding of it. Okay? So it doesn't I don't want it to come out later that I was trying to make the
024the emails are operable and and you can have a law if you want. But to be very clear, this is how the president has always appointed the position since I've been superintendent. And I've had three different board presidents. So it's never like so if if if I'm supposed to be there, I'll be there. I don't have a problem with that. But at no point in time was ever like something I appointed and then someone said, "No, I'm going to appoint it." The board president always appointed that position since I've been superintendent. and I've had three different board presidents and this is my seventh year here. So, just so we're clear from my where I'm sitting like this is not something that changed last night like this is how it's been. No one ever questioned it.
025So, I just left it alone. So, so what mind bogged me in that discussion is I turned around. Mr. Kitty said, "Look, I I'll put the extra hours." I'm like, "How many more extra hours?" I'm sorry to tell you, I'm an employee. I'm a business owner. How many more extra hours? I'm asking them to go to the county meetings. maximum show face here. Let's be real. We have a lot going on. You all show up to it, you know. So, my thing is in no job description of any of the personnels that we oversee in somewhat shape or form have I seen any portion that says, "So, how do you do at the library?" So, those are problematic things for me, right? Like, if it's not, how can how can a statute not match, right?
026Because we have to go to Mr. Kennedy and we have to and we have to evaluate him. We talk about district goals every year. We talk about but we never talked about the go to library or the burough library and I don't think any superintendent's contract says that. So it's just funny how it's out there but no one has a real grasp of it and what what is our input because I've asked Mr. Ken to take a survey to see what we do with the library because I don't see much. I don't hear it here as the body. what is our true support system. Now, with that being said, I I personally and I hope and I know the board, we're full support of the library. We will work with whatever it needs. It's just
027we got to make sure that we're protected, that they're protected, and that we're not spreading things thin. If that may if anyone has questions, I'll open the floor. So, all right. So, that was that was me for committee reports. Is there any old business on agenda items 11? Any new business? 122. Moving on to the floor. Uh, hearing of the public on absolutely anything. I have a motion to open motion. Any uh Mr. Alvarez for motion? Mrs. Alvarez for a second. That's a good one. Is there a board discussion? All in favor? I I don't think that was any opposed. None. Anybody could state your name. You have five minutes. Anyone I have a motion to close? Motion. So that was Chavez and Mrs. Alvarez. All in favor? I I We have no executive session
028this evening. So do I have a motion or ajourn? Motion. Oh, I'm sorry. For the record, I've appointed in the interim Adriana Alc for the library liaison. She'll cover us until we can figure out the back and forth. Yeah, my thought on that was I don't I think I should be attending and and learning. I don't think I should vote until we get all of that cleared up. I agree and I appreciate that. You know, I appreciate you stepping up to that. I do I would not take a vote if it's going to be improper, but we'll discuss that further. Okay. I'll wait from guidance from the lawyers. Thank you. Motion. Well, all we really need to do is Damian could sign, you know, send a letter to Adriana that she's appointed as his rep
029to the board. Then then she you can vote. Okay. But none of it had to be an administrator or educator. No, you're representing him as a member. I I want to go through it because I read it and I'm going to read it again and I'm going to read it with our attorney just to understand because I didn't get that clear. All right. I'm happy to be of service and of help in whatever way. Thank you. All right. All right. So I have a motion adjourn. Motion Travis for a second. All in favor? I I have a good evening everyone.