e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e stands one nation God indivisible okay Mr Paladino thank you madam president trusty daro here trusty msaga here trusty munise here trusty PCO here trusty mro vice president dtis here uh president benini here the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of this board except where specifically Exempted by law at which time any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having same advertised in the Beville times also notice of this meeting has been mailed to the members of Board of Education the burrow clerk all elementary schools the middle school the high school Hornblower Early Childhood Center and post it on the district website also this meeting is being televised via the district social media Pages thank you Mr Paladino could we have a motion to approve the minutes both closed session and public session for May 20th motion second okay all those in favor I I any opposed what okay you reflected Mr darl trusty darl okay all right and I guess we can um let's do our student government representative um Ryan are you ready to do a okay go ahead good evening everyone as I'm here today I'm filled with a mixture of gratitude pride and a touch of sadness as this is my last time here serving as your student board representative for the 2023 to 2024 school year has been an incredible journey and one that I'll cherish forever this role provided me with an invaluable learning experience and I gained a deeper understanding of the intricacies of our educational system to my fellow students thank you for trusting me to be your voice your insights concerns and ideas have been the heart of my role to the board members thank you for welcoming me and valuing the student perspective and to Dr TOMCO thank you for meeting with me and listening to any concerns and ideas I wish you luck in everything moving forward to the Educators and staff thank you for your hard work and commitment to the students your efforts often go unnoticed but they're deeply appreciated since you're the backbone of our educational system and you have of great impact on our students lives as I move on to new challenges and opportunities I carry with me the lessons learned and the memories made here I am confident that the future of our school district is bright with passionate leaders and engaged students ready to make a difference thank you all for this incred incredible opportunity it's been an honor to serve as your student board representative and it serves me with great pride to pass this position to Candy dong who will give an update on events good evening everyone it's an honor to be your next student board representative firstly congratulations to all students getting recognized for their achievements tonight in old news Saturday June 1st student Cecilia NZ Angela T and clette valo competed at the UN LV in Las Vegas at the National anatomage Tournament 20124 this year 60 teams composed of over 220 students competed for the title anat National Anatomy Champion our students represented the top 4% of students Nationwide who competed there to make it the girls didn't make to the top 32 after the Morning competition but learned a lot and looked forward to making it back there next year on June 4th the upcoming seventh graders had a meet and greet in which they were able to get to know more about the middle school and meet some of the teachers additionally all Varsity athletes had a dinner at nanina's in park on June 3rd the National Honor Society had its first meeting for the new members and held officer elections the next day following that June 10th there was an election for class officers and student government organization officers for the upcoming school year the 12th the 12th of J June was the official prom which held the theme of The Great Gatsby in new news while getting ready for graduation senior clearance happened earlier today the senior barbecue and clap out were occur tomorrow they will get a chance to go back to their Elementary School for the final time where they will be greeted and appreciated by kids representing their past another congratulation goes to the middle schoolers who will be graduating on this Thursday June 20th before having the high school graduation on the 21st on July 4th new members of the National Honor Society will be volunteer at the Color Run which will take place in town that's all for tonight have a good evening thank you very much and a warm welcome to our new student board rep um we have a big agenda tonight and uh a lot of items to be presented this evening so with that said we're going to pass this along to uh Dr Tom thank you Madame President good evening everyone I see a lot of Familiar Faces tonight um and I welcome all of our uh incredible students their their parents our faculty staff and administration uh it's great to see you all this evening so let's get started right away with some of our from some of our um presentation of some of the accolades for our incredible students uh and all the achievements they did but just let me say this very quickly um the amount of uh congratulations that we've given out this year to all different groups of individual students I'm sorry groups and individual students has just been remarkable uh and it's the culminating work of not just the community and the families at home but our school Community here our teachers uh our staff members our administrators who put in countless hours after to make sure that your children our children here uh get what they need and I was just saying it uh in closed session and uh I wanted to make sure everyone hears it there are when I first got here nine years ago there were things that people around the state said that the Belleville kids can never have there were programs uh there were facilities there were textbooks um these things were never going to happen in this District because this was a district that didn't do those things this is a district that couldn't afford those things this is a district that through its own greed um was in a major deficit this is a district where the morale is so poor that our kids couldn't you know survive without understanding what politics were uh was and uh and things of that nature and and and I'm proud to say that through some of the accolades even tonight which we celebrate tonight uh we changed all that together so I'm proud to say that and uh as a as June ends this year and this will be our last formal presentation of uh of our congratulations to different winners tonight uh I think it's uh it really is the product of everybody working together you know we didn't get along all the time but we really did what we did uh and I and I say it I said it to the board um just some of the things that we've done before everyone else like even Chromebooks you know how how simple it is now that we did that prior to co and and uh schools were calling us during covid uh assembly uh persons Senators how did you do this and I said well we did it before covid came because we were ready because we knew our kids needed Chromebooks and we and this board and this administr Administration got them for for them um so just little things like that we've come a very long way and I'm really proud so uh so I appreciate all that um I'll probably say a little bit more later but uh let's start with uh the spring Sports super essics conference uh All Conference Awards Mr Mara and Mr rhs [Applause] good evening everyone uh we are going to talk about our SEC spring Mr Ro has down there SEC All Conference teams and our all Academic Teams we're going to go by team so the first team up is softball so is coach canella or coach or coach mccan here there you go coach mccan I'm proud of you alumni who came coach with us this year so we have first team SEC softball Colonial division Deanna McIntosh first team Colonial division Nina jamino first team Colonial Division and Nia Thompson second team SEC Colonial division Ruby Perez and honorable mention Colonial division Kaylee gutterz for the all academic team from softball we have uh Ruby Perez as well congratulations the girl softball team thank you next we have baseball coach Source coach ay coach denapoli first team SEC Colonial division Shawn Walsh first team SEC Colonial division crimal Delon second team Colonial division J Josh Abramson and honorable mention SEC colonal division Mariano Perez for the SEC all academic team we have Josh Abramson that's a 3.5 GPA during the uh sport season congratulations [Applause] [Applause] next we have track is coach lenek coach paluca coach pizzy Coach Price there he is awesome coach lanek and Coach Price so we're going to do c uh track is actually coed so we have second team SEC boys Liberty division Justice shop honorable mention SEC boys we have James Cooper SEC Liberty division honorable mention Jordan Valentine honorable mention SEC Girls Liberty division we have Daryl R and I to mention SEC Liberty division shenah Foreman congratulations [Applause] [Applause] next we have boys volleyball coach Spina coach Sheridan coach pontoriero okay first team SEC boys volleyball American Division Gabriel compos second team SEC American Division Peter Garcia second team boys volleyball American Division Kevin [Music] Fawn honorable mench SC C volleyball American Division Joshua [Music] nadong and honorable mention SEC American Division Alexa duic and last but not least we have boy tennis who happen to be uh the 2024 SEC Independence Division champion so congratulations to the boys tennis team coach orama coach debuk there he is SEC Boys Tennis Independence division first team Dominic capitelli SEC Independence division first team Alex Cruz second team Boys Tennis Independence division John Silva second team Independence division Ethan Newen honorable mention SEC Independence division Arian Mangal [Applause] and leading the way in the all academic team we have Boys Tennis Dominic capitelli and Ethan Newen congratulations thank you guys and a great spring I hope you guys have a great [Applause] summer ladies and gentlemen one more uh Round of Applause for these incredible athletes and their parents driving back and forth to practices to games you know it's a lot of work right I guess we don't appreciate that to our older Mr Mara incredible job with the athletic program thank you so much let's give him a round of applause okay uh some of the academic Awards now uh Second Place winners and the talented and gifted academically speaking competition uh is that going to be M demov or may come on up [Applause] [Music] thank you good evening Dr TOMCO members of the Board of Education yes I was just going to say if you'd like to come down to distribute the certificates please do also good evening members of the community this is a tough act to follow congratulations to all our amazing athletes we have here in Belleville I just this take okay so the first the first competition within the talented and gifted program that I would just like to say a few words about is our academically speaking competition we have a junior varsity team and a varsity team JV is grades five and six Varsity is grades seven and eight so level of difficulty within this academic competition increases within the rounds there are four rounds so just for example round one the students have four minutes and they have to respond to approximately 30 questions they also have to buzz in to respond once they buzz in they have to give a response they can't decline on their response the students prepared in teams by answering trivia questions related to the content areas of ela math science and social studies during this competition they worked in teams of three against other neighboring District teams and our student winners are please come up Judah cook grade eight yes and our teacher who headed up this entire program needs to come up here too Miss omima Omer are students also received yes please give her a warm Round of Applause for the academically speaking competition our students also received trophies from the actual competition Olivia Rodriguez grade8 please come [Applause] up Kayla Johnson also grade eight Josan Ibraham great8 congratulations Sara dusk grade [Applause] eight Leo vagara please come [Applause] up Leo is grade8 as well and Alana so sorry I want to appropriately say her last name matiasic matiasic Alana please come up grade eight last but not least we have Juliana Ramirez who's also grade8 [Applause] would you like to distribute the trophies you like to go over that distribute the tropies once the trophies are distributed we'll take a group picture [Applause] congratulations to our eighth graders who participated and one in the academically speaking competition on to challenge 24 which is a math compe comptition so we have we have an IND District competition for challenge 24 this is probably one of our most challenging ones for our students and they really need to prepare so what we do in District over the years we prepare a competition here which takes place at school number 10 in order to do process of elimination our winners of challenge 24 taay sakagami please come [Applause] up Luana Quinones please come up and Juliana Ramirez [Applause] okay they'll receive their certificates in school tomorrow thank you very much congratulations to all of our student [Applause] winners thank you Miss demov uh let's go back one here to our Essex County poster contest winner for school number seven Mr Bon I saw you somewhere there he is come on down Mr [Applause] Bel thank you very much everyone uh thank you to the board and Dr TOMCO for taking this time just going over what the Essex counter po poster contest is it's a huge competition that had over 1,900 entries all around the county of Essex County um we were fortunate enough to have four separate winners over at school number seven we had two honorable mentions and we also had two students that placed uh one being in the top 10 one just being outside the top 10 so with that being said it's a huge accomplishment for our teachers Miss nicodemi who runs the program Miss Mendes and Miss B our fourth grade team do an amazing job with that but our students get very immersed into this competition and it's representing where we are from and what we represent here in Essex County so without further Ado we have a few winners are first our honorable mentions jonalan kova come on up first winner for honorable mention nice job okay over there and another honorable mention is Matilda [Applause] culo okay and now for our 12th Place winner within the Essex County poster contest is Juliana Farris come on up and then our ninth place winner in the Essex County poster contest is Ava Estrada congratulations come on up very nice and another big round of applause for our Essex County posters winners thank you very much give me one more round of applause congratulations ladies it's now called Mr rhs I believe for uh the national anatomage competition I don't know if you have uh anyone else coming up with you uh this is a an incredible thing several years ago we had the opportunity I want to thank the board for supporting us with these uh this uh uh anatomage lab table lab which is basically um you know a virtual look at a you know at the human body um just an incredible thing for our students in the academy and and uh biology classes so uh Mr rhs all right so uh I brought up Mr aella with me here who really once we we once Dr TOMCO brought the idea for the the anatomage lab to us uh Mr aello really uh took off with it ended up finding a national competition to allow our students an opportunity to participate in this competition uh basically the way that The LAB Works uh the tables work is it's it's a long table uh it's a touchscreen uh people donated their bodies to science uh and so essentially what you're able to do is remove parts of the body as you're going through the body to find other parts so you take the skin off you find certain veins you're going to have to find other types of Bones other types of different different things within the body there are also animals that are a part of this you can do dissection Labs without having to really get into it and you know touch the guts I guess for lack of a better word uh but but Mr AEL really did a great job with our students preparing them for this competition so I'm going to let him take it away thank thank you thank you thank you to Dr TOMCO and the board for getting those tables they make learning fun and interactive for the kids and so when uh I get constant emails from anatomage and one was a tournament and I thought hey competitions are fun so we put together three teams one of the teams qualified during the virtual rounds because there isn't a nearby regional tournament for us so they did it online and they finished the top four in their region which qualified them to go to the National Finals at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on June 1st they competed with uh 200 12 other kids they did not make the top 32 but they did a great job and we noticed that they were the only team of three in the room everybody else had a team of four so they were a little uh handicapped but they're ready to take on a fourth team member and go back next year um so in recognition of your commendable performance in the qualifying rounds and finals in the national anatomage competition held in Las Vegas Nevada on June 20 June 1st 2024 uh first we bring up Cecilia neeves the girls came before school and after school whenever they had time um they really gave up their own time which was awesome they didn't have to and Cecilia is always doing something with crew or hockey so we thank you for your dedication shake the ladies hands over here uh next we have Angela torado [Applause] and claudet [Applause] valo we look forward to putting together some more teams next year and taking even more people with us to the national competition at least 30 thank you guys excellent job I just want to say too that um Beville is only one of a handful of schools uh definitely in New Jersey that have this as a lab so uh so again I appreciate all the support from the board getting those tables there and Mr palino as well uh okay uccc bridge building competition all right so the next you mind if I do the next three all right so Dr alfano heads up the the the next three uh recognitions one is the UCC bridge building competition the Samsung sulf for tomorrow competition and the New York New Jersey Port Authority High School challenge so Dr Alano really loves every year when I get up here and I say what a great job she does and how how I know her students really benefit from the experiences she helps to provide for them uh the these are all competitions that our engineering robotic students really uh take to each year uh the the Samsung soul for tomorrow we've been a part of for a number of years uh winning thousands and thousands of dollars under Dr Alfano's tutelage so our our our students really do receive excellent opportunities because of all the the work that you do so Dr Alano thank you for everything you do here with that said I'll let you take it [Applause] away um I would like to thank the board members and Dr K TOMCO for allowing us to honor our students uh in all of their accomplishments this last year uh the students I would like to the students and I would like to also thank the administration including Mr roods Miss pascali uh Mr blotnik with special thanks to Mr Mara Mr Balls uh along with Mr Ryan Sheridan Mr Woodring Mr Longo Miss Arena uh and Mrs tutle uh and the BHS faculty and staff for all that they have done for our students okay bridge building um allows students to utilize math and Engineering to build the strongest bridge uh with caps and Ledges up to 2 and 1/2 ft wide running the length of each uh oh jeez Louise I read the wrong page it's not there there it is it's okay okay bridge building allows students to utilize math and Engineering to build the strongest bridge uh with caps on materials and weights students learn the principles of trust Bridges and reorganization how integral planning preparation and drun sketches and calculations uh joint and Trust strength while also learning to work as a team this event was held by Union County Community College engineering technology and architecture department on the Cranford campus at the commrs uh in December of this year so 12 schools including Belleville participated uh we sent several teams um the following students if you could come forward when I call your name uh jazleen Aries Christina uh [Applause] bayus yeah yep Jonathan gromo uh [Applause] Quinto James Monroy Jake [Applause] Santos our second team the half team uh diani Abu Ashley Rodriguez Jessica azme Isabella Mesa iise Diaz and our last team uh Isabella Corino landro palano haum Lamy hassa alessi Juliana Marin matus Mendes Alex alander novich and Adriel melar [Applause] christop chrop [Applause] [Applause] yeah the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey challenge students to conceptualize and design a robotic machine for you prod on the Lincoln or Holland Tunnel catwalks which are elevated Ledges up to 2 and 1/2 ft wide running the length of each tunnel that had been used by the Port Authority First Responders up until 2011 belber robotics was one of 18 schools that completed the challenge and was able to present their idea and proof of concept at the Trade Center to senior Port Authority officials and Engineers following students if you could come when I call your name jasine arz [Applause] Christina [Music] [Applause] Baus Christopher Kiti Jonathan GMO Quinto James mug and Jake Santos [Applause] okay uh s for tomorrow is a national competition that challenges students in grades 6 through 12 to explore how the role science technology engineering and math can play in solving some of the busiest local uh the biggest issues in their local communities the competition engages students in active Hands-On learning that can be applied to real world problems making stem more tangible and showcasing its value beyond the classroom students Pro proposed to research use of artificial reefs in freshwater and saltwater habitats interview National and state experts in artificial Reef management artificial Reef seeding with oysters as a source of filtration of algae and various repurposed and raw materials used in to make artificial reefs students propose prototypes and mockups of designs for creation of the artificial Reef mold uh or systems using recycled and repurposed materials to be used to cast a lighter weight and more maneuverable artificial Reef Belleville High School was a state finalist in the 2023 and 2024 school year so following students um we have Jaslene Aris Christina buus Christopher Kiti Jonathan guo Quinto James Montero Jake Santos Jessica asme Isabella amza and ival Davis [Applause] Diaz e okay and now uh we have a few more so hang in there uh class of 2024 Academy students this is something again when we first uh when we first made changes to the district we added the uh this uh medical engineering Academy and uh it's just been an incredible thing for our students going on to that field so Mr rhods without further Ado all right so I'm gonna bring up Mr Leo yes we can't forget Mr Leo who's uh fantastic with organization Mr [Applause] fipo all right anybody else we need to bring up here Mr Leo oh okay all right good evening um tonight is is a um a really special night um we get to honor the graduates from not only the Ralph Falon criminal oh wait wait Mr Ross come on over and and uh Miss chevara come on sorry I'm about ready to say that we're we're getting ready to celebrate the student students that are graduating from the Ralph Alan Academy and the Criminal Justice Academy and I look over and I see Mr Ross sitting over there um so tonight we're going to uh honor the the graduates from bothies um what you're going to see is the medical uh the Ralph Alon medical engineering academies will get a cord uh those of you that are showing up a graduation on Friday morning um you'll see the students from all the clubs and activities wear cords around their neck as they at graduation um each student student that's graduating from the Ralph Alon Academy will get the red I'm sorry the orange and green chord um simp simplifying medical and engineering and the students graduating from the Criminal Justice Academy will have purple um for the the law program okay where we going all right so so we're going to call each student up one by one uh we'll start with the the Medical Academy and then we'll go into the um pre-law thank you okay so a quick congratulations to all of our Academy members we know that you have worked tirelessly for four long years um to complete this program and we are very grateful for all that you've done and we are very proud of you so we'll start with the ralon medical academy uh starting with Michelle Angulo me Calderon Ryan chakali Mandy Chen Ria Desai Christian Danon Jacob Ferrer David guad Ilana lamana John Martin Josh nadong Vincent pan Nicole [Music] Ramos Michaela Sedro Valeria [Applause] Sanchez and Brianna Saki [Applause] and next up we have our engineering students um jasine Aras Christina bayus Christopher chiti Jonathan GMO Kito James Monroy and Jake [Applause] Santos e [Applause] and next are our members of the Criminal Justice Academy Valentina Baria Aaliyah Davis Thomas dingo Juliet Delgado Ashley Garcia brilin imper and Rose kada [Applause] great e congratulations everyone thank [Applause] you we have one more seal of by literacy recipients Mr Leo good evening uh can I have Mr ediate and Miss Perez come down and join me so um the the last set of chords that we give out are the ones that Mr mediate is is walking down with um they are silver and green and these are for students that were determined uh not by Belleville High School but by the state of New Jersey and the Department of Education as students that are are by or in some cases tril literate um all of the students have to show Proficiency in English through njpa or through uh uh a second pathway like the SATs or PSATs and then they have to take a second test um that's tied to their language whether it's Spanish or Portuguese or Arabic um and and the certificate that they get tonight um certifies that they are a by literate student um and that they can actually go on and be a a student not a student but they can then go get a job as um someone that could help translate uh out in the workforce uh I'm going to hand it over to Miss Perez bues [Applause] is I'm going to apologize now I'm going to do my best uh but I usually botch them uh Michelle Angulo Sophia [Applause] Ayala Christina Christina Bayou [Applause] Aiden [Applause] burino John Bravo [Applause] morocho Karen Cay Ryan chakali [Applause] Joshua [Applause] cherries Andrea chisa Elizabeth Coloma Kimberly D [Applause] Silva Lewis de Leon Shantel Deora Guerrero Michelle Diaz Katherine Espinosa Kimberly [Applause] Espinosa Karen Garcia [Applause] Diana [Applause] Gallivan Grace [Applause] Gonzalez Lenin [Applause] Granada Carolyn guo Samantha Aguero [Applause] Jonathan gillermo [Applause] Dana [Applause] herado Emily Lopez [Applause] Calderone lates Maraga [Applause] Navaro Mario [Applause] Mana Maria elosa novas Diaz EST Stephanie Orosco Anna [Applause] Ortiz Laura Peña Tanya Perez [Applause] guaman Lucia [Applause] Perna Rose [Applause] queda Jeffrey Rivera [Applause] as Marling Solace [Applause] medinas Valeria [Applause] Sanchez Brianna saki James [Applause] Tapia Jose UK kanal Hamlet Vargas Oscar ustes Guero and Melanie [Applause] zarita I I would be remiss if I if I didn't point out the sheer number of students um and and it is an awful lot of hard work by Ms Perez and all of the students um over the course of the last year to get there um this is the largest number of biliterate or tril literate students um Belleville High School has had since we started this program six years ago seven years ago one Round of Applause for our sealed of by literacy recipients excellent job good Mr Lio thank you for putting that on the agenda uh again just another another Testament of all the hard work and all the accolades of our students here uh in Belleville all the great things that are happening that a lot of individuals don't talk about or post you should be posting all this incredible stuff uh and uh again we have one more um presentation this evening um with regard to um our student representative when everybody kind of settles down uh Madame President Madame President you ready um again uh this this is a newer um position in the state of New Jersey with regard to student Representatives being appointed to the board of education and our student representative this year has some big shoes to fill so I wish her the best of luck uh but I'll pass it over to uh Miss Bennett meie thank you very much Dr Tom Cen could we have everyone from the Board of Education steep down off the stage and come to the front Ry chaali yep you too yeah right in the middle okay thank you everyone it's probably a lot to absorb for a student to sit up on the deis with a board of education members but we have a a resolution for you and a plaque and I'm going to read the plaque it's says in appreciation of your service as a student board representative to the Belleville Board of Education 2023 2024 school year is presented to ryanne chalii in [Applause] Rec in recognition of inspiring and exemplary leadership and the exercise of wisdom and integrity in the performance of her duties representing the students of [Applause] [Applause] Belleville congratulations ran good luck [Applause] uh before I pass it on um just wanted to mention a few things excuse we're not done yet okay I tried we have one more person to recognize this evening our outgoing superintendent Dr Richard TOMCO I'm GNA bring up Diana kellerer because I hear she has a special presentation and then if you want I I'll say a few words after yeah okay Dr Tom con and everyone seated today if we could ask you to please uh take a seat in the front row please thank you so much and Mr Paladino I'm going to hand over the mic to you it's a face only a mother could love oh anywh this is a little bit of a tough act to follow after all of these uh student acknowledgements we had tonight so before I start one last round of applause for all the achievements that our students here unfortunately we lost half of the crowd but I know deep down in my heart that this per that Dr TOMCO would not want to outshine the kids and would want the kids always to come first um because that's always been his Mantra the kids first um but none of what we had tonight is possible without his vision and his foresight um leading us all all the admins in the back the Board of Education all of us uh none of that is possible uh every board meeting every District event that we have Dr Tom always starts his speeches with thanking every single one of us um all down the line he goes but tonight we say thank you to him and unfortunately with heavy hearts We Say Goodbye uh obviously to a person who's influenced all of us whether that's the students the teachers the classroom AIDS the office Personnel uh the bus drivers the bus AIDS the custodians the maintenance and ground staff all the administrators in the back all the Board of Ed trustees that he's worked with over the years all the community members the parents he's affected all of their lives in one way or another back in 2015 he came to Belleville at a time of great despair the district landed in a four $4.8 million uh budget deficit school buildings were on the verge of being shut down staff was being riffed he came here with one thing in mind I think we all know what that word was that word is progress to lead a movement toward a goal obviously to further Belleville to a higher and a grander stage now we fast forward to 2024 today the president and Beville is seen as the model District throughout the state of New Jersey for a moment moment let's take a little bit of a deeper look into that one word that Dr TOMCO has made synonymous with his entire tenure here in Belleville take the letter P for instance PhD Dr TOMCO has preached education to every single one of us at one time or another and he's encouraged all of us to take classes to further our educational careers the letter R for referendum 10 years ago school buildings as I mentioned were on the verge of being en closed every single School in the district was either over a 100 years old or was nearing a 100 years of age in November of 2017 he led a march to pass a referendum for $48.5 million I know the number has changed 9,000 times throughout 10 years but he led a march to pass that vote by about 500 votes to repair a numerous ly of items throughout the inside of every single School the letter o for Outdoor Learning environment environments excuse me whether Pavilions or amphitheaters his vision created these areas for students to enhance their learning their Educational Learning the letter G for Grants if it wasn't for Dr TOMCO working with numerous people we wouldn't have pea funds we wouldn't have Hornblower we wouldn't have three and four year olds starting preschool in Belleville so that we could get the ball rolling on their education two years earlier the letter R for remote remote learning his leadership prepared us for the pandemic before there was the pandemic the letter e for Equity we've heard it millions and millions of times his Mantra that what one side of Belleville has the other side of Belleville has to has and what students in towns like Nutley Monclair Bloomfield the list could go on and on the kids here in Belleville should have what every single kid outside of this town has the letter ask for superintendent he's our superintendent he's our leader he's our Visionary and the last letter s in the word progress he's a science teacher at heart under his tutelage we've all strive to be better you can replace the person but you can never replace the dedication and the heart that that person put into their job he may have grown up across the liver lived in fairon we all know he currently lives in Sparta he's worked in dellen he's worked in Elwood Park but he'll always forever be a Buccaneer at heart once a buccaneer always a Buccaneer doc tonight thank you for everything you've done for each and every single one of us good luck to you God bless and don't forget my number when I call you for advice thank you do you want to do okay okay go ahead at this time Dr TOMCO we have a special thank you note that everybody in our district um had little part in saying how much we appreciate you thank you and how much we're going to miss you and a special note of thanks to James Cook and Jeff perap who did such a beautiful job with your [Applause] [Music] video good evening Dr TOMCO tonight our bille Public Schools family celebrates you and your accomplishments as our chief School administrator we the students parents staff administrators and Board of Education trustees want to acknowledge your inspiring leadership skills and excellence in District management this is a Bittersweet moment for us we are grateful for all that you have done to help make bille Public Schools a model District One that we are proud to be a part of but at the same time our hearts are heavy because you will be leaving us our lasting memory of you will be one of a natural born leader and an educational Visionary you have successfully guided us on our journey to transform the mission and purpose of all that we do into our powerful CL Aran call bille Public Schools a place where Learners become leaders we will be forever motivated by your one-word Mantra progress a wife's person once said that a truly great leader is hard to find difficult to part with and impossible to forget this sentiment defines our thoughts about you this evening thank you Dr tonco we will miss you love your BPS family [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you Dr for everything you've done we're going to miss you Lu in the future from forer old Childhood Center and delille [Music] beginners on behalf of train facility in the center for academic success achievement not thank you we will miss you we miss you Dr Tom on have family thank you for all that you've done for us we will certainly miss you thank you Dr PCO on behalf of the building ground through it's been a pleasure working with you and working for [Music] you good luck thank you so so very much for everything you have done first for family for our students for all the children in the district but honestly especially me I will miss you terbly my family will miss you L but we wish you so much so much success and especially a whole lot of love a whole lot of please know that this is your home always and forever I'm being forced to do this by tell I wish you good luck been a pleasure working for you and I'll see you in a couple weeks hi Dr Taco on behalf of school we want to tell us how Greatful we are for your leadership we are a better District because of you we will miss you Dr [Applause] [Music] [Applause] TCO Dr kto on behalf of the building ground department we' like to thank you for all you did over the years Dr thank you for all you did for our district progress Dr we just want to give a heartfelt thank you from the family members here at school number 7 and our students for your years of commitment and dedication we have a little message for you and we greatly appreciate everything you have done from our students [Music] department and myself we like to thank you for all you have done for us it's been a pleasure working with you and for you you will truly be missed [Music] we you Dr Tom we just want to say how much we love you and we're going to miss you and thank you for everything you've done for this district and for us right [Music] yo sta of the school district we truly get initiate you on behal of the administrators we will miss you thank you for everything you've [Applause] done Dr on of SCH thank you for everything you have ever done for us you as the and the help and people this here thank you [Music] greetings Dr on behalf of the school the Govern Middle School would like to say we enjoy work and we wish you luck in new thank you Dr good afternoon on this beautiful Sunday June afternoon on behalf of the entire business office and myself we want to thank you for your leadership over these last few years personally I can't thank you enough for what you've come for me when at a time that nobody else would do F these last few years we've grown together as superintendent business administrator mentor and M brothers and more importantly friends on behalf of the entire business office I can only close with one word and that one word [Music] is Dr PCO we here at elville high school want to say thank you for everything you've done for us over the last 10 years you've really made a huge difference in in our facilities in our experiences and our experiences for staff students uh and we really do want to take a minute to say thank you for everything you've done thank you we miss you PR [Music] [Music] [Applause] there's a whole lot of love in that living note to you welcome no not yet oh we got more uh at this point i' like to ask uh high school music director Miss car lardi and our concert choir to please head to the stage to sing B's alel we couldn't think of a more fitting night for that to be some and a little something extra just for you Dr Tom thank you Miss you fire [Music] the Glorious sing the pr is over all [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I walked across an empty land I knew the pathway like the back of my hand and I felt the Earth beneath my feet s by the river and it made me complete oh simple things where have you gone I'm getting old and I need someone to r on so tell me when you're going to let me in I'm getting old and I need somewhere to [Music] begin Tre I the branches of looking at is this the place you so is this the place that I been dreaming [Music] [Music] [Music] something you have AE we go talk about it Somewhere Only We Know this could be the end of everything so why don't we knowwhere only Somewhere Only We [Music] Know we know you are we know is we [Music] know so what if you have a what go talk about it Somewhere Only We Know This Could Be the end of everything so I only [Music] only only Somewhere Only We [Music] [Applause] Know thank you [Music] everyone Dr on behalf of the bille Board of Education we have a plaque that we'd like to present you with I'll just read what the plaque says and then we can all stand in the front take a picture since 2015 Dr Tom CO's steadfast dedication molded the Belleville School District leaving an indelible mark on its Legacy through unwavering leadership and visionary guidance Dr TOMCO transformed challenges into triumphs forever Divine defining an era of Excellence as you embark on this new chapter in your career know that your legacy in Belleville will always be remembered and appreciated progress okay so we can stand up in the [Applause] front for e e [Applause] welcome one second honey so um if we could just also ask this the student ambassadors now to please step to the front we have three student Representatives take a seat Dr right in the front Dr TOMCO we have three friends representing our student population in bille public schools the main reason why we all do what we do every single day and they have just a few words they'd like to say to you dear Dr tono thank you for all that you do for us in our district we will miss you love the students from Beville Public Schools Dr TOMCO please accept this bouquet of blue and gold flowers as a symbol of love that we hold for you in our blue and gold Hearts Dr TOMCO attached to your flowers is a memory stick that holds tonight's video message of thanks to you [Applause] where's the good I thank you a nice round of applause for our student Representatives at this point TOMCO we're going to ask our admin team to come down to the front of the stage and to surround you at the front of the stage for the ultimate picture we're going to flank you on either side with love and love and gratitude for all that you've done for us and one of the reasons why we're doing this is first of all we want to thank Dr TOMCO for his leadership and his friendship which he has given to us freely all these nine years and was so appreciative and the other is Dr TOMCO we have a special picture frame for you to take with you that's engraved with the words thank you for your leadership and friendship love your be your BPS admin team and the saying in there is a truly good leader is hard to find difficult to part with and absolutely impossible to forget so we'd like to replace this photo with that saying for you Jerry and Frankie and Jeff we need you up in the picture thank you sweetheart say [Applause] a Dr TOMCO each of your little momentos that we've shared with you tonight are things that we hope you take with you so that you can remember how much you are loved here our wonderful board of education has a a plant for you symbolizing the seeds that you've planted and sewn with all the strategies and success and advancements in our district that you've given to us obviously a saying that touches all of our hearts and speaks directly to how much we love you and thank you and um we have one more group of very wonderful administrative assistants who we can do nothing without I'd like to cause Mrs kissner up to the the microphone right now to um share their love with you I have a few of the secretarial team up here with me Dr TOMCO we've been in the district many years and I think you are the only superintendent who ever really truly acknowledge the administrative professional team these girls worked hard and you acknowledged them and that meant an awful lot to us you and I have had our differences back and forth but we've always come up with a very amicable de decision and we're grateful for you and I have to say that I'm very sad that you're leaving um we appreciate you I have a little certificate here for you and also because every time I went to your office and said what are you doing with plastic plants I decided that you should start with a brand new fresh one thank you Dr TOMCO For All You've Done than you is that it thank you okay good wow that was that was amazing thank you so much thank you everyone um definitely unexpected I also just wanted to read something from the Bea um which I think is probably um culminating of what I really just wanted to say for the last sentence or two um of my tenure here but I don't think they mind if I read this right all right so it says uh thank you for your service to our Beville students and Community we are truly grateful for the relationship we built and the progress we have made during your tenure bille is now a better place to work live and learn we are sorry to see you leave best wishes on the transition to your next destination sincerly Bel Bel Education Association and the executive Council so um you know I I think it's uh it's just interesting that I'm I'm kind of at a loss for words and and everybody knows I don't like this stuff when it's about me um but when I first got here back in 2015 you know uh we were uh we were all trying to to learn each other right and I think uh you know we didn't get along all the time um but I I think uh talking to Mike the other day Manon um at the end of the day all of us and even the administrators and all the teachers and the board members we always left any conversation or any meeting or any argument or disagreement might be a better way of saying it for uh knowing that we did the best either for the kids or the faculty or the staff or the parents there was always um something else in mind than ourselves so uh I honestly believe that I think I hope all of you believe that uh belleville's just an incredible place it really is uh it was interesting I was trying to think of all the things you know I have a list of everything we've done here but um some of the board members have seen it and I I think from time to time we we look at it because you know I was talking to Mr Bush here before about this too in the public in the public eye sometimes um the sour grapes um you know usually get heard a lot and uh and we don't we don't talk about our all of our accomplishments Mr Barrera used to criticize me on my um my evaluations on that he used to say you don't you don't you know talk about all the good things that we're doing here enough and I and I used to say to him and he he'll he'll he'll test to this um I always thought being humble was more important because it puts the focus on on you know what we're really doing here and I say to all the administrators I've ever worked with or the teachers you know once it's not about the kids anymore then you have to pack your stuff up and go um it's not always about test scores you know it's about crying together sometimes going through tragedies celebrating all the successes whether it's on a field or in a classroom there's a lot of things that happen you know we see these kids uh more than their parents do sometimes and I think it's very easy for people to forget that so this is an incredible place this community is incredible the school Community is incredible uh I will miss all of you dearly uh you know I was thinking the other day of of all the stuff in the middle you know of all the things that have happened that we've forgotten about and uh you know my my youngest son was four when I came here and now he's in eth grade so it's been a long time so there's a lot of stuff happening uh a lot of stuff that has happened a lot of great things that I will always remember uh and I am only a phone call away so to this board to this community to all of you out there I want to thank thank you for tonight um just incredible stuff and there's no better way to to end this than by saying progress because that's what it's about so thank you very much thank you now Madame President if I may back to business for a second okay so back to business thank you though uh a few things first Brian Kerns is in the back I just want to mention uh Mr Karns who was uh the uh we missed the meeting when he was Governor's a teacher well I wasn't teacher it was a service professional for school number three so if you give him a round of applause there he is congratulations I just saw you here coach excellent job told you I would recognize you so just popped your head in at the right time and one more thing because I have been saying it a lot about the future of Belleville and how incredible this place is um you know all the work that we've done um the the preschool um you know the preschool team that we have in place here and and and just all of those benefits that these children and their families are going to reap within the next few years when you see all of the a testament all those things that early childhood um gets you know gets going I just don't want anyone to lose the focus of all the things we put in place sometimes money uh can Shadow overshadow a lot of that um please just remember all the progress that was made with regard to facilities and things to insulate the children of this community um so that they can perform and and can get over a lot of the hurdles that other students or other families in different communities don't have right we have a lot of hurdles here for our families that other communities do not have you know some parents can easily go into their pockets and provide tutors and SAT prep courses and all these things okay we need to continue to do those things here for those students that by no means uh you know disrespectful to their parents or things that are happening they just don't have the means to do those things or some of the hurdles with some of the languages or or or some of the poverty levels but and and I will say it again those enrollment rates that are going up and and I I didn't want to talk about it too much but I have to say one thing there was an official in town who not too long ago made a comment that one of the new residences in town and I won't say what it is so it's not a violation right Mr Bush but one of the new residents in towns have nobody nobody nobody's enrolled in District and two weeks ago we just got our our first student uh and that's in May in May so this wave is coming so we have to be prepared for all that so again um I appreciate thank you I appreciate what you all did for me tonight I appreciate you what you've done for this place as part of my teammates as being part of my teammates me being part of your team and I appreciate the Open Arms that uh that I did receive after we did learn each other for a while so again uh thank you very much [Applause] okay um so Mr uh Mr Paladino do we have any reports from the state monitor Thomas Eagan yeah just real quick uh Mr ean's watching via District social media Pages he's reviewed the agenda proves all the res resolutions presented by the superintendent myself in regards to Personnel purchasing and finance uh certifies their sufficient excuse me funds to complete the 2324 school year as authorized this evening by the May 2024 Treasures report that's on the agenda for approval and then uh last but not least he's proud of the progress that Bel has made uh working hand inand with Dr Toco as these past uh 10 years it's been a pleasure and enjoyment working together with him for the betterment of the students the staff and the community of Belleville thank you and do you have any reports yeah just a couple of points uh things to point out on the agenda um resolution 1277 for digital signs um we secured the capital emerging Grant uh for another year uh about20 $130,000 somewhere in that neighborhood we're going to use it on brand new digital signs at schools 4 7 8 9 uh 10 a brand new double-sided sign here at the high school uh a sign at Hornblower and then one outside the uh Board office so it'll be nice um we'll get the ball rolling uh before the start of school so as the school year the 2425 school year moves on uh the the maintenance and ground staff will one by one install all the brand new signs so it'll be a nice look at each of the schools as we enter the new school year uh resolution 1275 in regards to outdoor speakers uh some of the schools have speakers outside uh it's safety concern uh for evacuation drills and security drills so to make every school Equitable um that's why the resolution is there for tonight so that each school has outdoor speakers so everybody can hear that whether there is a drill or whether is there evacuation emergency whatever it might be and then that's all I got great thank you Mr Paladino uh let's move on to remarks by citizens can we have a motion to open public participation on agenda items only motion moved okay all those in favor I okay so our first citizen Michael Sheldon good evening everyone Michael Sheldon 47 Floyd Street um I have one agenda item that I'd like to uh mention tonight and I probably you probably can guess which one I'm going to announce and it's U one that was inserted this afternoon it may be the most important addendum to a board agenda in the nine years Dr TOMCO has been our superintendent 9.84 announcing who the interim superintendent will be for the next academic year find that it was announced posted this afternoon giving out most of us hardly any time to react to this but what is a particular concern here is that the individual who is going to at least temporarily will replace Dr TOMCO is Garfield's current superintendent so our superintendent is heading off to Garfield and Garfield superintendent is coming to Belleville seems kind of absurd now I'm probably going to hear in a few moments after I'm back at my seat and can no longer respond under the threat of being arrested that uh the superintendent at in Garfield is only uh an interim superintendent himself his name is Nicholas parpado and uh he was uh supposedly retiring in 2019 uh I know Garfield hired another superintendent who apparently didn't quite work out so she was let go and um Mr parapata was brought back on again on a on a temporary basis but I just have to ask what is what is going on here I mean over these years a number of us have referred to our district as Elmwood Park South or Garfield South uh we're in a different County but for all in 10 purposes we seem to be totally escon in in Bergen County I'm hoping that the board members tonight and I'd like I hope that at least one of you ask for this particular item to be pulled separately I'd like to know what opportunity were you given the seven of or the six of you to uh interview with Mr parado and uh did this go through the normal channels or were you surprised by this as I was and a few of the others who've had only couple hours to react to this this just seems very shady and I I just think that this is again so Dr TOMCO came here there was supposed to be a nationwide search for a superintendent back in 2015 and lo and behold our superintendent is right across the P River I me these things go on all the time and it seems to be you part of the good old boys club the network if you rise up through the ranks and don't make any enemies you're rewarded after Decades of of service but at taxpayer expense so leave it at that my time is essentially up I hope there is some discussion tonight among the board about this interim superintendent for district it's the most important decision you'll make while board members thank you all right we'll um Michael Monon good evening um I'd like to start off by thanking president Bennett excuse my voice today I'm losing my voice it seems like but uh thanking president Bennett meeting Mei and the Board of Education Trustees for approving Dr Tomo's recommendation to appoint a liaison to continue communication between the Bea and the board and interim superintendent until the selection of the next superintendent so I thank you for that because I mean we we have a lot more to go here so I know that we're speaking about an interm Superintendent at this point but we must continue on in our progress on the topic of selecting a new superintendent I'm here in solidarity with the Belleville Education Association building Representatives first to thank you Dr TOMCO for your nine years of progress and service to our Beville uh community and students and second to stress the importance and urgency of starting the superintendent selection process progress must continue it's a long process and it is critical that we continue the pro the prog uh continue the progress that we have been making during doc Dr tomko's tenure we feel that the future of our district hinges on how thorough we stakeholders are at vetting candidates time is of the essence we would like the Board of Education to know that as an integral stakeholder in the community we will have our we will make ourselves available during the summer to move this progress along Miss benam meting meanie I will be contacting you in the next few days with my current email and phone number where you can reach me over the summer and we hope to get this process going again like I said we have to continue the progress that Dr TOMCO started um we don't have any time to waste thank you thank you Mr Monon and I truly appreciate you wanting to join us for this we appreciate it thank you okay we have a motion to close public participation motion second all those in favor all right let's move on okay we'll start with Personnel suggestions for personnel agenda items number 9.1 to 9.83 I have a motion so to approve and a second is there any comments or discussion okay hearing none Mr Paladino could you please call the role trusty daro uh yes except for 9.2 I'm going to abstain from that one 9.2 92 uh Dr uh trusty msaga yes uh trusty mise uh trusty Pacho yes trusty uh vice president dtis yes to all with the exception of 958 I abstain and president benett meting yes okay and suggestion for personel item number 9.84 can we have a motion and a second second any comment on this agenda item yeah um actually if possible um I I know it's going to become a big question within the community everyone's going to know what the process was like in selecting um this individual so I was hoping maybe you can doc you can give a a little bit of a synopsis of the process if possible yeah so the selection of an interim superintendent ranges uh from District to District typically speaking the opportunity to select an interim superintendent uh comes in you know comes in a hurry comes sort of at a uh with a shorter Runway than the selection of a traditional superintendent and districts have to make a decision without getting too much detail about Personnel selection process in this District I'll just share with you the way these things tend to work and that is that and I say this as if he's not in the room but he's sitting right here we're all praised got a lot of praise tonight but you know uh this board was informed that Dr TOMCO was leaving late enough in the year that it didn't I think it determined um by its action I don't think we're hiding anything that it didn't have the time to go out for the search that it believes is necessary to properly fill the position and so instead it chose to go the interm route which you know is is one of those things where you look around for people who are typically retired who have lots of experience in in doing this kind of work somewhere else there's a list that is available through different organizations some of that list has names that might appear on that you know there may be multiple lists certain names tend to appear uh multiple times um but you know it's hard to find someone to do this work um who's willing to do it just a few days a week um to do the work and pick up somebody else's job uh to be told that okay you're done now and in 30 days uh you're gone when the board ultimately does find a superintendent that they choose to to lead this District forward for the next you know number of years and so it's not exactly something that um that that there's there's plenty of but there's enough and it's kind of like a go-to list you look up the list you see who's you might consider um this is not a permanent position this is somebody who would be in this position temporarily and it's someone who's willing to do the work who can continue to keep the the ship afloat and to keep it driving forward but you're not looking necessarily and not not just talking about Belleville but any school district that hires an interm superintendent they're not looking for it superintendent to uh do back flips or you know change fun make a fundamental changes in policy you want someone who will keep the seat warm who will do the work the district requires to keep up the Excellence to to the extent that that that the Excellence is in a district like there is here and you want to keep it driving forward so I think in that um this district has come up with a candidate that they believe could do that until um and and while this person is in the job you'll you'll begin the process of really thinking about who your next educational leader will be to continue as I heard tonight progress so that's uh that's the that's in a nutshell what you what I think this board did but basically what all boards do under the circumstances thank you Jonathan any comments okay hearing none Mr Paladino trusty daro yes uh trusty massagi I abstain trusty munise yes trusty PCO yes vice president dtis I abstain and president benini yes okay and moving on to curriculum and instruction Suggestions by the superintendent items 10.1 to 10.6 motion anyone motion second second any comments okay hearing none Mr Paladino please call the role trusty Darrow yes trusty massaga yes uh trusty munise yes trusty PCO yes vice president dtis yes president benam yes all right and purchasing items 12.1 to 12.80 motion second wait what is Itor sorry board policy we skip yeah so a motion for board policy items 11.1 11.17 I'll motion that second and any comments on that okay hearing n Mr Paladino please call the role Jesse Dara uh yes to everything but 11.16 I'm going to say no to that okay trusty msag you yes uh trusty mise uh yes uh yes thank you trustee Pacho yes uh vice president dtis yes to all with the exception of 1116 that's a no and president benami yes all right now moving on to purchasing items 12.1 to 1280 so move the second second and any comments okay Mr Paladino please call the role trusty daro uh yes but I am abstaining from some from last month uh 12.1 to 12.3 1252 and 1274 did you that again you're just abstaining you said right correct okay trusty MSI yes uh trusty munis yes trusty PCO yes uh vice president dtis yes uh president benini yes and moving on to finance can uh we have a motion motion and a second second all right and that's uh items 13.1 to 13.14 Mr Paladino uh any comments hearing none Mr Paladino Jesse daro yes trusty massagi yes trusty monise yes trusty PCO yes vice president presid datus yes president benini yes okay great all right and can we have a motion to open up public participation on anything motion all and you got the second Matt you need a second and all those in favor I all right and first to the podium we have Michael Sheldon you good uh good evening again uh Jonathan if you have the opportunity tonight could you just clarify a little bit about what you said about the interim superintendent according to the agenda the interim superintendent is going to be appointed starting July 1st through June 30th of next year so say hypothetically um board finds a new superintendent in January or February would that new permanent superintendent necessarily have to wait until July 1st of next year to begin or would is there a Cil in the contract for the interim superintendent to bow out prematurely so you can you address that when I'm away from the the microphone uh the um the board there was a a a posting to the district's Facebook page I guess it happened Friday um about the vacancy situation for the board as we all know Tracy Williams fortunately was successfully elected to the council she's in her third year of her three-year term uh but she'll be uh leaving the board uh at the end of this month presumably and starting her next phase of her Township activity on the council July 1st so uh the board has announced that they're going to try to fill that vacancy I sent all of you email and I just want to run it by by you here in the public I would recommend that you handle this vacancy as what happened back in 2017 um yes what what happened with Ralph Fon passing away unexpectedly is radically different than what is happening with Tracy Tracy got elected to a new position but she's leaving the board nevertheless but when Ralph uh passed away in July of 2017 he was also in his third year of his three-year term with six months to go he was going to seek re-election in fact he and I were planning to run together in 2017 so the board made the decision at that point to continue with just six people and whoever finished first in the November 2017 Board election would be seated earlier than normal instead of waiting to the reorg uh meeting in January of 2018 the first place uh finalist in November 2017 took their seat uh that month and I was fortunate to be that person so I had actually three years and a month and a half of my tenure on the board so I think it would be rather than appointing somebody which is fraught with all sorts of political mations um I think you would be best served by waiting leaving the seat open and doing what happened in 2017 whoever finishes first this November uh gets appointed to that um that vacancy um I forgot to start my timer well it doesn't really make any difference right now uh Dr Tomo you and I have had some clashes obviously in in recent years to say the least and U um while I do appreciate what you have tried to do uh to improve the lot and life for our district and our kids um you know what happened tonight uh there's so much sugar in this room I think we all should be screened for diabetes uh first thing tomorrow morning um Everyone likes to throw around the word progress but you know let's be realistic about what what the current status of our district is um all of the recent tests data shows that our test scores are plummeting and yes there's been some marginal decline across the state due to covid but Belleville seems to be particularly hard hit in that regard uh our budget situation I over the weekend I took the time to gather all of the ufb data put it into a chart and you can see the explosive growth of our budget in the last few years yes a lot of that is the result of the prek universe that's now been added to the district but if you look at the uh the rate of growth um by the end of this decade by 2030 the district's operating budget's going to be closing in on $200 million a year and unless uh the forces in Tron remain favorably disposed towards Belleville um there's going to be a Day of Reckoning very soon where we have way too many bills and not enough taxpayer income to pay all those bills and that's that's when the the bottom falls out and we we all all have to pay enormously for the transgressions in my opinion that have taken place over these last few years um Dr TOMCO and I have gone around a few times about the uh budget situation for the next academic year he demanded an apology from me but I'm not ever going to issue such an apology but one of the sources of contention was that um Dr TOMCO apparently used financial data from the annual census information whereas I was using the 2020 the decennial Census Data my time is well the fact of the matter is that Dr TOMCO used mean data which is $20,000 a year more than the median and median data if anyone has had taken a course in basic statistics the best measure for central tendency is the median the median household income for Beville at the current time is 85,000 not the 105,000 that was used in your budget calculations and that makes all the difference in the world that's why this tax increase is outrageous and unwarranted so I Mr Sheldon I can answer your question um about the the interim superintendent's contract there's a provision in the interim superintendent's contract for a 30-day notice so as soon as the board has put itself in a position where it knows that a new superintendent will begin it can in for in your your example I think if you had someone to starting January 1st for example um they can they can tell the the interim superintendent by you know December 2nd or whatever um that there would be uh that they would be moving on so there's that provision and that's that's uh that's clear and and these that's pretty common in these contracts as well because the whole idea is to say temporary you know it's like a temp essentially but it's a superintendent temp which is why you want someone who's seasoned who on day one can take the reins God forbid you ever had an issue just to keep the keep the district moving moving forward um and that's I think what the you know the district intends to do I I wish Dr TOMCO the best u in Garfield for his sake and that of of Garfield but uh boy am I making lots of new friends in Garfield every day I get uh numerous emails and Facebook messes people wanting to to me about things here in Bel there's gadflies everywhere can I just respond this please so just I was really hoping just to say progress and let Mr Sheldon go on his merry way but I can't do that because whenever an individual gets up here and talks about test scores and I just wrote a nice little piece on this Mr Bush I think you love it I should send it to you test score assessments are a joke it's a joke okay I've said it a million times and when you talk to the superintendent and you yell at the superintendent and you say the scores are going down you were doing nothing but giving a black eye to the community uh to the school district to the hard work that the teachers do every every single day in the trenches to the administrators the staff members the nurses all they run the whole gamut because you're going after some type of political rhetoric and verbiage and and as alumni of this incredible place you should be ashamed of yourself simply put the children in this this District the children in other districts across the state have hurdles that other kids just don't have they do and and to sit anywhere in Township and pretend that those hurdles don't exist you're doing yourself a disservice and all the other people you talk to in different towns so again I've said it a million times and I'm proud of everything we do here everything our teachers do every single day getting up early differentiating instruction all those things to help these kids get over over hurdles you know the free and reduced population here has has skyrocketed skyrocketed and it's no one's fault it's the way it's the way of the world the way it is you can never be Equitable you said something the most ridiculous thing I ever heard anybody say a few years ago you said because a district has two board meetings that's why their test scores are better that was the most ridiculous thing I've heard anybody would with half a brain say Okay ridiculous okay and that was was talk you talk you compare this to an affluent District to where if a student gets a B+ on a paper the parents reach in their pockets and start shelling out money for private tutors there's zero comparison to some of those places the same thing be quiet I you spoke be quiet be quiet when you apologize I'll let you speak to me very simply put the bully pulpit has to stop in all of these districts including here and I will definitely say to all of you who have here tonight regardless of me or anyone else or or wh whomever says anything don't ever let any negativity and halfs spun rhetoric of falsehoods stand in the way of what you do for these kids every day because without you people like this who talk about things that I think are stupid very very frankly they win most of the time so again the things that happen to these kids in Belleville uh and what we do for them will never compare to what some of these other towns do and those those scores don't reflect that we have kids that got get into Princeton Harvard uh the Naval Academy John's Hopkins since I've been here what about those students what about all these Academy kids up here what about the bi civil Biol literacy that we put here the anatom tables all of those great things that you call Sugar that's a joke and as an alumni here and apparently uh some kind of valid dictorian you should be ashamed of yourself for even saying that also budget wise the revenue piece all all has increased because of Grants and Aid that we've gotten like you just said so again that's your halfs spun rhetoric again talking about um you know some of the expenditures however I will say this we are still under adequacy no matter how you slice it we're still under adequacy and will continue to be because of people in the past that didn't want to raise taxes and I get it nobody wants to pay more taxes but that's why we're at where we're at so again some of those things you know um and your your um your ability to use statistical data which everybody thinks you're so great at again the community data snapshot that I use is exactly what you're supposed to use when you're talking about a a snapshot in time not overall median data but you would obviously know that so again please I implore this entire Community make sure we continue to do what we're doing for these kids because only you know not people that get up here once a month only you know what's happening to these kids on a daily basis so so that's what I have to say about that so again hopefully I will see you again Mr Sheldon Ryan [Applause] Klein Dr TOMCO president meanie Belleville Board of Education I stand up here on behalf of the Belleville administrators Association I'm also a type one diabetic so I will try not to uh sugarcoat this but um you know I definitely want to want to thank you know want to thank the board throughout the the past six months uh of the negotiations um everybody was uh on both sides very professional um long long nights I know we were there past midnight on a couple occasions um and your commitment your commitment to the township is commendable all right so I just wanted to come up here and say thank you thank you Ryan Lisa kissner good evening Dr TOMCO president meanie Board of Ed trustees I also would like to say thank you to the negotiating team on the board my team we had very very well and productive meetings the kindness and respect and the admiration that you showed was truly truly appreciated you know sometimes you know we're the low men on the poll but unfortunately the low men run the buildings most of the time so just so that you know we do appreciate it it was it was great meeting with you we didn't have to stay that long like Mr Klein but uh we did have one wonderful evenings and I do want to say thank you for the kindness and professionalism and for the respect that you showed to each and every one of us and Dr TOMCO once again best of luck to you in Garfield and we got to get this process moving as far as a superintendent search is so that we can keep moving forward hopefully we'll get someone just as uh fantastic as Dr TOMCO thank you and have a great evening thank you thank you again Mrs kissner and Mrs Klein and for all the other contracts that we've negotiated this year it's certainly not an easy process and it's not my favorite committee at all I don't know if anyone else wants to comment from the negotiations Michael Darrow uh Le I if you don't mind I would love to say something um uh we we've negotiated a few things uh a few contracts this year and we uh definitely um Step Up trying to emphasize the importance of treating each other well and knowing that everyone is valuable here miss ker um you know her comment that she they may be the lowest one in the totem po um I don't really think that's true I think every single person here is valuable is necessary uh this is a big machine to run and every single person's position here is vital to make sure that it runs smoothly so there's no one sitting at the top no one sitting at the bottom as long as as far as I'm concerned every single one of you are extremely valuable to the district's success and to our kids success ESS so thank you truste darl did you want to say anything or you're good no I'm good thank you um and so we have Frank Bess there we go not yet good evening Madame President Madame vice president and our great ch trustees and everyone here um you know I heard my old crew was having a meeting today and I wanted to come by because I wanted to say thank you and I want to say thank you because I remember the Belleville Public School District a decade ago and before and it wasn't pretty and a lot of people have a lot of things to say about the bille public schools today but what you don't hear is about the walls coming down what you don't hear is about the ceiling and the floors broken you don't hear about kids not even able to get basic things like brand new school books and that's because of the leadership of our superintendent Dr TOMCO and the most recent boards it's because we took the hard decisions it's because we stood up for what was right it was because we actually cared about the children so I want to say say thank you I wanted to say to the trustees as well because I know every single one of you and I know you all care I know you don't get that enough I know you get a little bit of a different kind of genre up here but you work hard you care and I see the commitment I saw it on this side of stage I see it from this side and I see it you know out in the streets people know you guys are working hard it's not an easy thing this is as they say in the the board member training your most responsible and highest dud Duty so it's not going to be easy and it shouldn't be rushed you should take the time you should look at everything and look all the at all the options but at the end of the day I know you guys are going to make the right decision I know you guys do care and I'm very proud of some of the major accomplishments you've all been able to achieve together so I wanted to say thank you to all of you and you know I'm always a call away I'm just down Belleville La now so you know you could always come by knock on my door say hello because you know what my term ended January 1st 2024 but my commitment to the children of bble will never end so I'll always be here to help you guys so good to see you all and have a great night thank you Mr Frank FZ all right and the motion to close and a second second all those in favor all right great and we have some comments tonight by board members so we're going to begin that with trustee Darrow I want to First say good evening to anyone that's still in our audience tonight or maybe watching from home congratulations to all of our award winners during the presentations made tonight there were several of them but we congratulate each and every one of them uh I would be remiss if I did not at least start off by saying that while I was unable to be at our last meeting due to Prior work commitments I was extremely disappointed that the state monitor had the final say on the tax levy over what we attempted to accomplish in the best interest of our Township hardworking individuals I would certainly hope that full autonomy would eventually be restored to this board at some time in the near future for us in order to make our own decisions both for our schools and for our taxpayers as we are certainly fully capable of doing so Dr TOMCO uh just want to say this board truly appreciates all that you have done for the school district over these past several years although I only had a chance to work directly with you for this past year and a half as a trustee I have had the privilege of knowing you for a few years before that while my children were attending school and I was a high school home and school president you always did put your heart and soul into what you were doing and were available to everybody whether it was off hours or even over the weekends that never went unnoticed by this individual sometimes I'm sure you the heat for a lot of the tough decisions you had to make over time but you never wavered you have now left us with some very big decisions we have to make over the next several months it's going to be very hard to find someone to measure up to what was accomplished here but we must still Forge ahead when you first told me you were leaving Belleville I had thought you were not serious at all and that you were playing some sort of an April Fool's joke on the board but of course that was March so it wasn't end of March maybe but not April's fools uh it did sting a little to know that you were going uh at that time but alas the time has now come so I do wish you great success on the next phase of your career uh I am excited about the upcoming promotion and graduation C Ceremonies for the middle school and for the high school uh for many of our built District's children I had the distinct honor of attending one of our Elementary School sixth grade graduation just last week and saw the excitement of our students and their involvement during that c that ceremony I also commend our various parent organizations for doing so much behind the scenes work uh to make those experiences those graduation experiences uh for our kids wonderful for them uh I do hope that everyone has a great start to your summer thank you and good night thank you trustee Daryl thank you uh Dr Liz massaga truste uh congratulations to our student representative is she still down there who has done an outstanding job serving with us this year you have represented the student body in an exemplary Manner and I'm sure I speak for all of the trustees when I say we are all very proud of you congratulations to all spring Sports athletes poster contest winners and competition winners it is always a pleasure to celebrate the achievements of of our children whether athletic artistic or academic our students under the mentorship of our amazing teachers and coaches always make us proud and finally what can I say about you Dr TOMCO as a parent I would like to say thank you for all the ways you've helped me to help my son get the supports and services to help him be successful the programs and Technology to help him reach his potential as a board member I would like to say it has been my extreme pleasure to work with you even when we agree to disagree I've always valued your opinion and found you to be a valuable source of information I'm truly sorry to see you leave our district I had hoped that my tenure as a board member would be spent with you at the helm I wish you the best of everything as you take on your next adventure always remember you're a bucker progress thank you trustee Pacho good evening well all I'm going to say is Dr tono thank you thank you so much for all your job and listen Belo is not going to miss you Belo is missing you and congratulation and good luck in you know Adventure so thanks good thank you Trustin munes good evening everyone um I want to start off by congratulating all our kids being recognized today um also want to congratulate uh our graduating our students that are graduating throughout the district uh we have already had couple graduations going on and uh just want to highlight them for a moment because I know um some of us may not know but we have some elementary schools and uh uh already graduate and our Middle School's coming up and and our high school's coming up so congratulations to you all um I want to thank Mr Mara and administration and our admins and uh Mr for throwing such a a great event the other day for our Varsity uh dinner for the invitation and uh I was thankfully there not not just invited um for the dinner but also sort of my son was also recognized that night as well so I really appreciate all the effort that you put on as a parents that is in so actively involved with uh Sports in our community and uh as a crew parent and as a soccer parent just want to thank you for um all the efforts you put forward it is not easy coordinating all these events and managing all these teams and um you know you do a fantastic job at in your staff does a great job at making sure that we're very successful so thank you very much um Ryan congratulations uh it's amazing to be recognized uh you deserve every bit of it so um we hope you come to visit us in the future and maybe uh you'll be one of our trustees again uh doc man let's get to you bro [Laughter] [Music] um what I don't even know what to say man there's so many things to say about you um I just you know I I I'm excited for you uh a little bit annoyed that you're leaving but uh definitely very excited for you um we heard tonight you know all the sugar and everything sweet uh that you've done for everyone um so we don't have to reiterate that but I will thank you for what you've done for me I'll thank you for what you've done for my kids uh and my family you impacted us greatly um the effort you put forward um you know it it cannot be uh it can't be doubted it can't be challenged um every single situation I mean I I I tell I tell stories all the time where I'm up in the middle of night doing my work and in my world of drama and craziness and I'll send you a message at 1:00 in the morning an email and like not even 15 minutes later you're sending me another one back I we joke all the time like I don't know when you sleep um but it's very true um my wife gets very bad at me I can imagine I can imagine I it was funny I I one time I I I call him and I'm like hey man I got a question and he's like um sure he was like uh knee high in in the ocean somewhere and on vacation but he still picked up the phone uh so thank you for all of that um there's a quote that I really like and I wanted to share it with you and I wanted to share it with everyone uh Tom has a PO and it's I find it's very fitting for you uh great leaders do not create followers they create more leaders by having a vision by sharing it and inspiring others to create their own I think that's been a great example that you've set in this District um while it's sad to see you leave uh one of the realities is that you left a solid team behind and while I know it's not going to be easy uh not having you here um for our inim superintendent and whoever do us get to um sit in that Throne one day um I know you left them a solid team behind and uh we're going to rely on every single person here all of our administrators our teachers all of our staff um everyone in every single position here all of our unions and we're going to be I know we'll get to the other side of this and it's all thanks to you sharing your vision and inspiring everyone here to do their best thank sir thank you thank you and vice president president dtis good evening everyone as always congratulations to all the students achievements that were acknowledged tonight also congratulations to all the graduates Ryan thank you for your service to this board good luck in your future endeavors and I know you will accomplish amazing things now I'm going to switch gears for a minute one thing I feel needs to be addressed at the Town council meeting on May 28th Dr msaga made a statement about the members of this board she stated that the mayor has complete control of the Board of Ed minus her I want to publicly correct this I ran as an independent I have never been affiliated with any political group I ran my own campaign alone with that being said to insinuate that any group or person has the ability to control me is insulting quite frankly now that's cleared up Dr TOMCO thank you for your support and guidance and also accepting my sometimes wild ideas and helping turn them into a reality thanks three years ago I would have never thought you and I would have developed such a good relationship you went from a man I wasn't very fond of to a man I'm actually very fond of but don't agree with a lot of the time maybe most of the time we have had some great debates sometimes intense and even though we don't always see eye to eye your Insight was always valued you have also been a man who was always accessible to all of us even at 900 p.m. on a Sunday as Lewis stated I know I have tested your patients but you have never showed it at least not to me you will be missed and you are irreplaceable to The District in your knowledge and your level of effort that you put towards our children and our district I will forever be grateful for your guidance throughout my first term up here thank you for everything good night everyone thank you thank you everyone and Ryan chali congratulations again good luck in the future we appreciate all of your hard work and for enduring all of these board meetings all year long uh we wish congratulations to all of our students and congratulations to all of our graduates later on in this week and throughout all the elementary schools um a couple of comments about the anticipated vacancy through the guidance of our board attorney we had announced this anticipated vacancy and we have gotten in some applications we discussed with the guidance of our attorney and agreed on a process uh to fill the vacancy and so uh in a couple of days Mr Paladino will be sending a formal letter to all of those applicants that responded to the requests so that was just a little about the anticipated vacancy um do TOMCO I want to thank you and appreciate the hard work and dedication you put into the Belleville School District from the time you were hired N9 years ago your resume speaks volumes about your experience and your rowned in the state of New Jersey while your announcement for leaving Belleville was unforeseen your explanation was honest and swelled with truth for what was right for you I know this is not goodbye because I know that Belleville has a place in your heart and more meaning to you than any other place that you might list on your resume I know that you're leaving us with an opportunity to continue developing but also to progress which I now know is progress as we embark on a new future for the Belleville School District so I wish you well and I will miss you I know that you'll be a phone call away though um and that would be also with regards to the inim superintendent who I'm I'm sure will probably not need your help because we have a very intelligent ba Mr Paladino for which I will also make a comment about um Mr Paladino we're going to be relying on you uh an awful lot in the next couple of months as you help us us to navigate uh through this process of hiring a superintendent which is probably going to pose some challenges because it it is a hard seat to fill um and so I'm very excited to know that this process will not be dealt with alone that we have the Bea who would like to help we have administrators and I think we're going to do something where we can form all kinds of committees and really roll up our sleeves uh and get things rolling um so appreciate the guidance of our board attorney with that and Mr Paladino's support so we the board really appreciate everyone and we know that this is a critical time and there is a lot going on so I I do feel that the interim route was the correct route for us it's the end of the school year everyone was busy um and now we could just really just take a breath and and figure this out so yes you will be here hearing more from us we appreciate everyone um I can't say more about how important you are to us uh negotiating through all of the contracts you know you're dear to our hearts uh we know that you all really do run the school system it you know the superintendent might seem like the important person but you know they can't do it without everybody else right and I want to thank you Diana Kella her putting everything together and traveling around with that Banner kudos to you so with that said everyone have a good night happy June happy summer if I don't get to see you again during graduation to everyone uh so with that said motion to close so move oh yeah end it with progress we could all say it ending it with progress all right motion to close motion second second all those in favor