001meeting for advertising by having the date, time, place thereof post in the Caucus town hall on the bulletin board located in the hallway of the board of education administration building as well as the district website. Roll call. >> Mr. Bartletta, >> present. >> Miss Deietta, >> present. >> Mr. Barry, >> present. >> Mr. Deombre, >> present. >> Miss Howard, >> present. >> Mr. Lewis, >> present. >> Mr. Lions, >> here. >> Miss Eckles, >> here. Just bear with me, ladies. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Are you I'm sorry, it's missing. Grace, the minutes. >> Yes. >> Um, >> I'd like to make a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of September 18th, the special meeting minutes of October 7th, regular meeting minutes of October 16th and November second. Call the role. >> Mr. Bartletta. >>
002Yes, but I I uh recuse myself from the October 7th meeting. >> Miss Dadetta. >> Yes. >> Mr. Barry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dere. >> Yes. But I have to recuse myself. September 18th. >> Miss Eckles, >> abstain. >> Miss Howard, >> I have to abstain from the September 18th and yes to all the others. >> Mr. Lewis, >> yes. >> Mr. Lions, >> yes. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. I have some announcements from the schools. Just bear with me because it's on my phone. Read from my phone. So, we will start with middle school. So for December of 2025 has been busy has been a busy and exciting month at Caucus Middle School and we're proud to share some of the highlights with our community. We began the month with our annual
003big friends little friends breakfast which brings together Caucus High School sales students and Caucus Middle School SGO members to celebrate the guidance and friendship they've built throughout the year. Each week, our high school big friends meet with their middle school little friends to discuss academics, clubs, sports, and transition to high school, creating a supportive and encouraging space for connection. The breakfast allowed them to reflect on their growth, strengthen their bond, and appreciate the sense of community that makes this program so impactful. School spirit was also on full display during the Caucus Middle School staff birth students volleyball showdown. The friendly competition, teamwork, and enthusiasm in the gym highlighted the strong relationships that define our school. Caucus Middle School is also proud to recognize an educator who exemplifies dedication, leadership, and care. Our governor's educator of
004the year, Mrs. Deborah Deon, continues to make a significant impact throughout her commitment to students, mentorship to colleagues, and the opportunity she provides through the programs such as NJHS and Alpha. We congratulate her on her welldeserved honor. As we close out December, we are grateful for the ongoing support and involvement of our students, staff, and families. That was the middle school update with me here. This the Claran school update. Over the past few months, our school has experienced several meaningful events that highlight the strong sense of community, student engagement, and family involvement. One particularly appreciated experience was a hot cocoa bar provided by our PTA for both staff and students. This thoughtful gesture created a warm and welcoming atmosphere and was enjoyed by everyone. Our PTA also hosted a successful holiday bazaar that brought families
005together while raising funds to support school initiatives. The event was well attended and reflected the dedication and generosity of our parent community. In kindergarten, students participated in a special Grinch day during which they engaged in a variety of fun themed activities while reading their stories. This event blended literacy with hands-on learning and creating an excited and created an exciting and memorable experience for for our youngest learners. And finally, an update from Yuber Street School. Yuba Street School is buzzing with pride following the announcement of our New Jersey Governor's Educator of the Year Awards on November 25th. We are thrilled to recognize kindergarten teacher Mrs. Kelly O' Conor as our teacher of the year and teacher assistant Miss Chrissy Schiffer as the educational services provider of the year. We are truly lucky to have such dedicated,
006compassionate professionals guiding our students every day. The spirit of giving continued as the Yuber Street School Student Government Organization in partnership with the CC Caucus Ladies Auxiliary of the Exempt Firemen hosted a PJs for the pantry event combining comfort with the community ser with community service students donated non-p perishable items resulting in a tremendous collection for the Caucus food pantry. Finally, to bring a little magic to the district, Yuber Street School and the Millidge School joined forces for a spectacular lipsync collaboration. Inspired by the world of The Wizard of Oz and Wicked, 88 faculty and staff members showcased their theatrical side in a special video. While the performance was full of fun, the message to our students was simple and sincere. Believe in yourself because you already possess the wisdom, kindness, and courage to succeed.
007If you'd like to check out this year's video, it is located on the Yuber Street website. And on behalf of the board of education, I'd like to wish all the students, staff, and families a very happy holiday, happy new year. Enjoy your time off. And at this time, I would like to welcome up Miss Felicia Jetri to do our recognition program. Right. Hello everybody. I am Felicia Shhatri. I'm the director of elementary education curriculum and instruction and I am here this evening to discuss chronic absenteeism and our plan for the caucus public schools. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more days of school for any reason, including both excused and unexcused absences. This can occur when a student misses as few as two days of school per month over the course of a
008school year. Chronic absenteeism creates significant long-term barriers to students success. A few examples are causing permanent gaps in core academic knowledge and skills results in lasting disengagement from peers and the school community disrupts the learning environment and negatively affects the achievement of classmates and impacts reading levels and lower graduation rates. Chronic absenteeism disproportionately harms vulnerable student populations. Now, this chart here displays the chronic absenteeism rates for our middle and high school. There is a law in the state of New Jersey that um whenever a school has reached over 10% chronic absenteeism rate, the school must develop a corrective action plan. Now, in this chart, you're going to see that the middle school's 13.4% and the high school's four 14.3% which is over that 10% threshold, which is why I'm here tonight to discuss chronic absenteeism.
009Now, when I dove into evaluating our chronic absenteeism rates and started to put together a plan, I noticed that our elementary schools are also very close to that 10% threshold, which is why I included them in this presentation as well and making this a district-wide initiative because it is very important to lower those rates. Now, on this chart here, you're going to see that on the left side is our 2425 chronic absenteeism rate at each of our buildings and on the right side is the state average. So you're going to see on this chart that we are below or in the range of that state average and the entire state, most high schools and middle schools are also having the same challenges that we are having as well. Um however, the law shares that it
010has to be anything over 10% needs a corrective action plan for this. Uh so most high schools and middle schools throughout the state of New Jersey are in the same boat as we are right now and are developing these corrective action plans. Now, about two to three weeks ago, I sent home a survey to families. So, I thank everybody out there who did participate in the survey uh just so we can learn more about chronic absenteeism and get parent input as well. I had 266 parents who did respond to that survey. The data on this slide is based off of the 266 parents who did respond. Of those parents, 75.6% 6% identified that students physical illness was a primary reason why their child was absent. The medical appointments and family travel. Now, something that I
011found interesting based off of the feedback from the survey was that 24% of parents reported confusion about when a sickness requires a student to stay home. And a top reason for three plus consecutive absences is family travel was the most cited reason. I had many comments about that and even on that selection on the survey, most did share that family travel was a big reason why their child missed many days of school. Now, we are building a foundation on proven strategies. That's what we use for our corrective action plan. We have proactive communication, student engagement, and systematic supports. Now, you're going to see here under proactive communication, we have an attendance policy that is already in place. It's posted on our website. We share that at back to school nights. We discuss this with students
012at the beginning of the school year and throughout the year as well. We have daily automated calls for unexplained absences and we even have personal phone calls as well for student engagement to encourage our students to come to school. We have a lot of schoolwide activities throughout the entire district even just from the reports that you share with all the great activities going on in the schools. We have a lot of great things going on to hopefully encourage our students to be excited to attend school for various reasons. We have spirit week, senior privileges, activity fairs, the student governments do incredible activities. Uh we have attendance contests to encourage our students to attend school. And just a systematic support that we do have in place. We have our truency officer that does a great job
013um investigating situations that may need uh additional information. We have our guidance counselors, our CST teams who make regular calls if needed and work with those families on attendance plans. And we do have attendance warnings that are sent out at key checkpoints depending on the grade levels in each building. Now we do have a fourparts action plan that's part of our plan. There is four key components. Increase monitoring and measurement which is just ultimately tracking that data. We have our real-time system that does an excellent job tracking the data and monitoring our student attendance. We have data driven diagnostic. We use data to understand the specific root causes of why students are missing school. And that's ultimately what happened when we were creating this corrective action plan. And parent and guardian engagement. We're really working
014hard to build those relationships with the families to inform them of the importance of sending their child to school and engaging our parents in our school community to co-create solutions. So hopefully we can reduce the chronic absenteeism rate. And we also have individualized problem solving. will address the specific issue that's occurring with on a case-byase basis. Our guidance counselors, our principles, assistant principles, our CST do an excellent job at doing this already and we will continue doing that throughout the school year. And this is just a timeline to monitor just ensure that we are holding ourselves accountable for everything. We're right now working on that problem solving stage. we're reviewing as well, just looking back through anything that's occurred since September, and we'll have a final review as well. This plan will be reviewed, revised,
015and presented to the board of education annually until absenteeism is below 10%. Now, our goal here, addressing chronic absenteeism, requires a collaborative approach involving the schools, families, communities, and governments. but together we can help give our students the best opportunity to grow academically and socially. So, thank you for your time and I just hope that you understand that attendance is very important. So, please anybody out there listening, please send your child to school. If you have any questions, concerns, reach out to your guidance counselors, assist assistant principles, CST members, or other principles or staff members in our school buildings. Does anybody from the board of education have any questions? Okay, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Felicia, for that report. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to the student representatives to
016report on the events that happened this month at the high school. >> Good evening everyone. We would like to share many exciting things that have been happening in Sakus High School. First, we will begin with some important upcoming dates for January 2026. Looking ahead to January, midterm exams will take place on January 22nd, 23rd, 26th, and 27th and will count for five for 5% of the students final grade. The high school will operate on a one session schedule during the exam period. Yearbook sales and purchasing a senior ad will be coming to an end soon on January 30th. The high school will be hosting an open house on January 15th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. There you will learn more about the STEM Academy, course offerings, athletics, clubs, and activities. Now we will talk about some
017important events that are upcoming and have taken place already. We are proud to recognize our drama club on their impressive production trap that captivated the audience and showcased the students talent and dedication. We would like to congratulate Miss Dela Cruz and the entire cast and crew on their wonderful per performance. Everyone is welcome to attend our annual holiday concert on December 22nd at 6:30 p.m. featuring our talented students. Senior citizens are also welcome to attend a pre-concert dinner sponsored by the town of Caucus. We would like to congratulate Ki Balusu for being selected as our local winner of the 2025 2026 VFW Voice of Democracy competition. She will advance to the state level representing our community with her patriotic audio essay. Our honor society members organized the town of Sea Caucus toy drive to brighten
018children's spirits and are holding an ugly sweater tomorrow for $1, where all proceeds will go to the scholarship fund. In addition, our peer leadership members coordinated the giving tree in the high school atrium to support these in needs during the holiday season. On Tuesday, December 23rd, we will start off our one session day with a performance by our band and chorus. Later that day, the SGO will host the winter pep rally where we will celebrate our winter sports teams and enjoy exciting games between the grades. We would also like to recognize and congratulate our two students of the month for December, Riley Hernandez and Kolos Aad. Riley received a full ride scholarship to MIT and Kolos received a full ride scholarship to Harvard. Our school is extremely proud of both of them. We would also
019like to congratulate our high school teacher of the year, Mrs. Martha Rodriguez. We would also like to congratulate our educational services professional of the year, Miss Tara Tiverz. Our fall fall sports had a very successful 2025 season. The following listed students, teams, and coaches who received postseason honors for the fall season. Starting off with our football team, we have Byron Mills, offense first team all division. Brandon Vega, offense first team all division. Victor Milan, offense first team all division. Adam Warreno, defense first team all division. Joseph Pinto, defense first team all division. Jason Lepin, offense second team all division. Leto Iona, defense second team all division. Adam Goddess, defense second team all division. Nathaniel Borha, defense second team, all division. Chase Bergus, honorable mention, all division. Dominic Brussia, honorable mention, all division. For boys soccer,
020we have Daniel Gudkov, first team all division. Lucas Rodriguez, first team all division. Justin Mendes, first team all division. Daniel Milanino, second team all division. Juan Ruiz, second team all division. Michael Perez, second team all division. Josh Zarzella Medina, honorable mention, all division. For girls soccer, we have Ava Uzi, first team all division. Julia Poso, first team all division. Alyssa Bernaby, first team all division. London Aquano, second team all division. Emma Garbo, second team all division. Olivia Heler, second team all division. Ava Kjuski, honorable mention, all division. Our girls tennis team are NJIC Meadowlands Division Champions and head coach Mark Tonovac re received coach of the year along with Alyssa Lee first team all division Emma Chan first team all division Simron Ba first team all division Anisha Desai second team all division Dia Chandarana
021second team all division Jaylen Beaston second team all division Katarina Skato second team all division Patel honorable mention all division And for cross country girls, we have Jasmine Sang, first team all division. Elaine Zang, second team all division. For cross country boys, they received undefeated NJIC Medallands division champions and coach Stan Franzinski received coach of the year. Along with Dominic Vargas, first team all division. Kirollus Aad first team all division. Josh Torres, first team all division. Maxwell Donaldson George second team all division. Yash Sanjan Donnie second team all division. Yandon Sherpa second team all division. And our girls volleyball team are NJIC Colonial Division Champions along with Hudson County champions, North two group one sectional champions and NJSIA group one champions. and head coach Dylan Caruso received coach of the year along with Sophia Guzman,
022first team all division, first team all state, first team all North Jersey, first team all group one, and NJIC player of the year. Olivia Jazzichek received first team all division, second team all state, second team all North Jersey, and first team all group one. Alyn Torres, second team all division, and second team all group one. Sarah received second team all division and second team all group one. Isabella Pablo honorable mention all division and third team all group one. We are super proud of all of our athletes and that is all we have for the month of December. Thank you. >> Thank you ladies correspondence. >> No correspondence interim superintendent report. So, as we approach the holiday season, I'd like to take a moment to extend my warmest wishes to the members of the board of
023education, our staff, our students, families, and the entire SEC office community. This time of year is a vital opportunity to reflect and express gratitude for all the things that make our school strong. I wish everyone a joyful and restful holiday season along with continued health, happiness, and success as we move into 2026. As we look ahead, it's especially meaningful to take moment a moment to recognize excellence within our district. And so we've already done that in recognizing our high school teachers of the year, our educational service professionals of the year. Miss Detta spoke about our middle school and Hubert teachers of the year. So that leaves the Clarin Elementary School educator of the year. So I'd like to recognize Yolanda Harsh, brilliant and stoppable force at Clarin School. She's a fifth grade math teacher. She
024brings energy, humor, and creativity to every lesson, turning it into an engaging and meaningful learning experience. She inspires her students to believe in themselves, to embrace challenges, and to achieve more than they ever imagined. Beyond her classroom instruction, she's a true school leader. Her integrity, guidance, and dedication uplift her colleagues and strengthen the entire school community. This year, she's demonstrated extraordinary courage, resilience, balancing her professional responsibilities with grace while also bravely battling breast cancer. Her unwavering passion, compassion, and positive spirit make her a role model and an inspiration to everyone around her. also a Claran Elementary School. The school educational services provided provider of the year is Talia Bader. She is um she's demonstrated exceptional dedication in supporting students with special needs and those who require American Sign Language, consistently ensuring access, inclusion, and meaningful
025learning experiences for all. beyond her outstanding service in our community, Talia has exemplified selfish selfless selfishness. Um, and through her commitment with the United States Army, for which she took a leave last year, her unwavering dedication to both her students and our country makes her truly deserving of this honor. Also like just to take a moment to congratulate all of our athletes involved in our fall athletic program. And I'd also like to thank the Caucus Police Department for the assistant and support of the district by participating in our recent safety and security walkthroughs. Again, safe, happy, and best wishes for health in the new coming year and an excellent start for the new year in 2026. >> Thank you, Dr. Tobac. >> Harassment, intimidation, bullying report. >> There were three incidents that were reported as
026HIV during this reporting period. Only one of those incidents after investigation was determined to be an actual case of HIV. >> I'd like to make a motion to accept the harassment, intimidation, and bullying findings as reported by the interimm superintendent as there and they and they are available at the administrative offices for review. >> Discussion call the roll. >> Mr. Bartletta, >> yes. >> Miss Deetta, >> yes. >> Mr. Barry >> Mr. Deion. >> Yes. >> Miss Eckles. >> Abstain. >> Miss Howard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lewis? >> Yes, sir. >> Mr. Lions. >> Yes. >> Business administrator board secretary report. >> Yes. Good evening. Tonight, under governance, we will be adding resolution R 1.15 to accept the recommendation of the interim superintendent to approve the following. Whereas, an employee whose name is on file
027in the board office has an individual employment contract with a 60-day notice provision. And whereas the interim superintendent has recommended that the board invoke the 60-day notice provision to terminate said employees individual employment contract. And now therefore, be it resolved that the board hereby terminates the employee effective immediately upon passage of this resolution. And be it further resolved that the board secretary business administrator shall provide the employee with notice of the board's action and shall ensure that the employee receives pay for the 60-day period following the passage of this resolution. Thank you, Grace. Public forum agenda items. >> This meeting is open to the public for the purpose of addressing items listed for approval on this agenda only. Residents wishing to speak on such items must sign the register provided for this purpose and required
028to state their names, addresses, and subject matter. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. The board may or may not respond to issues raised by members of the public at the time they're raised, but will provide resp. And when appropriate, the board asked the members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Please note that the board will not respond to comments regarding students or board employees in light of the privacy rights held by those individuals. Moreover, the board discourages comments about such individuals and and will not be responsible for those comments. Members of the public who choose to speak during this public session should carefully consider their comments since they could be held personally liable for any statements they make. Finally, please note that in accordance
029with district policy number 11000, the board will not officially comment or respond to any matter mentioned unless it can confirm that the matter has first been brought to the attention of the appropriate school personnel in an attempt to resolve the issue. >> No speakers. >> Okay. Governance personnel This month's agenda includes spring coaching position and also some replacement and position. I'd like to make a recommendation to accept the recommendation of the interim superintendent to approve and adopt resolutions R 1.01 through R1.15 and motion M1.01. Discussion. Call the RO. >> Mr. Bartletta. >> Yes. >> Miss Diodeta? >> Yes. >> Mr. Barry? >> Yes. >> Mr. Deombre? >> Yes. >> Miss Eckles? >> I'm abstaining from all resolutions except R1.15. Yes. >> Miss Howard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lewis? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lions? >> Yes.
030policy. >> Under policy, we have second readings on two policies that I spoke about last month regarding assignment of pupils to schools and tracking devices which I discussed last month in detail. I would like to make a recommendation to accept the recommendation of the interim superintendent to approve and adopt resolutions R2.01 through R 2.02. Discussion question discussion call the roll. >> Mr. Bartletta, >> yes. >> Miss Diodetta, >> yes. >> Mr. Barry, >> yes. >> Mr. Deombre, >> yes. >> Miss Eckles, >> abstain from all resolutions. >> Miss Howard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lewis? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lions? >> Yes. >> Education curriculum? Good evening everyone. I would like to take the opportunity to report on the education committee uh discussions for this month. We discussed curriculum development and academic programming. The committee reviewed
031and is looking at is looking to approve tonight a comprehensive set of curriculum updates across multiple grade levels and subject areas which are outlined in the agenda. These updates reflect alignment with the New Jersey student learning standards and a continued emphasis on preparing students with both academic knowledge and real world skills. We discussed study skills and student preparedness. The committee spent a small portion of time of the meeting focused on how study skills are toured across the district and what we can do to strengthen these skills for all of our students throughout the district. Members of the committee particularly focused on the importance of ensuring that the skills are consistently reinforced and measurable particularly as students transition between grades. Uh we discussed the chronic absenteeism which um Mrs. Chry just presented. The committee reviewed the
032data for the schools and inform and was informed about the corrective action plan that needed to take place. Um some other items of discussion were ensuring the timely approvals are in place and mechanisms to do that so that district faculty do not miss out on professional development opportunities. We discuss student recognition and achievement and how to identify reputable sources in regards to school ranking information and we reviewed uh field trips. I would like to accept the recommendations of the interim superintendent to approve and adopt resolutions R3.01 through R3.02 as described. >> Second >> discussion. Call the role. >> Mr. Bartletta? >> Yes. >> Miss Steetta? >> Yes. >> Mr. Barry? >> Yes. >> Mr. Deombre? >> Yes. >> Miss Eckles? >> Abstain. >> Miss Howard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lewis? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lions?
033>> Yes. >> Operations Committee. Finance. At our meeting this month, we were updated um on the going ons of the district. So, we were uh we got the preliminary numbers regarding the long long range facility plans. Uh the numbers will be reviewed and update uh will be provided in January. Uh we got a CQAC update. Dr. Tobac emailed staff regarding teacher responsibilities and their classroom and CQAC requirements in Huber Street School. A sequence family is moving and would like to donate a uh piano to the school district. Uh the plan will be to replace the current piano at Huber Street. Uh in the Milidge School, teachers uh and staff are asking for removal of stove and appliances. Uh and that was approved. Uh in Clarin School, the teachers lounge had uh emergency speesus abatement. Uh
034the air quality was tested and came back fine at the middle school and high school. The there were updates uh there was an update on the science labs and the chemistry labs. Uh the hoods were the the hoods in the science labs were uh were fixed and are now working. And uh we were updated on all the finances for the district for the month. And that's it. I would like to uh make a motion to accept and uh the recommendation of the business administrative board secretary and approve and adopt resolutions R 4.01 through 4.12 as described below. Second >> discussion call the roll. >> Mr. Bartletta, >> yes. >> Miss Diodetta, >> yes. >> Mr. Barry, >> yes. >> Mr. Deumbre, >> yes. >> Miss Eckles, >> abstain. >> Miss Howard? >> Yes. I have
035to recuse myself from R4.07. >> Mr. Lewis? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lions? >> Yes. Nothing to report under safety, security, buildings, and grounds. >> Nothing this month. >> Ad hoc committees um none of the committees met this month. Um other than negotiations which met on December 3rd of 2025. Um and we negotiated the with the administrators association public forum general Okay, the same general information that we provided last time with the exception that this is now for the purpose of addressing any subject matter that is pertinent to and or directly related to the operation of the Caucus Public School District, not limited just to items on the agenda. >> Anthony Grineer. Good evening. >> Good evening and uh happy holidays. >> Um thank you. I would like if this board could provide the community with
036an update on the superintendent search and when it plans to start it. Uh Dr. Tobach's interim contract is set to expire here in six months. I would hope that we're not in the same position that we were in last time in terms of kind of doing a buried and inadequate search that resulted in the board voting to not hire a superintendent last time. Um I am asking if the board intends to uh engage a search committee or uh hire a professional organization to do the search. Uh also whether it will be engaging the public uh in a more transparent matter this time and keeping us informed of the search process. uh but mostly when it plans to start. Um and then also Dr. Tobach, I would like to thank you for the last time laying
037out your district goals. Um I think they're all very valid goals and hopefully we can achieve them. Um one thing that was unfortunate for me particularly that was not mentioned was any mention of special education in your uh district goals. I am wondering if you had the opportunity to assess our special education department since you took your position and uh if so what improvements to the department would you like to see implemented and have you had the opportunity to discuss establishing an in resource code teach integrated and inclusive program for grades K through five. Thank you, Natalie. Wait, Brown. Good evening. Um, I wanted to come back just to kind of recap last month because I don't have the confines of your question. Um, and I'm also here at the request of my children who
038watched what happened here last month. Um, I entered in the process with no expectations of you all selecting me. But what I did expect is that this board would have looked at qualifications, dem demonstrated qualities and a leadership that would guide your decision and that did not happen. Before I go on, I want to publicly Mrs. Eckles, I don't know you. Your family has been kind to my children. So, please know my disdain for what happened has nothing to do with you as a person. The reality is based on what is currently happening in this community, I believe that there was another choice that should have been made. I am committed. I believe that you were committed to what you were doing here. But what happened here last month is a reflection of a troubling
039pattern of familiarity overriding experience and personal comfort outweighing community need. I stood up and walked out of here loudly and disgusted because I will never allow what happened here to be normalized or for it to be comfortable. I stand behind what I said. If there was a decision that was that could be quantified, I wouldn't have left the way that I did. But I challenge any of you to come and have a conversation to quantify the decision that was made. Let me add this because I think it's important to bring to light being that this was my second time presenting for an open seat. Only one of you can remotely say that you know me. I know who I am and I know what I stand for and I know who I am bothers some
040of you and intimidates others. That's not my burden. It's not my problem. It is a reflection of your discomfort with competency with courage and accountability and I stand behind that. And I left here living not because of the outcome for me personally but to look at what the decisions are made and that they reflect my children's education. On my way home I made a pit stop. I saw one of you where I stopped and I was reading a New York Times article on Susan Powders and you may remember her. She rose to fame um on infomercials and her tagline was stop the insanity and it was godscent. That that was the tagline. After leaving here last month, Susan Powers went from a millionaire and now she's currently driving Uber Eats and delivering food to avoid
041homelessness. You can take that reference however you want, but I want to return to what matters most. The business of my children's education, as long as they are in this district, is not a place for personal validation. It is not a place for any of you to come and soothe wounds or to validate life. Governance is not therapy. Positions of public trust demand courage and they demand purpose. That means rising above personal history and agenda. When decisions are shaped by personal dynamics rather than the needs of our students and the qualifications of candidates, the board's effectiveness is compromised. If you willfully continue to sideline qualified, experienced voices in favor of what is familiar and comfort comfortable and offer some control, you're risking undermining the foundation of what's needed for strong leadership and a stronger caucus
042and that lies that you're in your hands. And before I close, I want to offer two reminders, maybe even three. You may believe that you're interviewing people. You may think that you interviewed me, but for every horrible decision, for every blunder, for every personal agenda that comes before the business of this district, there are people watching and they are interviewing this district. They are interviewing you. That is every teacher. That is every administrator. That is our next superintendent. So instead of contri accolades on transparency in the things that you do well, I implore you to act and make decisions with courage and integrity. I promise you things can happen here if you work with those two tenants. And member Deombre, I appreciate F. Scott Fitzgerald's reference on that agenda, but that can't happen in close
043session. Intellectual discussion and exchange and Being able to maintain two positions happens when transparency and honesty. >> Miss Brown, you ran out of time. Thank you. >> Board member comments >> real quick because I know everyone's gonna have here. uh New Jersey School Board Association emailed us that they have the opportunity, we have the opportunity to get our policies updated through them. I'm not sure how good this is, if it's something similar to Strauss Nespay, what the cost would be, uh savings would be because apparently that's going to be offered to the services, the service will be offered to us free because we pay for them. I was wondering if we can get some more information on that. And second, will we be going out for a bid on the water grant, the quarter of
044a million dollar water grant? What will happen with that? >> Thank you. Grace, can you or Pat get Jerry that information? Okay. Okay. Anyone else? >> I do. >> I just want to wish everyone a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season and a happy new year. I want to congratulate all the fall season athletes on their postseason honors and I want to congratulate all of our teachers of the year and education service professionals of the year. >> Thank you. Anyone? I also want to congratulate all the teachers and the teacher assistants of the year. Um, also congratulations to the students of the month at the high at the high school. Um, so proud of their accomplishments, their acceptance to MIT and Harvard. We're so very proud of them. Congratulations to all of the athletes and
045their accolades. Um, in particular, Ava Torres who sits with us on the panel. Also, congratulations to Melissa Dea Cruz and the cast and crew of the drama club um for your amazing performance. And before I wrap it up, I just have to say, and I'm only responding as Kelly Diodetta, the trustee, not as President Diodetta on behalf of the board. Um, Miss Brown, it's unfortunate that you feel that way. Um, I I really, you know, think that I take offense to some of the accusations you made about us personally. It's not a back and forth. I'm just making it's again it's >> and I'm going on and you you received your time to go on public record and I'm also receiving mine. >> Okay. And >> I'm going to continue with my comment. I'm going
046to continue with my comment that it's unfortunate that Miss Brown spoke against the board in the way that she did and I feel insulted our character. We as a board made a decision that we thought was best and Mary I apologize that you had to sit here and endure that. Um we chose you for being a qualified board member in the past and we felt that you would be an excellent asset to the board currently. Thank you, Mary. >> Okay. and also happy holidays and happy new year and we'll see everybody in 2026. Thank you. >> Motion to close. >> Second. >> All in favor?