001I apologize for the late start. I would like to call the meeting to order. Open public meeting act statement. In accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act, the board secretary has forwarded notice of this meeting for advertising by having the date, time, and place there are posted in secus town hall on the bulleten board of the education administration building as well as notice being provided to the Bergen record and district flagged and to the republic for it stands one nation. undery. Roll call. Mr. Bartletta, present. Mr. Bolanino. Miss Diodetta, present. Mr. Barry, present. Mr. Dere, present. Miss Geller, present. Miss Howard, present. Mr. Lewis, present. Mr. Alliance present. I'd like to make a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes for February 13, 2025. Second. Discussion. Call the RO. Mr. Bartletta, approve.
002Uh, yes. Mr. Bolanino, yes. Miss Diodeta, yes. Mr. Barry, Mr. Dumbre, yes. Miss Geller, yes. Miss Howard, yes. Mr. Lewis, yes. Mr. Lions, yes. Showcase. mind to uh I'm sorry. Can just hang on one second. We have to go back to the approval. Oh, you were there. Okay, never mind. Joe Case continue. Good evening. I'm Rob Valente, principal of Huber Street School. My partner, my cross town partner, principal of Claran School, Chrissy Candela. Um, Miss Candela's voice, for any Claran students here, anybody from Clarin, raise your hand, please. As you know, Miss Candela's voice has been gone for about a week. So, I will be reading on behalf of both of us. Uh, for those of you who remember who Vanna White is, Miss Candela is our Vanna this evening. We are proud to recognize
003students from Claran School, Huber Street School, Caucus Middle School, and Caucus High School for their meaningful contributions to the Caucus Cares and Hygiene project. Their efforts embody our mission to promote respect, integrity, and a commitment to serving others by giving back to the community. These students have demonstrated empathy, leadership, and a strong sense of civil responsibility. This act of service is a powerful reflection of our core values and shows how students can make a lasting impact beyond the classroom. Miss Candela and I are going to begin calling students from all four schools. We ask that you do come up to Miss Candela and then wait by the step and repeat which I'll be honest I only learned recently that it was called a step and repeat but that's the big banner over there. Keon Gira,
004Sia Gupta, Griezma, Padke, Advita, Banagood, Shinme, Bendarker, Aarv Banagood. Am I going too quickly? Nandita Arapaka, Ryan Gera, Venad Puvetti, An Saxina, Arian, Kangjandani, Jasina Core, Shrea Arjun, Octina, Harsh Shika Gupta, Twisha Deer, Shria Par, Ana Meta, Annayia Farz, Sia Sahu, Krisha Bolar, Lahar Meta, Dia Chanderana, Sanvi Meta, Alishba, Farz, Cia Chopra and Sahiti Ready. [Applause] Miss Candela and I are not done yet. Yuber Street School proudly hosted the Hudson County Academic Bowl on Wednesday, May 28th, 2025. The spirited competition brought together bright young minds from six districts within the county. Bon Harrison, Jersey City Community Charter School, North Bergen, Caucus, and Union City. Each district was represented by a team of six competitors who demonstrated their academic excellence. The preliminary stages of the event consisted of six rigorous rounds, each featuring 15 middle school
005level questions spanning a wide range of academic disciplines. Students displayed impressive teamwork and quick thinking as they tackled challenging questions throughout the competition. Tonight, we honor the six students who participated in the academic bowl and brought home the third place trophy for our school district throughout the entire county of Hudson County. Our representative, our representatives from Claran School, Arav Gadakar, Ashna Sa, Kavi Shivani And from Huber Street School, Vidon Dangal, Nila Houdini, and Mason Stam. [Applause] On Saturday, February 8th, the Huber Street School Scripts Spelling Bee Champion competed in the Hudson County Script Spelling Be. This annual competition brings together talented young spellers from various schools across Hudson County. Tonight we honor our two elementary school winners who represented the Caucus Public School System in the Hudson County Spelling Bee. from Huber Street School. Vidon
006Dangle. [Applause] and from Claran School, Eric Francis. This [Applause] Fourth and fifth grade students at Claran School and Huber Street School demonstrated their impressive global knowledge during the annual geography bees. This exciting event is designed to ignite a love for learning about our world and to encourage students to think globally. After 20 intense and engaging rounds, 20 rounds, we are thrilled to honor our 2025 winners tonight. From Huber Street School, our third place winner, Anique Sha. Our second place winner, Adri Ray. And taking home first place, Kayen Darkar from Claritan School. Third place, Ashna Sa. In second place, Neve Gupta. And taking home first place from Claran School, Sophian Abdul McGee. We are almost done with the elementary prizes. Clarin and Yuber Street schools participate in the unified schools initiative in partnership with the US
007Department of Education and Special Special Olympics New Jersey. The play unified school partnership aims to build a society of acceptance and inclusion for all people. We know that students with their energy, idealism, and creativity can be not only participants, but leaders in this mission. The Play Unified Club gives young people the tools, platforms, and empowerment to be the change makers in helping us reach this vision. In this program, students have the opportunity to interact through sports, competition, social, academic, and recreational activities. The Play Unified Club builds character, increases acceptance of others, develops leadership skills, and enhances the school community. Tonight, we would like to honor four students who truly went above and beyond to promote this mission in our schools. Those students are Dorian Anderson, [Applause] Averly Apante, Briana Howard, and Lyanna Salvatore. [Applause] Thank
008you so much. Good night, lousy voice. Um, I just want to offer the elementary schools uh your the families an opportunity if you would like to leave. Um, I know it's it's late, so if you have to get home, um, fed, whatever, you're you're welcome to leave now. You're not missing anything. You got your certificates, and we won't mind if you want to take a minute to leave. Okay. Thank you for coming. Good evening. I'm Dr. Danielle Garzone, principal of CC Clauus Middle School, and I'm so proud to share some spring highlights that reflect the remarkable accomplishments of our students. We begin with the 2025 Caucus Middle School spelling be themed believe in the power of words. our Caucus Middle School champion, Arian Bansal, a dedicated sixth grader, who went on to represent Caucus at
009the Hudson County Spelling Bee, competing alongside 76 top spellers from grades 3 to 8. Arian's preparation and confidence were truly impressive. He represented our school with excellence, and we couldn't be prouder of his accomplishment. Congratulations, Arian. And he already came up to get his certificate. Next, we are excited to recognize the students who were selected to represent Caucus Middle School at the 2025 Hudson County STEM Showcase held on March 3rd at Liberty Science Center. This prestigious event highlighted original scientific and engineering projects from talented students across the county. And we are proud of our participants for their creativity, hard work, and dedication to STEM. Students, when I call your name, please come forward to Mr. Vagani to receive your certificate and to take a picture. In sixth grade, we have CS Sahu, Parida Gupta. In
010seventh grade, Ranir Batalada, Ana An Saxina, Actish Saxina, Tisha Deer, and Ana Meta. In eighth grade, we have Shria Arjun and Kachna Choski. Congratulations. And finally, we're proud to celebrate the success of our TSA team who delivered an outstanding performance at the New Jersey State Conference at TCJ, earning eight trophies while competing against more than 20 schools from across the state. Their achievements have earned them spots at the National TSA conference this summer. Thank you to their adviser, Miss Mendes, for her support throughout the year. Congratulations to our incredible team. Students, when I call your name, please come up to the front to Mr. Vagani to receive your certificate. Sharia Arjun, Kanak, Jooski, Prrenita Chowry, Som, Jooshi, Papa Usman, Naing, Manav Patel, Sharia Patel, Divit Sharma, Anad Swam, Nathan, Christopher Anttow, Trisha Bowler, Twisha dear,
011Benad Dvidi, Adrit, Sharia Kakadia, Aradia Singh, Barrel vanor, Lauran, Emma Wang, Om Akbari, A thro band, Ran Beir Batala, Arjun Trudrey, and Jazelle Harwood. Congratulations Good evening everyone. Name is Stevei, principal of Calkis High School. This year we have 38 students receiving the seal of biiteracy. By achieving this, students demonstrate that they're able to speak, read, listen, and write in two or more languages at a very high level of proficiency. Um, when I say demonstrate, that means they take a very rigorous test. Upon earning this honor, students will have the New Jersey Seal of Biiteracy insignia placed on their transcript and tonight they will be receiving a certificate from the state of New Jersey. The number of students graduating with this certificate has doubled in the past more than doubled in the past five years.
012Just to give you an idea, the first year that we've uh provided students with this certificate, 16 students. This year we have 38. So a special thank you to our world language supervisor, Christina Wiswesser. world language teachers, Mrs. Rodriguez, Miss Daneiro, Miss Beltran, Miss Culligan, and also to our ML teachers, Miss Belmeer and Mrs. Neandor, for their assistance in helping our students achieve this accomplishment. Students, as I call your name, Dr. Garzone has your certificates. Anika Antala, Disha Pupani, Dana Bravo, Salmi Kamano, Daniela Castro, Lena Cologne, Alejandra Coronel, Freilen Diaz Gomez, Jacqueline Diaz, Icklas Jawar, Ashley Enrique, Heidi Ferrero, Ryan Gonzalez, Rashi Jakatia, Duv Katadia, Lucia Malfa Mendes, Iman Mimmoodi, Ian Maru, Ashley Nurano, Manuela Tvaris Lopez, Leis Pacheco, Daniel PZ, Sean Panamino, Swayam Patel, Danielle Rodriguez, Victoria Sakardi, two languages. Tomas Salazar, Arya Shroth,
013Mariana Valente, Briana Ventura, Samuel Vega, Paula Vant Anko, two languages, Amber Vilicess, Isabel Umano, Paul Young made a bigger step in order than next year. We have uh two more presentations at the at the high school. We also Hi Paul, you're next again. Paul, you're Paul Yun. [Applause] Paul Yun is Saucus High School saludiatorum. He has a GPA of a 4.776. Paul is not Yep. deserves a round of applause. Paul is not only academically gifted and deeply involved in extracurricular activities, but he's also a compassionate and mature leader. In addition to being named Saludiatorum, Paul was presented with citizenship award on Tuesday at the senior awards assembly. Extremely well deserving of this recognition. He is a member of all six honor societies. He is a varsity soccer captain indoor and outdoor track and field member,
014president of the SGO executive Paul uh board and Paul was elected as the board of education student representative where he consistently provided insightful feedback and promoted initiatives. His interpersonal skills, leadership, and dedication to positive change has left a lasting impact on our school. Paul will be attending NJT all you will continue to make an outstanding. Congratulations next year. [Applause] Mr. Vigani, I'm just going to just piggy back off of um your speech and say a little something on behalf of the board of education about Paul. Paul, we wish you well in your future endeavors. It was a pleasure having you as part of our board representing the students of Caucus High School. And let's give them a round of applause, everyone. [Applause] Droo, you can come up here while I talk about Droo Katadia named
015valadictorian class of 2025 at Cus High School. Droo has an outstanding GPA of a 4.876. Drew was ranked first in his class. He's a member of the STEM Academy and he has been he has taken the most rigorous coursework earning AP scholar with distinction and induction into all six honor societies. His academic achievements include conducting aerospace research published by E and presenting at the MIT research conference. is also active in clubs such as JSA, robotics, math, and chess where he earned the AMC top score and he serves as captain of the tennis team. Focused and well-rounded, Drew Droo is driven to pursue a future in aerospace or mechanical engineering and finance and he will be attending Princeton University in the fall. Congratulations best presentation not a student class advisor class of 2025 advisor is Kim
016Linder I know you've been here since 7 o'clock this morning so I'm going to make this Uh, Miss Lindner has spent the past four years with the class of 2025 organizing countless fundraisers, a tricky tray that raised over $30,000, four spirit weeks, 100 plus rehearsals for lipsync, an Easter bunny breakfast fundraiser, haunted high school senior trips, pool days, 12 pep rallies, two proms, junior and senior. Senior prom is at the Legacy Castle. Miss Linder is, as her students put it, the Derek, how was the prom? He said, Miss Linder's the goat, greatest of all time. In addition to this important role, Miss Linder is our ceramics teacher and a real expert in her field. We are extremely grateful for everything you do. I'm not kidding, Miss This is This might be an early night for
017you. You spend a lot of really appreciate everything you do. class of 2025 for the entire club. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Pani. Thank you to everyone for staying. I apologize again for us coming out late and congratulations to all the honores on behalf of the board. We're proud of all. Thank you so much. What about the hygiene? Are they getting certificates here tonight? That's not what I'm asking. They getting certificates here tonight. You are kidding me. After we've emailed back and forth saying they'd be recognized tonight, they're not being recognized. This is unacceptable. Any members of the hygiene club? I apologize. I was given information that you'd be honored tonight and I just found out that you're not being honored tonight and I apologize for I said correct because I was just called a
018minute ago they would not be honored tonight because it was not a school function. I found out they were Thank you, Dr. Bzo. I would just like to announce that tonight uh the presentation that was going to be presented by board president Madetta and our acting superintendent, Mr. has been postponed and will be presented at a later date in time. Thank you. Thank you, Grace. Correspondence. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Um, student representative. I'm sorry, Paul. It's no problem. Okay. Yeah. To uh start us off, on May 16th, we had two survivors of the Satan Hall University fire in 2000. Um, Alvo and Sean. They spoke to our high school. Um today they travel across New Jersey sharing their powerful sto story of resilience as burn survivors. This assembly not only taught us how to
019overcome hardship but to thrive through difficult times as well. 3 days later we had our life skills day. We had several stations that demonstrated different aspects in adult life to be aware of. Um this included drunk driving, self-defense, car maintenance, cooking laundry, and even how to pick up daily hobbies. Thank you to Mr. Vigani, Miss Jones, Mr. Caruso, the guidance department, Arrive Alive, Caucus Police, SNS Auto, Partners in Prevention, Miss Potchalupo, Miss Oaks, and all the sponsors for this incredibly informative day. Um, for the 39th annual Hudson County Alliance of Teen Arts, um, Grace Ing won top honors for her piece, Reflective Friends. Also, congratulations to the following who are giving judges awards. Glen Juan Cassa Slachaya Nan Mlimont Iris Lynn Yola Beth Portillio Isabella Pablo Civil Martinez and Bria Valentino. Special thank you to
020Miss Linder and Miss Jimenez for guiding these students and helping making these accomplishments possible. On May 29th, we had our senior prom at the Legacy Castle. It was a really beautiful venue. It was massive and um we really had a great time there. Um, thank you to class Slate and our um, class adviser, Miss Linder, for setting it up and making the night unforgettable. Paper Mill Playhouse hosted their annual Rising Star Awards for theater students across New Jersey on June 3rd. Congratulations to Churnney Sarmto for winning a thousand scholarship and getting presented an award at this ceremony. Mrs. Dea Cruz and the rest of the uh, theater family is very proud of their accomplishments thus far. We had senior pool day on uh June 4th. We had food catered from toies. Um spent the entire
021day there and the weather was really great. Two days later um we had the STEM fair. And I have a extensive list of names of all the people that won medals. Uh to start us off, we got the ninth graders Bolia, Anel Campo, Anesa George, Risha Gupta, Alyssa Lee, Sanvi Mata, Judamato, and Sati Ready Sahiti Ready, sorry. Um 10th graders we have Ania Bajpai, Ria Bardage, Mi Go, Lucas Rodriguez, Bennett Tran, and Sarah. For 11th graders, we have Simron Botla, Sophia Guzman, Riley Hernandez, and Isaia Patel. And for 12th grade medalists, we have Rashi Jakatia, Paul Yan, Shasha Namandar, Dru Katadia, and Arman Sha. Special thank you to Mr. Caruso and Miss Swami for putting this event together. It was very awesome. Yeah, and we had um several uh alumni come and judge as well.
022So, it was really cool seeing uh old friends there as well. We went to Six Flags for our senior trip on June 9th. We were pretty lucky because lines are pretty short, weather was nice, and I was able to enjoy like six rides before we got home at like 4:30, but it was really great. The day after we had the National Honor Society and Gay Street Alliance lunch um at Outback. Thank you to Mayor Ganelli for sponsoring this wonderful event. The food was absolutely amazing and it definitely made the hard work that uh students put into NHS and GSA very rewarding. The next day we had senior awards night. We had over 50 scholarships given out amassing to over $80,000. Thank you to all the sponsors and huge thank you to Mrs. Anna for organizing
023it. Today we actually just had our um NHS basketball tournament. There were eight teams to compete for a gift card prize. I actually ended up playing my little brother's my little brother in the finals. Uh, luckily I won, so I get to brag about that. Make sure to read the literary club's latest issue of Metamorphosis, which showcases poetry and artwork made by very dedicated and talented students. Congratulations to high school seniors Abigail Jones and Evan Papadopoulos who are recipients of the North Jersey Intercolastic uh conference sportsmanship awards. This was given at a banquet held at the chart house. Also, congratulations to Abby for breaking a 31-year-old school record in the 400 meter hurdles. She placed first place in Hudson County with a time of 1 minute and 8.55 seconds. Thank you to Mrs. Jimenez and
024the students of the art club for creating a beautiful mural in the uh media center. It features landscapes and landmarks of Caucus that pay homage to the beauty of this town. I know usually we meet over there in the media center. I wish that you guys could see it because it's it's truly uh remarkable. We have finals starting uh June 13th and it ends at June 18th. Um June 17th we have our athletic awards night. June 19th, we have senior breakfast and cap and ground uh cap and gown distribution for seniors. It also happens to be the same day as field day, so students are pretty booked that day. Um June 21st, there is a clothing drive from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the high school main entrance. Um there will be accepting old
025shoes and old clothes to support the class of 2026's project graduation. Chromebook collection will take place on uh during school during on June 23rd. On June 24th, a day before graduation, we have our senior clapout at Hubert and Claron elementary schools. It's uh really awesome that we could go back to our elementary school, see old teachers, and really get to um reminisce about times we had there. Um June 25th, we have our graduation ceremony at 6 p.m. And if the weather permits, uh it'll be outside. So, let's keep our fingers crossed for that. And later that night, we have project graduation at American Dream Mall from 9:30 p.m. to around 3:00 a.m. Um, also look out for summer workshops. Um, stamp testing will begin on July 22nd and August 12th. Uh, I'm sorry, it is
026on July 22nd and August 12th. Um, new student orientation August 25th. college essay writing workshop August 27th and understanding advanced placement workshop on August 27th as well. We have a college and career fair um September 29th, so beginning of next school year. And um that's all. Yeah. So, thank you all for letting me u serve as this year's student representative. Um I really appreciate it. Um it's truly been an honor and I thank everyone who has supported me along the way. Thank you. Thank you Paul. Thank you for your final student representative report and it's been a pleasure having you be part of the board for the past year and again we wish you well. Thank you. College and we'll let you go since it's 8:30. So actually uh I made a mistake. I can't
027lie. Uh there there are a lot of names I have to read for um spring 2025 all division. Yeah. So I'm going to do that after you read and go right there. Thank you so much. Wants the spotlight a little longer. Go ahead. All right. Um, we're going to begin with the boys. Um, with baseball, we have Connor Michael Kovich who won second team all division and Diego Vasquez who won an honorable mention. For tennis, Xander Chin, first team all division. Ruf Katadia, second team all division. W Chin, second team all division. Yasachini, second team all division. And Amo Gopal, honorable mention. For track and field, we have Yusf Abat, honorable mention, and Byron Mills, Army. For volleyball, we have Steven Melendez, first team all division. Lita Lona, second team all division. Rishi Kapatia, second
028team all division, and Wasel Sherpa, honorable mention. Moving on to the girls. For track and field, we have Mi Rosario, honorable mention, Jasmine Zang, Isa uh Elizabeth Aino, Sarah Rodriguez, and Abigail Jones, honorable mention relay. Abigail Jones, uh she won a lot of stuff during uh her season. So to begin, first team all division 100 meter high hurdles. First team all division 400 intermediate hurdles. Second place in NJSIAA sectional meet 100 high hurdles. Second place in NJSIAA sectional meet 400 intermediate hurdles. Fourth place in group one state championships 400 intermediate hurdles. And she also broke um as mentioned before a 30 year old and also a 45 year old school record in the 100 high hurdles and in the 400 intermediate high hurdles. She was also just named first uh team all county for the
029100 high hurdles and the 400 intermediate hurdles. And that's all. Um yeah so good for and uh going to softball Kaylin Tusa second team all division. Eva Lucy, second team all division. Key Bartletta second team all division. Katherine Nardone honorable mention. Finally with flag football, they were NJIC division and conference champions. Julia Poso won first place um first team all division. Eva Lucy first team all division. Leva Jessek second team all division. Appalonia Dano uh first team all division. Ay Tardu second team all division. London Okendo, honorable mention. Sariah, uh, Sariah Miranda, honorable mention. Cella Aende, honorable mention. Uh, Katherine Ardone, honorable mention. Leslie Demora de Aza, honorable mention. And Brooke Hartung, honorable mention. That'd be all. Thank you. Now you're done. All right. Thank you so much. Thanks again. And congratulations to all of
030our student athletes on their accolades as well. At this time, I would like to invite up I'm gonna just call you Felicia because I can't pronounce your married name. Um, Felicia Lot to do the performance report. Hello everybody. I am Felicia Shhatri. I am the director of elementary education curriculum and instruction. And I am happy to be here tonight to share the school performance reports. This is not from this past school year. It's from the school year before from the 2023 to 2024 school year. We got this information a few weeks ago and I'm very happy to share it with you tonight. The school performance reports reflect the New Jersey Department of Education's commitment to providing parents, students, and school communities with a large variety of information about each school and district. These reports can
031be used as a tool to help evaluate whether all students have equitable access to highquality education. Now, I'm going to give you an overview of these reports tonight and share some very exciting and good news that we got from these reports. Um, but everybody does have access to these reports and you can see any school district throughout the state of New Jersey. You can access these reports. You can scan the QR code behind me or you are welcome to click the link at schooldata.org. You can also find this on our district website. So, if you're familiar with our district website, click district compliance and you'll see the performance reports as well. Now, what kinds of information do the school performance reports include? Includes everything you could ever imagine about school district. Anything you are curious
032about, I encourage you to go to these reports and you will be able to find it. Just a few quick things that it does include is the district overview, demographic information, student growth, academic achievement, college and career readiness, school accountability, school and district narrative information, staff information, school climate and environment, and graduation and postsecary uh rates as well. But literally anything you could ever imagine is on here. So there were a few updates. Every year, you know, the Department of Education will make a few little updates and a few additions to this. Just a few key ones was the chronic absenteeism data. We also have the seal of literacy data, which it was so great tonight to honor everybody uh who received the seal of bi literacy and visual and performing arts and high school
033persistence and the federal six-year graduation rates. Those were just little changes for the 2023 to 2024 school year. Here our enrollment uh and demographics report. You're going to see that this was from uh three well three years ago, but you'll see in 2023 to 2024, our enrollment did decrease a little bit. And it's nice to see how our district has grown and decreased over time through these reports. Um you can also see the demographic reports, how many multiple learners we have, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged. So just curious if you're interested in learning more about These reports will show that information. We also have the student growth overview. Now, this is a measure of how much students are learning each year. New Jerseys Every Student Succeeds Act state plan outlines that academic progress or student
034growth, which is measured by the median student growth percentiles or that MSGP on statewide ELA and mathematics assessments. Those are that NJSLA assessments or students took in May. Now, as you can here we um are actually above everything in the state which is really really exciting here for our math and ELA and you'll see as we slowly have increased over that time we also have the assessment overview gives you a lot of details about the NJSLA the DM access the NJGPA I know that was a lot of acronyms there that I said but there's a lot of acronyms in education and they're all explained uh behind me as well on the screen and detailed explanation in the full report. Now, our state assessment data results, we have it from the these three school years that
035are on the screen. You're going to see that in 2023 to 2024 school year, we actually met the target for both our math and ELA. We did not do that in the previous years. So, that really is kudos to our teachers, our faculty, and our staff who are working with our students, as well as all of these students who are honored tonight for so many amazing things that they are doing in our school district. And our state results are also the data is also showing this as well that we are making huge strides in so many areas. We also have our graduation rates as well. Now any federal changes like I shared before it does not impact the graduation requirements. We get that question quite often at times none of these changes are impacting any
036of those graduation requirements. Um now the graduation rates as you can see we we really have grown. We went from 90% to now 1% that's incredible. When you look at the state percent, we are way above the state percent as well. And we have chronic absenteeism and attendance. Um when I show you the next screen, I can't stress uh the importance of please sending your child uh your children to school. Is very important for us to teach them. They need to be in school. Uh you can see here that our chronic absenteeism has decreased, which that's amazing. That's what we want to see. And again, way below that state rate as well, which is very nice. And we hope that this rate continues to decrease over time. And then here's by grade level. So it's
037nice because you can really see the chronic absenteeism level where we pinpoint to help improve that rate. We have our college and career readiness. You're going to see that the PSAT we have 100% taking it, which is amazing. We also have the seal of biiteracy. I know since I want to sh give another shout out because we had everybody here for that uh our district was 20.8% while the state's only 9.6%. So, it's really great to see that grow and I do believe it's going to continue to grow over time. And student safety, uh you can see the number of incidents on this slide. Most of these things are singledigit numbers. When you see the state, it's in the thousands. So, needless to say, we have a great security team. Jerry Marcato does a fabulous
038job overseeing that. and our schools are definitely safe and we are very fortunate to have so many procedures in place to keep those numbers down. And finally, thank you for exploring these reports. These are the websites again and I encourage you if you have any questions about this, please reach out to me. If you do want to read more about our district or any other districts in the state of New Jersey, I encourage you to check out the school performance reports. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Right. All right. I'm gonna get it one of these days. Thank you so much. Yes. Very good. Very impressive. correspondence. No correspondence at this time. Acting superintendent report. Um the other night the academic award program, you know, it just shows you what you can accomplish throughout
039our time together here. teachers, principles, school administrators, every one of us. It was truly probably one of the better ones I've ever been around. The kids themselves rooting for each other. There were so many people that received awards. It really was a special night. But as I said, I think it's it's a developmental thing for these this town, for these school. And um I took a lot of pride as an alumni and some of the scholarships that were given out were given out by so many people that graduated school. Um so it was just it was a wonderful evening. So that's the kickoff usually for the last few weeks of school and you know it starts a little bit tomorrow with some exams and things like that but I tell you this is a special
040place and uh last night I was the other night at the academic awards I was very proud really I hope everybody enjoys the next few weeks of their senior year especially. Thank you. Business administrator board secretary report. Yes. Tonight at the end of the meeting uh before board comments, the board will be voting on approving new business and the new business is resolutions that we passed in order to operate the 2526 school year. So I just wanted to explain to everybody why those resolutions were there and it's for us to establish our new school year for the 25 26th year which is so hard to believe that we've gone through the 24 25 year. It just feels like time has risen past us and I think it was a great successful year for us. I
041think we did amazing things as Mr. He has often commented. We are a great district. We do a lot of good and the best part of all we do is for our children. I just want to say thank you for a wonderful school year to our teachers and our faculty and our staff in the buildings. You are all amazing and wishing you all a great summer. Thank you. Thank you, Grace. Public forum agenda items. Governance personnel So there are special education changes happening with classes being moved from Clarin's first street school. This situation creates for teachers to move from one school to another. Those changes can be found under school government in the agenda. Our business administrator along with other contracts have been approved. We will have two student interns joining us in the fall
042which will benefit both those students and the IT department. Fall coaching stipens have been approved along with summer hires um and then our 2025 2026 bus aid bus drivers custodians hiring. I'd like to make a motion to approve recommendation the acting superintendent to approve and adopt the resolutions R 1.01 through R1.54 and motion M1.01 check discussion call the roll Mr. letter. Yes, I need to recuse myself from R. Mr. Bolanino. Yes, Miss Adetta. Yes to all. I have to recuse from item R 1.43. Mr. Barry. Yes. Mr. Yes. Miss Geller. Yes. Miss Howard, I'm voting no on resolution R1.14 and I need to recuse myself on uh resolution 1.42. R1. Mr. Lewis. Yes. Mr. Lines. Yes. policy. Oh, sorry. Um, policy changes include who can physically hand out a diploma during our graduation ceremonies along
043with the policy on AI plans and which are acceptable to use in our district. I'd like to make a motion to accept the recommendation of the acting superintendent to approve and adopt resolution R2.01 through R2.0. Second. Discussion. Call the roll. Oh, go ahead. So the policy that's being suggested is not one of the policies being recommended for action this evening. that would be appropriate for a later discussion during board member comments. Uh the request from Mr. Lions to um to refer a matter to the policy committee. It would not be appropriate to vote on this uh pursuant to this resolution. This resolution is only for policies that are being recommended for approval. Mr. Lions is suggesting the development of a policy which appropriate for him to suggest a new business and then for the board
044to decide whether it should go to the policy committee. Mr. saying it's okay to request that you just have to wait during your board member conference. That's all we can revisit. Any other discussion? Call the RO. Mr. Bartletta. Yes. Mr. Bolino. Miss Detta. Yes. Mr. Barry. Yes. Mr. Gre, yes. Miss Gella, yes. Miss Howard, yes. Mr. Lewis, yes. Mr. Lions, yes. Education Committee curriculum. Good evening. Education committee met on June 5th. Um, and as we are wrapping up our 2425 school year, we have a lot of events happening in the district every day. I would like to mention some of the events. Um, Tikakos High School had its 10th annual art show on May 6th. The show featured a collection of art work from over 200 students and included ceramics, painting, drawings, fiber arts, um,
045and graphics art pieces. Congratulations to all the artists and their teachers. The annual senior academic awards ceremony took place on June 10th. The 2025 Sukakus High School college acceptance list is very impressive and covers colleges, trade schools and universities from coast to coast. Congratulations to our graduating class. Uh there are teachers and families and to our graduating class. We cannot wait to see what are you going to do next. Uh Clarendon School Drama Club presented Mandagascar this year. The show was very innovative, full of energy and humor. Congratulations to all the kids and faculty members. It was how much hard work and passion all of you put into the show. Clarendon and Hubers schools had their band concert. Um it was a success. Um our music program is thriving. Congratulations to all the talented kids
046and teachers. Our middle school had evening of the arts on June 9th. It was a very exciting and very clever event that combined art show and music. Um also like to give some of the updates on our special ed, A E A E A E A E A E A E A E A E A E A ESL and gifted and talented programs. Ours start with our ASL program. Our ASL program hosted um breakfast for families on June 10th. Also, the district purchased a new program, Elite um I think it's um used to be ESL library to assist with ASL classes and help our English learners. Uh also the district is waiting for the access testing results. Um the results will determine which students tested out of the ASL program. Okay, moving on to special
047ed. Uh um uh Mrs. Hennessy attended our meeting this month. Um uh we are getting ready for our extended school year program. The program will start on June 30th. Um we have about 105 students who are eligible for the program and between 67 to 70 students uh these are the numbers from last week who are planning to attend the program. We are hiring 10 teachers uh 20 teacher aids and two speech therapists to work with kids in the summer and the district is looking to another exciting SY summer. Um, as we are wrapping this year, the district is also looking ahead to the 2526 school year. Clarendon School will no longer be the only elementary school hosting special education classes. Uh, beginning the 2526 school year, students receiving special ed services who are entering kindergarten
048and first grade will attend their neighborhood elementary schools. Uh, moving on to gifted and talented. Uh they're also wrapping up the school year with a number of very exciting events. Uh Hudson County academic ball was hosted by Hubert Street School in May. Geography B and Battle of the Books. Um and also high school STEM fair took place in June. Congratulations to all the participants. We are very very proud of you. Okay, moving on to resolution. So we have three uh resolutions today. Uh I motion to accept accept the recommendations of the acting superintendent to approve and adopt resolution R3.01 through R3.03. Second. Before we go into the discussion period, I just want to clarify that um currently both at Claran and Yuber Street, we have special education. It is not just specific to Clarin at
049this time. It is it is both schools. I just wanted to clarify that point. Um, discussion. Call the RO. Mr. Bartletta. Yes. Mr. Bolamino. Yes. Miss Dodetta. Yes. Mr. Barry. Mr. Deumbre. Yes. Miss Geller. Yes. Miss Howard? Yes. Mr. Lewis? Yes. Mr. Lions? Yes. operations. So, at this month's operations uh committee meeting, uh we discussed um several things going on within the district. Uh we were conducting interviews for new head custodian at the high school middle school. Uh we'll also be posting for a new head custodian at Huba Street School. We're conducting interviews for uh summer help. We also purchased uh additional 300 LED lights um for the schools. Uh we moved all stored student records from the storage unit on Flanigan Way uh to Claren School which was a savings of about $6,500 a
050year. Um the pack year to date rentals u uh were discussed. school due reports, we had 368 uh resolved tickets. Uh as far as Huber Street and the middle uh Milbridge schools concerned, uh we have project updates. We received a quote uh for um an air conditioning unit that's going to be installed in the kitchen. Um we placed three new picnic tables in the courtyard at Claron School. Uh the crack on the floor in the B pod has been fixed. Uh 70 outated smoke heads have been uh replaced. Two covers have been uh have been installed over the pull stations in the EP pod and the uh shed has been refurbished in the courtyard at the middle school high school. Uh the antenna that was in the upper pack balcony has been moved uh onto
051the roof. Uh the lighting project is still ongoing. And as far as finances, we discussed um transfers and other financials at addition travel for um the month. I make a motion to accept the recommendation of the business administrator board secretary to approve and adopt resolutions R 4.01 through R 430 as described below. Second. Discussion. Call the role. Mr. Bartletta, Mr. Bolanino, Miss Detta, yes Mr. Barry, yes Mr. Deombre, yes Miss Geller. Yes, Miss Howard. Yes, Mr. Lewis. Yes, I need to recuse myself from 4.05 out of district travel. Metta. Oh, yes. Sorry. Yes. Very legal. Um, I also recuse myself from R4.05. Mr. Lions. So I make a motion to accept the recommendation of the business administrative board secretary to approve and adopt resolution R5.01 through R5.06 as described below. Discussion. Call the RO. Mr.
052Flata. Yes. Mr. Bologanino. Yes. Miss Detta. Yes. Mr. Barry. Yes. Mr. De Ombre. Yes. Miss Geller. Yes. Miss Howard? Yes. Mr. Lewis? Yes. Mr. Lions? Yes. Thank you. Ad hoc committees. We had several committee meetings in the month of May. We'll start with shared services. At our May 21st shared service meeting, um we started by speaking about the funding of the education special education department. Um we also discussed the beautifification of the courtyards at the both Claron and Yuba Street School. Um we couldn't find a grant for these. So the town and district will work together on all the improvements. We discuss discussed the CPAC committee and and the interaction with the district. Um we also discussed uh grant writing. Uh the town uses a firm called Millennium and we as a district we as
053the board of education will investigate this and and possibly RFP our own grant writer. Um and finally we uh the town asked about current enrollment. Lance, nothing for legislation. Lance, again, athletics. We did we have an athletic meeting uh in in May. Um we did discuss uh mainly fall sports. Um the fall sports are coming out. Um so physicals and paperwork will all be will all be sent to will be given to students who will participate in the fall sports. Uh so I I please ask that everybody get their physicals returned as soon as possible. Um, I want to congratulate all the spring awards uh for successful awards season. Um, on the 17th of June, the athletic awards uh ceremony will take awards technology communications. I'm going to be giving the report. Oh, that one.
054So, we discussed revisiting and restructuring the district and school websites to make them more user friendly as well as ensuring all the information is up to date. That is going to be a big push over the summer. Uh Patty Kuchi will be working with AJ from it and school web masters to streamline the workflow and process to update the site and processes to ensure the website is consistently updated as changes happen within the district. And finally, we're going to be making the district as a whole is looking to make a larger social media presence which will include school s'mores newsletters upcoming events and reminders to keep the community engaged and involved. Thank you. Nothing for visions, nothing for negotiations, new business. I make a motion to accept the recommendation of the acting superintendent and business
055administrative board secretary to approve and adopt resolutions R 2026.01 through R 2026.15 for school year 2526 as described. Discussion. Call the RO. Mr. Bartletta. Yes. Mr. Bolanino. Yes. Miss Detta. Yes. Mr. Barry. Yes. Mr. Gomere. Yes. Miss Keller. Yes. Miss Howard? Yes. Mr. Lewis? Yes. Mr. Lions? Yes. Public General. Nothing. board member comments. I have a few. So, I want to congratulate everybody that re of the recipients of the awards tonight. I want to congratulate Paul um and thank him for being part of I am extremely proud to be part of such a well-rounded district of students. These children have proved to excel in all they do academically, athletically, and socially. So, I mean, it's it's really great to see all these honors that happen um with our children of our district. I want to
056congratulate and thank our teachers, school administrators, and faculty in our district. Without all of you, none of this would be possible. And I want to wish everybody to have a safe and happy summer since this is June and the next time we meet, it will be summer. And congratulations to all of our graduates. I have something. Um, as a uh as a board member that's conflicted with a lot of things, I try to uh attend as many assemblies and awards shows and drama plays as I can. Um, and I did attend one earlier in the month uh by an individual named Jordan Toma that was set up by Mr. and it was probably one of the best assemblies I've ever been to. I mean, it was for the fourth to seventh grade students. It was
057here in the pack and I mean he was the most engaging person I've ever met and he was up there getting kids excited and he he was just he was just fantastic. I mean I don't know what else to say. He wrote a book called I am just a kid with an IEP and it's his story about how he came up and and overcame overcame everything. It was just it was just a wonderful thing and I highly advise if you if you don't or if you haven't heard of him to go on YouTube and and search for him because he's he was fantastic. So, I'd just like to real quick um congratulate not only all the students, but I think um they got there because of all of our teachers. And I'm talking about all
058the way starting at preK all the way up through 12th grade. Every teacher who has touched these kids over $80,000 one kid more impressive than the next and Mr. Bor is correct. They were all, you know, describing the people and the kids were so excited to see who that kid was and cheering them on and they didn't care whether they got it or their their friend got it. But it was really great and to Cat Susano and guidance the effort that went into that and my son was one of the recipients and he literally got a personalized invitation with his name. I mean, it was really a truly special event. Very well done. So, thank you teachers, administrators, everybody for everything you do for our kids. Go ahead, Jerry. I'm sorry. I don't know what
059committee to come under, but I think that board needs to have discussions on the threats coming out of Trenton about the concerns with health care costs are going through the roof and how that might impact our budget. They're saying 30 to 40% cost increases for healthare. So I'm not sure if that or how that will impact us, but for what whatever committee would address that. I'm hopeful that we can get some information on that. I'd like an update on the long range facility plan. As far as I know, ours was expiring in May. Um and if it is expired, that's something we need to work on. We've approved a $4 million budget for the architectural company and part of that is developed through our long range facility plan. So we really need to have a
060long range facility plan so the architects can see where we're going to be going. The last time that plan was updated was 2020 and uh we need to have community input from that and board input. So I think it's something we need to work on. Uh is the letter from the CPAC included in our communication? There were several incredible points sent to us by that group and I'm not sure if it's included in the communication section of our agenda. If not, I'm wondering if that's something that should be included there. And I'm hopeful that Miss Keller through her involvement with the education committee addresses some of the concerns that were raised by the CPAC community. Um, I had asked for an update on the high school capacity and we found out that some of the
061information had not been made available. So, I'm going to continue to request an update on we they were able to give us our current enrollment, but I'd like to know what our what our capacity is for the high school. Uh I had mentioned earlier and I was requested to make mention during this time if there's not a policy currently in our policy manual that will require any incident be brought to the attention of the board, I'm requesting that we develop one. Maybe we can go through our Strauss estimate company or or anyone else and see what we can do to find out of having that there. It's very the board is aware of everything that's going on because we vote on stuff and if we don't know it's it's not going to be the best
062way to vote. Uh if there's an update in any of the plans being made by the architectural company that we have hired, we like to see information on that. Um I thank the president for getting information on the board self eval. We're hopeful to be able to have that portal open soon so we can complete our self evaluations. Um thank you to the group that was here for the project uh the hygiene project for the community. Uh it was an amazing community service event and it's very good because things like that can help students who are trying to get into the Junior National Honor Society. I attended the Junior National Honor Society recognition uh the other night and it was an incredible opportunity to see the kids that were here 24 I think it was
063new students that were accepted into that and that's something that can carry on to them through when they go through high school and hopefully when they get out of high school to go into colleges and stuff. Um, finally, as an educator for 38 or 39 years, I'd like to thank all the staff members, regardless of what your capacity is in our district. We appreciate what you do from the I know that the security guards are not part of our district, but for the first ones, the kids usually see in the morning or the bus drivers, throughout the people they see today, the educators, the support staff, our child study team members, everyone. Thank you, and we hope you had a very good year, and we appreciate all you do for the students in our district.
064Thank you. Thank you, Jerry. Just to to answer some of the things that you uh mentioned, the IT issue. Um New Jersey school boards was having an issue with their IT, as I told you. Um so, they are working on fixing that as of yesterday. They said it should be up and running soon. Hopefully, they're going to fix it on their end and let me know. No, of course. You're welcome. And also just um I met with Dina Jerbasio. Was it yesterday, Grace? Um, Grace, uh, myself and Tammy Hennessy met with Dina Jerbzio, who is the new president of the CPAC, uh, committee, and we had a very productive meeting. So, looking forward to working closely with them. There's one other thing I could bring up through the chair, president. Yes, I'm the chair of
065the special services committee and I was asked about a meeting and I said the dates I could or could not make it because I teach. So, I said I can't make it on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays before I would leave work early when I was my prep time, but I can't leave during that time. I'm available anytime on Thursdays and Fridays. However, the meeting was held at a time that I couldn't meet. I was told, well, that's the time city hall is convenient. And after speaking to the mayor that there are other times that we can meet. So, I'm asking in the future when you have a special shared services committee meeting that it's ensure that it's time that I can come because I I will not leave my classes. I'll leave my prep times
066or anything else. I want to go to those meetings, but if they're done during my teaching time, this I was notified than 24 hours before the meeting was being held that it was being held at a time that I teach which I can't do that. So I would appreciate in the future that they make sure that that those meetings are held at a time that I can come. Thank you. Yes. I think what happened um I know that Grace had sent out the way that it works usually Grace communicates with Gary Jeff. Is it Gary? Um and they come up with a couple of dates and times that the mayor can meet and then Grace will come back to the rest of the board with those dates and times. And I know none of those
067dates and times that was dictated by the mayor's office. But as long as they're willing to cooperate and meet later, I you know, we'll definitely make sure that we that we do that for you. That's that's not a problem. Um also too, in in regards to the policy issue that Jerry brought up, changing the policy for us to be updated for all of the things that happened during the school day, is that within our purview, Stephen? It is not. within the board's um within the board's defined responsibilities. Um typically um by statute and by policy um the superintendent is required to bring all personnel recommendations to the board. Now if in fact there is a recommendation for disciplinary action or there's a recommendation for an appointment, a promotion, a transfer, all of that comes to
068the board. Um certainly willing to take a look at our policies uh to make sure that those policies are consistent with statute and state regulation. Uh but generally speaking uh not all personnel matters come to the board. Uh there's got to be a recommendation from the superintendent with regard to that particular Thank you. The chair. May I respond to that? I do not want to discuss why I'm mentioning this tonight because that would be a breach and I'm not going to bring that up. But there are issues that need to be brought to the full board's attention and I don't want to discuss what the issues are tonight here. However, I think everyone on this board knows what we had discussed earlier and that's what I'm asking. I'm not looking for a daily routine of
069Mrs. Smith did X. I'm looking for anything that there's an incident that would require the board to be familiar with for us to make decisions moving forward. Right. No, I I'm clear on what you're asking and I think that Mr. as well. And I what I'm what I'm questioning is whether or not that's within our purview in terms of anytime, let's say, for example, an employee gets reprimanded or written up that comes to the board. That's that that's the question. Are you clear on that, Mr. I am clear and I will look at the board's policies to make sure that they are consistent with statute and with regulation. I understand Mr. Lion's concern. With that in mind, I will take a look at those polic reported back. Okay. Can I just make a comment on
070that? Yes. I think it's more about um the entire board being informed. I feel that there was an issue that happened in exec session that there were some members of the board that actually had the details and other members of the board that did not have the details. So, if we can all be informed if there's a situation like that, not some of the board having it, some of the board not, that would be helpful. I I have to disagree with you, Melissa. I think everybody had an opinion. I don't think anybody had any details. And I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. Right. Everyone had an opinion. I don't think it was any specific information that I think people felt they weren't being told. I think people may have heard things outside of the
071No, I'm I'm saying there was there were certain members of the board in the exact session that knew the details of something that happened with something and I don't want to get into details with it. I I don't think that and there was others that didn't. So, I just felt that way because they seem to have more information than we did until we asked the questions to why. But that's what I'm saying. I think you're mistaken. I don't think that was the case. I think people had an opinion about it. I don't think I mean, Grace, was anybody on the board told about what you discussed prior to the exact session? May I make a suggestion to you? I just don't want the public to talk about perception and optics. I don't want the public
072to think that something happened behind closed doors that didn't happen. So, I want to be clear on that. So, I ju I just think that what we should do because I think we're we're doing our very best not to violate anybody's privacy rights or to violate the confidentiality of of the executive session and you're trying to do that in a way that's that's prudent. But my suggestion is that with regard to this issue, uh we issue a rice notice and that you have a discussion about it your next your next executive session. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. to be continued. And once again, I just want to say on behalf of the board, congratulations to all the recipients and um behalf of myself. I'm proud to be part of this amazing district. Happy summer to all
073the students and staff. Thank you. Ma, can I just respond to the long range facility? I'd just like to let you know that tonight on the agenda, we approved a resolution for 28,000 for land and that's for the development of the long range facility plan. Once that was approved tonight, they will um start the process immediately July 1st and we will have a plan within four to six weeks that will be submitted to the county. I asked them if the district was in violation and they said no, there are many other districts that are in the same predicament. Um and right now the long range facility plan at the time was not updated timely due to the fact that we have an acting superintendent and things were in flux and we are now trying now
074on the right path. So within the next I'd say eight weeks the district will have a completed and filed plan with the department of education through the chair to the to the B. I I appreciate that and I'm glad that we're going to be moving forward on it. However, there's several steps that need to be taken and including having community input to that and this is something that we should be discussing saying we have a routine, we have a foundation set up for that because as we know this is what develops everything and and I don't fault anyone for not getting it done. you know, over those five years, you've had several changes in leadership and you had a pandemic, you know, so I don't expect everything to flowing as as normal. But now that
075we're in a better situation, hopefully I'm hopeful that we can get what we can get the community involved and get the whole board on this so we know we have a plan to move forward. When you and I had discussed the long range facility plant back in in January, there were several things that have changed dramatically since we that plan was developed long before I was here, and I'm sure there's going to be new changes coming up over the next five years, and I'm glad to see that we're going to be working on that. So we have a good foundation for moving us forward developing short and long-term goals tonight and I appreciate you taking care of that. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? Hi. Hi. What?