001Okay. Good evening. Good evening everyone. Would like to call this meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the reps nationisible with liberty and justice for all. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hi everyone. I request everyone to remain standing. We'd like to take this moment and have a moment of silence for two people. Um first moment of silence for little girl named Gula Eisenbach, a Spring Valley resident, daughter of Spring Valley trustee S. Eisenbach who tragically passed away Saturday night in a horrible accident. Our heart goes out to the family and our prayers are with them. The second was for Eddie Rivera, a former East Ramapo student. Please let's have a moment of silence. Thank
002you. Fire exits are located at the sides of the room in the front and the back. In the event of a fire, you will hear a fire alarm that time in at that time. Please move in a calm and orderly fashion to the nearest exit. Okay, we're going to start off with public speaking and at that point after the public speaking. Our superintendent has some presentations for our dear students. So, we're going to get to that after public speaking. Um, that being said, I will now make a motion to open the floor for public speaking. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Vice President McGill. All those in favor say I. Anyone opposes? Motion carries. Speaker number one. Good evening. My name is May Neils and I am the co-president of the teaching assistants
003and teacher aids of East Ramapo. My co-president Beth Brown could not be here tonight, but she sends her regards. At the last school board meeting, you approved our new MOA and salary schedule. On behalf of our members, I would like to thank the board, Miss Rusco, Mr. Stark, and Mr. D. Carlo, for recognizing the contributions made by the teaching assistants and teacher aids in our district. In our roles in the classroom, we work with small groups and individual students to provide necessary support to ensure they can reach their educational goals. We also develop bonds with these students and support them with social and emotional learning. We are grateful that our new salary schedules will put us more in line with other districts in Rockland County. Hopefully, this will help with recruitment and retention of skilled
004staff in these roles. I believe this new MOA and salary schedule go a long way in making our members feel valued and respected. Thank you once again. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. D. Carlo for his efforts as our interim superintendent. [Applause] At the last school board meeting, people mentioned how passionate he was in working for the best interest of the students in this district. I too have seen that passion from him. I'm also the producer for Thespian Troop 721, the drama club at Spring Valley High School. Mr. D. Carlo attended both our fall fall play and our spring musical and was very enthusiastic about all our students had accomplished. He asked to be shown around and was very supportive of our program and wanted to help us make necessary
005improvements to our theater. I wish Mr. Car D Carlo well as he leaves us for his next adventure. Finally, I see on our the agenda that tonight the board plans to name R Miss Rusco as the interim superintendent. Our association welcomes her in this role and looks forward to working with her in the best interests of both our students and our staff. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker number two, Spanish. [Music] You mind restarting my time please? Thank you. Um, [Music] Gracias. principles. [Music] Olympia. Okay. So much I got principles. I'm being Mr. Gver Speaker number three. [Music] Good evening, Mr. D. Carlo. We are disheartened by your leaving. See board. Mr. D. Carlo has been more than a superintendent. He's demonstrated care, dedication to both students and the broader community. Under his leadership, families felt
006heard, children's felt seen, and the district took a step towards rebuilding trust. His departure marks a significant loss with fear of the future for the district without someone of his caliber at the helm. Each Ramo has faced years of challenges, including serious concerns about misallocations of funds, breakdown of equitable leadership. These issues have significantly impacted the quality of education and the moral of students, parents, educators. We believe the time has come that the state steps in indecisively. We need a superintendent not only brings back the track record of excellence, but also who embodies a deep commitment to all children regardless of background. Someone who will champion transparency, inclusion, and principles of equity. Someone who will restore East Ramapo and the excellence it once represented at a district rating school. You will be missed Mr. D.
007Carlo because you have made changes. Miss Russo, no disrespect intended. You don't need a job. We don't want you to have the job. You cannot hold the job. You are a HR superintendent. You are not one with capability of running the school. I don't know why we're not chosen Gonzalez. I'm going to tell you right now and I'm going to make this request from the community. I'm going to make my minute is 1 minute and 14. Can I talk about personel and direct? It's in the agenda. It's in public. It's public. Attorney, can they talk about specific people that it's on the agenda? Shut the mic, please. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. My time is still here. Speaker number four. Let me let me tell you what's going to happen. There's going
008to be a rise up. You want to be issued, you can't do that. By law, I'm still admitting my time. And it was public record. So, give me my minute and 14 seconds. As I said, you cannot direct towards an employee of the district. And I will not allow it here. If you can speak without fine so then you can continue. If you do not direct directly to people that are sitting here and have some respect for the people sitting here. Okay. Fine. So, let's stick to the rules. You can continue. You bet. You need to choose. You need to choose Gonzalez. You need again. You're talking about direct personnel here. We are not allowed to discuss that here in the district. I will ask you to please not using names and directing personnel here.
009Okay. I I'm going to ask our attorney again. It's public. Okay. Thank you. So, what I'm going to tell you is that there will be an uprising. We don't want Yeah. We're gonna take a recess until you're done. Okay. Speaker number four, please. [Applause] Nobody will come. You're not needed. You're not wanted. And you're cold. And I'm telling you that right now. You want to be disrespectful? disrespectful. What do you want to do? Listen to the community. I wrote to the New York State Department of Education. I wrote down the letter. You're not as the superintendent. You're not qualified schools. You're changing principles. You're moving teachers around. You are affecting children. And you don't know the psychological cause that's doing this. You are preventing a whole bunch of people. and children because of the damage
010you're doing. You don't need to be harsh. Get out of here. You're ruining children's lives. You're ruining lives. You're ruining the community's lives. We don't want you here. That's it. [Music] You don't know what people are. That's right. She's She's never just give me one second, okay, before you speak. Thank you. Okay, the young man will come back up. Okay, we'd like to call this meeting back to order before we move back to speaker number four. You can come up already, but uh I'm going to give it over to our second to our attorney to just review quickly the guidelines of public speaking. Yeah, just just as a reminder, the board has set general rules for public speaking which include a time limit not discussing matters of personnel and also not discussing matters related to
011students. Those are matters that are outside the scope of what what the board permits for public speaking. Thank you, Mr. Gart. Um, go ahead. foreign. Can we reset his time because it's at 2:36 now? [Music] Immigration. Los Angeles. [Music] Uh echorech. important solo. administr forest, Michigan. [Applause] Adios. Thank you. A very inspiring story. Good luck in Michigan. Speaker number five. Drama. Superintendo. for experience. for superchar. opinion is the discrepancy Fore! Foreign! Foreign! Gracias. Thank you. Speaker number six. Um, good evening staff, board members, parents, and community members. As the newly elected student council members and students in Ramipo High School, we have been firsthand witnesses of the change, care, and support Mr. D. Carlo has had for the well-being of our district and community. To start off, we'd like to thank and appreciate the efforts
012that Mr. D. Carlo has given to our district, community, and our students. As the year comes to an end, we are grateful for everything you have done for our district. Whether it was showing up to our pep rallies, uplifting our student voices, or showing that our voices matter and that our communities are important. Whether um wait, sorry. You've been a great advocate for us. We thank you for your commitment and hope that whoever steps in your shoes shows us the same kindness, care, and authenticity that you have given us this past year. As for our new superintendent and new board members, we want to welcome you to our school district. We hope that your actions are not only helpful to our schools, but also uplift our community as a whole. And we hope that you
013instill the same care and respect that D. Carlo has given us this past year. We will continue to use our voices and to hold our board accountable and advocate for our student body. We look forward to see what you have in store for us this upcoming school year. And we thank you for your time and your cooperation. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] Thank you. Okay, Mrs. Thank you very much, President Rose. Before we do our our presentation, just um as you're aware and some of you had said, this is my uh last board meeting as the interim superintendent here at East Ramapulo. So, I just write want to read a little statement. Good evening, President Rose, Vice President McIll, members of the board of education, faculty, staff, families, and members of the East Ramapo community. This
014is my final board meeting as interim superintendent. I want to take this opportunity and take a moment to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to serve you in the 2425 school year. It has been truly my honor and pleasure. I hope in a small way I have left this district in a better situation than when I started last July. We together have navigated challenges and celebrated important accomplishments along the way. I'm especially proud of the way we all as stakeholders came together to pass the 2526 school budget. This achievement reflects that working together as a community, having voice of students, having voice of the community and parents that we can do great great things that guess what the impossible can be accomplished. I have witnessed how
015open communication and genuine engagement lead to positive outcomes for all. When families and schools work together, great things can happen. To the East Ramole School Board of Education, thank you. Thank you for your trust in me and thank you for all your support as we were committed to providing the community and our students with a budget that focused on student achievement, student needs, but also was fiscally responsible to the public. To you the parents, thank you for entrusting us with your children and partnering with us for the future success of all students here at East Ramo. I am proud of what we've accomplished this year. I will always have a special place in my heart for East Rambo. I leave hopefully with parting to you that promise and faith. Piencia Ephe, thank you for allowing
016me to be a part of your journey. God bless you all. Thank you. [Applause] He has a presentation. Okay. Our first student coming up is Alan Cruz. Allan's going to tell you a little bit about his journey this year and and what great honor he's going to be doing in the next couple of weeks representing East Ramapo. Alan. Sure. Can I take a mic? Yeah. Sorry, I lost my speech. Okay. Uh, good evening members of the board, new elected members and community and students that are here today. My name is Alan Cruz, a senior at Ramapo High School and uh I was proud to serve as the president of the Ramapo High School Model Congress Club for the year 2024 2025 and serve as co-president of model United Nations at Ramapo High School. So earlier
017this year uh I took the initiative to reach out and coordinate for our club to officially join a national civic education program called the YMCA Youth and Government. And as a result of this, from March 21st to the 20 23rd, we attended the New York State Conference in Albany where students were around like 800 students from across the state gathered to write, present, and debate real legislation like lawmakers do. So, it was one of the most exciting and eye-opening experiences I ever had. Being in a space full of driven students like me who care about their communities just made me feel more inspired and more confident that youth should be more involved in our democracy and that our voices can shape real change. So during our trip, I had the incredible opportunity to speak in
018the assembly chamber at the New York State Capital in Albany where I presented a piece of legislation and delivered a heartfelt speech. At the end of the conference during the awards ceremony on Sunday, 13 students from Rockland County representing schools from Nyak, North Rockland, Tapency High School, PEK and Pearl River to all the way to east to Ramapo to East Ramo Central District and to Rampo High School including myself were honored with the outstanding delegate awards. This recognition reflects our hard work, dedication and leadership throughout the event. In addition, seven students from Ruckling County were selected to attend the prestigious Conference on National Affairs, a national program that brings together high school delegates from 32 states to debate and legislate on pressing national issues. To my complete surprise and great honor, I was selected to
019attend out of 800 students at that conference in Albany. This year's Kona conference will take place from June 27th to July 4 at the Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Since being selected, I've been attending Zoom meetings and meeting with other delegates to prepare. And at the conference, I'll be presenting a proposal on a topic that I'm deeply passionate about and participating in debate with some of the most engaged young minds in our country. What makes this even more exciting is that I'll be the first student. Thank you. So, what makes this even more exciting that I'll be the first student in Rambo High School history to attend Kona and I just don't see this as a personal achievement, but I see it as a chance to represent my school, my district, and New
020York State on the national stage. And I'm hopeful that more students can attend in the later years that come to us. [Applause] So just to close this up, I'm incredibly grateful for the support I've received so far from teachers, mentors, peers, Mr. Cor over here, and I look forward to bringing back everything I learn at Kona to inspire other students, whether it's sharing new ideas, leading better discussions, and mentoring future delegates. I want to make sure this opportunity creates a ripple effect in our school. So, thank you so much for your time and for continuing to believe in in continuing to believe in the potential like students in me at the East Rano Central School District. Congratulations. Wow. Wow. That says it all. Allan, great job. Absolutely great job. That's wonderful. Listen, you can see
021him someday being in Congress, right, as a congressman or senator. so well spoken, so passionate. We are so proud of you and we know that we are honored that you're going to be representing us in the next couple of weeks. Allan, congratulations. Thank you. Next up, we have Dr. Gonzalez, who's going to come up and talk to you a little bit about the East Ramo mouse design lead project and some of our students. Thank you, Superintendent D. Carlo. So, um, I'm actually happy to have our teacher here from Ramipo High School, our robotics teacher, Mr. Alvarez. I'm going to ask him to come up and join me. Uh so here's the significance of celebrating the work that our students did is we are the only school district in Rockland County that attended and participated in
022what's called the mouse AI design league um under the direction of our director of instructional technology, Miss Sonia Dominguez Saravia. She did the leg work on identifying the grant that was able to fund this opportunity. And so what ended up happening is all five of our secondary schools participated in the mouse design AI league. Um it is no easy thing to present in front of anyone. Actually research suggests that speaking publicly is one of the most uh uh uh difficult things for people to do. let alone the students to present in front of people the likes of Google, Verizon, Microsoft, Ruckers University, Samsung, Dell, and Amazon, just to name a few. Um, specifically, uh, one of our students developed an app called the Eviction Addiction App. And this app is actually a game that instead
023of accumulating materials, it teaches students and uh folks how to stay away from the addictions associated with drug abuse. Uh Mr. Priyank Nigam, who's the senior offensive secretary of in senior offensive security engineer at Microsoft said these things about our app. Rather than collecting items, the game emphasizes the importance of avoiding certain harmful substances and allows you to focus on what truly matters. So, Mr. Alvarez. Um, so uh we had a really great opportunity uh with this program. We had 86 students signed up who got mentored from uh professionals from across many different fields such as IBM uh website developers and uh game developer who had made some Fortnite uh games and some other uh professionals who had uh volunteered their time to uh attend our classes three sessions each and kind of review the
024students work. Of those 96 students, 56 students had created uh uh working digital artifacts, things like websites, video games that were then presented to these mentors to be reviewed, kind of like what we see up on the board there, where uh professionals from the industry gave feedback on these student projects. And of those 56 student project uh students, uh 10 students had gotten an opportunity to go to Amazon HQ in New York City where they had presented their digital artifacts and um did an amazing job. It was a really phenomenal experience and it was a really great opportunity for the kids. Um, so yeah, it was it was really really amazing. So I would like to, you know, thank the district for that opportunity and I'm excited to do it next year. So thank you
025everybody. Thank you Dr. Gonzalez and thank you Mr. Alvarez. And last but not least, we have Coach Devil who's going to come up. As you know, at our last board meeting, we honored a young lady who was who broke a number of Rockland County records and she went to the States. Uh, was it in Middletown? Coach Middletown. Coach has got an update for us and we're going to celebrate some great news with you. Coach, hello board members. I just wanted to uh say thank you for everything you've done with support for Tanaya. I just wanted to share some more good news. Obviously, she knows she what she did this past weekend at the state meet. Uh taking second place in the in the 100 and uh third place in the federation. That's overall all schools
026while also taking third place in the 200 um and also taking uh fifth place in the federation. But recently just now this came from the meeting from Rocklin County with all the coaches tonight has just been selected as athlete of the season for the whole season for Rock County. And she's not done yet. She will we uh she will be competing this Thursday at UPEN at the nationals where she will be competing with over 100 top athletes from all across the nation. And she's ranked among the top in the nation. So that's where she's going to be competing this Thursday at University of Penn. very special girl. Number one, very, very special girl. Like I said, very modest. Uh, a team player. She makes everybody around her better. Unselfish, like I said, one of the
027most gifted athletes I've ever had, but also, like I said, I've known her since she was very young, being a part of the Martin Luther King Center. And just to see her grow into the woman that she is right now, I know more success is going to be coming for this young female right here. And uh not only she does it on the on the track, but she also does it in the classroom where she be in the nursing program at Norfolk State University. You're welcome. Congratulations. You're welcome. So uh before tonight before you sit um if I may say a few words. So, I had the opportunity to attend both Friday and Saturday. And um one thing I'll say about her is that Saturday, I think she told me at least 10,000 times, she's
028not doing the federation for 200. She's not doing she's only doing it for 100. And at the end of the day, she did not give up. She kept it going. She did what she had to do. Um you know, she had her moment to herself and she was determined to to make it to the finish line. and as tired as she was, um, you know, she she did great things and I think you have a bright future ahead of you. Keep going. Nationals is right around the corner and I and I know you'll do great. Congratulations. President Rodas concludes the superintendent's report for tonight. Thank you, Mr. D. Carlo. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry, Mr. Daro. Um, one second. I'm sorry, President Rose. You know, I do want to make sure we acknowledge, you know,
029Tania, great job. Congratulations as always. But I also want to say that um congratulation as well to coach Andrew Delva for doing such a great job right with our athletes as well as uh coach Francois and the other coach as well. Yes. Thank you for all the work that you do with our athletes without you guys spending numerous hours right dedication. It takes a lot. So I just want to say thank you. Yes. And it takes a village to make it happen. But Tia, Joseph, babe, keep up the good work. You are a star. [Applause] All right. Thank you, Vice President McIll. Um, I I I did want to before we move on to the agenda, I would want to take this moment, Mr. D. Carlo, to thank you for all your hard work and
030effort that you put into this district. We were really lucky to have you for this year. Um, it's rare to find someone who's loved by everyone and I think you definitely were that and it was a real honor to serve together with you, to work together with you and your dedication to the children is admirable and I'm jealous of the next district that's getting it to be honest. So, we're going to miss you over here and I want to wish you behalf of the whole board good luck in your future endeavors. you know, I want to see you out there continuing on, you know, many years. The world needs you out there. So, Shimon, thank you very much. And to you and the board, as I mentioned before, it's it's been an honor to serve
031with you. Um, we worked hard, we were transparent, and hopefully this is the beginning of a renaissance in East Ramapo. So, again, thank you for uh having the faith in me back in July to say, you know what, we want this guy to be here. So, again, thank you very, very much. I appreciate it. Absolutely. And I also want to take this moment to welcome our newly elected board members and a new board member, Mr. Herm Rivera. Welcome. Very much looking forward to working together with you. And welcome. Okay. Um yeah, sure. Please go. I want to thank you for receiving me in the way that you have. Um Joe, before the meeting started, I had the opportunity to speak with some of the young people. I told these young students, make us responsible for
032what's going on here. Make sure you speak up. We have rules to follow. Follow them. We're going to listen. We are here. Gracias. [Music] Thank you, Mr. Welcome. Okay. Um, we're now moving on to consent and agenda items. Do I have a motion for items 1 through 10? Moved by Mr. Gruber. Do I have a second? Second by Mr. Federer. Any discussion on the matter? We'll open it up. Hearing no further discussion, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone want to oppose abstain? Motion car. Sorry. Okay. Moving on to action items one through 20. Do I have a motion for action items 1 through 20? So move. Move by Vice President McIll. I will second and open it up for discussion. Item number eight. Um I don't
033think that in the RFP they um specified um specific languages. Should it be Spanish, Yiddish or Creole or any other languages? Can somebody elaborate on it? Yeah. Yes. The question about the RFP and what is the question exactly? In the RFP there was no mention for speech language therapists if they have to be multilingual in either Spanish, Yiddish, Crayola or any other languages. Surely I I did not I did not write that RFP can speak to it. I will defer to her. She would be able to answer more specifically. So, it is not written in the actual bid that went out, but we did award one bid to a provider that does have bilingual providers. I believe that that specific provider is only an in-house provider. I'm sorry. Do are they in the building? Where
034where are they located? We so do they staff the buildings where the potentially these RFPs will be contracted agencies to provide services for students throughout the district. So we didn't assign anybody. We don't have providers yet. So these will be potential agencies to help us provide services to students throughout the district. Were those agencies on contract last year as well? Uh, one of them was, two of them are new. What happened to the old to the previous ones? I'm sorry. What happened to the ones from last year? We only had one last year. Thanks. You're welcome. Um, I have a question for number 13. Um, I know year after year we've had conversations about the food service that we have. Um, I see that we have it up on the agenda again to renew this
035contract. Um, have we have we looked into um doing an RFP to see if there are any other vendors out there that we can probably look into? Eric, I didn't hear. Say it again louder. He couldn't give somebody to speak about the contract. I noticed and uh year after year we have complained uh we have received complaints about the food service. um that's on the agenda for tonight. Have we looked into doing an RFP to see if there are other vendors out there that we can possibly um appoint? So, the the contract that is on for renewal uh currently is with the current provider. There was uh never any discussion with my office about looking into another company. Um what I can tell you is that um the a lot of what we hear is
036uh in in terms of the food quality and and such and the the servings and the portions um is a complaint that you will hear um from district to district throughout the state. A lot of that has to do with regulations that have been put in place by the federal government which uh do not allow certain foods to be served. Limiting the um calorie count of a school lunch to 700 calories which um I would like to guess that nobody at this deis um eats a 700 calorie lunch. Um everybody has has far greater than that. So there are a lot of things that happen um in terms of what we hear that is very common. Um you'll hear the same comments from children in Scarsdale. I've heard it in Carmel. I've heard it in
037North Salem. Um if it is the pleasure of the board, we will look um to bring in a consultant and go out to bid for the 20 26 27 school year. Um but at this point in time um nothing has been done about um anything other than renewal of the current of the current group. Um and we probably are too too close to the beginning of the school year to make that sort of change. So, I don't want to I don't want to put this on you. Um, because I know you guys have only been here for less than a year, but this has been a request not only from the community, but also from us board members to put out an RFP to see if there are other vendors. Um, we've been told in
038the past, we'll wait till the next school year. The next school year comes and we're told the same thing again. Um, like I said, not to put it on you, but I I I want to know how can we move forward with this to where we actually do look into um other vendors. So, I I also want to point out one other item. Um, and I think I may have brought this up at a meeting earlier in the year. Um, there are certain rules that school districts need to follow in terms of competitive bidding. Um, food services is done through a competitive bid. RFPs generally are done for professional services. Now um for whatever reason um the food that we serve our children and um our food service contract is considered a low bid competitive
039bid. So what has happened in the past is the the bid has gone out the lowest bidder has been selected. There have been movements in other states to change that to an RFP where price is not the only factor in awarding the bid. However, um that has only happened in in um Illinois. It happened I think two or three years ago that they changed their requirements to allow for an RFP, a request for proposal rather than a competitive bid. But currently the law in New York State makes us use the competitive bid process for food services. So we could go out um go through that process and still remain with um the company that we have because that's what the law provides us. Didn't we just do we I think we recently did last year.
040Last year. Yes. They came and do cheapest. So you're saying we don't have really we we don't have an option when it comes to such a bid. We need we automatically need to pick the lowest regardless of what that happened to the consultants. That's what the law provides for. But just a quick a quick update because I think to Miss Charles Pierre's point, I don't want to I don't want it to be that we haven't listened. Well, you do have a consultant working and actually if you remember, we had a conversation this week and she said exactly that that she would be meeting with this company to talk about some of the things and looking at the menus and where we can be far more user friendly. If you recall, we had that meeting with
041her this week. So that's important. So yes, both for the layout of the the uh the cafeterias for with the way they be structured and also working with Wson's currently and and and she's got a strong background on just what you're saying. Let let's see what you're offering. That's the bare minimum, but that does not mean that you can't offer some additional stuff. So she will be working with us this year and with Mr. Stark um to specifically do that. Thank you. You're welcome. Um I have another question there were there are two items on the agenda um where I know we had requested information um just to compare um what is and what will be um I don't believe that information was provided to the board is there an update on that And that
042would be um specific to the last two items on the agenda. Yes, thank you. So, well, we did speak about this last time and it was not really pertinent to those two items. it was pertinent to um another subgroup of employees that are unaffiliated and that don't have a union contract. And we did share information for the board's review um outside of this meeting for consideration for approval for the next meeting. So, um we intend to discuss that further in executive session this evening. And that's directly related to what we discussed uh at the last board meeting. This the item number item number 19 refers to folks whom we have already board approved. These are new employees. And what we're saying is um that we are recommending that they receive the individual contracts that all
043other employees that are similarly situated in this district receive. It's the same um um set of terms and conditions that was approved last year. Let's see. And it's connected to the chart. So it's the terms and conditions that says it's a three-year contract. how many sick days they get, vacation days, and all other folks who are similarly situated in this district have this benefits package. So, when you said um it's the same as last year, I I believe these a few of these positions are brand new positions. Um, and I think I also mentioned at the last meeting that um, it would be nice if this information is shared with us prior to it being put on an agenda where we can have a conversation um, even if it's an executive session. Sure. So that
044we have a better understanding on what's being presented in front of us. Surely. So, um, this is the same information that we have been putting up on board docs throughout the year. Whenever we hire a new director or an executive director, it's the same benefits package that was approved last year. What we talked about uh last uh meeting was approving for those those same people, not these that are here because those are new hires. I I understand the people are different. I know that. It's about the raise. No, no. It's just about the fact that I mentioned um if conversations like these can happen prior to it being put on the agenda so we are aware of what's going on so we have a better understanding of what's being presented. Okay. I'm I'm happy to
045have a conversation in exact session, but I I just do want to say that this has been the process that we've followed this year. I know that there's been a lot of new hires. these folks have already been hired. We just didn't put up their individual contracts, but I'm happy to discuss it. Um, in terms of the last item that you've uh referenced, that is for uh a confidential employee. Last board meeting, we approved, you approved um the raises and and the contracts for all of the other confidentials. This one was left off and she's the secretary to the superintendent. Is there a possibility to put up uh RFPs to the board before it's um put up on the um district's website? What What's that? Can can in future can RFPs be shared with the
046board before it's uh put up? We've shifted now to RFPs if RFPs can be shared with the board before uh in in the process. So I'd have to defer legally. I'm not sure what the process is for RFPs. I think the short answer to the question is they can be. The longer answer is that's highly unusual. RFPs are typically not looked at by the board prior to them being issued. They're issued as a matter of course in the regular business of the district. So it would be very very unusual for the board to be reviewing an RFP in advance of of it being issued. Um it's more of an operational issue that you rely on the respective departments of the school district whether it's um HR, the business office, special ed. So, I guess as
047I said, I think the short answer is if that's the board's wish, it would be my advice not to do that. That is an incumbrance to the operations of the district. So, I'm not sure that that's something I would suggest happening. I have a question about the item number 11, health and welfare services. Mrs. Stock, maybe you could just give me a little what this is. Health and welfare services out of district ERCSD students. What what's the question? Yeah, just just give us a little info on what this is about. Sure. So, um uh under New York state law, um when you have any students from your school district attending schools, whether they be public or non-public in another district, that district that is providing health services to their schools is entitled to bill the
048home school district back. So these are several of the districts that we send out bills to other districts as well. It's something that all goes on and generally um generally they're coming to the boards at this time of year because um everybody's wrapping up for the year and doing the building. I was wondering because I know Monttoello is definitely on their buy. So that's Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um just for clarification purposes for number 20 um the recommendation says 4% but when I click on the attachment um it says 3% annual. Is it 4% for now and then moving forward 3% with the potential for an additional 2%. The the recommendation um is that it's 4% from her current salary for the upcoming school year for this year. for this coming school year starting
049July 1st. Moving forward and then moving forward 3%. The contract that that um that she would have um entitles her to minimally a 3% and up to 2% more as per the recommendation of the superintendent and the approval of the board. No, no, that's what I'm saying. So, it's 4% now and then 3% moving forward. 4% starting July 1st for this coming school year and then for the future years. Correct. 3% at least. Yeah, we're saying the same. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Okay. Okay, we have a motion and a second for items 1 through 20. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone oppose abstain? Motions carry. Information and reports from the board. Yes, Mr. President. Thank you, President Rose. Okay. So, uh, first I would I want to say it was an honor and privilege
050to speak on behalf of our president, myself and the board at Ramipo Senior Senior's uh, awards night. We had some great scholars amongst us uh, at East Ramapo. Our students are amazing academically. Um, they all were recipients of various awards as scholarships. Um, also it was an honor and joy to congratulate our kindergarteners today um that attend our early childhood center at their moving up ceremony. We uh it was not one right, not two, Mr. Carlo, but three ceremonies. Um we gathered together to honor their incredible growth and hard work. Again, congratulations to the families, the parents, administrators, the interim principal, Miss Johnson and assistant principal, Mr. Vasquez, teachers, and staff. But most of all, congratulation to our rising stars. And thirdly, um we had a wonderful time at the Ramopo Prom. Um, the students
051were dressed to impress. The venue was beautiful. The senior advisors really made sure it was a night that they would always remember. And last, congratulation to the class of 2025. I can't wait to celebrate you. Thank you. Thank you, Vice President. So, uh, first I want to say congratulations to our student reps that will be representing, um, Spring Valley High School. We have Jennifer Robolis who will be the student member of the board and then Stephanie Miss Hakiri uh, who will be the alternate and then we also have from Ramipo um, Maria Jans Mendez, student member of the board and Anderson Alakorn um, who will be the alternate as we all know. Um, we have been Uh it's it's been recommended by the governor um that we have student rep on our board moving forward.
052So um I know it's something we've had in the past. So it's it's a good thing to bring it back and have student voice um not just sitting from the audience but to be up here with us in the day to share what's going on in their respective schools um you know at the board meetings and to take and to participate and to learn what it is that we do as board members. Um the next thing I will bring up um as we all know there was an item on the agenda tonight for us to appoint a interim superintendent. Um that item has been pulled from the agenda and once again um I would like to hear from our monitors to ask what are our next steps knowing that as of today we have no
053interim superintendent or superintendent in place to start July 1st. Um I the the next steps are the board at the July 1st meeting will need to appoint an interim superintendent. What is the process for us as a board to um appoint an interim superintendent? I believe we have maybe two weeks till July 1. Well, the process um is that the um board discuss this matter in executive session and um the the board will determine and forward a candidate to the July 1st board meeting. And is there a reason why the item was pulled from the agenda? Um, the item was pulled because of of uh concerns uh expressed uh from individual board members. I'm sorry. From who? H I didn't hear your last the last part there. The item was pulled because there was concern
054expressed from individual board members. Okay. So my next question will be how can we as a board work with the monitors to make sure that we go through this process without going through what we went through tonight which could have been avoided. The board uh it's up to the board to have conversations about who they want to put forward. This is not was not an issue for the the monitors to determine who the inner superintendent would be. It's it's a issue for the board. Board had made um a selection that was put on the agenda that has been pulled and that'll have to be discussed in executive session as to um what direction the board wants to go. So I'm sorry because Dr. Dr. far. So you're saying that basically that the state monitors had
055nothing no kind of decision when it came to the interimm superintendent. The the process as established in in law is that the board um makes a determination, makes a selection. Um that is then um forwarded to the monitors to review and uh approve. The monitors don't make the selection. the monitor's responsibility is to um review and approve after the board makes a selection. The the board has been through a process where we have included the monitors um to provide insight. um the monitors had made a recommendation that the board should go a certain route um in terms of who should be appointed. Um so I I I think I think let me cut you off there. That is that is not correct. I think if we are going to go through the process correctly um
056and be transparent to the community, we should be doing this properly. So where we're not doing this every board meeting where someone is put up and then removed for whatever reason. July 1st is right around the corner. We currently do not have a superintendent nor interim superintendent in place. We have we as a board have tried to work with monitors have asked questions publicly and in executive session and we are at a point where we have been left with no option in terms of what the final decision should be. So once again I'm asking what's the next steps? What is the process? And how can we all come to an agreement on who should be put in place come July 1st? First of all, I would disagree. The monitors did not select did not make
057this determination. The board makes a determination. The monitors uh concur or or don't concur in this case. The the the board made a a determination, made a selection, the monitors concurred. Okay. I have a question. So with that being said, so if like I'm just saying in general, so if a name is presented, right, we're all in discussion. A name is presented and the board decides the name. So you're saying that since it's up, it's up the discretion is up to the board, then the state monitors would the board makes a selection. They then this is in accordance with state law. Um the the that recommendation that is recommended to the monitors board makes a selection. It's recommended to the monitors. The monitors then review and either concur or don't concur. Um in this case
058the monitors had concurred uh and and uh you know moved it forward. That's what was on the agenda uh previously before it was being before it was pulled this evening. So as state monitors you agreed who removed it and what and once again why was it removed? Again, it was it was removed because the there were concerns expressed by individual board members uh about the selection. And so it was not to cut you off, but the concerns were made prior to this being put on the agenda tonight. Why didn't we continue the conversation then to see if this was the right the right correct route to go um prior to tonight? If there were concerns, they they weren't expressed to us. The the the board expressed at the last board meeting. The board the board
059recommended we that was transmitted to the monitors a recommendation for an individual to be placed uh to be approved the board me or the monitors concurred. When were concerns brought to your attention? These concerns uh of board members uh were presented uh today this evening. So the items were the item was pulled. I apologize Dr. Pars if if this was already answered. Could you just from my from me if what happens if by July 1 that selection is not made? What happens? Well, uh let's uh let's work on uh what needs to happen, which is the the board at July 1st meeting needs to approve an interim superintendent. So, I'm trying to understand what happens if it doesn't happen by July 1. I'm understanding what you're saying. What's our task? I'm just wondering if there
060is no no conclusion to this, what then occurs? You want me to if you don't have a superintendent by July by July 1st, we have to consult with the commissioner because you'll be one of the first districts in the state to not have a superintendent on July 1st. So, if I may ask, I'm sorry to cut you off. We as a board did not pull this agenda. Who pulled the agenda the item from the agenda? Who pulled the agenda item? Because you don't have full board here this evening. You have many board members who are missing and there was a concern about having a full board to take a vote. There's six of us here. I don't understand. Usually we as a board usually we as a board um or individually will pull an item
061um if it's already on the agenda or by cabinet if there's some corrections that need to be made. Um as as a monitor, you're saying that you pulled the item without conversation with the board letting us know. Well, there was conversation. There was conversation when today with who? With the board president, board vice president, board counsel. You haven't Let me just say something. You said vice president. I didn't have Excuse me. Sorry. Because I didn't have a conversation. Sorry, my my mistake. Board president, board counsel. Board president. Board who? Council. And I know you said there was a concern shared with you today. Who shared a concern with you today about this item? You did. I did not share. The item was pulled before I got here. So, how was it me? item was not
062pulled uh until the item was pulled into the item was pulled before I got here. I I did not have a conversation with you or Dr. Jallow tonight. Not to my knowledge. I did not have a conversation with you or Dr. Jallow tonight prior to the meeting about any item. Once again, what's the next steps? Okay, I think at this point we should uh head into executive session and discuss further. For now, let me just get through the rest of the meeting. future meeting dates and organization meeting organizational meeting will take place Tuesday, July 1st, 2025, beginning at 7:30 p.m. right here in the PLC room at the central administration building at 105 South Madison Avenue, Spring Valley, New York. This will be immediately followed by regular board meeting. President Rose, I just want to
063acknowledge a couple of people in the audience um who are going to be joining the team here next year. Um, Barbara Abby will be our principal at Summer Park. Barbara, if you're in the audience, welcome. Thank you. We have Anneil Edward who will be our director of science. There's there's Anneil over there. And we have Amma Afuriawasa who will be the principal at Chestnut RZ. I know I butchered your name, but I tried. Amma, there you go. Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. Da. Welcome to all the new staff members. Looking forward to meet you all. Welcome. Um, okay. Written communication. Since the last board meeting, the board received a letter from Spring Valley NAACP with regards to the superintendent search. Um, I will now make a motion to enter executive session. Karina, what are we discussing?
064So, uh, possible appointment of particular individual and contract negotiation with the particular individuals. Thank you. Do I have a second by Vice President McIll? All those in favor say I. I. Anyone want to oppose the same? Motion carries. Thank you all. Good night. I would like to bring this meeting back to order. I would now like to make a motion to adjourn this meeting. Do I have a second? Second by Vice President McIll. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone pause abstaining is welcome to stay here. Thank you all. Have a good night.