Sayreville Board of Education Meeting - 05/20/25

001Now call to order. Please rise for the pledge to the flag. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence. I was informed this week of the passing of Dr. George Ivanovich born in Seville, George served in the Navy as a marine engineer in the Korean War. He received the National Defense Medal, taught honors mathematics for many years at Seville War Memorial High School before becoming a professor at St. Peter's College in Jersey City for 45 years. George was 94 years old. Please remember George and his family in your prayers. Thank you, Miss Hill. Roll call. Mr. Callahan, here. Mrs. Shudowski here. Mr. Fernandez here.

002Mrs. Hernandez here. Mrs. Maldonado here. Mrs. Npalitano. Mrs. Pabone here. Mr. Smith here. Mrs. Bloom here. Okay. Miss Hill, will you please summarize executive session? The board discussed personnel, including but not limited to agenda items, student matters, and matters falling under attorney client privilege. Okay. Any correspondence of note? No. Uh, we need a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting. So move. Second. Um, Mr. Callahan, yes. Mrs. Chadowski, yes. Mrs. uh, sorry, Mr. Fernandez, yes. Mrs. Miss Hernandez, yes. Mrs. Maldonado, yes. Mrs. Pabone, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mrs. Bloom, yes. Okay. Okay. And now we move to our favorite part of the meeting, our student council representatives. Morgan, what do you have for us tonight? Good evening, Board of Education members and administrators. My name is Morgan Coun, SWHS student council board of

003education representative. On April 9th, the National Honors Society held its annual induction ceremony. The high school recognized and induct inducted many talented juniors and seniors who have demonstrated excellence inside and outside of the classroom this year. Mr. Rice and Miss Gasman, coaches of the swim team, traveled with the varsity swimmers to the aquatic center in the center for lifelong learning to cut the blue ribbon for the grand reopening of the pool there, which serves as which serves as their home pool during the swim season. Congratulations to senior Angelina Sepovida who was recently named the SWMHS 2025 Middle Sex County Secondary Principles Association Outstanding Student of the Year. Congratulations to the Distributive Education Club of America for being nationally recognized for outstanding achievement in the three major DECA campaigns during the recent international career development conference

004where they represented Seville and the state of New Jersey. Congrat congratulations to the members of the technology student association club who competed in the technology student association state competition. Overall in just the second year of the club 20 students participated in 10 events. Their web master team which consisted of Jake Bolton and Rishi Shaw won first place. Rishi and Jasmine Kohley also won the bronze medal in the achievement award. Furthermore, Rishi earned the silver award and will be recognized at nationals with gold. He also he was also named to the TCA High School Honor Society and won the future technology teacher scholarship. Students in the community-based instruction program experienced a day at the Center for Adult Transition at Brookdale Community College where they prepare tacos for Cinco de Mayo celebration. Congratulations to senior and class

005of 2025 valadictorian Marissa Mandola on being a 2025 National Merit Scholarship recipient. Last Monday, students and staff were able to learn about the various mental health resources that are available to them during the annual social and emotional learning committee mental health fair. Some activities consisted of cornhole trivia, planting the seed of your choice, and many more. Students in the Act and Model Congress clubs volunteered their time to clean up Kennedy Park during cleanup volunteer day. The class of 2026 and their guests had the time of their lives dancing away during junior prom on Friday. Moving on to sports. Congratulations to the girls and boys track and field and boys and girls lacrosse teams, all of which win the 2025 GMC white division championships this spring. The girls track and field team placed first at the

006Lion Invitational. Zla Khan went golden the shot put and disc discus and she set a new school record in the shot put. Furthermore, the girls team was crowned the 2025 GMC division champions and many of the relay teams placed at GMC relays. Zakon set another school record in shotput throwing 4310 and Chase Rogers broke a 43y old school record in the 400 meter hurdles. Congratulations to softball player Josie Venor who was recent who recently pitched her 200th career strikeout during their game against East Brunswick. In addition, the softball team improved their overall season record to 118 with a firstround Greater Middle Sex Conference tournament win over Woodbridge High School. Congratulations to boys lacrosse player Philip Luzinski for being named the tap into ath tap into athlete of the week back in April. The girls lacrosse

007team defeated JP Stevens school to improve their overall record to 106 and 8-0 in the Greater Middle Sex Conference. During the Hamilton game, Mackenzie Hastings scored her 200 200th career point. The boys tennis team secured their fourth victory of the season after defeating Union High School. Congratulations to senior and cheerleader Lacy Kent, who earned an Americ honors athlete scholarship. The boys baseball team defeated Dayton High School to secure its eighth victory of the season. Congratulations to Michael Robinson from the baseball team for being named the tap into Raritan Bay athlete of the week back in April. The boys golf team win their eighth match of the season over Woodbridge High School. The girls golf team beat South Brunswick to earn their fifth win of the season. Thank you for your time and support. Thank you

008very much. Mrs. Bloom, I have questions. Go ahead. First of all, congratulations, Morgan, on a white division track championship. Thank you. Did you go to the junior prom? No. No. Okay. Um, did you go to the mental health fair? Yes. What was your favorite activity? When I got to plant a flower. Oh, that is so sweet. And how about the therapy dogs? Were they there? Yes. It was so cute. Awesome. Awesome. Um, oh, you went to the pool opening. What did you think of the new pool? It looks really nice. I like I don't know. I think it was like before the floor was different. I think now it's like is it tile? I think it was tile. Yeah. Yes, it looks I almost fell in twice. But they did they really did a nice

009job and it be it'll be great to see our kids swim there next year. I'm excited. Great job, honey. Thank you. All right. Thank you again, Morgan. I got questions for you, too. Okay, Alana. Um, good evening board of education members and administrators. My name is Alana Sagnes and I am representing the Seville Middle School community this evening. Here's what is going on at Seville Middle School. The student council hosted the Anything Goes assembly on May 12th. Thank you to all the students and staff who participated. It was a clean sweep for the SMS faculty. Eighth grade promotion signs will be on sale during the month of May. Please read parents square messages for pickup dates. The PTO will be hosting their eighth grade formal on June 13th. The students voted and their theme this

010year is under the stars. The PTO hosted a successful Harlem Wizards game on April 2nd 22nd at SWMHs. They are currently planning the end of year event. Class council will be hosting the eighth grade breakfast on June 16th. Yearbooks will be distributed at this time. The eighth grade trip to Eagle's Landing will take place on June 2nd. The music department will be hosting the annual duets performance on May 30th. The acts have been working hard to prepare for the exciting evening. Now on to several middle school athletics. The boys and girls track team hosted the GMC County meets yesterday at Seville Memorial High School. It was great seeing so many students and teachers walk down the path to catch the teams in action. If you were not able to make it to the meet, here

011is a glimpse of what you missed. Here are the athletes who received a medal for their hard work and dedication or placed in the top 10 respectively. In the 100 meters, Cody Arbor placed seventh. Judial Gimenez placed eighth. Michaela Street placed seventh. In the 200 meters, Jadiel Gimenez placed ninth. Janelli Naro placed seventh. In 400 meters, Cody Aro placed fourth, Malcar Harley placed sixth, Michaela Street placed third, and Riley Gamoa placed eighth. In the 800 meters, Malca Harley plays third, Brady Holmes plays fifth. In the 1600 meters, Brady Holmes placed fifth. In the 55 hurdles, Kristen Thompson placed ninth. Riley Gaml placed second. In the shop putan, Dylan Maldon Robels placed seventh. Lace Be placed 10th. In the long jump, Judial Gimenez placed first. Lio Davidson placed eighth in the high jump. Riley Gamma placed

012third. In the four by 100, Cody Arbor, Christian Thompson, Gavin Zarya, Jadiel Gimenez tied for eighth. Shash Sasha Adawim, Llaya Davidson, Michaela Street, Janelli Naro took second and was.1 away from winning it all. Special thanks to Coach Logan and the high school athletes for hosting the GMC's and putting on a great meet. Great job this season to both teams with the girls team placing fourth overall out of 14 teams and the boys placing fifth overall. Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the students at Seville Middle School. Thank you Alana. I know Dr. Lavy has questions. Did you go to the Harlem Wizards game? No. What? Oh my goodness. Did you hear about what happened at it? No. No. Oh, darn it. I wanted to know if Mr. Nerburgger played.

013What happened? Did he play? Mr. Nurburgger. I wasn't there. He went No, he didn't play. He coached. He said, I can hear that voice somewhere. I'm duets. Are we expecting an Alana appearance in duets? I don't think so. The eighth grade formal definitely. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Do you agree with the theme? Do you like the theme? Yeah. Um I don't think anyone really follows the theme. But no, because like if you want to wear like a pink dress and they're not going to like someone's not going to like change that like they've always wanted to wear pink. But like I think it's cute. I I think it's cute under the stars. By the way, anytime I wear pink, it doesn't matter. Excellent job, honey, as always. Great work. Alana, I think the theme refers to

014the decorating of the cafeteria, not to what you wear. Yeah, you can wear whatever you want. Within reason. Oh, don't get Mrs. Bloom going with that. Within reason. I I was at the junior prom. Okay. Dress cold police. Beautiful. Mrs. Bloom. But she has to have nice shoes though, correct? Oh, yes. It's all about the shoes. Okay. I won't wear my sneakers and dress like I always do. Oh, good. Thank you. Thank you. Great work, ladies. Thank you, girls. I thought I was on. Um, I did attend the junior prom. It was lovely. The uh children all had a great time. I think the young man who was crowned king, whose name I can't recall, was like such in such shock. It was so adorable to see. But everyone had a wonderful time. Uh, and

015I just also want to give a shout out to the um S of War Memorial High School Art Department, which sponsored the New Jersey State Jewelried Art Show of Clay and Mind over the weekend. And I was able to sit in on a demonstration of a young artist from New Jersey who did wheel throwing, which was my thing when I taught. Now, they they actually throw the wheel. No, they throw the clay onto the wheel. You throw the clay onto the wheel and then you I think that was in Ghost, right? And you pull. It was in Ghost. Yes. And he was very cute. I would have liked to have sat down with him, but that didn't work out. Um Oh, behave. But anyway, the best part was that my old art room is airond

016conditioned, ladies and gentlemen. So, I was actually in my room with air conditioning and not sweating for a change. So, it was a lovely day. The show was great. and three of our students placed in the top 20 and they will go down to the Nar Nargus uh garage in Atlantic City and they will be on display till the end of June. So great job by Mrs. Lcala with that Mr. Smith. Well, hopefully this won't make the left turn that your comments made there, but we'll see. Um, this is going to repeat a couple things Morgan said, but we're really proud of these War Memorial High School students. So, we're going to repeat a couple things here. Congratulations to War Memorial High School senior Angelina um Sepita for recently being named the 20 242 Middle

017Sex County Secondary Principal Association's Outstanding Student Award. Congratulations to Hafiza Abdullah, biology teacher from the Saraveville War Memorial High School, who was recently selected by radio station WDHA 105.1 as the 2025 teacher who rocks recipient. So great job by her. Congratulations to the Sarville War Memorial High School Distributive Education Club of America for being nationally recognized for outstanding achievement in three major DECA campaigns. ethical leadership, community service, and promotional during the recent international career development conference where they represent represented Saraveville and the state of New Jersey. Congratulations to the Saraveville War Memorial High School senior Rishi Shaw for earning his second DECA scholarship of the year, bringing his co total to over $2,000 in DECA scholarships awarded to him this year. Congratulations to members of the Seville War Memorial High School Technology Student Association Club

018who competed in the technology student association state competition. Overall, in just their second year, 20 students participated in 10 events. Their web master team, which consisted of Jake Bolton and Rishi Shaw, won first place. Rishi and Jasmine Kohley won the bronze medal in achievement and the achievement award. Furthermore, Rishi earned a silver medal and will be recognized at nationals with a gold medal, was named to the TSA High School Honor Society, and won future technology teacher scholarship. Reishi's on a roll. Good for Good for him. Amazing. Yes. Congratulations to the Sarville War Memorial High School girls and boys track and field teams and the boys and girls lacrosse teams, all of which won their 2025 GMC white division championships this spring. And congratulations to the Saraveville Middle School who the girls track team improved their

0194x 100 relay standings from third last year to second this year. So, we're moving on up in in 4 by 100 progress. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Smith. And now, Dr. Labby, presentations. Thank you, Mrs. Bloom. You know, it would seemed like yesterday that we had our let the children lead board of education meeting in which I say it's one of my one of my favorite board of education meetings of the year. This meeting is also one of our favorite and obviously our last one will be one of the three favorite meetings of the year. But for this particular meeting um we we come together as a family to celebrate our extraordinary educators and support professionals that we have here in Sville. And I have to say that every year I've been here, I feel incredibly

020blessed to have the opportunity and the privilege to work alongside of them to promote the most optimum outcomes for our students. So tonight, we get to honor several of these amazing educators from each one of our schools with the help of our principles as well as the help of family and friends that are here to support them and let them know that they love them and that they are indebted to everything that they do, not only for our students, but for all of us. So, we always do this beginning with the high school, mainly because Mrs. Zerowski threatened me earlier today that if the high school doesn't go first, um, no, just kidding. Uh, our high school has to get up early tomorrow. So, we're going to begin by honoring and celebrating our amazing high

021school educators and support staff members. So, Mrs. Bloom, would you join Mr. Glhusky and the high school administration at the podium? And as I say administration, I'd like to give a shout out to all of our incredible A team members, our administrators and teachers that are here tonight. And I want to give a special shout out, board of education members, to the newest member of our administrative team, Mr. John Belichka, who will be finish uh filling in for Mrs. Deco uh for the next couple of months. And I know John's here. Where is John? Right over there. So congratulations, John. Take it away, Mr. And if our recipients could stay up here once you get your certificate so that we can take a group photo with your school. And if any recipients don't mind staying

022afterward until all of them all the uh recipients are honored so we can take one group photo of all of you. Good evening everyone. Uh, presenting with me tonight is uh, my vice principles, Mr. Salem, Mrs. Carrie, Mrs. Zurowski, Mr. Marti, and the director of guidance and school counseling, Mrs. Sakula. We're going to start off with um, Miss Le Linda Leelac, the SEA Educational Support Professionals of the Year. It is with great pride that we congratulate Linda on being named Sarville EA Educational Support Professional of the Year. Yeah, you got to walk faster. Come on. That's definitely not your pace in the hallway. No, no, no, no. You can stand there. Little side joke. She lives around the corner from me. So, Miss Lilac is fix is a fixture in the performance program at the

023high school. She is an extraordinary par professional whose considerate and kind and na kind nature shines through her daily interactions with our students. She enjoys working with them and is incredibly patient, teaching them valuable life lessons every day. Her dedication to the well-being and the development of our students is truly remarkable. Mrs. Leilac Lielac's unwavering commitment and genuine care make her an invaluable asset to our school community. Congratulations, Miss Leak, on a welldeserved honor. Stay. I'm standing up. Yeah, you can stay. I got two more to go. You have to give a speech. Very nice. And next, our educator service professional of the year, Miss Carly Chupka. With great pleasure, we congratulate Carly on being named the Educator Service Professional of the Year. Miss Chupka is a school counselor who consistently prioritizes the best interests

024of our students, embodying dedication, empathy, and a genuine passion for helping them succeed. Her unwavering commitment to her role is evident in the supportive and understanding of environment she creates where students feel comfortable discussing their academic and personal challenges. Miss Chepka's proactive approach ensures that students receive thoughtful advice and guidance helping them navigate their educational paths and personal growth. Her extensive knowledge of college miss college admissions, career planning, and mental health resources allows her to to offer tailored support to meet each student's unique needs. She continuously enhances her professional skills, integrating the latest counseling techniques and educational trends in her practice. Beyond individual counseling, Miss Chupka is actively involved in schoolwide initiatives, collaborating with teachers, administrators, and parents to create a cohesive support system for students. She organizes workshops, college fairs, and mental health awareness

025programs, demonstrating her dedication to over overall well-being and success of the student body. Her positive relationships, and the trust she earns from students highlight her exceptional ability to make a meaningful impact. Miss Chep Chupka's pride in her work shines through every interaction, making her a valuable asset to our school community. Congratulations, Carla. And finally for the high school, our teacher of the year, Katherine Cat Zank. [Applause] Is with great pleasure that we congratulate Katherine on being named the Seville Memorial High School's teacher of the year. Miss Zank's classroom is a beacon of creativity and engagement where students are not only educated but also inspired. Her dedication to her craft is evident in the countless hours she invests in refining her lessons and creating original activities that challenge her students to think critically and connect with

026real world concepts. Her innovative approach, including the creation of literature-based murals keep students eagerly anticipating each new unit. Miss Zank's impact extends beyond her English 12 classroom. She has played a pivotal role in preparing students for graduation through her LAL skills class, ensuring they meet their requirements and succeed in their academic pursuits. Her commitment was further demonstrated during the 2324 school year when she took on a role of an ELLL replacement teacher, providing invaluable support and resources to both students and colleagues. Beyond her academic contribution, Miss Zank is an active member of several committees, including the RTI team, a track coach, and serves as our junior class adviser, dedicating countless hours to enhancing the school community. Her unwavering commitment to her students well-being and her exceptional ability to bring out the best absolutely in them

027truly exemplifies what it means to be teacher of the year. Congratulations, Miss Thank. You are true. Yeah, I got She's not Anybody else? [Applause] Okay. And as I was walking in, Mrs. Bloom. Mrs. Magistro grabbed me and said, "We better be going second, Labby, cuz we got to get up early, too, in the preschool." So, with that being said, if I could have Mrs. Ober and Mrs. Magistro along with Miss Burns and Miss Pabone come to the podium so that we can celebrate our incredible preschool educators and support staff members of the year. And obviously if Mrs. Schlay and Mrs. Peron are here, they should come up and join you, too. There she is. She's not retired yet. Get up here. Okay, I know I saw everyone here, so I'm ready to go. Cheesequake's sea

028educational support professional of the year is Dana Perez. [Applause] Congratulations. Miss Dana is a popular, pleasant, positive paraprofessional at Project before Cheesequake. So many colleague colleagues nominated you, Miss Dana. And here is what some of them had to say. Miss Dana is a paraprofessional to be admired. She is more than kind. There is kind and then there's Dana kind. She helps, nurtures, she cares. She makes every student feel accepted and finds magical ways for her preschool classroom to actually feel relaxing. Dana is an asset to Project Before. She makes children feel comfortable and cared for. Dana always finds a way to celebrate the little victories and preschoolers love to share ideas and sometimes fears with her because Miss Dana can always make it better. Dana brings an incredible level of positive energy and enthusiasm to

029the classroom. She demonstrates compassion, patience, and encouragement when speaking and working with her preschool students. We love you and we are proud of you, Miss Dana. Congratulations on your award. And next up, we have our Governor's Educational Support Professional of the Year, Nicole Kogan. That's what I'm going to say. We fondly know Nicole Kogan as Miss Nikki, and she certainly has searched and found her calling at Project Before Cheesequake. Following her role as a replacement teacher, Miss Nikki served as a multiple disabilities teacher and an integrated preschool teacher. Her final transition into our preschool intervention and referral specialist is her best role yet. We call it Nikki Pers. This role allows Miss Nikki to support every classroom, which we think was her goal all along. Miss Nikki, we are so proud to call you this

030year's ESP. Your tireless efforts are to be admired. Here are a few words from your colleagues. Miss Nikki consistently demonstrates exceptional knowledge, dedication, passion, and effectiveness in her role as a preschool intervention and referral specialist. Her outstanding contributions to our preschool community exemplify the qualities we seek and an exceptional educational support professional. Miss Nikki is a solution finder. She is effective and dedicated finding a way to support students and provide creative resources the very same day. I said I guess that was like if you have an express lane or something like five problems or less she can give you like resources in one day. Miss Nikki is always enthusiastic when walking the halls. Her cheerfulness spreads throughout the school, and when students see her, they are immediately drawn to her. They eagerly wait for her

031reassuring hug, supportive smile, or the you can do it words of encouragement. Sorry, you can do it. Thank you, Miss Nikki. Thank you for your dedication and charismatic ways. Thank you for wearing numerous silly costumes and dancing around inspiring every child that comes in contact with you. You are so deserving of this honor. Congratulations. [Applause] And now it's time for Cheesequake's Governor's Educator of the Year, Juliana Burns. Jules. Jules. And again, we fondly call Juliana Burns. We call her Miss Jules. Miss Jules is our talented creative literacy lab teacher. She brings music and literacy to every classroom, every hallway, and actually every inch of of Cheesecake School. Miss Jules brings full energy to school without fail every single day. Miss Jules, when the students see you in the hallway, it is like they are seeing

032a celebrity. You bring that light. Here is what your colleagues have to say about you. Miss Jules is an incredible teacher. She creates amazing, engaging, and interactive activities for every student she works with. She goes above and beyond every morning, greeting every single student that enters the school. She knows every name and every classroom and every teacher. She knows what they eat for lunch. She knows it all. Miss Jules is amazing. She is always thinking of ways to modify and accommodate her students by engaging by ensuring all of her lessons are engaging for all types of learners. Miss Jules creates an environment where she where students feel safe, supported, and encouraged to do their best. She will help any colleague with any task. She loves being a unified coach and volunteers for every family event.

033In some big or small way, usually big, Miss Jules is always there. We are so proud of you, Miss Jules, keeping the light that so many little learners need. Congratulations. Okay. Mr. Frank Hernandez is the campus monitor at Sllover School. I'm also told that he is the topic of dinner conversation in many of our students homes. Often when preschoolers talk about their days, they bring up their favorite guy, Mr. Frank. [Applause] At three and four years old, they are very aware of who likes and enjoys them. And Mr. Frank certainly does. He makes our students feel safe, loved, and valued. Mr. Frank always has a smile on his face and a joke to share with our staff. He takes our job, he takes his job, our safety, very seriously. And Sullover School is grateful for

034that. He will definitely be missed as he will retire at the end of this year and I don't know who will keep all of our plants alive after that. Congratulations to our SEA ESP of the year, Mr. Frank Hernandez. He's not retiring. Yes. Keep it alive. It's a money plant, too. I know. Miss Ashley Clark is the preschool intervention and referral specialist at Silover as a classroom teacher, which we she was for over a decade. The structures, consistency, expectations, and relationships she built with families worked together to minimize or elimin eliminate unwanted behaviors. Because of this, her move into the role of PERS was a natural progression. Each day at Sullover, you will find Miss Ashley in a classroom, working with individual students, modeling, coaching, encouraging colleagues. She's a resource and a support, giving our

035teachers the tools they need to grow, be successful, and enjoy their work. Miss Ashley also actively searches for ways to make our school better. She initiated Slover's annual preschool prom, which has become one of our favorite days of the year. She organized our first social emotional learning day and coordinated our participation in a shark run next month. Both of which will likely become sillover traditions as well. Currently, she's working to pilot an age appropriate social emotional curriculum with two of our teachers in an effort to improve behavior and learning. She's an important part of the Solover team and I'm so proud of all she is accomplishing. Congratulations to Slover's ESP of the year, Ashley [Applause] Clark. If we asked any administrator in this room to describe what they wanted in a teacher, they would outline

036a description of our teacher of the year, Mrs. Heather Learner. She is kind, compassionate, incredibly patient, naturally skilled, and hardworking. Miss Heather never stops learning and is always searching for ways to make her instruction better, and her students learning more meaningful. Every time I visit her classroom, I leave inspired. She shares resources. She collaborates. She gives of herself and her time. Her students adore her and so do their families. Miss Heather is Miss Heather's is one of the first classrooms we look to when trans transitioning out one of our MD students. We know that child will be loved and his or her needs will be met. She also serves as our building's induction coordinator, allowing her to work closely with and to guide our newest teachers. What an example she sets for us all. I'm

037incredibly proud to have her on my team and love watching her get better every year. Congratulations to Slover's teacher of the year, Heather Learner. We decided to ask How are you? And now to honor and celebrate our extraordinary educators and support staff members at the middle school. Could Mr. Fernandez join Mr. Nerburgger and the middle school administration at the podium? Mr. Nerburgger. Thank you everyone. Um, it's very humbling to be in a room with such exceptional professionals. Uh, it's an even more of an honor to acknowledge three of them tonight. Uh, three incredible people. Uh, I'd like to announce our educational support professional of the year, Lorie Siriday. PAR professionals are the backbone of some of our most challenging classrooms. Um, and Lori has been the right hand of some of our teachers for a

038very long time, and she is an integral part of our uh, climate and culture. Uh, through warmth, patience, and compassion, she's been able to unlock the potential of some of our most challenging students and we, um, hold her to the highest highest regard. So, Lori Sirid, congratulations as our educational support professional of the year. [Applause] our educational service professional, middle school guidance counselor. No, thank you. I mean, you're getting hit from every direction. Yeah. Come on up, Sam. Smith Arena, students, staff, parents, administration, outside agencies. You're getting hit from all directions all of the time all day long. She does it with poise, professionalism, a smile on her face, and grace. mostly. I And on a personal note, I do appreciate the fact that when I do something wrong, you address it with a big

039smile, so I don't feel so bad. I appreciate that, too. Um, in the storm of emotions that the middle school can be, Sam is a quiet, calming voice. Congratulations. Thank you so much for all you do. and our governor's educator of the year, Nicole Del Pablo. Now, you don't need to come observe her teach to know why she's special. You don't. All you have to do is ask her about her profession. Her face will light up and I know exactly what she'll talk about, her students. It won't be about her pedigogy or anything like that or her greatest lesson. It'll be about her kids. That's how she'll start it. That's how she'll end it. And that's what she's about. And that's what makes her special. That's why you build bonds with your kids and they

040come back year after year to see Miss Delapo. Okay. Our toughest kids, she gets through and builds a rapport through patience and caring and kindness. Oh, and not to mention she's a phenomenal teacher also. Congratulations. [Applause] And now to honor and celebrate our wonderful educators and support staff professionals of the year from the Samso Upper Elementary School. I asked Mrs. Chubcowski to join Mrs. Kaganise and Mr. Tola at the podium. [Applause] Good evening. I would first like to recognize our SEA ESP of the year, Mrs. Kathy Danielson. Unfortunately, she is not here this evening, but Mrs. Danielson is a par professional at the UEES and has worked in several since 2000. She has served as a one-to-one par profofessional, a classroom par professional and in recent years has worked alongside our behavioral disabilities or ERRI

041impairment teacher to provide a supportive and loving environment. Mrs. Danielson has been a key factor in the success of the various programs she has worked in and the growth of her students. She is an extraordinary individual who works with some of the most special students. She is always kind, supportive, and hardworking. She is the first person to offer to help both staff and students that she works with. She is a good friend to many in our building and is always ready to listen. Kathy is a creative and caring individual who brings consistency and compassion to the classroom she works in. She is the type of person that will go above and beyond for anyone that she knows. We are so fortunate that Mrs. Danielson has shared her love and support with so many at the

042SUS. And when she retires at the beginning of next year, we're definitely going to miss her. She is so deserving of the educational support professional of the year. Congratulations, Kathy. And our governor's educator of the year is Mrs. Amy Coleman. Yay. Mrs. Coleman is a talented and skillful teacher whose extensive knowledge of her content area of music is felt throughout the building. Through her many years in Sarville, 32 and she will be retiring in June. She [Applause] has she has inspired many students and supported them in their musical journey. Mrs. Coleman gives her students a firm foundation in understanding music from the simplest concept of rhythm and beat to adding lyrics to complete songs. She relates her music lessons to crosscurricular content and helps the students see, hear, and connect with these topics, making them

043come alive with music. Through her kind heart and passion, she has inspired many students to continue to play instruments through middle school and high school, many of them making a career of it. Mrs. Coleman is viewed as a positive colleague, one willing to help and share her thoughts and knowledge. She connects with her students and brings a light-hearted nature to the classroom and faculty. Former students, now parents of current students, often greet Mrs. Coleman with a warm hug and affection for the time they spent with her and learned from her, sharing their excitement with their own children that they will have the opportunity such as they did. Through her hard work, compassion, and dedication to teaching and music, Mrs. Coleman has earned the respect of her students, past and present, colleagues, and administration. Congratulations, Mrs.

044Amy Coleman, SUEES Governor's Teacher of the Year. Perfect. [Applause] Mrs. Bloom, can you join me at the podium? with our transportation person. I mentioned earlier that certain groups have to get up early and I neglected um to remember that one of the people here that we're honoring tonight um has to also get up very very early u because she has one of the most critical jobs in our district and that is transporting our students and that's u Mrs. is Ruth Mahoney and she is our SEA ESP for transportation. Again, you know, we've had individuals talk this evening about the work that our incredible professionals do. Um the work that our bus aids do day in and day out, particularly Mrs. Mahoney, is extraordinary. We all believe that the impact that we're making on all of

045our students is either a direct one or an indirect one. But we all know, particularly people like Mrs. Mahoney, that we are making an indelible impact on all the little people that we serve and that she serves so impeccably and with such dedication and commitment. So we thank you so much, Mrs. Mahoney for all that you have done for all of our students and your role. [Applause] Oh, here. And by the way, Mrs. Mahoney's husband was our one of our extraordinary wood teachers who I'm so grateful to see here this evening. And of course, her son is an extraordinary English teacher at the high school. But we all know who runs that house, right? Thank you very much. Another big hand. [Applause] All right. I know I shouldn't be doing this right now, but Mrs.

046Hernandez, can you join Mr. burn at the podium so that we can recognize, honor, and celebrate our extraordinary educators of the year and support professionals of the year from the Wilson Elementary School. Three minutes, Mr. Burn. I must say that uh I will have many things to say to my colleagues because they were expecting for me to go last. Um so I just wanted to I just want to prepare the board and the public that I'm going to be a little different uh in terms of my approach this evening in terms of describing our honores at Wilson. So I'm going to mention three words to you. going to mention engaging, enthusiastic, and modeling as I talk about the three people from Wilson School this evening. First of all, we're going to honor Kelsey Jamar, who

047is our Wilson School teacher of the year. She gets purple. Purple. You might get wet. It's okay. Okay. Um, so Kelsey, Kelsey is an alum of Wilson School, a graduate of our high school of course, and when she graduated from high school, she chose to go to the University of Maryland and of all things to major in accounting. Now, I when I first interviewed her, I was very intrigued as to why she would choose accounting because of the fact that when I talked with her and I saw her resume, which by the way, she previously taught in Planefield math and I wanted her for a demo lesson at Wilson. So, what did I ask her to do? A language arts lesson. uh because of the fact that I knew based upon in speaking with her

048that she was a very diversified individual. She's an athlete, very dedicated to that. In fact, we share training techniques. Um she is just very powerful in our school. Last year she was a third grade teacher at Wilson school. Now, of course, we weren't content with that. Were we no? because when I read her resume because I read all these very detailed analysis. Um I also noticed that when she left and decided to leave accounting, she got her MAT in teaching and also decided because it's the person she is that she was going to get her certification as an ELLL teacher. So lo and behold, three guesses, first two don't count. You know where she is this year and she's doing a marvelous job at Wilson in terms of that, right, Miss Gman? Absolutely. Absolutely. So

049um and in addition to that this year she organized our Wilson worldwide in which we had a fantastic number of people come different cultures that were represented and it was a really it was the go-to place uh for that night in that part of town and and true to form though based upon her way of thinking what did she say to me the next morning I already have ideas for next year. So remember in the beginning I talked about engaging enthusiastic and modeling. So, I want to particularly honor her parents who are here this evening because they began that process for [Applause] her. And as my segue to our next honore, who is Colleen West, who is our I got you green for your DNA. You're most welcome. Okay, Colleen. Now, I I I I

050I set this up for you so you really know what I'm going to say. Guess who our third grade teacher was at Wilson School? Our very own Colleen West. So again, the whole experience that Kelsey experienced, Colleen was able to pass that on this year. And I have to tell you, wouldn't you be excited by going into a classroom where on her wall she has a sign lit up in various colors of cool kids read books? I would say dynamic teachers read books. Colleen, how many books did you read last week? last week. Just one, just two. She She's having a slow day because many times many times she will go home and she'll read two books on a weekend. And when we do our pop-up shop at Wilson School, guess who donates most of

051the books? Our very own Colleen West. And th those kinds of qualities exhibit who we are at Wilson School because we are engaging, we are enthusiastic, and we're modeling for everyone all the time about what it means to learn, how important it is to learn, and why we want to learn. And so at Wilson School, we're very blessed to have two representatives such as Colleen and Kelsey here this evening to represent our school and to represent all of you as board of education members, the general public, in terms of what we do at Wilson School. and we're very proud of it. Right, ladies? Absolutely. Okay. Thanks very much. Stay here. Okay. Now, our third honore this evening is Darwin Munoz, who is our SEA uh educational service professional of the year. She's not with us

052this evening. Um, but adding to that theme, imagine what life is like as being in the kitchen of a school and having to remember not only the all the names of the children, but what they like and what they don't like. And then to be able to convince them, you don't really want to get this because you brought this back last week. So again, she exemplifies what we are at Wilson. So I I I yield my time back to you, okay, to the chair. uh in terms of the fact that um uh my my con my comments are concluding this night and what a pleasure it is to be here with you and to represent and to present to you our honores from Wilson School. Thank you Mr. Burn. [Music] [Applause] All right, Mrs. Stuber,

053that's going to be a very difficult act to follow. But if Mrs. Maldonado can join Mrs. Stuber at the podium so that we can recognize our wonderful educators of the year and support professionals of the year from the Truman Elementary School. Good evening everyone. It is my pleasure to announce Mr. Jeff Saznik as Truman School's sea educational support professional for the school year. Yay. Jeff is the security guard at Truman School. He does an excellent job of making us feel safe and supporting the staff. His quiet strength, unwavering commitment, and daily presence have had an impact on our school community. Jeff is a true guardian of our school. He embodies dedication, integrity, and compassion. Security is more than just keeping doors locked and patrolling hallways. It's about creating a safe space where students can learn,

054grow, and thrive. It's about showing up rain or shine day in and day out. Not just to keep us safe, but to be reassuring presence to every student, teacher, and parent who walks through our doors. Thank you, Jeff, for keeping our schools secure. Jeff is the first point of contact for many who arrive at our school. Many challenges and changes to dismissal occur regularly and he is always helpful and understanding. Additionally, when difficult conferences happen, he's always sure to stay nearby in case we need assistance. I'm thrilled to extend extend my heartfelt congratulations to Jeff on this well-deserved recognition. His dedication, compassion, and unwavering support have made an impact on the lives of many. He is a true guardian of our school. Congratulations, Jeff, on being chosen as the educational support professional for Truman School.

055It is with pleasure to announce Jake Bellamy as Truman School's educational services professional. Jake has served He's unable to be here tonight. Jake has served as an exemplary educator in the several school district since 2015. He began his career as a classroom teacher and recently made the change to library media specialist. During his tenure in our school, he has always been well admired by students, parents, and his fellow colleagues. Serving as a specials area teacher, he has had the benefit of getting to know all the students in the school. He goes out of his way to make them all feel welcome, accepted, and valued. He has served as a teacher for both reading and mathmies to support struggling learners. Mr. Mr. Bellamy has served as a role model not only for the students of our

056school, he has also hosted student helpers and student teachers. He has set an example of how to go above and beyond as a great educator. Mr. Bellamy is truly a team player. He works cooperatively with teachers and other staff members to share concerns about students that may arise. He is well admired by our PTO as he often volunteers to be at events outside of school hours. Besides dressing up as an elf, a leprechaun, a scarecrow, the Cat in the Hat, and even Santa to entertain the children during the school day, Jake has taken the initiative to help colleagues with their before and after school activities as well. Over the years, he has taught most multiple after-school programs which the students truly enjoy participating in. In addition to going above and beyond the call of duty,

057he has offered to shovel and spread mulch throughout beautifi for throughout the school for beautifification purposes and created a sensory path on our playground. Thank you, Jake, for all that you do for all of us. Congratulations on being Truman School's ESP of the year. And it is my pleasure to announce Mrs. Jean Scudney as Truman Schools Governor Educator of the [Applause] Year. Jean is a dedicated professional who has served as an educator in the several school districts since 2012. During her tenure in our school, she has filled multiple positions including inclusion teacher, resource room teacher, and regular education classroom teacher. She has treated every student with the utmost respect and dignity, and she has instilled excitement and a love of learning in her classroom. Mrs. Scudney surely knows how to engage her class. When walking

058past her classroom, students are often dancing or acting out motions to songs that support their learning. They listen intently as readaloud stories are shared and participate with joy as shared reading books are presented. They often have manipulatives on their desks for counting or math activities and actively engage in digital lessons and activities on Chromebooks. She attends workshops and trainings to enrich her own education. She plans innovative and meaningful lessons. Mrs. Scotty greets each day with a smile. She works collaboratively during PLC meetings, grade level meetings, and is always willing to share lessons or classroom activities with her grade level colleagues. She demonstrates flexibility if a schedule needs to be temporarily changed. In addition, she takes the initiative to stay a breast of current practices and teaching strategies to be to benefit everyone in our learning

059community. Gan has participated in countless PTO events. She has attended school dances, family night activities, and taught numerous after-school programs. She has served on committees that provide valuable learning experience to the students such as the patriotic committee, the cultural committee, law enforce enforcement and firefighter appreciation days. She has planned and advertised school theme days, dressup days for the school in honor of our holiday countdown and the end of school countdown. Outside of school, she shows up to support her students at their extracurricular athletic events, dance recital, and birthday parties when invited. Congratulations, Jean, on being Truman School's teacher of the year. And we have one more award. Um, it is my pleasure to announce Mrs. Chanette Josiah as the age of learning teacher of the year. This is such a special honor. are given to

060Chanette since she is the first teacher chosen for this distinguished award. Age of Learning is a nationwide online educational platform that supports early learners in the areas of literacy and math. Chanette has continually demonstrated excellence in her teaching methods and work ethic throughout her career. She has the respect of the students and their parents and is held in the highest regard by her colleagues and administrators alike. Mrs. Josiah is an integral part of our school community. She has been instrumental in promoting inclusivity and cultural consideration amongst our staff. Miss Josiah takes on a leadership role in the area of writing instruction. When viewing her kindergarten students writing samples and first grade also there can be no doubt that she is a master teacher. She often acts as a guide to her colleagues and collaborates with

061them on best practices. Miss Josiah embraces these roles and is keen to share her knowledge, expertise and experience. It is clear that she is highly valued by her colleagues and they see her as a team leader. It has often been said that teaching is a work of art. No truer words can be said when you see Mrs. Josiah with her students. There is a joy that she brings to her classroom each day that is infectious. Her students adore her and the lasting relationship she builds with them is remarkable. She has a unique way of making every one of her students feel capable, valued, respected, and loved. Mrs. Josiah is an asset to our school, a value colleague, and an outstanding teacher. Congratulations, Chanette, for representing Truman School for the Age of Learning Teacher of the

062Year. [Applause] And now, if Mr. Smith could join Mr. Rabino at the podium, that way we can honor our extraordinary educators of the year and support staff professionals from the Eisenhower Elementary School. [Applause] Good evening everybody. you can come on. Congratulations. Congratulations. Mr. Jabby or as a staff and students call him Mr. J is a highly dedicated par profofessional at Eisenhower Elementary School. Mr. Jay is conscientious, dependable, always willing to learn and will go beyond his power professional responsibilities to make a difference in the lives of his students. Mr. Jay is a steady support system for the children in which he serves, always offering a kind word or patiently guiding a student who needs extra care and attention. Whether Mr. Jay is supporting instruction in the classroom, assisting students onetoone or help helping manage the

063flow of the classroom. He always brings his best every single day. It is a great pleasure I present Mr. Sahed Jabi the sea educational service professional of the [Applause] year Dr. Labby. I think in a couple of years he may be getting the teacher of the year award because I'm working with him to uh become uh go through the alternate route program. Oh, that'd be wonderful. Wonderful. You can't be that good. I now would like to recognize and congratulate Miss Christine Lawler as our educational service professional of the year for Eisenhower Elementary School. Congratulations. So well deserved. Miss Lawler is an unbelievable dedicated staff member at Eisenhower Elementary. She is a true master teacher. Miss Lawler is an exceptional academic support instructional teacher as she successfully serves and supports all of our students at Eisenhower

064Elementary School. She closely monitors their progress and pushes them to their greatest potential through engaging lessons in warm classroom environment. Miss Lawler has always been a helpful smiling face in our building and has been an impactful not only by students but her colleagues as well. Miss Lawler is our mentor coordinator and facilitates principal roundt meetings not only for the teachers in the building but also our new staff. and it's truly truly amazing the support that she gives our new teachers. She promotes a strong sense of community amongst our staff and students. Her love of vocabulary has grown the implementation of the word of the week that's announced daily in our building. Uh we also have a word parade at the end of the school year which students and staff all love which she has created

065for our amazing elementary school. Most importantly above all, Ms. Waller's students thrive under her support and her guidance. She's a role model for our profession and truly a lifelong learner. It is an honor that I give to you. Eisenhower Elementary Educational Server Professional of the Year, Mrs. Christine Lawler. Welld deserved. And now our governor's educator of the year. On behalf of the entire Eisenhower Elementary School family, I am extremely proud to present Miss Patricia Langan, who's truly worthy of the title teacher of the [Music] year. Congratulations. Welld deserved. Ms. Langland has gone above and beyond to meet every students needs to create an engaging learning environment. Working with all students at Eisenhower Elementary as a physical education teacher takes a lot. It means adapting daily instructions to meet the needs of all learners both academically

066and physically. Her physical education class is one that makes students feel seen, heard, inspired, and most importantly, engaging. She has a ton of heart and passion for her profession, showing her tireless dedication, attention to detail, and leadership. The staff at Eisenhower describes her as collaborative, supportive, and a true team player, willing to go the extra mile for her students and the staff of our building. Miss Langan, on behalf of the entire Eisenhower staff, we thank you so very much for all of your hard work, dedication to the students of Eisner, and most importantly, the positive impact you made every single day for our school community. I give to you, Miss Patric Patricia Langan, Eisenhower Teacher of the Year. Okay, we are saving the best for last. So, at this time, I'd like to ask Mr.

067Preston to join us. Uh, Mr. Callahan at the podium so that we can Oh, you're already there, Mr. Callahan. You're fast. so that we can celebrate and recognize our extraordinary educators and support staff professionals from the Arless School. Mr. Preston, there he is. First, I'd like to congratulate M. Your microphone's on. You got to click it on. I think Dale turned it off on you. So, first I'd like to congratulate Joanne Cino as our educational support professional of the year. Joanne works in one of our MD classrooms and cares and supports all the students in that classroom. Some of the words that really come to mind when I think of what Joanne does for those students is loving, caring, gentle, patient, and nurturing. She makes sure that all the needs of those students are cared

068for and she's an integral part of that team. She does whatever it takes for her students. So, congratulations Joanne Ceino. Next is our educational service professional of the year. She is Kelly Vasili who is our reading specialist. She promotes the love of reading in our school and makes learning fun and students want to come and read with her every day. I hear students walking down the hallway, can I come read with you today? And the answer is always yes. and she makes it fun and engaging for all of her students. She helps out with morning literacy program and she promotes the summer reading kickoff with a new to you book exchange to make sure that students have new titles to read over the summer. She also supports teachers in many ways and is another integral

069part of Arlith Elementary School. So, congratulations, Kelly Vasili. [Applause] And our governor's educator of the year is Aaron Parla Greco. So, Aaron is a teacher in our MD classroom and she really embodies the spirit of inclusion in our school. Uh in addition to running the unified program for Arleth Elementary, she promotes the idea of friends helping friends. She fosters this sense of belonging for all students, especially in the MD room, but she really facilitates the regular education students helping the special education students. anytime you go to her classroom. She only has about 13 students, but you might see 25 kids in her class at any one time because she has third grade friends helping out with her students. They play recess together, they eat lunch together, and they go to gym together. So, they really

070do a lot of things promoting this sense of inclusion, and it's all because of Miss Aaron Parleo. Everybody [Applause] And we have one more person to honor and celebrate tonight. She's not here this evening, but uh Melissa Rall is the SEA support professional of the year. She's also our campus security monitor here at central office. And on behalf of everyone here at central office, we can't thank her enough. So, please give Melissa Rell a big hand. every day. She works diligently uh to ensure the safety and security of everyone in the central administration wing and we can't thank her enough for that. Um she is professional, she is kind, she is courteous, she's everything that you would want in a campus security monitor and we can't thank her enough. So give her a big hand

071again. And I mentioned it earlier. If there are any of our uh recipients that remained till the end of the evening that would like to come on up for a group photo, I greatly appreciate it. Of course, of course. I know. That's why we got to take you to stay. [Applause] the door. Yeah. So audience members, you may want to leave as soon as you can because Eric is going to give a presentation on our final New Jersey Department of Education HIV grades. It's going to be riveting though. You don't want to miss this. Bye everyone. All right, Mrs. Bloom, I'm going to yield to Mr. Glock Malloy for yet another one of his riveting presentations. Thank you, Dr. Lavy. How about another? Um, this is actually a very short and quick presentation and not

072nearly as exciting as the ones we've had already tonight. Okay. Um, our HIV grades, uh, you Okay. One second, folks. Can you take the conversation outside so we can proceed? We love you, but go. You ain't got to go home, but you can stay here. H Chris, you can go back to the first page. Okay, Mr. Glock Malloy, I think we have a modeicum of silence here. Um so back in October um you had seen our 23 24 HIV self- assessments where our um principles and our anti-bullying specialists basically compiled their self- assessment scores based on the DOE's rubric. Um we presented that to the board. uh we submitted that to the DOE and recently you just saw you know our next round of scores through SSDS data um in our what was that about

073January. So what we have here is our final HIV grade report um for 2324 and essentially as far as presentation material here we had no recommendations or changes from the DOE. So what we presented back in October um carries forward and has been posted to our district website. So on that note, does anyone have any questions now that they are our official HIV score reports when the grades go high and low? Like is low good, high bad? Like what is the scores? So the maximum possible score overall um for an individual building is 78. Um so if you look at um on the presentations and Chris if you want to jump to slide eight you can see there for each category of the eight categories they have different possible scoring. So category one, you can

074have a maximum possible score of 15, a maximum possible score of nine, and it flows forward for a maximum possible score of 78 for the school building. So that's broken down to the different categories. Um, category one's our HIV programs and approaches. Two is our trainings, policies. Um, three is our instructional and training programs. Four is curriculum instruction related to um, HIV or other associated categories. Um, five is our HIV personnel, six is our school level reports, seven is our investigation procedures, and eight is our reporting, which is basically the reporting that comes to the the board every month. So, different categories have different possible maximum scores with a maximum overall for a school um being 78. Anyone else? Mr. Bloom, that's all I have and that concludes my reports. Thank you, Dr. Labby. Thank

075you, Mr. Glock Malloy. Uh, we will now move on to committees finance and infrastructure. Mrs. Pabone last Tuesday evening, the BOE finance and infrastructure committee met um during the meeting. Jimmy, I can never say your last name, but Jimmy, how do you say it? Coleman'sburg. Coleman'sburgger. There we Oh, that's easy. Coleman'sburgger provided an update on all facility improvement referendum projects. Um, it was kind of amazing to listen to Jimmy as he went through because repeated he he reported that the transformer for the middle school is back on is on back order and the transformer for Wilson is expected to be delivered by May 19th. Um, likewise he reported that the switch gears still need to be installed at the middle school, Eisenhower, Wilson and Truman. The HVAC work at SAMAL and the middle school is

076almost complete. Can't believe that. And should be finished by summer, which is a great thing. Um because this thing did start how many years ago? Three. Three years ago. Um the HVAC work at Samill Middle School almost complete. Should be finished by the summer. Nearly all the windows and exterior doors at Wilson, Samill and the high school have been installed except for one door at Wilson and the window panels at Truman. The HVAC work is progressing well at Wilson and Eisenhower and should be finished by the end of the summer. Finally, the HVAC installation at the high school Arlith and sellover is progressing on schedule. The duck work in the first floor a-wing classroom ceilings is complete. The duck work on the second floor at the high school has begun and should be finished by

077the beginning of July. on all of the projects not related to the referendum. Um, we provided a brief update on the Eisenhower parking lot expansion project. We're going to have a bid opening on May 29th and we're actually going to come in board members in a special meeting to approve that so that the work could get started right away before and be done by the time school um opens over there at Eisenhower. That's pretty much it. So, we're in good shape. Um, I cannot believe the referendum projects when Jimmy was like, "Oh, that's done. It's done. It's done." It was unbelievable. And again, windows, doors, people, not just air conditioning, but lots of fixes. So, congratulations. And roofs and roofs. So, good job everybody. Thank you, Mrs. Pabone. Uh, personnel committee, Mr. Callahan was not

078able to attend our meeting, so we're going to Mr. Aguile, Dr. Aguilles, I beg your pardon. Thank you. Uh the committee met this evening. We discussed open positions for the 2526 school year. We also discussed uh some job descriptions that uh are being updated. Uh we discussed uh a matter we updated uh two personnel issues that uh the board needed to be the committee needed to be updated on and pretty much it. Thank you, Mr. Ag Dr. Agley. Short and to the point. Okay. Um, Middle Sex County School Board Association. Our next meeting will be tomorrow night at the Colonia Country Club. We will be uh having a visit from the NJA teacher of the year. We will also be presenting milestone awards. That's when board members are honored for serving 5, 10, 15 years.

079We will also be having elections of officers uh of which I chaired the committee. You don't even want to know the aggravation, but I seem to thrive on it. So, we'll let you know how tomorrow night goes. And that's it for school boards. Okay. Anything else from any board members? At this point, we will open to public participation on presentation or agenda items only. Okay, seeing none, we will close public and Dr. Labby, your superintendent's report if you please. Thank you, Mrs. Bloom. So, if I can have everyone turn to finance and infrastructure. Let's begin with number 15. We're asking you to accept the full year 2025 grant award for the climate change education and resilience continuation grant and that's in the amount of $15,000. You can find that on page three. On pages three

080and four, you can also find number 16 and 17 in which we're asking you to approve the submission of the funding for optimal comprehension universal screeners aka focus grant application which is to support the district in purchasing and implementing highquality universal literacy screening tools to enhance literacy identification and instruction in kindergarten through third grade. Um, if you don't know, that's an initiative of Governor Murphy and the Department of Education. And I can't thank um, Mrs. Gman as well as Miss Bert enough for going after this grant and Miss Burns uh, for applying for this grant. I think it's going to be something that moves our district, continues to move our district forward in that capacity. Likewise, we're asking you to approve the 2025 application of the New Jersey Preschool inclusive education project. Obviously, Mrs. Burns

081is steering that it's in partnership with Montlair State University and the Department of Education and it's used to assist the district in embedding inclusive practices for our preschool students with disabilities. Number 20, which you can find on page four, we asked them to approve some more equipment for our food services program. This is at our Savville Middle School in the kitchen and it's in the total amount of $176,90. Obviously, that's being paid for through our food services enterprise account. Numbers 34 and 35, which you can find on pages six and seven. As we had noted in the budget, we're asking to approve the purchase of one minibus and two 54 passenger buses. Uh, you know, when we talked about this the other day when we reviewed the agenda, it's incredible how much prices have increased.

082Um, there was a time when I started in a district where a a 54seater was 74 to $75,000. Now it's doubled in cost. Likewise, minibuses were anywhere around $45 to $50,000 and now they're $116,000. So extraordinary numbers 41 through 45 which you can find in pages 8 and 11. We're asking you to approve the 2025 20226 self-insured medical prescription and del dental healthcare insurance coverage program premiums. Are there any questions on those items or anything else on finance and infrastructure? Just a question with regard to the purchase of three more buses. I know that the parking is extremely challenging right now. So, is there a reason why we're purchasing more buses when we have not yet we don't have a depot yet? Would it not be wise to wait to purchase more buses until we

083have parking? Because it's going to add to the parking issue, is it not? Yeah. If you remember from the budget presentations, these are replacement. Two of them are replacement budgets. Buses. The 54 seaters are replacement buses. So, according to statute, a bus can't be in service for more than 15 years. So they'll be replacing two buses that are going to be out of commission. Okay. So number that we already The mini bus is new. It's a new minibus and that's because of need. Okay. Right now we can't even fill a minibus because it just takes too long for those kids to either get to school or come home from school because most of the time it goes from residence to residence to residence instead of bus stops. So by having another mini bus that's going

084to shorten the routes of some of our buses. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Yeah, Dr. Labby, I had a question regarding um bullet point 39 specifically on page 8 items five and 8. So I see that um learning tree to provide bilingual speech psychological and learning evaluations but also that bullet point 8 shows IDA to provide bilingual service uh bilingual speech language evaluation services. Are those similar? So why are we using two different vendors? Mr. answer. We actually use three different vendors. It's based on who's available and what service they provide. Ada Pereira only does Spanish translations for us, but Cross Country and um Learning Tree do a variety of languages. Got it. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, seeing none, if I can direct your attention to the addendum. On the addendum,

085item number one on student achievement. Actually, it's actually labeled number two. So, it's item number two on the addendum for student achievement. And we're simply asking you to approve the revised academic calendar. Since we are ending the school year on June 18th, that's when the third trimester for students in grades K through 5 and the fourth marking period for students in grades 6 through 12 will end. And because of that, we use it usually takes us about a week, especially at the end of the year, to generate those report cards. So, report cards for both groups will be issued on June 25th. Any questions on that or anything else on student achievement? And number two, on governance, which you can find on the regular addendum, I mean regular agenda page 17. Um, we're just we

086we're revising the summer hours. During our previous meeting, you approved a motion in which the summer hours would begin for our 12-month staff on the 23rd of June. We're correcting that. It should have been the 20th of June. Okay. So, that's it for governance. Any questions on that? So, let's move on to personnel. We do have one of those bittersweet moments. As you know from earlier today, Mrs. Coleman was our governor's educator of the year and she's also retiring this year. So after 32 years as a music educator for the Serville public schools, Mrs. Amy Coleman will take her final bow in June. Mrs. Coleman began her time in Seville at the middle school as a seventh and eighth grade instrumental music teacher and assistant band director. She has shared her talent by serving as

087a pianist for the high school and middle school performances, making her a valuable asset to the music program overall. Mrs. Coleman briefly shared her love of music with her titles uh with her littles at the Arthle uh school before becoming uh before going to the Stamell Upper Elementary School in 2004. Mrs. Skullman's great interest and passion for music radiates from her under her leadership. The instrumental band program has grown and flourished because of her. Mrs. Coleman also co-led the drama club at SAMEL for several years, too. She has served as the PLC leader, faculty advisor member, and has presented several times on staff development days. Mrs. Mrs. Coleman has shared her passion with many student observers and student teachers through the years and for many years has worked with students at her on her own

088time at the Central Jersey Music Educators Association Elementary Honors Band rehearsals and performances. Mrs. Amy Coleman's love of teaching is evident in her daily actions. She has formed strong bands bonds, excuse me, with students and their families over the years. bands too. Bands too. Working with all fifth graders at the Samoa Upper Elementary School, she pushes her students of various abilities to be the absolute best they can be. She easily links music to other subject areas with her humor, compassion, and that joy of hers that allows her students to understand and enjoy the history, melodies, and instruments of music. Mrs. Amy Coleman is a loved member of the Samoil Upper Elementary School and the greater Serville community. For over 30 years, three decades, Amy has poured her heart and her soul into teaching music and

089her impact on students is immeasurable. Mrs. Coleman has not only taught music, but also the importance of teamwork, perseverance, and the power of expression through music. Her influence has shaped countless young musicians. Thank you, Mrs. Coleman, for sharing your passion for music with all of us. As you retire, may you enjoy this new harmonious chapter of your life as you as you march to your own beat in your own band. On behalf of the board of education and the students and staff of the Saveville public schools, we wish Mrs. is Amy Coleman nothing but the very best in her retirement. So that was number one on page 17. Numbers 10 and 12 which you can find on page 21. We're asking you to hire new certificated non-distated staff not only for this school year but

090for the next school year. Numbers 13 through 15 and number 33 which can be found on pages 22 and 23 and the addendum. We're asking to approve the transfer certificated and non-certificated staff for this school year and for next school year. Number 18, which you can find in pages 24 through 26, we're asking to approve uh the appointment of coaches for the summer, fall, and winter seasons uh the 2025 2026 summer, fall, and winter seasons uh with their stipens. Likewise, number 19, which you can find also on page 26 through 29, we're asking to approve uh the appointment of adviserss with their stipens for the 2025 2026 school year. numbers 21 and through 23 which you can find on pages 29 and 30. We're asking you to appoint personnel for the middle school summer credit

091completion ACUPPLACER English language arts and math preparation and the New Jersey graduation performance uh assessment English language arts and math preparation summer programs. So all three summer programs we're asking to approve personnel for those. And then finally, numbers 24 through 27, which you can find on pages 30 and 31, and number 36, which you can find in the addendum, we're asking you to approve the employment renewal for all certificated administrative, certificated faculty, paraprofessionals, and certificated central administrative personnel for the 2025 2026 school year. Any questions on those or any other items on personnel? Yeah, Dr. Labby, I have one question. I noticed that we are um continuing with the ROC with uh Colonel Tomasi, but we're losing our other I believe that was on the previous agenda. Was that previous? Yes. But he's So, do

092we do we need two or are we okay with just one? No, we will need another person. Okay. So, we will be putting that out. That was on the last agenda, correct? Right. I believe so. Yeah, I'm looking and I'm not It's on this one. Is is Sergeant Nolton on this agenda? Nton. Oh, so that's on this agenda, Mrs. I can't find. So, we will be posting a vacancy probably, huh? Page 18. Yeah. Sergeant Nolton is on page 18. So, we will be posting a vacancy for his position. Okay. That was my Colonel Tamasi is going to need the assistance of a master sergeant. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. the questions. Okay, this is Bloom. We need to approve the superintendence report. Yes, we need a motion and a second. Need a motion, please. So move.

093Okay, sorry. So, I got Mrs. I'm sorry, Mr. Smith and Mrs. Pabone. Okay. Mr. Callahan, yes. Mrs. Chedkowski, yes. Mr. Fernandez, yes. Mrs. Hernandez, yes. Mrs. Meldonado, yes. Mrs. Pabone, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mrs. Bloom, yes. Okay. At this time, we will open to public for any comments. I will remind you that our time is limited to 30 minutes. Seville residents, please speak first. Uh each speaker has three minutes and if you intend to speak, please line up so that we save time. Good evening. My name is Stephen Chicowski. I'm a servo resident. Um I spoke here some sessions ago. Uh when I came I first talked about my family coming here from Poland 1911. Went to serville high school right through to uh my family me going to serville high school. I did that

094not because I thought you guys really cared about that, but to let you know that I'm not someone who moved here. I grew up in Seville. I'm familiar with Saraveville. I went to St. Stannis Los Costa Church, St. Stannis Los school, proud of my Roman Catholic upbringing. And um I think you guys are out of touch with your constituency. I don't think you guys understand who Serville is. And even though Serbil is still no longer a dominant Roman Catholic Polish household or or town, it still is very conservative. The people of uh the Hindu faith who have moved in, people of Islamic faith who were more here, they're very conservative. And as I went through doortodoor talking about 5756 this past summer, none of them were supportive of it. and everyone was angry about their

095taxes. So, Seville is still a very conservative town when it comes to morals, values, and ethics. You guys are no longer in touch with your constituency and 5756 putting a division between parents and their children. um exposing children to morals and values that parents would have control of and that you guys shouldn't be parenting with. Um you're out of touch. I would say that I was here and I listened to Superintendent Labby talk about how much they were trying to save money and keep it at 1.8% for this coming spending term. But you guys have spent money. You took the 2% to the full degree when it went up to 5.8%. You guys took that. On top of that, you pushed forth a 94 million referendum on several tax several taxes for several residents. And

096now you're like, "Hey, we're going to go to 1.8%." But to keep 5756, you're willing to lose federal funding and cost several residents more taxes. You guys are out of touch. So, I think um Jeff Smith, um Lucy Bloom, uh Chris Callahan, I think I have the names right. If I'm wrong, I apologize. You guys are going to be running for reelection or not. This is going to be the topic for several residents, your stance on taxes, your stance on 5756, and your stance on parents and teachers. So, I'm glad that you vote so that people know where you stand. God bless you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Joe Compia, resident, uh, Haven Terrace. Been here for 22 years. Didn't grow up here, but long time. Um, if I told you

097that the bottle of water in front of you had an 86% chance of having raw sewage in it, would you drink it? Would you give it to your child to drink? If I told you that one of our playgrounds had an 86% chance of harming or killing your child, would you allow your child to play on that playground? Would you be more angry at me for not telling you that there was an 86% chance of your child being harmed? Well, I want to tell you today that according to the NIH, 56% of transgender youth, specific to youth, reported su a suicide attempt and 86% reported suicidality. That's 86%. And that's the NIH. That's not the Bible. That's not the GOP. That's the National Institute for Health telling us that. So what the researchers are telling

098us is very clear that transgender youth have a drastically higher risk of dying by suicide than the general population. 86% that's very very high. And so the conclusion that we all have to come to which these researchers have come to is that transgender tendencies are equated with suicidal tendencies. If 86% of children died or almost died from anything, parents would know. We would be told, you would be warning us. There would be signs up everywhere. But a child who comes to a teacher or faculty member and says that they are that they have gender dysphoria is that teacher does not have to tell a parent. That is not right. There is an 86% chance that that child is telling that teacher or faculty member that they are giving you a red flag. I am I

099could be suicidal. 86% chance that I am suicidal. That's what they're saying to that teacher. And we because of policy 5756 are not allowing teachers not allowing but not even making them tell parents. That is a drastic risk that you're taking with our children. And teachers, as great as they are, are not mental health professionals. They are not qualified to make those decisions. And no matter how many inservices they do, they're not going to be qualified for that. So I'm here today to ask you to please for the safety of children. If you want to save that one life, one life, 86%, the better chance is to tell the parents. If you're saying that telling parents is a danger, then you're indicting every parent in Seville. We are innocent until proven guilty. You cannot say

100that parents are the danger to the children without proof. So we need to know when there's an 86% chance that our children could be suicidal. So please, please resend policy 56. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My name is uh Bob Hoffman from Obridge and I have an article here issued by Hillsdale College located in Michigan. The title is inside the transgender empire. I have copies of this article and can offer them to anyone who wants one. The first paragraph states, "The transgender movement is pressing its agenda everywhere. Most publicly, activist teachers are using classrooms to propagandize on its behalf. And activist health professionals are promoting the mutilation of children under the euphemistic banner of gender affirming care. The sudden and pervasive rise of this movement provokes two questions. Where did this come from? And

101how has it proved to be so successful? The story goes deeper than most Americans know. In the late 1980s, four academics established the disciplines of queer theory and transgender studies. These academics believed gender to be a social construct to be used to oppress racial and sexual minorities and they denounced the traditional charact categories of men and women as a false binary that was conceived to support the system of men and women. This system they argued had to be ruthlessly deconstructed. If men can be women and women can be men, they believe the natural structure of creation could be toppled. I believe we are dealing with a spiritual battle between good and evil. Demonic forces exist which can take control of human beings. The Bible talks about this. You may have a different opinion than mine,

102but because God gave us a free will to choose our beliefs. Jesus told us to speak the truth and gentleness to all. That is why people from Oldbridge are here to present a different viewpoint. We believe that God created families with parents who are responsible for taking care of their children. When any outside individual either influences or supports it to investigate, supports a child to investigate changing their sex and withhold notifying parents. It causes a breakdown in the family structure. It is this concern that this transforming of culture has some political motives that align with Marxist philosophy. It is one of their primary beliefs that separating children from the family and bringing them under the control by the state is critical to achieving their agenda. The founding fathers, particularly Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, advocated

103a wall of separation between church and state. This is not in the constitution. But we know when the church is excluded from the public discourse, regimes like Nazi Germany can take society down a path of evil and destruction. The Bible encourages obedience to governing authorities. But when laws conflict with God's commands, Christians are instructed to obey God rather than man. This is clear to me when Jesus said, "If anyone causes one of these little ones to believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a millstone hung around their neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea." In conclusion, I hope I was able to give you some food for thought regarding policy 575. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll leave these uh articles right here if

104anybody's interested. Okay. Good evening. Dan Finny, Colts. Children deserve to hear truth from the adults in their lives, not affirmation they were born in the wrong body. They deserve to be protected as children, especially from themselves at that age. 5756 does not provide protections for trans kids. But there are several policies along with state law that do and those apply to all our kids. This idea we need 5756 to protect vulnerable kids from parents is ludicrous. And what about the other twothirds of every day, weekends, holidays, and summer break? It doesn't even protect them from being outed, which by the way is an insulting term used by those who don't respect parental rights. What it does do is offer accommodations, special rights, and newfound autonomy to minors with no age barrier. That's right. Affirm without

105question applies to first and second graders too. And there is no affirmative duty to inform the parents. What it does do is serve to validate an ideology born largely out of social contagion and undermine long-held social norms and religious beliefs. Question. Why is all this deference toward those struggling with gender confusion and the trans transgender community coupled with a demand to affirm without question, without diagnosis or any other criteria what are feelingsbased identity decisions? And why is the explicit message in 5756 get on board with the affirmative care model or administrators are to consult with legal counsel on the minor child's rights and parents are to be referred to what are actually transgender advocacy organizations and perhaps DIYs? What about affirmation and protections for our young girls? What about respect for our aspiring young female

106athletes? Where is the feminist movement? Where are the men standing up to fulfill their protective role? Our young girls are being put at risk. Modesty is being thrown out and truth is being redefined as a feelings-based relativity. In spite of a long list of valid reasons to get rid of this divisive and harmful policy and a flood of more recent information from experts and large studies being provided and executive orders to boot, several on this board have continued to be dismissive and show disdain for those voicing concerns on this issue. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] Hello, good evening. I'm Kim Bland from Old Bridge and we um have a family business in Sarville. Thank you to all the teachers, schoolboard members, and administrators who love our children and your students. You are appreciated. That's

107one thing we all have in common. We have the children in their best interest at heart. We just see things differently. May I propose honest and open communication between schools, teachers, and parents? Shouldn't parents, most of whom love their children more than anything in the world and would die for their children, be made aware if their child is hurt or suffering? And shouldn't parents who have been blessed with these children to love, guide, nurture, teach, and protect them for a short 18 years or so be made aware of very significant issues regarding their child in school like changes concerning gender or what pronoun they want to be called? How is it good or acceptable for the school to keep such information from a parent? And how does this build trust between the school and the

108family? And do these secrets not discourage trust between a child and parent? Please resend policy 5756. I thank you for your consideration. Hello, I'm Carolyn um Mac and I do live in Oldbridge and I've been at this podium quite a few times now. I want to draw your attention to the open public meetings act because it seems that at most every board of education meeting someone comes to this podium or speaks from the board to malign the outsiders saying that they should not be allowed to just come up here and say whatever they want. We've heard this numerous times. I'm given the right and the opportunity to speak tonight in accordance with section 10 4-12 of the open public meetings act which directs school boards that all meetings shall be open to the public at

109all times and that a board of education shall be required to set aside a portion of every meeting for public comment on any district issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern. Again, yes, the Open Public Meetings Act allows residents and non-residents alike to be here and to say whatever they want. You must know this. And yet, I've never heard you correct the misunderstanding. I've waited for the lawyer or Dr. Labby or the board president to correct the notion that only residents of Seerville should be allowed to speak. Interestingly, this objection always comes from one side of the aisle. It comes from those who are pro-5756, the ones who believe the school has no obligation to inform the parent if their child begins showing signs of gender dysphoria. If you truly

110want openness and fairness, please stop the bullying and the attempts to shut down anyone who doesn't agree with you. When we appeal to you to resend this wicked policy that says boys must be allowed to use the girls locker rooms and bathrooms and participate in girls sports, our appeals are based in reality and out of concern for the children and especially the girls who can be harmed by dysphoric boys invading the girls private spaces. At last month's meeting, Mrs. Chedcowski, Mrs. Maldonado, and Mrs. Hernandez clearly, logically, and eloquently explained why this policy should be rescended and why it is not necessary to keep it due to existing LA and FURPA laws. Yet, the other six board members voted to keep the policy. Let's be grounded in reality as we discuss 5756. Anorexia is an eating

111disorder in which a person wrongly believes herself to be overweight when in reality she is not. If an anorexic underweight teenager goes to a doctor and says, "I want lipos suction," that doctor would be committing malpractice if he indulged the illusion and performed lipos suction. It does not help the patient who believes something that is not true. We cannot cater to feelings that aren't grounded in reality. Please stop indulging children in the lies they can change their gender. Please rescend 5756. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Ron Mack. I live in Oldbridge. Uh I want to We live in an area that's very rich in history. Uh a lot of the United States doesn't have this ability. Um we live 20 miles from this point right here to the Monmouth battlefield. We've been

112there a few times. We're 212 miles from the Gettysburg battlefield and some of you have probably been there. In the movie by that name Gettysburg, a scene is depicted on day one of the battle where the Confederate soldiers are captured by the Union Army. On July 1st, 1863, their war was over. When these southern soldiers were asked why the Confederate soldiers were fighting, they said, "We are not fighting for slavery." They said they were fighting for slaves, for states rights. But do you know what? Those Confederate soldiers were in fact fighting for slavery. Um uh I want to even if they didn't think they were fighting to preserve slavery, they were fighting for slavery. I want to introduce you to a word, a word that begins with an X. Xenomia. Xenomia. It's a condition where

113by a person, in this case, a minor in the Seville schools, wants to cut off their arm, their leg, or another perfectly good and working part of their own body. It's a real condition. I really want to cut off my right leg. Okay? But guess what? You can't. At the last board of education meeting, six of you voted to support xenomia. Three of you voted against it. the people of Sarville, there should be a nine to zero vote uh to keep minor children from going anywhere near this path to protect them. Again, I'm not fighting for slavery. I'm not fighting for xenomia, which is minor mutilation, by the way. Actually, you are. The six who voted, you are just like the Confederate soldier, whether you believe it or not. For the parents of Sarville watching

114this online tonight and in the future, in the last meeting, the people who voted for Xenomia are Lucy Bloom, Jeffrey Smith, Christopher Callahan, Eloy Fernandez, Allison Npalitano, and Eileen Pavon. Resend 5756. If you can save just one kid from taking this first step down the transgender road, then vote to resend 5756. The counseling path ends oftentimes with to minor mutilation are and they're statist statistically 19 times more likely to commit suicide. It's exact opposite of what's being portrayed by the other side. Have a good evening and thank you very much. Thank you. Good evening. Paul Lun, Woodbridge Township. I've been going to board of ed meetings for two years in Woodbridge and around the state. I feel compelled to because I I don't I I hate lies and injustice. I think everyone agrees here. But

115who's telling the lies and where is the injustice? We have a disagreement there. Um I would say this, a transgender activist came to our school and it was for professional development purposes. I asked him two questions. I he was surprised how well-versed I was on the topic. Number one, um he made assumptions I guess based on my appearance. But I asked him two things. I said if 80% of transgender ideiation or thoughts desist by the time they end, you know, reach the end of puberty means they go away. The confusion and and the awkwardness not being comfortable in their skin disappears. Now, I've seen in the literature between 60 and 90%, 80% is is the one I see most consistently. If that's the case, do you see why it's controversial to affirm before they've had

116a chance to desist from these this confusing time? Maybe they determined that it was their uh their sexual orientation and not truly being in the wrong body. The other question I asked him, I said, I I hear a lot about uh uh suicide that that to affirm is to uh to help avoid suicide, but yet when I look it up, when I Google it, I can't find any clear and firm statistics there. People are citing statistics and numbers all the time. And he said, and and this was a a question I asked privately. He said, "Well, quite honestly, uh medical examiners, they don't go into detail. it's suicide, but they don't read notes and and say, "Well, suicide by this reason or that reason." So, if the whole premise of protecting the kids, not outing

117the kids, uh not risking that if they're not affirmed, they might commit suicide, if that's all based on lies or in or or or false premises because there really are no hard statistics around suicide, then would this board reconsider its position? I know there's no legal comp compulsion, but shouldn't you be as well-versed as possible when you're making a decision that can have such a dramatic impact? There was a time years ago when you had to have two years of psychotherapy and most transgender was was among uh grown-ups, mostly men, who had a lot of time to wrestle with that. Now with the tr I'm going to use a word that might offend the transdemic and the social contagion and all all the cheerleaders on Tik Tok and and and Tumblr. Now that they're cheering

118on that community and we have an explosion of people who think they are, shouldn't you guys be better informed to make a better decision around this policy? Thank you. Good evening board and thank you for having us speak out. Uh my name is Lillian Rivera from Monro Township. Um mine is going to be very short. Supporters of this policy say it's needed to protect students, especially those who may feel unsafe telling their parents they identify as transgender. On the surface, that sounds very compassionate, but it raises serious questions. How does the school determine what's unsafe? Are you saying the word that a child is all it takes to label a parent as a potentially dangerous parent without investigation, context, or communication? What would be that process? That kind of thinking puts us, every parent, under

119suspicion. It assumes that unless a school official says otherwise, the home is a threat. We already have systems in place as people have mentioned here and as you know, um I lost my spot. Gu um in place guidance counselors DCF mandatory reporting to deal with true cases of abuse or harm. This policy isn't about that. It's about bypassing parents entirely, even when there's no evidence of danger, among other things. It replaces real safety measures with broad assumptions and secretive decisions made by school personnel who have the best interests of the children and intent, but who don't live in these homes or know these families. This policy is just that a policy. It is definitely not a state law. We are talking about young minds still in development, still learning, still growing. The limited long-term studies

120of children into adulthood, 20 years plus, are still unknown. Our children are not experiments. And the solution to confusion is not to cut parents out. It's to bring us in to create an environment where families and schools work together, not against each other. Thank you for your time. Thank you. No, we had nine people. should be more. Hello, Steve Fischer. Uh 58 Kier Street. Uh I want to thank the board for bringing the the teachers of the year here tonight. It was great to see him. It was great to see people that I worked with for so many years and it really was uh exciting. I was uh particularly struck by uh Mr. Nuremberger, the principal of the middle school, as he described the whirlwind activity that happens in a middle school. I happened to

121teach there for 31 years, and the energy and the excitement and everything that goes on there is totally amazing. So, here's how I would describe it after 42 years of teaching. It is the age of the most profound physical changes. It is the time of the deepest emotional development. It is the phase where peer influence is most powerful. It is the stage where balancing the privacy and communication of the family unit has its greatest challenge. That's what happens there with those children and their parents. So let's investigate and let's look what does policy 5756 say about that joyous time of conflict. Well, Dickens says it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. And that's how it feels in that building because you it's so much excitement going on and so much

122change. But policy 5756 says if you're in grade 8, no parental consent is necessary for a student asserted gender identity. That's amazing. So, let's hang them out there. From preK to five, the parents have to know. But in the magical place of the junior high or the middle school, freedom, you make the decision. You decide. Let the child, the developing child decide without their parents' consent. Let's keep it a secret. Don't tell anybody. We will upset the balance of the communication between the parents. That's what that says. That's what's happening in that policy. Now, that really grieves me because I spent most of my life in that building working with those children and every day and Mr. Nester was there. He could tell you he's a guidance counselor. I hear parents come in here and

123thank him for helping their children as they rush to their phone to solve a problem. I see a parent come up here and identify as a dad. a dad. Not his name, but a dad. Why? Because he's a great father. Well, so are the people of these sixth and eighth graders that by you. Yes, you passing this policy, you're saying, "No, parents, you can't know. This is a secret. This is a file." I find that I can't even use the words to Please change your minds. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, seeing that we've had 10 speakers and our 30 minute time limit is done, I'm closing public. Are there any board members who would like to make any comments at this time? I do have a a a comment. When I was driving home from the

124last meeting after we had shared our statements and after um lady had submitted the motion to resend and I had seconded it and in a matter of minutes a vote was called. My head was spinning. I had thought that the vote that we were doing was to add it to the agenda. Uh so that we could have the two public readings which are standard for any policy changes or amendments to give the public first of all the the notice because they would see it on the agenda that a policy was up for any kind of vote either you know whether to be amended or to be rescended or introducing a new policy. uh two public readings gives the Seville community opportunity to come out and give their opinion, their concerns, their support uh for whatever

125the decision is that is listed on the public agenda. Um, so I would like to submit the motion to allow the two public readings to give the public an opportunity given that yes, we've heard a lot of testimony and we've heard a lot of comments and uh you board members who have been on the board a lot longer than us have been hearing comments about 5756 for over a year, two years, three years now. But those comments were brought to the microphone as concerns, but not as comments about a vote that was about to take place. And I do believe that we have robbed the community of an opportunity to be aware that this was up for vote. Um so I would like to and also reading through you know this board adopted Robert's rules

126as the governing administration of our meetings uh to resend repeal or enull any vote taken by an assembly except those mentioned further on may be rescended by a majority vote or not. In this case we were seeking to resend um the vote was not to. We know where the board stands on that but regardless uh may be rescended by a majority vote provided notice of the motion has been given at the previous meeting or in the call for this meeting. Uh so I am asking that we give the public that to public reading. I also went to other districts uh in New Jersey to their minutes and the uh the videos of their meetings that have rescended this policy or other policies that they were bringing a vote on. Uh and policy issues were given

127a two public reading. So unless I can be shown otherwise, this board uh should give this a two public reading. Um it's not for new policy. It's to resend, repeal, and a null. It's any policy changes. Uh and and even if you know someone can show me a line in our bylaws that gets us out of doing a public reading, I think it would be appropriate to have it on the printed have it on the agenda. So people would see if they see that it's not on agenda, they're not, you know, some people might not come out because it's not, you know, it's not up for a vote. That's what I am asking the board is to give it the proper to public reading. Again, Mrs. Bloom. I don't I don't want to interfere with

128the board's business with regard to what Mrs. Chakowski is asking. However, in the 11 years that I've been in Sville, anytime we've abolished a policy or rescended a policy, it did not require two readings. It it just was up for vote to abolish. And my understanding is that when you call for a motion to resin, then it's voted on. That's right. and it was voted on the previous meeting. Now, when we go ahead and we make revisions to a policy, that's where we ask the board to read it once. Mhm. And then read it again for a second time. In this particular case, the vote was to abolish or rescend it. And that does not require two readings. And in the past, we've never used two readings. Agreed. Anyone else have comments? I would ask

129if you could um if you could send me that portion in our bylaws and show me where uh because two readings for any policy change and I did not look at this, you know, quickly. I've been looking at it since our last meeting, different sources, reading through Robert's rules and looking at other district boards of education and you know what I've seen them. I remember when I was actually looking at this board, there was a decision brought to the table. Um this is reading from some from an agenda in past the board of education uh approved for a first reading of the below regulation. It was regarding grading. So I even if I would ask that someone can show me what is the policy with regard to changes to policy uh when uh two public

130readings is something that we would do. But again even if someone can show me listen Carrie this isn't something that is in our bylaws. We're not required to do this. I'm not interested in how things have been done. I want to look at our bylaws and what our bylaws require because I do feel that we we cast a vote on something without the public knowing that we were you know what we wanted to do was give the public opportunity. We submitted the motion to res lady submitted the motion to resend to give the public notice that we were looking to resend this policy. we were going to we were going to bring it to vote um and then the public would have opportunity to come out and express you know uh their thoughts on that.

131So to answer one of your questions go ahead um outside of a motion board of education members do not put agenda items on I I make recommendations. The chief school administrator makes the recommendations or motions for board of education members to vote on. The only time that I don't make a recommendation is when you yourselves call for a motion. It's second and the whole board votes on it. So in this particular case, I did not go ahead and put that policy up for vote to rescend or abolish. So it's not it wasn't on the agenda. Right. If I may, when you're when you're looking at Robert's rules and you're looking at what the motion is, Robert's rules just guides us in the way we conduct our meetings. I understand it does not govern us for

132what we do. What governs us Department of Education regulations for boards of educations. So, and you mentioned before, you know, our bylaws. Well, if if our bylaws are silent on something, what prevails is our past practice. And in our past practice, we've never ever asked the board to have two readings on a policy that we've abolished. And if you go back through all the board meetings that we've had, at least since I've been here, there have been plenty of policies that we've abolished. And we just do it once. I put on there to asking the board to abolish it, and it's abolished. The only times that we ask Board of Education members to approve something for a first reading or a second reading is when we are asking you to read a brand new policy

133in its entirety or to read revisions to a policy. That's the only time that we've ever asked the board to approve a first and a second reading. And if you'd like to, you can go back through our board minutes. I welcome you to do that. you will see that anytime we've abolished a policy, it's just been up for one's vote. Well, I will say a couple things to that and I appreciate you sharing your answer. I think that the right and good thing to do in this situation, I'm speaking to my fellow board members. I think the right and good thing to do is to give the public opportunity. They had no opportunity to come out with the knowledge that a policy as controversial as this policy is, it has been at the front of

134debate for years, for at least three years. It has been the hottest point of debate in the past year. It was the hottest point of debate during our campaign and our election. This is something that the families should have been made aware of. It wasn't our intent for it to be, you know, a quick vote and what and the notice that they receive is that it was put up to be rescended and it was voted immediately. It wasn't on the agenda. What I'm asking is that we give it the two readings. Let the public know that this is up for vote. Now, in comment to to what you said about Robert's rules, this board adopted Robert's rules. They didn't say, "Let's use it as a guide." It was adopted into our bylaws. That's written in

135our policies. Parents can see that. So, if we're going to in a and to that point, other districts, I mean, most districts use Robert's rules, most boards do. In Edison, when the board put up 5756 to be rescended, a vote was done uh on that day. it was, you know, deemed invalid because they didn't give the public two readings to know that this this controversial issue was coming up for debate. It was a policy change. So, they had to redo it. They gave it the two readings and they gave it another vote. It doesn't matter the results of that vote, but that's an example of how Robert's rules can be used so that every voice is heard. That was the original intent of Robert's rules was that every single voice would be heard. In this

136case, the Seerville, the voice of the voters, the parents in Seville was not given a voice in this because the vote was done without it, you know, being put on the agenda and given a public reading and giving parents an opportunity. And if they don't mind me responding to that again, I'll say it again. Robert's rules is just the procedures that we use to run a meeting. We follow Robert's rules in order to keep order in our meetings. It doesn't govern the actions of this board. It assists the board in running the meeting in an orderly fashion. That is its purpose. And listen, you might have different information than I have with regard to what occurred in Edison, but I happen to know people in Edison. And the matter that you're referencing, the reason why

137it was determined not to be an allowable vote was because it happened in closed session. you and because it happened in close session, that's why people refuted it and compelled it to be voted on in public. I may um I have watched the video of that meeting. It was in public session. um that that had occurred and I will say that yes, Robert's rules was uh written and designed uh to create order and uh you know a structure for board meetings but the spirit behind it was also to ensure that every single voice was heard. You know submitting a motion having it seconded by the way submitting a motion having it seconded opens the question on the table. It was it was supposed to be an opportunity for us as a board to dialogue about

138this. We didn't dialogue at all. I know the opinions of some of my board members on this. I know that. But what I wanted to do, what I was looking forward to doing is after we shared a very very detailed rationale for for why we feel that that policy should be rescended. I was looking forward to hearing rationale from my fellow board members. I respect everyone has your individual opinions but a board of diverse opinions when a motion is presented is supposed to dialogue about it. We didn't dialogue about it. There was a vote taken. So that's it. We voted about it. I'd like to I just think what what is the point that you want to get? Are you trying to get something? Do you want us to vote on something again? My point

139if I if I can circle back. My point is that we submitted the motion. It was seconded. The vote was done without the the public should have been made aware that this policy because of how controversial and what a hot topic this policy is. The public should have been made aware so they could have opportunity to come out and give their opinion because many of you have said where are all the people who are against this policy? Well, we should have given them an opportunity like it's on the table now for vote. We're trying to resend it. Come on out and give your opinion. Let the board hear your opinions for or against. It should have been if it was on the agenda for us to discuss it as a question on the table. The

140public would could see the agenda and see that that was on the agenda and give them an opportunity to come out or email us or submit their comments. And Mrs. Chowski, what with all due respect, I'm sorry, Mr. Callahan, what makes you believe that the public is not aware of what transpires during these board meetings? because the public is fully aware of what transpires during these board meetings. I think that when we have their agenda, they see them. They see them. They they see the minutes. They see I know a lot of people don't read Talk Soup, but it's in it's in every it's in every edition of Talk Soup where it's talked about. Trust me, the members of the public are fully aware of what's been going on. Excuse me. Excuse me, you're out

141of order. The public portion is over. You're out of order. I apologize. The public is fully aware of what is going on. The comments that I get from parents, the comments that I get from staff, the comments that I've been receiving from students who have been watching these meetings because of what's been going on. In fact, I have students that want me to read their statements, which I may. I haven't decided to or not. But the public is fully aware of what is going on at these meetings and what is being contested at these meetings for the past three years. Well, and and Dr. about public awareness. Public awareness. We've seen I've been on this board now for three years. Not as long as a lot of members, but enough to have seen some interesting

142things transpire. The public of Sville tends to be apathetic when it comes to the board of education. It's sad to say. Normally, for three years, I sat out here and I looked at nobody in the audience. I saw people out here when we were fighting for the Morgan Barfields. I saw people out here when we were fighting for theater upgrades. I saw people out here when we were fighting over football issues. That's about it. I have never seen the public out here or cared enough about any policy that we've implemented. I don't care if it's discipline, grades, whatever. This policy has been around since the Chris Christie administration. It had two readings. Nobody came out to fight it. Nobody objected to it almost eight years ago when this policy became policy. It's a hot topic

143now because it's a talking point in our society. This policy uses the word may in it. We've learned from several discussions with our attorney over lots of issues. in legal terms may mean something very different than shall or will. I may drink this water. I may not drink this water. I shall drink this water means I'm going to drink this water. The word may tell parents. May not tell parents doesn't prohibit anybody from telling parents. It doesn't prohibit our guidance counselors from telling parents. It doesn't prohibit principles or teachers or anybody from telling parents. It tells them they may consider it. That's it. People want to spin the word may into being a lot of different things, but may in a legal sense of a policy like this isn't a definitive. So that's one of

144the reasons I I don't feel this needs to be overturned. I feel that this entire policy is wrapped around law in the state of New Jersey. Whether a transgender athlete can play in a boys or a girl sport, I may have my opinion on it, but state law in New Jersey tells me what it's going to be regardless of my opinion. This is not the arena to fight that in. probably my state legislator, my state senator would be the one to fight that with. I just don't understand. You know, I appreciate my other board members. I don't think any of you are homophobic or against any child or anything like that. I think you all have the best interest in art. I think we're just beating a dead horse here. I think we are listening

145to our residents of Sarville. I know I'm listening to residents of Seville. Residents of Serville are concerned about taxes are concerned about athletics in school, theater in school, you know, phonics in school, math scores in school. I see more disputes on Facebook and everything else like that about what our test scores are doing. And I don't disagree with parents. I've questioned about curriculum and stuff here a lot of times. This policy I just feel like we're we're digging up a topic that's a political hot topic right now for the sake of that and not because anybody's really understanding what this policy is about and that's just my opinion on this policy. Thank you. Anyone else? If I may, I think that to say that the community of Seville, you know, just doesn't care about this

146topic because we don't see this room packed. You know, they do care about this. When we when we were campaigning, I think different than any other different than many other board of education elections, we had to campaign hard. We went door todoor. We went to over 8,000 homes in Syville. It was not an ignorant vote. The 27 or some thousand votes that put us in these seats were not ignorant votes. It was not a bingo ball selection of one, two, three. I can say that because we educated the community on who we were and what we were running on. They cared about the issue because they voted us into these seats. So that shows us that instead of voting for the incumbent and a very wellrespected businessman and another well-known father in the community, they

147voted us in. And that speaks a lot louder than many here, I think, are giving it credit for. What we are doing is due diligence to honor those votes and to honor those uh parents in the community and voters in the community who showed us that this is not uh beating a dead horse. This is not a dead topic. This is important. It's important and that's why we are still talking about it. um you know to say that they don't deserve to you you say well you we've been talking about this issue for a long time look I know what's happening at every presidential election as it comes around monthto month I listen to the debates on television I know exactly what's happening with every candidate and their platform but I'll tell you what once

148I know it's up for a vote I am out there to you know voice my uh position with my vote so it is important that we do let the community know when a vote is about to happen on an a a subject as important as this one. Yes, they're aware that this has been talked about, but were they aware that we were going to vote on it? That is my point. That is my request that we give the public an opportunity to know this is when we're going to cast a vote for this. We're going to give it two public readings. It's not unheard of. It is done uh in a lot of other districts. And I will stand on you know you know the Robert's rules rationale. It is not just to create order

149in a board meeting. It is it is to ensure that every single voice is heard. Okay. We're streaming here. We have audience members here. We're all active on social media. Why don't we say right now at the next board meeting one of you will bring up the motion. Next board meeting, have people pro and against it from Sarville come out and make your voices heard. That's as effective as putting it on the agenda because more people are probably listening to me on YouTube than are going to read the agenda. So that's probably a more effective way. Next next meeting, have the pros come out, have the against come out, and let your voices be heard. I'm not going to say no to that suggestion. I I and what what would mean more to me is

150that and you've shared more than any other board member here who holds the position of keeping the policy in place and I listened to every word you said because it's the first time that one of you has actually taken the time to explain some part of your position on this. But yes, I would appreciate some more time to dialogue about this as a board. I don't we're new to this board. We don't know many of you. I can't say that that I know Eloy so I understand his position on this and I know Lucy so well that I understand her rationale and why she wants to keep this. We don't know and we would appreciate some more dialogue about this and we would appreciate yes giving the the community um at least the knowledge that

151we are going to uh hold a vote for this and give them opportunity. Um, I just want to say I think I've been quite clear about my position with regard to this policy, why I support it, um, why I don't want to rescend it. So, if anybody has any wonder about what I think, watch the tapes because I've had I've had a lot of debates here over this, okay? When people come up and use the word demonic forces to explain this policy or their position, immediately demonic forces, um, Marxist philosophies, Nazi Germany, it's all under God's commands. This is nothing to do with this policy. So, if you want to change my mind, bring me facts that actually make sense. But speaking about religion and God and Jesus is not going to change my mind.

152I will continue and if I'm the only person on this board to do it, I do not care. But I will continue to support the policy because I support that one child. And I know somebody said, "Oh, if you want to save one life," that's been said a few times already. I will save one life. And I don't care if any of you agree or not. I'm entitled to my vote. You don't like what I say, don't fall vote for me again. But I've been voted for twice and two times I was in the same position as you. One on the ballot and the people on one, two, three get elected. Thank God. I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad I got elected by default of where I was on the position. And I held no

153grander in my mind that I was voted in for any other reason except for my luck of the lottery ball. So, nobody likes what I say. Oh, well. Eileen, I I'll agree with you on the the one kid thing because somebody did re um mention a survey by NA NIH tonight about 86% of transgender youth having suicidal thoughts. Not acting on it, thank God, not acting on it, but having those kind of thoughts. And yeah, the NIH did say that, but it went on to say that the driving force behind transgender youth having suicidal thoughts was due to discrimination, stig stigma, prejudice, lack of recognition, lack of family acceptance, lack of acceptance in school, exacerbated feelings because of isolation. This is what's driving kids to suicide. Having a policy that actually recognizes a marginalized group

154may save one kid. It will save one kid. And I just want to say again that I have listened to people come up to this podium and talk about how we now I don't know if you were here, Carrie, but they actually said it and it's on video. I'm not making this up. Okay? They actually said that we are grooming the autistic children to be transgendered so they're popular. Like these statements that come out of these people's mouths is ridiculous. And they reinforce I'll tell you right now till a year and a half ago this was not a topic. We never had a discussion about it until they started showing up. So this was not a topic in Seyville. It wasn't a concern in Seyville. We have had no issues with this topic in Seyville.

155Absolutely not one. You have kids in the school or your kids coming home complaining about it. No, they're not. You don't have any kids in the school now. Your kids are grown. So is mine. But the fact is is that this is not an issue in our town. Other people are making it an issue, an outside issue, talking about all this religious stuff. Religion is not for the board of ed. We're not here to talk about God. And I'm certainly not going to talk about how one person and I have all of this. I I have the minutes. I printed out because just so everybody knows it's not only on video, it's actually transcribed on the website. So I have printed all this out and I have people saying that um what was another outrageous

156statement? Oh, that um the board we are telling the we're actually telling these kids to be transgendered so they're popular. Not just the the other kids are autistic. This was another statement. The things that these people have come and said, it's just unbelievable. It's so ridiculous. It's so insulting not only to the to the board that as if and our teachers and everybody's sitting here, oh, we support the teachers. We You're blaming the teachers for making transgender children. Okay, that's what you're doing. You're blaming the te teachers at the same time you're trying to congratulate them. So, the bottom line is this was not a pol. this was not an issue till the traveling people started coming from different towns and that's when it became a policy and that's when we started seeing other people

157then people running for the board. So you know I just think that the things that are said here are just so ridiculous if you really listen to the tapes of these some of these people. Oh that's what I want to tell you. You know what they said? Religious intervention and family behavior modification can can get rid of transgender. No, it cannot. Nobody's going to knock the homosexuality or the transgender out of you just because you talked and prayed under God. Okay? Not going to happen. So the things that are said here, and if you think that I'm supporting those things, absolutely not. Never, never, never. So please do go back and listen to the tapes and you'll learn why I feel like I feel you'll learn why I'm so against it. So my disappointment is

158because of the fact that we brought a lot of um information in the last meeting and my hope and expectation was that you would take that away to see all the policies that we have in place that already protect not only the trans students but all the students. My concern is the fact that we have blinders on and we're so dead set on just our answers without actually doing our further due diligence to make sure that we understand that. I appreciate this board conversation because this is something that was long overdue to have. Um, but I think Can I ask a question though because you're speaking about this? You actually think that we have not read up I have not read up on this. I don't have my my own research cuz every time we

159come you guys are researching. Okay. I also research. You don't think that I did that I came to this because I'm some kind of just I want to be against something. Well, before today we really haven't had this conversation, right? So now you're telling me now I know. I think I've told it a million times quite clearly. All you've said is your answer is no cuz you want to save that one kid. However, in those other policies that we tal read my please watch the videos. I I've been I came last year as well as a parent. You did you came one one meeting? No, two meetings. Two meetings. Both times you spoke about this policy. Yes. Exactly. You didn't ever come before and you never spoke about any other things. Exactly. Because I didn't

160know about it. Right. And that was my point also. Dr. Lavyby, you say that people, you know, know about this policy. All the parents that we've spoken to and teachers as well that I can tell you do not know about this policy. So, it's concerning to me that we're saying, "Yeah, you know, everybody knows about it. We know you know what we we know what we have to do about it and teachers already are trained up to understand what they're supposed to handle. That may that may is an ownorous that is unnecessary for those teachers. They want to focus on the academics. They want to teach these children. They don't want to have to worry about am I going to cause separation between the parent and the child. And furthermore after that is what I

161was thinking about when it comes to this policy. It's great when it's in school, but what happens in the weekends? What happens in the summertime? How are we protecting the children then with the 5756 if it's so protective? So sorry the other thing I will say in looking at this policy it still reads as m as mandatory it's not mandatory it's guidance. So at a minimum we need to evaluate and take it to committee to at least fix that portion of it. There's a lot of things disconnects that are going on in this board. You know, you know, I understand that we traditionally have done things a certain way. However, as I've said before, because it's been done a certain way doesn't mean it's the correct way to do it. And this is the time

162when you have board members coming in new with fresh eyes. I do policies and procedures for a living, guys. I have a team where I do governance. Um, excuse me. I look forward to when I have new people on my team because I can say to them, listen, take this away. You coming in with fresh eyes, tell me how can we be more efficient. There are a lot of things that on this board that we can do more efficiently and I would like to about it. How we run our board meetings, board certification, board goals, things that we can do to just, you know, as a board be certified and just do better for our students, right? There's things we can do. There's things we can work together. this I like this even though it's

163a contentious subject but we're having dialogue if you go back and look at the previous board meetings there's not a a lot of dialogue even said it previously dialogue is happening so I appreciate it I appreciate listening to your perspective I appreciate listening to your perspective and that's what we're looking to bring to this table to bring that awareness to the parents I'm sorry as a parent I didn't know that I've been living here for what four years and until I started watching the board meetings I didn't know what was going about this policy, but the policy was in place, right? I didn't know about the policy. We can go into different things around it. However, I don't think the public knows about it's ridiculous. Probably 99.9% of our policy. Ask somebody what our policy

164on anything is. We have policies that define every thing that happens in the school because it needs to be there. Mhm. There needs to be a policy so that no teacher has to feel lost or guess in a situation. No principal has to, no administrator has to. You say, "What does this policy do for a kid on the weekend?" Well, if we're going by that logic, what does our HIP policy do for a kid on the weekend? Do we abolish our Hib? Do we abolish what does our discrimination policy do for a kid on the weekend or over summer? or should we abolish that? No, we need to protect the kids while they're in our care. And yes, there is lots of policy that states about discrimination about and New Jersey has about the broadest

165anti-discrimin if not the broadest anti-discrimination law in the country. Just about everything is a protected class. Mhm. This is the only one, unless I'm mistaken, but I don't think I am, that mentions transgender. The nice thing about any minority is when you know you're being acknowledged. As a person of color, wasn't it nice to see a teacher who was a person of color, who spoke your language, who understood you as as you are. And I think that's what this policy acknowledges transgender students and at least lets them know that this school district acknowledges their existence, accepts their existence, doesn't group them into, you know, oh, you'll be covered by this, you'll be covered by that. We're recognizing that probably.1% in Saraveville of the population, but we're recognizing that they exist. And I think that is

166so important to a kid to be recognized as existing for any reason. And if this policy is the one thing and this discussion is the one thing and advocates for it are the one thing that makes that one or two children know that they matter then it's worth having this policy. So in that same breath why have that carve out for the trans? Why not also do a policy similar policy for the gays, for the for the dis disabled, for persons of color, for all the other protected classes. Well, I think we do have policies for the disabled. Um, and where it says, you know, if the child has issues where, let's say, incontinents, don't tell the parent. That the issue with this policy, this is my point, the say don't tell the parent. It

167says you may not. You're putting that ownerous on the teachers. That is unfair to the teachers as well. No, but this isn't even something that would be in the teachers hands. Maybe one of the administrators can clear this up for me. I'm sorry. When before when any child is having some kind of emotional issue, doesn't the classroom teacher refer them to somebody on Dr. Nasters's team or or guidance or Yes. some somebody that is actually trained to deal with those kind of issues. Yes. And again, these children already are protected by the LD laws. So why have this policy in place? What additional protection is this policy giving them? This Hold on, Jeff. Can I just It's giving that 86% suicide ideulation because they feel ostracized, they feel left out, they feel this. If if

168one of that 86 if 10 of that 86 of any number of that 86 turns that suicide ideiation into killing themselves by suicide, I'm quitting this board and I'm never want to deal with education again. I I just want to say you asked the question about why is this policy enforced, right? So, for me, um, it really gives each teacher the same exact guidance. No personal feelings. Maybe I'm somebody I'm a teacher. We I'm sure there's teachers that are not transgendered friendly that don't believe in it. Just like there's people in the public who don't believe in it. Okay. The bottom line is that policy guarantees that every kid is treated the same. It's fair. It's the same treatment. It's not me saying, "Oh, I'll handle it this way and Eloy handling a different way

169or we're not all going to be handling it different ways." We are going to follow that same policy. That child gets the same guidance. They get put I think Dr. Labby said this a long time ago and I don't know how it got missed but he said this is what he said and if I'm wrong you could correct me but what he said was when if this was to happen and a child came forth and said I am afraid to tell my parents I and I don't care what anybody in the public says people but the child knows that parent best. So, if I'm in my house behind my closed doors and I am spewing all hatred sound and I'm talking about every different race and homosexuality and I'm talking about everybody, my kid is

170at my kitchen table listening to me say it. So, you think that kid is going to be okay saying, "Yeah, tell my parents." No, they're going to be afraid because the kid knows what's going on in their house. Your kid knows what's going on in your house. My kid knows what's going on in mine. That's your private life and that's private people who know it, people living in that house. So Dr. Labby said that if a kid said I really am afraid I don't want you to tell my parent what would happen is the guidance counselors would guide that children that child to actually be okay telling their parent. They're not looking to hide it from the parent. They're looking to to to to ease the parent to make sure that the kid is feeling

171safe telling that parent and that's what was said and if I'm wrong and if I misunderstood that I don't think I did and that was said a long long time ago and it keeps getting missed. So nobody's going to go yeah it is getting missed. Nobody's going to go hello oh okay you're Joe today. All right we're not telling nobody go hide in the closet. That's not happening. They're going to take that kid. They're going to speak to that child. They're going to guide that child. It's not just going to be where, okay, go to get transition here. Oh, go with door number one. You're gonna get surgery. Oh. Oh, we're gonna give you a drug. That's not what's happening in Seville. So, but no, that's what's implied. It absolutely a couple of people tonight

172talked about it. So in the policy, if I may, in, you know, to quote, not directly because I don't have it in front of me, policy 5756 does say that if a child determines to be identified as uh the opposite gender, that a second file would be created, parental consent is not required, that a second file is to be created and kept secret from the parents. it's in the policy that uh you know that that the even may it's still a situation where it allows for the school to create a second file unbeknownst to parents of of their child and if the parent comes to the school to complain about it or to ask questions about it the policy does state that that the board is to seek counsel you know so yeah it actually

173is in the policy it's not just saying, well, you know, we're going to help. I'm sure there's situations and the intent would be, let's help the child to be able to talk to their parents, but it does state in the policy that a second file would be created with the child, and I stress the word child, with the child's uh chosen identity, that the biological file would not be used, that staff would use the uh the new file. That's not happening here. You But it's in the policy. We're not talking about is it actually happening. The policy does allow room for that and that's what we're we don't want any policy follows keep a file from the let's not forget the policy violates furpa law as well the policy follows the law that's not the

174law of New Jersey the policy is set up so that we don't violate discrimination law and that was absolutely said by our attorney to our group in there a couple months ago the issue with the policy is nowhere in the law does it state the parents don't need to know the policy added that in yes that is the issue and the may it's still a possibility it's still a possibility yeah that's what he was going to say if it says may it's still a possibility that kid says I'm afraid of my parent you absolutely and 100% I I I agree with that I support sorry Carrie I do support that however we already have other policies in place that show that the teachers are mandated reporters and they have to automatically policy tells the you

175tell me okay cuz I'll tell you all this is not going to be over if you think that Donald Trump is going to fly in the sky and all the dialogue and Jack is going to come down to Trenton and everything's going to change it may I listen listen listen to me I will be making a motion to put in new protection for these children already protected no I'm talking about if if this was rescended if this was taken away by our governor our new governor. That's exactly what I'm going to do cuz I'm going to protect these kids no matter what. No matter who says that. Yes, we are. No, listen. The part that we are against. You keep talking about the parent, but you're forgetting the kid. The kid is the focus, not

176the parent. You are putting the parent before the kid. No. The parent is supposed to guide the child, right? And the parent I have my child here tonight, a high schooler. He came out of his breath. He wanted to support me because he doesn't agree with that. He should exactly my job as a parent is to guide him. Right. Right. And to protect him already. And if he was afraid of me, there already other policies in place to protect. Yes, there are. I brought it to the table and I offered to show you guys. I offered to show you each and every one of you. I can provide it. I'm sorry, Lucy. But my problem is here, Lucy. I'm sorry, Lucy. We are repeating ourselves. Okay, we're getting to make a motion. Can I ask

177I'd like to make a motion to end the meeting. I think a point has been made. We are repeating ourselves. Arguing is not going to settle this. I'm not arguing. What we need to do is regroup. We need to close the meeting. We need to have cooler minds prevail. Mr. Fernandez, would you like to add something? Yes, I would. Thank Thank you, Madam President. I want to speak to you from the heart, not just as a board member, but someone who deeply believes in the mission that we share and the community that we serve. Over the past few years, we've seen real change on this board. When I first joined, there was no history of diversity here. For the first hundred years, the makeup of this board remained unchanged. But when I stepped in as

178the first person of color to have served, my fellow board members welcomed me. Were there rough spots? Yes. Were there some resistance to change? Absolutely. However, together we embraced our differences and worked collaboratively together improved our district. Today, I'm proud to say that a third of our board is made up of individuals of color from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences, including our first two women women of color. I think we can all agree that those differences have not weakened this board, but made them stronger. But with diversity comes responsibility to listen, to understand, and to work together through our differences with with respect. Lately, there's been conflict among us. That's clear, and that's natural in any governing body. However, how we handle it truly defines us. We are role models, not just for

179our community, but for our students. So I ask that each of us before we respond to one another, let's take a moment and ask ourselves if our students acted in this way with each other, would we be okay with it? Is this the example that we want to set? Let's focus on what unites us. There's far more that unites us than divides us. Let's commit to improving communication and building trust with one another. Let's continue to embrace our differences with respect and a collaborative spirit, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of our entire community. and most of all for for our kids. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fernandez. Okay, I think we need to have a motion to I motion to end the meeting. Meeting is adjourned.