okay once again good evening everyone thank you all for being here tonight I am standing in for president benett Mei who has recently suffered the tremendous loss of her mother our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family during this difficult time now I would like to call the meeting of February 26 2024 to order this meeting has been published and announced in accordance with chapter 231 Public Law 19 75 Mr Paladino will you please call the role truste daro here trusty msaga here trusty munes trusty Pacho here trusty Williams here vice president dtis here president benam the New Jersey open Public's meeting Act 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 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 bille times also notice that this meeing has been mailed to the members of the Board of Education the burrow clerk all elementary schools the middle school the high school horow or Early Childhood Center and posted on the district website also this means being televised VI the district's YouTube and Facebook pages thank you Mr Paladino can I have a motion to approve the minutes for January 22nd 2024 both closed and public session moved second all in favor I I I any opposed okay moving on to our high school representative Ryan good evening everybody um starting off on January 23rd the student government organization hosted a successful Bingo night offering students and staff the opportunity to win various prizes including prom tickets gift cards Belleville merch baskets a Stanley Cup and Nintendo switches we were pleased to see how many people came out to support and play in recent weeks the senior class organized two fundraisers firstly a carnation sale on Valentine's Day where carnations were hand delivered with personalized gifts to students additionally they are currently conducting a Crispy Cream donut and um a trotle fundraiser they're also selling shirts for battle of the classes event where all four classes will engage in competition later this year following a pizza night organized by the board of education on the 9th the LIF skills students enjoyed a pizza social night of their own with the help of our culinary team students learned the art of making pizza both events um had an excellent attendance and we extend our gratitude to everyone who participated and helped out BHS student athletes have been selected to participate in read Across America they will visit numer numerous elementary schools including the Hornblower Early Childhood Center to read books for classes and assist students in the reading on Monday the 4th and Tuesday the 5th the Medical Academy Juniors competed in a national qualifying tournament where the students had to answer a series of questions and locate randomly SEL Ed um bones which they had to get 16 correct using the anage tables the following students behind the team trauma Troopers has successfully qualified for the next tournament congratulations to Cecilia Angela and claudet for qualifying and a special thank you to Mr IO for helping train them that's all for tonight have a good evening thank you Ryan items to be presented by the administration Dr TOMCO yes Madam vice president good evening everyone uh Welcome to our February meeting a lot of incredible things going on uh our uh student Congress uh our student representative just put a lot of things uh together for us and um a lot of great events that were happening uh and we have some uh students this evening that are going to to uh share some of their projects some of their lessons and some of the things about uh black history month so let's get started uh right away uh because I know they all need to get home and study so um they're all uh they're all nervous uh so uh Miss demov if you can come up and maybe we we could first talk about the talented and gifted competition is that uh and then we go right into the black history one hello and good evening everyone Dr TOMCO members of the Board of Education and members of our Belleville Community it's always a pleasure to stand here before you because I get to do the fun stuff and announce all the great things that our students are doing some of the great things anyway not all of them but a lot of the great things and wonderful accomplishments that our Belleville students are doing each month so in the talented and gifted Department our elementary students entered a competition called totally Global the content of this competition entails knowing about regions in the US state capitals World World Geography knowledge about artists around the world US presidents New Jersey countries and US monuments so our students prepare very very hard for this they recognized first second and third place winners with trophies at the actual competition and our second place winner from Belleville was annab Eliz Fuentes annab Eliz if you're here would you please come up third place winner was Miguel Valencia come on down Miguel congratulations and Miguel is at school number seven and you are in grade four correct Miguel so congratulations honey and we do have a certificate for you we always have certificates for the students and their accomplishments however this month the certificates will be forwarded to your school later in the week honey okay all right um Valencia family if you would like to come down and take a picture with Miguel and if any of our teachers or staff or principal would like to take a picture as well please come down thank you thank you congratulations Miguel and congratulations to annab Eliz your certificate will be forwarded to you okay moving on to our black history presentations we know that February is recognized as black history month but we also know that black history is celebrated 365 days a year it is not just centered around the mon month of February so some of our students at the Elementary and high school level have prepared really really fantastic presentations for you we are going to begin with school number seven we have Skyler Thompson and Mia mirando would you please come up to present Skyler once again is school 7 grade five and Mia is school s and she is in grade six would you like to have the microphone good morning um sorry good afternoon um ladies and uh gentlemen uh today we will be presenting our uh black history project um we have um Oprah W Simone biles uh Jackie Robertson Oprah Winfrey Beyonce Barack Obama Michael Jordan Martha Luther King Jr thank you um arthria Franklin Muhammad Ali and kamla Harris today we presented a who am I poster so the audience or and the board can guess who we have Mia will'll start the first one 26-year-old American gymnast has 30 medals and is the most decorated gymnast in the world he died at 53 first African-American to play Major League Baseball his ma his middle name is Roosevelt 70 years old American talk show host was awarded the medal of freedom by President Obama the highest civil civilian honor 61 years old American businessman and former basketball player he is known for his large collection of endorsements 41 years old when he got assassinated American Christian minister youngest person to ever receive the Nobel PRI the Nobel Peace Prize 76 years old when died singer songwriter first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame he died at 79 years old fighter to the world and heavyweight champion and heavyweight champion um he was heavyweight champion on three separate occasions start and start on a Broadway show um our last two are 62 years old first African-American president and born in Hawaii lead singer of the R&B group Destiny Child for 42 years old won a talent show at 7 years old thank you for listening to our presentation and have a nice day excellent job parents if you would like to come down and take a picture while they have the trifold open thank you very much Skyler and Mia from school number seven great job moving on to school number nine I I would like to invite our teachers to come down please as well as our principal Mr Joseph retunda Miss Sharon Greco and Mrs Antonella Felino parpado would you please come down students we have Jacob Rivera in third grade school nine Mason estrich grade five and Sophia Cabrera also fifth grade would you please come down they are going to present a wax museum for you hi I'm Jackie Robinson I was born on the 31st of January 1919 I was the first africanamerican to break the color barrier in APR in baseball on April 15th 1947 I have four siblings Willer Robinson ma Robinson Frank Robinson and Edgar Robinson I played as an infielder and an outfielder I retired from baseball in 1948 I got the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year award I I played first base second base and shortstop in 1957 I left to join the chalk fullo nuts restaurant chain I was 37 when I retired when I first started playing baseball white people did not always want to be on my team or to play against me it was very difficult for me however I ignored their racism and continued to do what I love play baseball when I played baseball I was number 42 in 1997 the MLB retired my uniform number across all major league teams good evening everyone hello I'm Harry tumman I was born in March 1822 and passed away on March 10 19113 a person included in the Underground Railroad I was a slave too but when I was 11 i h many black Americans that are being treated terribly and in total 300 black Americans I saved in 19 trips but I did more in my lifetime many do not know but I was a teacher and a nurse in 1862 I wanted to give kids like me and you the education I never had and managed to help many wounded black soldiers after teaching I was included in the Civil War as a spy in early June 1863 I was 91 years old when I died to this day I'm still known as a legend since others did their part we got what we fought for freedom hello I am Michael Jordan I was born on January 17 1963 I am a famous basketball player in the NBA and inspir many people I played on the Chicago bowls with some of my teammates named Scotty Pippen Dennis Rodman and Magic Johnson my number was 23 when I was younger my brother and I played on the same basketball team my brother took the number I wanted which was 45 so I chose to divide that number in half and got 22.5 I then rounded up to 23 I was a shooting guard I played 15 seasons in the NBA between 1984 to 2003 I won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls I inspired many people and helped them to follow their dreams and believe in themselves and I was a huge inspiration in the NBA excellent job students parents if you would like to come down and take a picture would you like to get a picture why you get a picture with the students go ahead yeah go right ahead y whatever they would like to do come back you're going to take a picture with your teachers thank you School nine excellent okay we're moving on to Belleville High School we have two presentations one is under the guidance of Miss sevi akas would you please come down Mr rhods if you would like to come down and our student is Crystal mes De Jesus would you please come down Crystal Crystal has a Google slideshow as well along with her presentation here's the microphone for you it's going to be good night good night everybody I'm Crystal and I'm going to talk about a woman of inspiration to celebrate the Black History Month I choose to talk about May Jon for this important month because she's a woman who truly inspires me she has the great honor of being the first African-American woman to travel to the Moon before this discussing this stoning accomplishment I will give you some background about her life she was born in Alabama her father was a supervisor in a foundation and her mother was a teacher in elementary school as a student she was excellent and a skip a year she High School when she was only 16 years old people may think because she was so gift in science that she didn't have other Hobbies however she was an amazing athlete she is to the ballet was on the shling team and also in the dance club even we h of for Arts She was drawn to a career in engineering and Health Care although she was too young to move on to college Jim L know that the challeng didn't intimidate her because she was Na and storn enough in an interview jimon mentioned that th she was nervous when when she first visited Stanford at the age of 16 her joyful Pride helped her to to have the Ry to enroll she graduate high Stanford University with a degree in engineering and Medicine jimon applied to the NASA 50 shuttle mission of the program as well as the second mission of the fa Endeavor after NASA po require Jed in 1987 Jamison has often been asking if she had advice for inspired woman or minorities who would like to across a new rational or gender boundary in the curent world to this she has estay that certain arrogance is essential for woman and minorities to succeed in a society dominated by male domination for me May Jon history is example of how when determinate minority woman are able to accomplish any goal despite the obstacles that come along with living in associated with Ral and gender partiality and how one she said never be limit by others IL limited imagination and never leave with other because of your own limited imagination thank you okay parents if you would like to come down and take a picture of Crystal that was excellent Crystal thank you very much for your presentation on M emson want to get picture once again great job Crystal thank you Crystal is a student at Belleville High School in grade 11 and now for our finale we have under the tutelage of Miss Priscilla Nunes our sign language teacher at Belleville High School we have a group of students who will be signing the black National Anthem students would you please come down along with Miss Nunes Lift Every Voice up and sing till Earth and Heaven ring ring with the heart of Liberty let our rejoicing rise high as the Ling Skies let it ReSound loud as the roll sing the song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us sing song full of the hope that the present has brought us in the r let us up new God let us till Victory is facing the Rising Sun of our new day be let us march on to Victory is one thank you very much students and I I apologize I failed to tell you what the name of the song actually is and it was called Lift Every Voice so students if you would just rise I'd like to announce your name and once again your certificate will be forwarded to your school this week Diego averinos Grande grade 10 Ethan Robinson grade 11 Eva Martinez grade 11 Isabella Torino grade nine Lee irisari grade nine Matias Mendes Calderone grade nine Max Bell theine grade nine Michelle pusaka Hernandez grade nine and aie aand grade 10 Miss Nunes would you please come up and take a picture with your students parents if you are here please feel free to come up and take pictures now the sign for I love you is this so this will the iconic what you do if you know sign thank you very much that was an excellent presentation keep up the good work everyone thank you for listening all right thank you Mr demov you're welcome ladies and gentlemen if we give one more round of applause for our incredible uh students tonight and the teachers uh obviously this is just a small snippet of what we've been doing all month and what we continue to do for cultural awareness of all of our incredible um cultures languages Creeds everything in in Belleville so let's give ready a round of applause thank you so much for uh coming this evening can we just sorry if I just continue moving forward all right we're going to move forward now if uh again thank you all for coming tonight I don't know if you're all staying or not so this would be the time to exit is what I'm is what I'm trying to say thanks um just uh you know this last presentation here with the ASL is something that we've been working to get here miss Nunes and and uh the the team here uh you know Mr rhods and uh the curriculum team Mr Leo um Miss uh Miss Shanklin just an incredible job getting that program in here it's a very important program something dear to my heart I think it's uh uh important that we give our students another way to communicate um sometimes a second language is is not always uh you know it doesn't always have to be a spoken language uh and this is just an incredible thing for our kids and thank you so much for being part of our community here and hopefully we can just grow this program but they just did an incredible job so uh thank you so much excellent excellent job yeah let's do it again okay a few other things and I have uh a little bit of setting the record straight for those of you who uh would just give me a brief moment or two uh but first uh the school calendar is also up for approval tonight um I want to thank uh the uh the uh board for working with us on that the Union uh leads um and uh Miss Luna uh Miss Luna is the one who really puts us together and uh I don't think I thank her enough for everything she does so thank you very much um please uh utilize that to your best ability as a family to uh make sure that your children are here every day that school is in session uh please plan your trips and vacations around those things I think it's very important that's why we try to get it out to you as soon as possible um and I'm looking to do maybe a a 2-year calendar uh again in the next few months so we can um now that we're postco we can kind of uh let you plan a little better um so you probably heard a lot about the tutoring grant that we've talked about for almost a year now it seems like it's been almost a year the high impact tutoring Grant um that's finally uh making its way to Belleville um finally making its way to help us with our RTI program and other uh things that we are going to be rolling out with our casa our Center uh down on uh courland Avenue which hopefully will be opening up within the next week or two um you'll be getting something from I think Miss Shanklin and myself over the next day or so for parents to let them know uh what this grant is about and how it's going to impact your children well for lack of a better term impact uh your children in their classrooms um even though some part of this not maybe particularly this grant but the tutoring piece will happen at night because again we found here as an Administration and the board that we wanted to support our our families at night for the reinforcement the best we could so that's where ca came about but this high impact Grant is really um based on what is happening also for reinforcement for our teachers in the building so it's a little unconventional uh and you'll see it in most districts uh because how do we do this during the day well we're going to have some students you know working independently in the back of a room with a tutor that might be uh virtual uh some other students will be in small groups so again we ask that you're just patient with us as we kind of roll this out with the students teachers and staff we're not saying we're going to um not make some mistakes or make adjustments as we will need to do that but uh I think the the purpose and the funding is there for the right reason for learning loss and some retention and and to uh you know really enhance some of those skills so uh we're excited to get it started again no fault of Belleville why it's delayed really can't blame anyone at this point so we're just going toh say progress and uh let's get it done that's basically it so so that's my thing on that and that brings me again to Casa uh which is something we've been working on the center for um achievement uh and academic success and achievement and uh I think uh you'll be very excited about what we have there uh we have an e theater uh for our Esports teams and other events that we'll be holding there we have a whole tutoring um uh module in there we have a PD uh very large professional development center which will also be running out to groups uh registration will be down there and then an ESL or L uh Welcome Center for those uh parents from other countries that come to Belvo or the United States for the first time so it's going to be a really incredible place and we can't wait to cut the ribbon on that so so uh that's culminating um over the next week or so little little parched my apologies all right so unfortunately I'm probably now going to spend a few minutes on the biggest waste of time I think in my 25 years your career uh and I've had some big wastes of time in my life but this this is going to be a waste but it's extremely important to bring it up to all of you because when I was when I was being uh raised by my parents who were who have been gone for a long time the one thing I do recall is my father always saying to me if if somebody's not telling the truth or if somebody's making you seem like you're doing something wrong you always have to set the record straight not so much for yourself but for the people that surround you as well and support you and that's what that's what I need to do tonight because um an absolute um uh Injustice I think occurred last month uh with regard to this board supporting all the progress that we've made uh and and uh moving forward and moving ahead with uh some some additional projects um that we think are very important for this Township um and as we know 10 years ago almost 10 years ago when I first came here this this District was in over $4 million of debt you were assigned a state monitor um not only for the egregious things that were Happening Here uh to teachers to union leaders to kids um all those things that were that were happening uh allegedly um but we also wanted to make sure the governance the governance not just of this board of education but of the township um was set in such a way that every decision every goal every strategic plan was put forth for the one thing that's the most important thing for any Board of Education and that's the kids in this community and the and the families of this community so when I I came here to join this team back then that was the promise and I think in almost 10 years time we've done an incredible job coming from a place that everybody used to laugh at when I first got here in this state to now everyone envies all the things that we've done here and we've done that all together not saying we got along all the time but we did that together we had our differences we had our differences during covid we had our differences before Co we but we always came together for the the greater um the greater part of this community and absolutely absolutely with our kids in mind first and I've always said and the administrators are here again tonight thank you for taking your time out again but I've always said uh specifically to anyone who's in an administrative role in this job or anyone who is uh wants to Aspire to be an administrator once it's not about the kids anymore you have to pack up your stuff and you have to go you have to go work somewhere else because that's what this is about so I need to set the record r on being very clear because there's obviously obviously a miscommunication uh with some members of the township council with regard to a funding practice that we were um we were requesting um to them in in January that the board approved in December to continue with something called the ecia which is an improvement Authority if you recall um the county executive who's uh Mr Devan chenzo County Executive Senator Ruiz and some other influential members of um you know State and county offices put together approvement Authority for townships like Belleville to borrow money at a very reduced rate so that districts just like us that were in trouble can move forward in progress okay since those that time we've done so many incredible things for this community and other people that enjoy this community as well the most uh prominent thing that I can say that we all enjoy through this Improvement Authority was the cerman field project just a beautiful piece of landscape now that when you come to this town and you visit the town we have colleges that want to rent it out uh we have people that want to uh you know enjoy the day on it walk around the track it's just an incredible thing that this board was able to put into a budget through borrowing money through this ECI development um we found that by borrowing this money and doing some of these projects it was the only way that we can do this and make it affordable for the the citizens in in Belleville Mr Paladino who is our business administrator for those of you who may not know um and myself basically asked for 10 minutes for the county executive because he was extremely busy and he gave us more than that actually and we we basically begged him we said we need more money um we want we have this money in a budget already for next year we know the taxpayers have already put their money into it there's there will be no difference in tax levy we're going to we're going to keep it as as close as we can but we just need your we just need you to open up this again uh because it was ending it was coming to a fiveyear end which ends this year through his his support of almost I would say every town in this County but I know he supports Belleville more than uh than I could even imagine anybody else can um they opened it up really basically for us um they went together with their bond Council uh they put together all the funding and basically opened it to us and uh we put together four or five projects for this Community uh that we knew that we couldn't do unless we either rais your taxes more or we were able to extend this bond for a few more years and that includes new uh Advanced furniture that includes a field at the new middle school so don't forget the middle school students have never been outside for gym uh so we have a nice field uh that we have an idea for at the middle school that's kind of connected to a Breezeway idea uh that's just going to really beautify the center of town uh and a few other projects um that have to do with an E theater uh and some other things um that would basically really be a a pro Progressive motion for this for this District everyone was on board we worked very hard on this for several months and the only thing that is necessary is to get the support the support of your Township Council and mayor that's all it is not a penny more not a dime not anything else but we support you on this I've equated it and it's been in the paper it's like uh a mother or a father co-signing a car loan for a kid for the first time and says you know what if you ever default on this or something happens then we'll take over well if we defaulted on this loan we'd be in bigger trouble right we wouldn't we wouldn't be worrying about this loan anymore we'd be in bigger trouble that means we'd have no money to pay our teachers we have no money to do anything uh pay for food none of that so again we made it very clear to everyone that this these monies were already in the budget the board didn't even have to do anything except vote Yes which is what they did in December uh and I really appreciate all those members uh that did that we've we explained this to the township and we really just thought it was another hey let's all work together for the you guys did a great job finding the funding and uh you know we're going to move forward we put it together there was a little hemin and Hauling uh on on on the council aspect of the of the municipality had some questions this is back December January and that's his job and and I have no problem with that so we answered some questions and then I was invited to the a meeting which uh brings me to the reason why I bring this all up I had to give you some context on this because I think it's really important because I need to be very very clear on this the council as a whole and in specific four individual members has costed these taxpayers now to reach into their pockets and spend more money than necessary because they could not do a perfunctory vote on an ordinance for us that's all it was a perun vote right exactly let me tell you what that means in a nutshell I challenge anyone in this Township and we usually have some members here that are always up here but they're not here tonight to find me an ordinance that the mayor and Council in Belleville over the last 10 years 20 years 30 years has not given respect to at least the first reading of an ordinance I challenge anyone to find that cuz I can't find it and that includes cannabis dispensaries massage poers tattoo shops all of those ordinances and all those other things that we talk about at least got a first reading so the expectation on that night on the 23rd was we would get a first reading to answer questions in between the first and second reading unfortunately when there was a perun vote for our first reading where a reading where even the mayor said usually this is just you know something that we just did um to kind of move it to the next vote uh we had four individuals vote no for that and that was uh councilman Rell councilman Matari councilwoman Shalo Burke and the mayor himself mayor melham voted no on that and I usually would just say hey let's forget about it but of course everyone had to justify why they voted no or or certain individuals had to justify why they voted no I honestly think it was a very um interesting vote uh the no vote should have been the second vote if anything um but the interesting thing that the reason why it makes it interesting to me is because at that meeting that we had that I spent my time representing the board to answer questions the mayor read from a statement from their attorney with questions on it with questions on it and the bond Council said specifically that um this was too premature to consider at this time and my question was well was anybody going to talk to me about that before this meeting I mean obviously if you're holding something in your hand mayor you got this before this meeting did you just get it five minutes before the meeting and I found out that they actually got it a day before well I don't know if okay if he got it a day before the the the uh the township actually got it the day before so I was curious as to why I would stand up to answer questions that are impossible to answer and then I thought okay well at least I know what these questions are they'll vote Yes the first time for the first reading and then I'll have a whole two weeks to answer the questions so that they can support us so we can all again be one cohesive unit so that we could continue to move this place forward instead of going back 10 years when this exact same thing was happening when I first got here almost identical almost identical you could call whatever you like but I there there's no other excuse for it so the reality is this yes if the mayor and council could vote any way they would like it's fine but for so for individuals like us who really don't need any support of theirs for this no monetary support uh nothing else but just hey you know what we appreciate what you guys are doing just like we we try to work with you and you try to work with us we're going to support you again at least for the first reading at least give me the first reading first time in the history of Belleville unless I'm wrong and if I am I will come up next meeting when someone shows me the first reading uh of anything that was uh shot down um because I honestly think that this was a 100% politically charged vote um without giving me the opportunity to answer any questions really doesn't make any sense or how about just tabling it to the next meeting why is it a no so what that forced us to do is Mr paldino and myself to now try to get private funding because that vote doesn't mean we don't go ahead with the projects that vote just means that we now have to pay more in interest for it more in interest for it which doesn't make any sense to me again I just want to be very clear that the mayor and Council were not asked to do anything except give us the adab boy that's it ad a boy that's all we wanted we don't want a dime okay um and the mayor in in his uh his comments on his Facebook page that were that were published in the paper basically said that they supported us in the past and this has been unheard of before and we still work with the board so what does that mean because you supported us in the past we can't keep moving forward on this we shouldn't have support he brought up the middle school project and we if that wasn't them supporting us we're they're not paying a dime for that either we wanted to share a service with them because this board realized a need for municipal parking Municipal parking for shops for events and that's why this board wanted to share a service with them and that's what we did and we asked them to float a bond and we're paying it back I just don't understand understand this and again I would have let it let it go and just move forward and let but somebody had to make a statement on it which doesn't make any sense to me however the way this all turned out uh kind of culminates into another thing that I said that night and that was issues with the enrollment okay and this is a bigger problem right now this is a bigger issue that we're having because we have now requested several times several times two times this is my third time now this Board needs to get together with the council in public two two meetings simultaneously and talk about these enrollment concerns okay we need to talk about these enrollment concerns since I've been here um we have some incredible numbers uh that are going up just because enrollments this has nothing to do with preschool this is K to 12 okay we since since me coming um since my coming here in 2014 we have 373 new students SP in K to2 okay that's a 9% increase that is without one development without one development this Council has approved through the planning board and whatnot 1,500 units 1500 units that their demographers are saying are just going to have a handful of kids because they're single apartments this too high uh pay no kids are coming out of it's going to be all young couples with no kids I this doesn't it again this is something that um a demographer for a developer is going to tell you that so we use the enrollments experts in our field to come across with demography reports with regard to what we think may possibly happen now of course I don't have a crystal ball and I'm not sure this is going to happen these are projections but the number I just gave you was a real number you could go look at it on Smart data right on the NJ DOA website take the enrollment when we were here in 2014 and take the enrollment now and that's three 373 different kids not including the 350 or some odd prek kids that we added okay that's a real number okay now add 1500 apartments and the projected number is an additional 260 students from those apartments okay that would if that did come to fruition by 2032 that would devastate devastate this District devastate this District um and again I would be REM Miss if I did not in my role and support this board and how they've supported me I would be remiss if I didn't bring this up now because I am getting nervous because nobody nobody on the other side is even having a conversation about it nobody's asking anybody to say yes you're right or oh this will definitely happen because again there's no Crystal Ball but we have to have a conversation about it Mr Paladino and myself and the operations committee we already have three plans in place we've been working on two years on these plans nobody I shouldn't say nobody the majority of the council doesn't want to hear it okay I'm not mentioning any names tonight you can all go back and figure it out from all these things um but this is a this is a big problem and to just to prove it in public what the mayor stated about Essex Park proves that we need to have a conversation Essex Park when it was built years ago you know obviously didn't think many kids would come out of that either uh the quote was that we only have 19 students from there well that's not true we have 45 students in Essex Park okay and that's great nobody's denying these developments nobody's saying these developments shouldn't happen but there's a few things that we have to talk about these developments have Pilots not $1 do of a pilot is going to this District not $1 doar that was the municipalities Choice it's up to them number two we were we did not have a seat at any of these development meetings to talk about it no engineer contacted my office or anybody I'm aware of unless a board member didn't tell me to say hey will this impact in any way what do you think not even a conversation okay that's imperative the new master plan that the township just came out with does not mention a school building the new master plan does not mention a school building so all these things are miscommunications uh this is something that is is very very very important that we all have to come together we all have to say you know what let's just have a conversation no pointing fingers because I really don't care I really don't care who's going to point your finger at me or if it's my fault we're going afterbody it doesn't matter I am telling you I've been involved in several districts and I've seen this happen I've seen this happen and again this will devastate this District it will it will ruin it will ruin this education system and all the stuff that we've built and all the money we've put into it and all the progress that we've made it's something we have to talk about um there's there's really nothing else to say about that except it's time and I think this uh you know this board also needs to uh continue to support all these numbers this is data this isn't TOMCO speak or at TOMCO ISM this is data right and I'll leave you with this we're doing some I'm doing a report that's going to be public pretty soon with regard to all this because I back it all with data but we just took some two family houses over the past year or so that have been built or are going to be built just two family homes we're not even talking about the developments anymore okay so the developments are one concern and again we're not going to realize those numbers maybe for 10 years down the road or or or whatnot um but there's other things also being developed in this town right great things that are happening we want more people here we want to invite people here to to celebrate all of our successes nobody's saying that not to do this 100% I think this board is 100% behind the developments and the building and stuff like that we just know that we need to have this conf ation so over those last I don't know I guess year or so there's been I I've I've pinpointed 18 18 new two family dwellings 18 okay so it's a it's a it's a it's a moderate number uh that and I've only went for the first few okay just so you know 10 of them haven't even been built yet 10 of them have only like construction stuff and haven't been built yet so only so eight have been built from those eight from those eight that were're built we already have 15 new students come from those buildings 15 okay so for anyone to think that one room two rooms a house can can only have a small or moderate amount of kids need to talk to some people about what's happening in the world today you need to understand what's happening in Belleville people renting out rooms people are we have 15 20 people in houses okay those are just realities and it has nothing to do with this District okay we can't shut someone down because oh you know you live five people live in one room if someone lives in this town and we can verify they live in this town that's why we're doing a re-registration they have to be educated here okay we are running out of room we have 13 sections right now 13 sections across the district that cannot have another student by board policy okay so if it's kindergarten it's 25 if it's fifth grade it's 27 13 sections in the schools can't fit another kid that is very scary stuff all right and it's just going to get worse no one is saying that anyone did anything wrong all I am saying is we have to have a conversation and and and again I don't know what else uh how else to prove it um but for some reason no one wants to talk about it I guess it's like if we don't talk about it it'll go away but what's going to happen is some of us won't be here in 10 years and those of you who are still here or are living here or have kids here are going to be like you know this is back in 2014 when we were in the middle school and kids were having classes in the hallways that's a true story when I first got here we had kids with classes in the hallways all right and and and we don't want that again um I don't know I I don't really don't know what else to say um again we need to continue to work together so that the progress that we've made over the last N9 or 10 years coming from that district with the big biggest black guy a district that if you go to 2015 there's no data here because we had a data breach and we lost all of our data unheard of we we're the only District on the planet doesn't have data for one year okay we've come from that to so many fail safes now all these things this great Auditorium uh you know these these these other facilities that we're doing this RTI program we have some great strides in in that program that we've made over the last several months that hopefully our scores start start moving the preschool the preschool um commitment that this board has made with the help of Senator Ruiz and the rest of the uh you know uh the legislature uh to put over $10 million into free basically free education for kids here those are incredible strides but now to stop all that for a perfunctory vote that had to go down do makes no sense to me and not to have a conversation you know and and if it is me we have to get past that we have to get past that and we have to worry about families you don't have to like me but guess what we just have to work together as a board and a council um so uh I appreciate the few minutes but I think it was only important because I just don't like when people speak Mis uh misguiding uh statements which is what we which is what unfortunately we have um and that's the truth uh we've moved forward uh we're going to continue these projects because nothing's going to stop the progress that we made here um but unfortunately it's going to be a little costly uh and it's and it's going to impact our pockets when it could have been stopped could easily been stopped um with just the respect of one reading where we could have answered questions we didn't get that respect so um so that's where I'm at with that Madam vice president thank you I digress progress thank you Dr TOMCO Mr Paladino do you have a report from Mr Egan that's a little tough to follow um just let everybody know as always Mr Regan's watching uh via the district's uh social media platforms um first he wanted the board and the public to know that uh the audit for June 30th 2023 has been completed uh Mr Bliss from uh our Auditors Lurch Vincy and Bliss uh will be at the March meeting to present um the audit to the public and to the board um Mr Regan wanted everybody to know he's very pleased with the results of the audit and feels that the district is doing very well continues to do very well uh second he continues to work with uh the superintendent myself in regards to the uh upcoming 24-25 budget development uh governor's speech is tomorrow afternoon will he present um his plans for the upcoming year and then uh state aid numbers will be released within the next uh 48 Hours uh the budget is due to the county uh March 20th uh so we'll have that on the agenda to submit to the county at the next board meeting uh for technical review uh Mr rean approves all of the has looked as reviewed excuse me reviewed the agenda approves everything the superintendent and the business administrator presented uh regarding Personnel purchasing and Finance in regards to finance the December treasurers report is on the agenda for approval this evening uh and as you can see from that report uh the district uh continues to have sufficient funds to meet all its commitments um through the end of the 23 24 school year and then that uh is the end of his report thank you Mr Paladino moving on to remarks by citizens can I have a motion to open for a public participation regarding agenda items I'll make a motion second any second all in fav favor I any opposed okay no one has signed up so can I have a motion to close public participation motion if I could just it's this is for agenda items only if you're looking for just general public comment or with respect to agenda items okay I W come over and you'll sign up all right can I have a motion to close public participation motion I opened it already so we had a motion already can I have a second I'll second all those in favor I any opposed okay moving on to resolutions can I have a motion on Personnel 91 to 9.33 motion I can second that any discussion hearing none Mr Paladino please call the RO truste Dara yes trusty msia yes truste Pacho yes trustee Williams yes vice president dtis yes okay curriculum and instruction there is nothing there so we are moving on to board action board policy can I have a motion on 111 to 112 2 six motion anyone second I'll second that that's fine any discussion hearing none Mr Paladino will you please call the role trusty Dar yes trusty msaga yes trusty Pacho yes trusty Williams yes vice president dadis yes okay we are at resolution um purchasing and business Services can I have a motion on items 121 to 1232 motion I'll second it any discussion hearing none Mr Paladino will you please call the role trusty Dara yes trusty massagi yes trusty P yes trusty Williams yes vice president dtis yes okay Finance can I have a motion on 131 to 1313 motion I'll second any discussion hearing none Mr Paladino will you please call the role trusty daro yes trusty misia yes trusty Pacho yes trusty Williams vice president dtis yes to all with the exception of check number 9000000 I abstain okay remarks by citizens can I have a motion to open for public participation so move second that all in favor I any opposed okay remarks regarding any items and issues that are relevant to the educational system a participant must sign in and be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of his or her name municipality and group affiliation if appropriate the individual called shall proceed with a maximum of five minutes all statements shall be directed to the president of the Board of Education no participant May address board members individually Robert rubinson hello Robert rubinson I'm a teacher here at the high school live in West Orange and I'm a me member of the Bea um just today I wanted to bring up an issue that I would hope the board would consider um for the future working towards September uh being a teacher it's my 18th year in the district and it's been difficult this year with the cell phones in the classroom and it's something I did a little research and I just want to pull some notes Here uh in the past couple of years cell phone ban recommendations have been issued by England Finland France and the Netherlands and a report from UNESCO unesco's United Nations education science and culture agency said that there was evidence that excessive mobile phone use was linked to reduce educational performance that high levels of screen time had a negative effect on children's emotional stability UNESCO said its call for a smartphone band sent a clear message that digital technology as a whole including artificial intelligence should always be subservient to human centered vision of education and never supplement never supplement supplant face-to-face interaction in the United States in 2015 66% of school districts had banned cell phones by 2020 it's up to 77% and that's according to National Center for educational statistics November 20123 two prominent senators from across the aisle Tom Cotton who's a Republican and Tim Kane who's a Democrat introduced the focus on learning act which is once it makes its way through committee if it gets passed it's going to study the use the effect of cell phones on students so it's just something that I'd like to ask you to please consider for September the teachers have voted on this that we over 90% that were on board for trying to have a band of cell phones in the classroom um I know there have been some other studies that were pre- pandemic that showed that uh districts that ban cell phones had their test scores go up student engagement would go up just the whole classroom would be more fun again it really would be because I'm not as exciting as a as a cell phone or a video game or anything else and right now we have Harmony in the district the board the union Dr TOMCO we all get along great and just something that I think just would be something to get us a little bit better and maybe something if we can work on together finding an area that we can get real what would be I guess the devils in the details and working out what we would have to do obviously we W have cell phones still that that kids can be reached by their parents in emergency you know that's that that is something that we would have to work with and you know for me it would be good enough for them to just put it in their backpack out of sight out of mine something like that just to keep it out of the of the classroom it's gotten to the point where I almost can't teach anymore you you almost can't the kids ignore you I mean I'm funny I'm fun in the classroom I like being there that's that was my happy place and they just they don't even give you five minutes anymore and it's a shame they're good kids it's not that they're not good kids kids they really are it's just you know the cell phones have and I think the pandemic just sped up the way things were going that everybody was kind of Gooding at home and they were away from their friends and it's taken a couple years to get us back to being school again to where we were pre pandemic and we are there things are I mean you look around the building it's great there there's happiness I can't remember the last time I heard there was a fight in the building and you know that's just to show that everybody's getting along everybody's happy to be back in the building but if we can get the learning back on that would make it better for teachers like myself thank you and thanks for your consideration thank you Mr ribon uh through the chair I just wanted to um to mention I I I think that um you know the board the board is uh um aware of of the uh I'll just speak for the Bea uh Mr Monon and I meet uh we try to meet every every week we it's been tough with budget and stuff coming up but uh we've had some really good conversations about this the board um policy committee uh is looking to schedule a meeting with the committee uh governance committee and uh administrators and some teachers stuff like that to kind of uh talk about some of these things we have some concerns uh on the other end of it I know now we use the phones for um passes hallway passes I think that's been working pretty well uh we did have some concerns and we had the lockdown the act of lockdown in the uh um in the middle school we did have some concerns from some faculty and staff uh which were good concerns uh you know like what if we really had an emergency how do we get in touch with somebody so we we have a live app now on your phone that you can touch in an emergency that's coming in so those are some considerations uh but I don't think the board's against changing the policy I think the policy's been around for too long without you know was pre um so I think we really want to sit down and have those conversations so uh I think that's where we're at I don't want anybody to think that we haven't uh talked about it cuz we have and we appreciate the data that we got from from Mr Monon and the Bea um and uh I think uh we'll be moving forward from that but thank you for your comments Fabian Fieri I apologize if I said your last name wrong thank you so much and congratulations to the board uh for the great work you're doing and the new elected members M Dr Masa and Dr Pacho great to see you sitting there uh I had emailed some of the members of the board just uh I'm Fabian I live I'm so I'm standing here in two capacities as a resident of bell and also as a small business owner so I've reached out in that capacity to some of you um seeking guidance on the process for getting in the roster uh for preferred vendors a small business uh company here in in Belo where we do uh digital communication uh certified translations and and that sort of business so seeking to learn more about the process for getting in your service providers listings that's one question uh and then a second question is as a resident of Belo and seeing kids crossing the streets uh little Street and Union Union Avenue is very heavily trafficked just how can one go about just uh getting Crossing markings on the street for their safety and again congratulations to the students who presented today was such inspiring warming presentation and to the board for the work you're all doing thank you Mr Fier what's your address 315 little thank you for those comments are appreciated I I um uh Mr Paladino RBA and I we can contact you with regard to how it works but just very quickly I mean uh I wasn't aware that you were um in touch with any of the board members but the um in order to provide services as a vendor in in any public school there's a a a bidding process so we' put out an RFP or an RFQ we can we can uh talk to you about where those are so you can see those um and then you would bid on that process so it's not like there's a preferred vendor list you unless you're on state contract which maybe you are so we can I just want to make the record uh queer because you said you you uh contact individuals so again there is a a public process for that uh as for the uh traffic with the crossing guards that's actually a a municipality concern with the chief but we do work with them very closely on the on the uh uh walks to school what is it safe rides to school or safe walkways to school Grant so we we'll definitely put those two streets on the uh on the docket as well so thank you for bringing that up appreciate it thank you can I have a motion to close public participation motion I'll second it all in favor I I any opposed okay items remarks and committee reports to be presented by board members is there anyone who has anything to say okay so I'm just going to say that the board appreciates the students tonight and the teachers for all of the hard work they put in for their Black History Month presentations everyone have a great even evening um our next meeting will be Monday March 18th 2024 can I have a motion to adjourn motion I'll second if I need to all in favor I hi any opposed