okay I would like to call this meeting to order will the secretary please call the role Mrs Becker here Mr Cummings Mr goswami Miss guas Mrs herck here Mr h here Dr James here hello hello Mrs ree here and president L here we have a quorum please rise to salute the flag I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the rights of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the East brunic board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted at the Board of Education offices written notice was also provided to The Sentinel The nework Star Ledger the home News Tribune the alternative press of East Brunswick and the municipal clerk of East brunwick all Board of Education meetings with the exception of executive sessions discussions are videotaped for later broadcast it is the policy of the Board of Education that videotape meetings are not edited for any purposes individuals who speak at the board's public meeting should be aware of these videotaping rules good evening um as is customary I'm going to um ask for a motion to go into close session for our executive um agenda whereas the Board of Education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and these subjects are within the exception to the open public meeting act and are permitted to be discussed in Clos session the Board of Education intends to discuss matters as follows those items listed on tonight's agenda the length of close session is estimated to be 1 hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will be taken now therefore be it resolved that the East brunck Board of Education will recess into close session for only the affers said subjects and please excuse me and be it further resolved that the East bronic Board of Education hereby declares that discussion of the afid subjects will be made public at a time when the Public's interest in disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental Interest being protected from disclosure in accordance with the open public meetings act thank you Mrs Becker second second by Mrs herck is there any discussion all those in favor I opposed extensions okay motion carries thank you so much we will see everyone in an hour okay welcome back um good evening every everybody we're going to start with Dr veski and the superintendent report please thank you president LAX good evening everyone it's a short report but a few updates over the summer the artwork in the boardroom is reflective of the work from all 11 of our school buildings representing students from grades K through 12 additionally in the back right hand corner of the room you can view artworks created by Educators from the East Brunswick visual arts department the talents of both our students and staff are outstanding again this year the district has been awarded the government Finance Officers Association certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting this marks the ninth time for this award in East Brunswick the certificate of achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government in its management so congratulations to the entire Financial Services Department on this outstanding achievement and finally Sam Mattis East brunwick High School alumnus class of 2012 has qualified for his second Olympic Games he competed at the Tokyo games and will now compete in Paris uh this summer in The discus throw Sam graduated from upen with a degree in economics from the Wharton School of Business and we look forward to his great success in these games thank you that's great good news I love that okay before I go into the um go to the cause for the public um a couple of meetings ago um my friend Dom here had expressed concern about the inappropriate use of uh some terminology and I promised you we would look into it um and make an apology because certainly um here we never want to offend anyone with our words um Mr Juliana I'm going to turn this over to you so during a budget uh during a presentation on the budget it is my understanding that I use the word handy capped rather than disabled when referring to certain budget items I also understand that this has caused offense with some members of the community I want to assure the community that I'm sensitive to the terminology that it was an oversight on my part and there was no ill intent and I sincerely apologize to those that were offended thank you Mr Juliana yes we're always learning um terminology is always changing and it's good to to keep everybody um aware of of what words can be um offensive to someone because certainly we would never want to make anyone feel bad with our words we teach the young age correct as adults so um it is now the time for the good of the cause for the public the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest to protect the privacy of all students and staff concerns regarding individual students and staff members should generally be addressed by first meeting with the appropriate administrative staff in order to permit foray and orderly expression of such comment the board shall provide a period for public comment at every meeting of the board and a participant will be limited to 3 minutes duration a lapse time will be determined through the use of a timing device operated by the board secretary and I always give um a couple of the um I say ground rules but just to know that you are this is your time to talk to the board um all your comments are be directed to us anything that needs followup will will be directed to the ladies in the back and we will make sure that answers are given if they are required that being said is there anyone that we to speak to the board this evening okay and I just ask everyone as you come up to the podium if you could state your name and address for the record unless you are a student and in that case you can State the school or grade you're in thank you okay I'm Jack lit for Springfield Road in East Brunswick typically come up here to show you my support for all the hard work you do but unfortunately that's not why I'm here tonight I left the last public board meeting really upset it was the last one where Dr L Figaroa sat up there with all of you where he sat for close to 10 years and nobody not one of you should said a word of farewell or showed appreciation for his service I found that shameful you've made it abundantly clear that running the district is in essence running a business and none of the seven of you who are up there had any hesitancy making your business decision to support the budget that eliminated Dr Figaro's job when your name was called and that is what it is however having worked with many executive teams and Boards of directors and having sat on Boards of directors it's common practice to recognize employees who have dedicated service to an organization upon retirement or like in this case positions eliminated so where was it where's the let's run this like a business posture now you do know how to do it recently we saw the sendoff he gave Chris the former student rep to the board and he deserved every word of it and just last year when Danny riro left the role of HR Director so many of you chimed in and you even let her sit up at the deis and again it was so welld deserved Dr Figaroa deserved the same why the silence did he take somebody's parking spot that night was it because he decided to challenge some of you for a board seat or did you just feel awkward or uncomfortable and my response to that honestly is that I don't care you're not there to represent your personal feelings you have to remember that you were elected to represent the community of East Brunswick and the community spent close to 5 hours at this microphone letting you know how much they appreciated Dr Figaro's service yet we heard Cricket or were you advised or even pressured not to speak if so did any of you question that advice to completely disrespect a well-regarded employee or even question if that advice was truly good and in the best interest of the community leaders do what's right not what's popular and I've heard many times that you're a consensus seeking board but sometimes leaders need to disagree again we heard Cricket did you know that treating someone differently because of their status or icing them out of the normal task of their job can fall under the H and HIV as harassment and probably a little intimidation and bullying too what's not funny about that is that you all sat up there and when the students and parents talked about feeling harassed and bully during the yearbook debacle you were shocked and dismayed and wonder how this could be going on in the district and the answer is simple look to your left and look to your right you're setting the example for the district that stops starts at the top cultural behaviors are role modeled by all of you sitting up there you know I'm not a guy who sits around and throws darts and just complains I'm a guy who makes things happen so I'm throwing my hat in the ring as a candidate for one of the seats opening up in November five seconds you've shown us that it's time for change and I want to be that change thank you thank you Mr Le good evening everyone L figuro 101 Rus Lane uh thank you Mr lit for those kind words um I appreciate that unnecessary but thank you uh I would like to take this opportunity to thank the board of education for allowing me to serve this wonderful Community for the past 13 years it has been an honor and it has been a privilege so I thank you for giving me that opportunity and for the support you showed me over the 13 years I've been here uh I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank the members of student services my colleagues the principles the teachers the staff that work with student services I wish them a phenomenal year the people in student services who take care of our kids every day who work so closely with all our other professionals to make sure that our stud students have what they need um and they do that without a pat on the back most of the time they do it because that's what they do and that's who they are and I know they're going to have a a continued uh success and I look forward to seeing all the wonderful things they're going to do this coming year thank you thank you Dr [Applause] Figo good good evening my name is Dominus scani to Morgan place I first wanted to thank you for conducting your investigation and thank you for your apology it really means a lot uh to not only me but other uh people in the disabled Community next I wanted to address some things you said last meeting you say kids in elementary schools get excited to see Dr veski but come on they're kids they get excited when they see a firet truck also you you say everyone loves his Snow Day messages but we mean that ironically I mean someone literally made fun FR of them my junior year Mr ebhs and the teachers were laughing um number two sure he's at EB day and ghost to elementary schools but where is he at at athletic events I never saw him go to one one senior night in my four years of high school or even my when my siblings played but I always saw Dr Figaroa he was the only administrator I've I've seen actually Walk The Halls of of the school and be personable three all the things you said about Dr veski about working his butt off and putting work in where was that sentiment with Dr Figaroa where was any of that when he was getting fired he voted to cut him and didn't even thank him for his many years of service where where are the speeches commending Dr veski where were the board meetings where hundreds of people came out and support of veski I'm sick and tired of this woe is me and victim mindset I I voted for every one of you on this board myself and others voted for you to keep the administrators in check and to prevent something like this from happening and respectfully if you cannot do the job you took a note to do either step down or resign because I can't we can't vote for someone who wants to defend hate and it's funny because um I saw the new flowchart and everything and at the top you see electorate but it doesn't really seem like a lot of stuff is getting reported back to us so just keep that in mind thank you Mr [Applause] Stefani is there anyone else that would like y friends Dr Jamie Falco 11 Taft I'm here to share some news our first story Westfield is hired a supervisor of Elementary student support services for grades K through 12 I'm sorry prek through 12 the current supervisor of prek through 12 special education is taking on the role of supervisor of secondary student Support Services the student Support Services Group includes special education intervention Referral Services 504 plans and tutoring as well as academic Support Services why do your board approved organ organ gational changes remove the assistant superintendent of student services and activities position why are other districts dividing and hiring for that role okay you just missed another round of funds for prek Education upk facilities Grant pursuant to the American Rescue plan of 2021 the deadline was June 4th of this year Monroe got $10 million in Grants last year to expand their program your organizational Cher is flawed again takes into account it fails to take into account a vital function that reduces the cost of a great education maybe instead of having Mr Juliana as your recording secretary he can draft applications in case you forgot there was a budget deficit this year you voted unanimously to pass the buck to the taxpayers we need to increase Revenue to offset expected increases in cost leads me to my next story your meeting is canceled next week with no res or two weeks from now with no rescheduled date find that disappointing there are grants available through the arts institute of middle sex County they awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars last year for art music and culture programs shouldn't you be working on a way to pay for the diversity equity and inclusion programs we need to fix this culture crisis lastly I'm running for the Board of Ed kind of figured it'd be obvious um this is not a badge of honor it's not a volunteer position it is an obligation to protect and serve our most valuable asset our children we are going to ask questions we are going to demand accountability there will be no bias or favoritism the sport has become complacent you look like vapid figureheads with an unlimited checkbook for change orders but not for teacher salaries I run to bring Integrity inclusion and Innovation to this board and this District I will not be hibernating in November thank you Dr Falon Mark Sher seven Falcon Road as some of you are aware I was on trial yesterday it was a criminal trial as a result of my uh stopping a bus driver that negligently left my daughter behind at a stop uh during inclement weather 2 and 1/2 years ago it has been a it it has been a horrible traumatic experience for me because I have pointed out substantial negligence on the part of the drivers numerous times uh I spoke at at a board meeting on I believe it was April 21st of 2022 when it was only traffic charges that I plad not guilty to and in retaliation you guys up the charges to disorderly persons I I felt a tremendous amount of relief yesterday during the trial it went very well for me uh the judge hasn't made her decision yet it was a 4-Hour trial but the negligence was on full display I encourage everyone to get a copy of the transcript and a copy of the video Miss locks you got about 20 or so emails from me over the past two years uh explaining some negligence that happened on specific days uh where my daughter was standing before the bus took off where the seat belts weren't fastened all of those emails were ignored I asked you to uh provide me with assurance that the buses would be operated in a safe and responsible manner you ignored all of my emails you didn't ignore me though when I asked you to set me up with the liaison at the transportation department that I could talk to because I couldn't talk to forsberg because she dropped the she made the charges you didn't follow through with that you made a promise to me you didn't follow through that that's very weak you're you say you're the board president you say your in your interest is in the uh the children's safety I think you're a fraud I really do I'm hurt uh my family's been devastated by this I'm disappointed in this board Bernardo Giuliana I think you're a bully Victor veski I think you're a coward I sent you a letter asking challenging you to make this right and to help me Mend my relationships with some members of the board you ignored my letter I called your secretary to find out if if if uh you got the letter she said she'd get back to me she never did uh our children are not safe on these buses with this uh level of um supervision it's not the drivers the drivers need the right guidance from their supervisors and they're not getting it Audrey Maxwell was the driver she was up on the stand yesterday she did a horrible job she was clear clearly forced to testify she lied on the witness stand about telling the students to put their seat belts on they heard the audio she never told anyone to put their seat bels on it was it was really it was really pathetic for you your time is up your time is up your time is your time is [Applause] up anyone else like to speak to the board this evening okay seeing that I'm going to close the public portion and I am going to ask for a motion unless anyone needs anything separated out I'm going to ask for a motion on this evening's agenda move by Mrs Becker second second by Mrs herck um is there any discussion on any aspect remember you can talk about any aspect of the agenda this evening Mr hung so for the community program enrichment fee so I want to give ammer a lot of credit she's trying very hard to bring all kind of good programs to our community to provide our not just our children even our adults a lot of opportunity to help them so I want give a lot of credit for that and second the F uh facility item number one so uh I understand that we when we have the budget problem we tried to reduce some uh man power but the ammer the food provider so they increase two full time manow as the result we increase the contract price so for the 4year period so it's fair significant number so I just want to know why we they incre they provide more manpower for the service and then at the same time we pay so much money for the for that so I just don't feel comfortable for that so I want to know more what's the rationale when we cut our own people at the same time we pay more the outside contractor for their manow so that's is my question for the facility uh item number one um I'm done that's it that's it that was part of the uh budget that was approved by the board in terms of um cost savings well the things we've approved that for to cut the budget but this time when they increase two fulltime uh unit or the numbers it's the result we increase the contract price for that significant amount so what's then what's the purpose for us to you cut our own employee and then pay other people more so that's I'm I didn't get it so so if I [Applause] so so maybe my my math is wrong but for the because of the their increase for few to four years we got very sign very significant amount of so it's more than $900,000 that is a very big number I don't think that's correct Mr Hong maybe my M wrong take a look at the document but if we had had advanced notice of your question we'd be able to perhaps have the information should table table this one so you know with this one all right what um would you be able to maybe yeah all right Mr Hong I'm going to have Mr Juliana get maybe my message around but you know I I want to know more about this so okay Dr James I just wanted to um highlight Community programs number three which is the Princeton Review I actually just wanted to uh pull that out for my fellow parents I you know the SAT and the act the test preps are very expensive and it is an equity issue and they are still very expensive here I mean the prince reviews of business but when I was looking through this and I see we got a 66% discount I mean I don't know if that's standard for all school districts but I wanted to make sure we highlighted that because I I actually think that's that's something that's really great because if someone were to get this program from princet and review right it would have no discount I mean I I I didn't get to take SAT prep right because of the price so um I I wanted to ask publicly to how do we advertise this and will we advertise this in a special way so that High School parents in particular you know they know that they should purchase us through Community programs and not just go to prints and review so I think they do because this program has been around for a long time very consistent and we always have this discount that's one of the things that did for more than a decade I believe thank you but thank you for pointing it out Heather and um I believe that it's also um there's talk about it or information given out at some point during the school but it's it's certainly something that's also I think on our website I think on our website so yeah it's been around longer than even a decade I think well yeah no I I know at least that's what I was saying at least okay sure Mrs herck I just have one question um under Financial number at the emergency contract um repair at Bal Monroe so we'll be able to um in turn submit that to our insurance we already have okay so the way that process would work because that was a damage caused by a contractor uh we submitted a claim immediately to our insurance carrier um we notified the contractor as well uh the insurance carrier will deal with a recovery of that but in the meantime the insurance has covered uh the damage okay thanks okay no other discussion I'm going to ask the secretary to please call the role Mrs Becker yes Mr goswami yes Miss gu yes Mrs herck yes Mr Hong yes obing facility item number one noted Dr James Mrs ree yes president LAX yes motion carries bringing us to information items committee reports go to the cause for the board um and I just want to say congratulations to you to Joe to car your finance department are any of your people here tonight your Finance no they're not no okay well they're getting a welld deserved rest but um I know we say it nine years in a row we say it year after year but congratulations it's a lot of work you make it look easy but thank you I will pass that along to the staff thank you thank you thank you okay um yeah oh you ready yes um I just want to extend a thank you to Suzanne Klein and the East Brunswick Public Library um they invited cpeg parents to come over to the library and have a meeting about ways to make Library events more inclusive um so we were very thankful for that and I think they've already started to um have some more activities um so I think uh parents were very happy about that there's also um East Brunswick Public Schools is having an event at Brunswick Square mall with um mjx Expressions LLC um on July 28th it is also um you know family friendly events um cpeg parents will also be there if you have um questions or want to join CPAC I think we're having our next meeting at the end of August um um reach out to the special education department um if you're interested in attending that and I also just want to let you know that we had a community programs committee meeting back in um May or it feels so long ago now um and I will Echo what some people have already said here this evening Community programs they knock it out of the ballpark so I'm very happy to uh be able to chair that committee because they make it very easy um but just some of the highlights from our committee meeting so East brunic High School students have been visiting ask programs providing free give back uh free give backs to ask students they're teaching them to play chess um having science experiments doing music so all of that is really great support for our students for after school enrichment they've been offering mad science art basketball volleyball cooking coding um also for schools out program um for June 17th they had a trip to Jenkinson's I need to hop on some of this stuff um and so they said that the day would be spent at the aquarium and then enjoying the rides for two hours um so really beneficial to be able to offer those while parents are working and the district um is is closed and I think that's it thank you Mrs it's Dr James uh I just wanted to discuss an item from an earlier agenda which is the state stabilization Aid um you know if you if you go look at the June 6 agenda you can see that um we use that money largely to uh bring back staff and and it's not um it's not perfect it's not everything but you know I I did want to to say um that I'm very happy with what we were able to do and you know whenever any organization has to make Cuts people say you know don't cut the lowest on the totem pole don't balance the budget on the backs of of working people and that and that doesn't always end up happening but in this case you know I I think it did and I really um wanted to give a um a note about our secretaries right we were able um to move some of our secretaries back from uh 10-month appointments to to 12month appointments and and I will tell you I've had the privilege of of working with a few of these women and it would have been a big lift in August to to get our schools ready without them and so you know I just just wanted to note that I'm I'm proud of that work and uh I wanted to encourage everyone also to to go out to this event at the East Brunswick Square Mall on Sunday July 28th uh Lori really appreciate uh your work with that committee and I know it'll be a great event thank you okay well quick meeting this evening I hope everyone's enjoying their summer I am going to ask for a motion to adjourn please move mooved by Mrs Becker second second by Mrs gu any discussion all those in favor opposed extensions motion carries thank you enjoy your evening