[Music] indivisible andice call yes Mr baral Patel he's absent he'll be here in a little while okay Miss Pang here miss White here Mr Schneider here Mr a Mr a will be late noted Mr Vel Patel Miss anen Patel here Mr luga here we have a quorum thank you in accordance with the open public meetings ACT public law 1975 c231 Sunshine Law the Edison Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the Board of Education Administrative Office copies of this notices were sent to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger thank you Mr do right now the board wishes um to go to privilege session in accordance with njsa Section 10 col 4-12 Edison Township Board of Education adjourns the confidential session for the purpose of dis discussing the following confidential personal matters confidential board matters and confidential student matters the board anticipates seats being away for approximately 1 hour do we have a motion motion second all in favor I all motion carries be back in one hour bang please thank [Music] you welcome ladies and gentlemen Mr to uh yes uh good afternoon good evening everyone my name is John to I'm the school business administrator I have a statement uh on behalf of the board president Mr sorry excuse me we have to get out of exact first oh correct correct thank you yes sir we need a motion to reopen the meeting motion to re second that was quick I have a motion by Mr Rano second by Mr Schneider all in favor motion carries okay now we're back to our live public meeting again like I said my name is John to I'm the school business administrator I have a statement from the board president Mr Bure patau that I'd like to read there are quite a few attendees in our meeting this evening and it's the board's desire that every attendee is able to see and hear the business of the board as such if you have signs please stand along the side of or the back so that no one sitting in the audience will have their Vision blocked further the board records its meetings if an individual in the audience wishes to record the meeting please be courteous to other attendees and record from the side or the back of the seating area or keep your device low as to not impede the view of the Das not only does the board want the audience to see the Das but the board wants to ensure that every attendee can hear the board's business therefore we request proper decorum during the meeting please do not shout or disrupt the proceedings of the board in th in this way we will have a productive session the board anticipates significant public comments tonight to accom as many speakers as possible the board will not be answering any questions during each speaker's time as public comment is each individual's right to address the board and not time for a back and forth discussion we ask you to use your time and the microphone wisely the board staff will be writing down any questions of individual speakers at the end of public comment the superintendent will when feasible answer any questions those questions which need which need to be researched will be responded to in writing and published in a new tab on the district website in this way all interested people can obtain the information which may be relevant to them including those who are not able to be present at the meeting this evening thank you superintendent report good uh good evening ladies and gentlemen I Eddie ald I'm superintendent of schools here in Edison Township um just a couple opening uh remarks um I know that um and I understand that many of you are here this evening in regard to a complaint um that many that the Board of Education members received as well as some content that has been posted on social media um I can assure you from uh the board of education's perspective and our perspective we take uh matters like this seriously um we are uh we have immediately launched an investigation um due to the confidential nature of all Personnel matters myself or any of our Board of Education members cannot and will not discuss publicly any details or actions I do thank you for your understanding in this capacity um and in relationship to the remarks that Mr to just ra raised as well too we're looking forward to a productive meeting um I do have some other comments in relationship to this evening as well too um you know in just over a month school's going to be open uh we're going to be opening our doors to our students and staff uh I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the individuals that make this possible there's a lot of work that goes on in the summertime a lot of planning behind the scenes um first and foremost is our custodial staff that makes the schools shine that beautifies them they work hard we have an unbelievable summer school program that our custodial staff Works around and then has a short window of time to get things ready um for teachers to uh move in get their classrooms uh prepared uh we have a tremendous amount of construction projects that are going on as well uh so uh we are thankful for uh the work of our F of our facilities department they are they're doing an unbelievable job in managing those pieces uh we we have uh a transportation department that hasn't stopped working either we are busting a tremendous number of students over the course of uh this past summer in relationship to our extended school year program and um our our secretarial staff are busy Fielding phone calls uh as we prepare for the start of school I would be remiss if I did not say that our um building level and our district level leaders are working tirelessly we have so many many curricular initiatives that we're going to be moving forward this year um that is going to be for the betterment of our students um our building level lead leadership um really get excited and and pumped up for the opening day of school it is an honor and a privilege to work alongside this group of people each and every day it it it really makes my job easier in this capacity and I'm inspired by their commitment to our students in our community um and uh I I'm just really looking forward to a positive 2024 2025 school year uh just a quick note on Transportation which is which is always a Hot Topic at this time of year uh a quick update uh we have about five schools that are left to place for subscription busing uh uh Mr Gan as well as his staff are in the process of doing it subscription busing is done on a first come first serve basis so they will um take those applications in the order that they arrive uh and if you have so I want to make sure I get this right if you have a payment listed in your portal so if you've been selected Fortune have been selected and you have a payment listed in your portal please pay that immediately because there is a 7-Day turnaround time frame in order for you to do so so if you are uh if you if you've uh applied for subscription busing been awarded subscription busing you should have received an email about that and you'll be able to pay within a 7-Day time frame if you have any questions in relationship to that please don't hesitate to utilize our help desk um uh because we'll be able to answer any questions that you have if you are eligible and want of those five schools that have not been selected you will be receiving correspondence shortly so um please be patient in that we are hoping to have all of these done in those five schools uh within the next two weeks and uh as always we will reopen subscription busing in October for those that had missed the deadline uh during the last school year and then lastly uh Mr Guan wanted me to inform everybody that bus passes should be coming out within the next few weeks uh and all eligible students who are eligible for transportation should be on the lookout for that uh I just want to kind of foreshadow a few upcoming meetings our August meeting we're going to have uh a couple presentations uh we will have the uh the the first unveiling hopefully of our strategic plan we're going to provide board the Board of Education members with the details in relationship to the action plan um within the next couple days uh we are set to have like a rehearsal with the um advisory team which was members of the community uh parents students teachers ad administrators all were part of uh this large group that are really going to set our district on a track uh for Success uh and the and the way to do that especially when you're when you're looking at a long-term vision is to put that down in writing and those documents are fluid right so as you uh as you as you create these plant uh and you look at the feasibility of it in relationship to funding sometimes you have to adjust and pivot so um I look forward to working collaboratively with the Board of Education as long as our as well as our community members uh to ensure a successful plan uh so the board will be able to um take a look at the strategic planning process in the capacity you'll have more than enough time to take a look at that so that um our presentation in August will uh will hopefully be uh beneficial and last but not least we'll also have a second presentation in our commitment to to transparency in our communication uh we are working on a a rebranding and a Redevelopment of our appearance not only on social media but also um from a district website perspective so we're launching our district website um in August it's going to have some really really great features I know there's an app that's also along uh launched with that uh we have uh content that is going to be up to-date and accurate as well too um I'm not sure if I can say that about our our current website if I'm fully being honest right Miss Daniel yep um and so those are a lot of things that we we kind of inherited that we're working towards making sure that uh we we we hit the ground running in September so um Miss Daniel is going to be doing a brief presentation on on that for the entire board as well as the members of the community at that time and uh Mr Romano Mr vice president that concludes my superintendent report thank you very much uh right now it's uh public comment on the resolutions only that's public comment on the resolutions only motion second second motion motion second mtion by Mr Romano all in favor I I motion carries I will ask one more time public comments on the resolutions only seeing none see none close public comment motion second all in favor all motion carries uh Personnel report motion second motion second I have a motion by Mr Vel Patel second by vice president Romano Mr Lugo yes Miss Ana Patel yes Mr Vel Patel yes Mr Schneider uh yes with the exception of any known conflicts please I recuse myself on those noted Miss White yes with the exception of any known conflicts noted Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes motion carries MO i' like to have a motion to approve the administrative curriculum instruction and special services motion second second I have a motion by Mr Schneider second by Mr Lugo yes Mr Lugo yes Miss Ana Patel yes Mr Vel Patel yes Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes motion carries motion to approve Finance motion second motion by Mr Vel Patel second by Mr Schneider Mr Lugo yes Miss Ana Patel yes Mr vichel Patel yes Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes motion carries now we have the committee reports uh Mr Schneider uh yes um so I'm uh giving this report in place of chairperson Brian Rivera who is chairperson of the policy committee on junee 20th we had a policy committee meeting this the attendees were bul Patel Brian Rivera Christopher hus uh myself Dr aldarelli Heather Daniel Dr Tui and vasal Patel uh the policy committee met on June 20th 2024 during the meeting the committee reviewed over 20 policies as a result of an audit that was ordered by the superintendent of schools and conducted by the company Strauss smme the committee reviewed all suggested revisions and updates from the audit and discussed its contents there's still many more policies to re to to revisit as the audit was quite extensive the committee tasked tasked the superintendent with providing a synopsis of the changes to policies the committee sought the input of one of um the attorneys from engino and Taylor who are one of our um board attorneys and um we requested that they provide insight into the various discussions and concerns raised from community members um regarding policy 5756 the attorney explain the intent of the policy as well as the board's options for revisions or abolishment the committee tasks the attorney with providing the board with a detailed outline of their options the committee will reconvene in the upcoming month to discuss this policy with further detail and the attorney's report and that's it thank you Mr Rano uh we have special can I add just more details that was discussed uh in the policy committee meeting just for full transparency of public I just want to give more details about the policy committee so as uh Mr Snider said you know the attorney gave us options that we can explore um the three options that was given to us one was to keep the policy as it is because there there are existing lawsuits that has been going on by the state on other school district that try to modify the policy and waed out uh what happens to that and then follow the trend second was to abolish the policy which which creates inconsistency for Administration in in terms of following the guidelines and policies in case some incident were to happen and and third one was to modify the policy which can lead us to the to the lawsuit and more consequences and those are the options that attorne is going to do some more research and come back to us with detail analysis of those options advantages and disadvantage advantages of those options so we we'll provide you more updates you know when we have the next meeting thank you thank you uh we have special ed I can you can do that sure sure thank you uh vice president Romano I can read um the uh preschool and special education uh report um so uh the committee discussed preschool expansion in in attendance at this meeting where Mr Romano Mr Rivera Miss Pang uh Miss Daniel myself and Dr Tui uh we discussed uh preschool expansion as well as our alternate school program our um Edison Success Academy uh the Pea a grant things along those lines um the preschool expansion aid program is on track to provide full day programed to roughly 600 students grades uh three and four year olds beginning in the fall um students have been identified and selected families have been notified of their locations all of this has transpired um over the course of the last couple months um transportation's currently working on the roots which will be available to parents through the Genesis portal um in August um our Edison Success Academy is currently under revision right now um some of the infrastructure there is getting modified uh we have some roof repair uh as well as some ceiling work uh to get on we're really looking forward to the uh start of this program that's going to be headed up by uh Miss Meredith quick in concert with uh Miss Kate gausman uh Rick Cohen and uh Dr tu's team as well um we have students that uh have been applied and has also been accepted at that time frame and will'll be opening doors on the first day of school Dr Tui will be presenting about both of these programs during an upcoming um Board of Education meeting and that concludes that report Mr Rano if I could just add one more thing that I forgot to mention in the superintendent remarks uh two things number one um I would be remiss if I did not um mention that we actually hired the board just hired a vice principal uh here at uh James Monroe Elementary School I I don't know if they're still in the audience right now and it's probably my fault uh because I told him to come and that I was going to publicly congratulate him but um Mr why don't we get him why don't we get him um and we why don't we give him a big round of applause when he comes on and his name is argis hfus he is the current athletic director at JP Stevens High School um who has now um graciously uh accepted the position with the board's um approval as the assistant principal here at uh James Monroe Elementary School we are extremely excited to have him here um uh he is going to do a great job he did a wonderful job as the athletic director it will be big shoes to fill um I have informed the Board of Education about a transition plan in relationship to this uh we are probably most likely hire an interim in this capacity until we find someone um that can fill Mr uh rus' shoes um secondly while we're waiting for him to come back um I do want to acknowledge one member of our cabinet team right here that has put in his retirement uh the board and myself have reluctantly accepted it um and his name is Ralph Barka Ralph is our chief Tech Ral is Ralph here he should be okay so every so everybody left then right okay that's great nice you want the AL that's didn't want the accolades so all right everybody round of applause this is this is the new assistant principal at James Monroe Elementary School or I don't know if you want to come up and say maybe 30 seconds of words sure perfect good evening everybody I like to thank the uh hiring committee like to thank the central office administration and the board of ed for the voted confidence of me I am officially an owl I look forward to our first day of school night excellent excellent fantastic and is Mr Barka in the building anyway M Mr Barka um our chief technology officer uh a member of our of our cabinet team he's walking in right now too but don't don't clap for him Don't Clap for him he's leaving me Ralph I can say this with the uh fullest sincerity it has been an absolute pleasure and privilege my privilege to work alongside of you you have been instrumental in my transition to this position um these will be tremendous shoes to fill uh and uh I think I speak for everybody in the room including uh the employees who you directly supervise that you will be greatly missed um I will tell you I did read your reluctantly uh your letter of retirement over the weekend and I do thank you for your heartfelt words and I am copies to share with the board as well too because it it really summarizes what Ralph is as a person as well as his commitment to Edison Township so Ralph thank you so much best of luck in your future endeavors thank you Mr M I'm sorry about that I went out I went out of order I'm sorry that's all right I get all confused uh board member comments board member comments seeing none now it's public comments do we have any public comments could we get a a motion to motion okay second that was quick all in favor I motion carries once again public comments sir comments on anything some specific topic no this is this is time for public comment on any board business yes okay who would like to start ma'am please come up to the podium please state your name thank you ma'am oh thank you and uh thank you very much my name is Kim Lindley I'm a former special education teacher I'm a mother and a taxpayer so today I'm here to revisit 5756 and this morning this evening I want to thank you for your valuable time and invest interest in our precious jewels as it says in the Bible and our children's academic and safety is a tremendous responsibility tonight I would like to revisit the policy 5756 um policy policy 5756 is only a piece of a puzzle with tremendous ramifications that will not only affect our children but our society as well due to the gravity of this suggested policy and time constraints I would like to address a few key points to consider while repealing the suggested policy 5756 this policy gives a child the authority to make complex decisions even though their brain development is not fully developed the mental health Daily Report states that the brain is not fully developed between 25 to 30 years old the prefrontal cortex doesn't start developing till 13 years age of age where their hormones and identity are starting to develop my concern with this is that an elementary school teach uh a school te teacher as well that their most important people in their life are their parents and their teachers how can a child of five be given that responsibility it's very easy to direct my concern is well I'm going off T tangent a little bit is that they're becoming um living double lives because the teacher does not have to tell the parent by the laws of that that suggested policy and I don't understand it because they're their mind is even at 13 at 22 I have a 28-year-old still trying to figure out life how can we put that into the child's hands it doesn't make any sense to me and as a teacher I love those students that I taught but my kids or my kids they were not my children when I was in school and I gave them gladly to their parents and I treated them like I didn't think twice about um having a cold one a blue or a cold white because that's what I did it was it was my career it was a passion my other thing that I um absolutely listened to was that there's this movie called art clip two parents had their children 13 years old she went into school it was with covid was also had to do with their removing and that the child was brought into a room with three adults a social worker a principal and also um I forgot the other one maybe a social worker and they were able to have that child any child that's surrounded by um adults can be easily guided into their section it doesn't make sense you know and having a separate file and send down to state of New Jersey how can that be I mean as your your job your academics come first safety second well actually combination you know and I don't understand how we can just let that go what it really causes is a distraction a division between the parents and the schools you know I I don't understand you know and I'm right now I'm glad in a way than my teaching but I miss it because it was it was this is a hard thing to do for someone to speak up to have it your teacher speak up any teacher speak up because they're afraid of losing their job it's not easy however you know life's not easy we're giv one life and at the end of that life we we do have to meet a God but our children are our responsibility and like the hormon how in the world I mean I understand being lawsuits but you're also being people are also being sued by these parents and speaking up you know if we don't speak now who's going to speak for them and it's just the beginning and another thing that I wanted to bring up is that really um the purpose of an educator is to teach and Inspire learning we are not equipped to have a child and to have their emotional um issues brought to our attention we're supposed to be um working on their academics we had social workers psychiatrists and when you had U an IEP with a student with a student with challenges or whatever needs they were are 504 that parent is involved in that it's a legal document with the parents concern where does that where did who came up with that idea to not include the parent and the social worker and end up being the person the mediator for that parent If the parents aren't supportive I mean really if you go through this whole document the 5756 there's just so much in there it's a really hard position for everybody to be in but if we don't speak up for our children who will you know my child had issues had challenges I spoke up and I was so very grateful and glad that God gave me that position to be a special ed teacher that I was able to speak up for her I did not want to be doing that but she had needs she could make up her mind you know so really you send them to school I sent my kids to school figuring everybody's on the same page but we were apparently as the time goes on you know and as far as the bullying and the HIV that's what we were there for so as far as those children what about the cisgender children who's speaking up for them you know what do they feel like and parents some parents can't speak up because they're afraid I understand but really I mean at the end of the day we all have to go to bed I told my children that as say grow older you have to put your head on the pillow at night and as long as you can sleep well you know the decisions that you make you make the best that you can but with this information it's it's it's just unbelievable thank you thank you so much I'm sorry for flip up and thank you for your time I appreciate it next for public com next G sir my name is Muhammad meded um I have two kids at Edison High School you can recognize with your address as well okay 13 scholar drive you recognized okay I have uh two kids attending Edison High School I have two other kids in the Edison Public Schools um I saw Miss Taro here earlier she's known me for 11 years she knows my family I know her I saw Mr Ross Walkin incredible person incredible ible principle um I think you guys know why we're here you know I'm here because yesterday my daughter uh brought to me a link and I had a recording of Nicole I think her last name was himelstein um talking to students in the MSA in the Muslim Students Association at Edison High School and she threatens them she threatens to call the colleges that they got into right um and and have those things revoked right essentially I ask every every single one of you up here especially the minorities decades before you guys would not be at these tables right there are things I don't expect everybody to understand what we what our children go through but the minorities I know you do and you're at this table you have power right be just I'm not asking you to do anything special just do what you would do for your children be just okay in the beginning of this everybody here stood up you guys turned around and you pledged allegiance to the flag and you ended it with liberty and justice for all be just do the right thing Mr alella you're at the top right so I expect you to be transparent be accountable to the community do what is right many of us we're not just minorities on one level we're ethnic minorities we're racial minorities we're religious minorities and anything else that comes right and so I don't expect everybody to understand that but our children are sent to your schools to be empowered they're not sent there to be made small to be threatened there was a time when my parents generation my parents didn't come to parent teacher conferences because they didn't know English and people spoke to them crazy people spoke to them loud people talked to them like they were stupid and so my parents just stopped coming but this generation is not like this right so I need you and I ask you this again I'm not asking you to do anything special be just that's it that's it you you know what was said the recording is there how could we have faith like that you know my daughter tells me stories of kids coming into class and other kids making sounds of bombs there are kids going to the schools hiding their religion because they're afraid of how other kids are going to treat them and you know when she told me that I said they're kids they don't know but we're not dealing with children anymore now we're dealing with an adult an educated an adult an adult that has power and she did something and she needs to be held responsible okay I thank you for your time again [Music] again thank you again one one more thing to the minorities up there please think about what you went through think about what your families have gone through think about your children and think about what kind of world you would want your children to be in this is nothing against someone who who is not a minority it's just I don't expect you to understand fully what we go through but those of you that are there there you know who you are do the right thing all right be just thank you [Music] next hello good evening uh my name is Muhammad YF Ahmed I'm from am M the road um I want to start off by saying I'm an alumni from JP Stevens I just graduated this year um aldah I don't know how I made it but I did but um I've served as the Muslim Student Association board member since last year March 2023 and I wanted to talk a little bit about the AAR party that this is all coming from um last year's AAR party I feel like this would be the reason behind all this incident right um when I was there personally because I came on very late to the Planning Commission I want to say it was very organized right um the people that were running it Abdullah rvey the other board members from the other schools that were allowed to be there that were you know Allowed by Mr Ross and everybody they did a tremendous job I mean I remember last year there were no security issues or anything like that right remember it was basically clean everyone got there they set up they cleaned up everything was simple and I want to speak about the comment of my friend thake which I'm probably the most proud of right being best friends with him he was basically clean the entire time he was even on board last year and he basically helped set up that entire event to get it running right he helped with food he helped with everything that you were like people were like kind of trying to figure out right he helped with everything and the issue that I saw this year right when we were trying to plan the same event where we thought Mr Ross was giving us support um I had many conversations with Alo where he was saying hey Mr Ross is letting us go do this we're good let's all start planning let's all start cooking and all of a sudden we're getting the opposite reaction from this other vice principal who's saying these other things and I didn't even know that there was threats made if I'm going to be honest I had no idea until we I checked Instagram the other night and I want to say I'm confused I'm kind of puzzled because the event that we had that the AAR party well I didn't have it obviously was run by the Edison High School guys now the event that they had was clean there wasn't any security breaches right there weren't any like random people walking in it was all students from Edison right they were all people that were belonging at the school and I'm shocked I'm actually appalled that a threat was even made by a vice principal because when I walk into my school and I'm sure any Edison High School guys can say the same things when they walk into their school what are we always told you guys are safe here right the staff is here for you guys right they want us to succeed that's what we hear you guys want us to succeed apparently but when we're getting the opposite message right we're being told Express Yourself freely express yourself in a good way a positive way and then when we express ourselves we're being told we're not you're not going to go to college you're not going to have a successful career not going to have a successful life we're confused we don't understand what you guys want from us obviously there's an investigation occurring from you guys and I hope like like the last person spoke right I hope you guys find a like a clear and very concise uh end to that investigation because if I'm going to be honest it's open and shut the recording is right there I know you guys have to go ask around all that but I can speak on his character this is a guy who's been in STEM Academy from Edison High School right straight A's I remember he'll hit me up at night when I'm struggling with my own issues right there are many people that look up to him the guy sitting right here they can all attest to it they've all hit him up in the middle of the night saying I have this issue I'm sad I need some help they've all hit him up and the fact is that you're threatening like my best friend basically you're threatening someone that served this entire Community there have been so many in incidents that he's basically avoided that none of you will ever know about because he stepped in and he spoke to people he helped and cause change but somehow for some reason you guys put someone in Authority that has the audacity to threaten people like him threaten people that are trying to cause a change to help benefit you guys honestly so you guys can go wake up and be like oh well there's no incident today I'm going to go on with my life and instead we're in a cycle now where we're causing more issues only two years ago we we're at another town hall meeting for another thing right for more discrimination I mean this is on you guys you guys are the ones who are basically helping put these people in Authority so I'm asking when you do that investigation don't don't look at the legal papers don't be always looking around like oh maybe we can help them we can help them just do the right thing find Justice I can't emphasize enough the amount that he has done for this entire Community I can't I'm not saying that just cuz he's my best friend I'm saying that because there's genuine proof evidence that he has done a lot for all of us here that's why all of us are here too all these people maybe they haven't even had a conversation with ah but they've all been affected by him in a positive way and that's why they're here because their own kids have seen the effects of that he's done the good things that he's done so I thank you for your time thank you next dear members of the board of Edison education system my name is sfia huk and I'm an intern at the Council on American Islamic relations New Jersey please mention your address your address your address your address 64 Oak thank you I here to express my deep concern and disappointment regarding an incident involving the Muslim Student Association at Edison High School and assistant principal Nicole hilston the students reported that during a brief meeting on February 29th 2024 their request to host a joint ifar event with neighboring schools was denied allegedly due to security concerns this decision contradicted the msa's history of Hosting such events in previous years without issue more troubling however is the audio recording of this meeting where assistant principal allegedly heard making threats against students she reportedly warned them as she would contact their universities and question their character and values if they sought out from sought out support from outside entities to advocate for the joint event such comments are highly inappropriate and intimidating suggesting that their college acceptance could be jeopardized for pursuing an inclusive community building event these actions have left the MSA members feeling discriminated against bued and fearful former pres former MSA president alh and other board members of the MSA have expressed that they felt threatened and unfairly targeted for simply wanting to continue their tradition of fostering an inter School Community through an ifar event K New Jersey confirmed the authentity of the audio recording and the details shared by the MSA students it is imperative that the board of educ review this matter seriously and take take appropriate actions to ensure that all students are treated with respect and fairness and that no student organization is subjected to such behavior in the future the embassy's request for joint ifar was not just a logistical matter it was an effort to build and maintain a sense of community and belonging among Muslim Students in the area we urge the board of to uphold principles of inclusivity and support for all student groups and their efforts to celebrate and share their cultural and religious values and traditions thank you for your attention in a very serious matter thank you next next folks so she's walking to the uh to the microphone let the chair the board president acknowledge you and then you can come up okay otherwise we're gonna have 40 people coming up at once and it'll be very difficult so the board pres you can raise your hand or stand up the board president will acknowledge you okay thank you good afternoon my name is Kieran fler my address is 48 Walker Drive so I initially came here to speak about the event that other people have talking about but I'm going to address that first and then there's another thing I wanted to talk about um so I graduated high school in 2020 I um was not active in high school at all um but in college I became the president of a club and the VP of finance of other clubs and through that I have learned the importance that being part of a club is and through this club the LGBT Club at my college I have been able to host events I have learned how to network I have learned skills in my life that I would not have learned otherwise and that's why I think it is so important to facilitate this kind of interaction and you know facilitate this for students and not just not just the fact that um it's students but it's also minority students students who like the other gentleman said are victims of discrimination I'm going off the cup here I apologize victims of discrimination and we need like you know you guys want this to be a safe place for students however you know with how can you be safe in an environment where the staff are against you I asked that and as someone who was in high school recently if it weren't for some of the staff members that were that were so nice to me throughout my journey I probably wouldn't be here right now and that leads me into my next issue um I'm not I'm not from Edison I am from the central New Jersey area though so I am aware of um I forget what resolution it is um but the but the lady who spoke about it before um as I mentioned I am the President of the LGBT Club at my college and I am also transgender female to male of course I am starting my transition later in life however when I was in high school I if that if I felt like I had someone to go to about my problems I wouldn't have I would have started transitioning a lot earlier in life and I would be a lot happier with myself and um the the woman brought up a very good point which is that you know how are we supposed to trust that children as young as five um have influence in their lives how are we supposed to trust that the adults in their life aren't influencing them the problem is that in our everyday lives we are already so heavily influenced by um by gendered marketing you know as soon as the gender reveal comes out you buy the pink baby the pink baby onesies and all that stuff I argue that I have a personal story um when I was younger I hated going shopping for clothes because we could never find anything um that I liked and it was because we were shopping in the girls section um and finally my sophomore year of high school my mom was like why don't we try the boys section and finally it was like a release and of course I didn't have anyone to sorry let me think for a second I'm going off the cuff here I wasn't anticipating talking about this this is just a very important issue to me because I may not have been out as transgender when I was in high school when I was in Middle School but I did have a friend named Michael and with the support of school staff he was not only able to confide in his peers and confide in the school staff but he was also able to facilitate the communication and come out to his parents that's what I think is important um you know and you did make a good point um whoever spoke I'm sorry I don't know your name what about the cisgender children I would like to remind you that the the current Board of Education already caters to cisgender children because they are considered the default um and I'm sorry I wasn't planning this but I just think it's important to know that that policy was made with the intent of helping children children and I do think that there could be there are ways to go about it however um I just think it's important to know that we're all on the same side here we want to facilitate kids we we want to facilitate the happiness of kids we want to facilitate the the long-term happiness of kids and I'm not saying that we should start hor hormones for kids as young as 5 years old because you know that's not you know I don't know I but I just think it's important to have a safe place for children to talk about things because if I was not able to express myself how I my true s then I would probably not be here today um I just think it's very important for children to be able to express themselves and I get the point where um you know you know children you know teachers aren't supposed to be handling this stuff but I think we can all say that throughout our time in middle school high school we all had that one teacher who made us feel comfortable and made us feel welcome and we didn't necessarily talk to them about all of our problems but there was that one teacher where we felt like we could you know trust and I think the important thing is that the the happiness and the healthiness of our children comes first and there are so many things that I wish that I had when I was in high school when I was in Middle School when I was in elementary school that I didn't have thank you for your time thank you next for public yes in [Applause] blue good afternoon tah shake or moham Shake 52 HR Avenue uh thank you board I'd like to personally before I even start thank buau Batel for calling me and having conference call with me on Friday to discuss the situation and to give his personal input it feels reassurance and a little validating to have the board president talk about how the situation was right but I guess let's talk about the elephant in the room I was one of the msa8 one of the eight students who was threatened in the meeting and I was also not personally called out once but twice by name as the leader as the infiltrator as the mafia lead of the terrorism Club as what was proposed why would somebody threaten eight students I wasn't the best student we can all understand that I I know there's a lot of teachers here and some of my teachers would say I would I was a good student right but why would you threaten eight students many of which have not anything on their record none of us have been suspended none of us have gotten into fights this event is one of the most peaceful events that happened in Edison High in fact if you look at every other clubs there's no music there's no dancing there's no mosh pits this is one of the most peaceful Interfaith events as said by Mr Ross and I want to talk a little bit more about that there were no security issues or security threats or any of these accusations made let's talk about Edison policy if there were any fights or anything there would be an inci incident report written by Senor jenez or any of the advisers but let's go down to the the water papers let's go down to the the money where the trail is were there any incident reports written and us can obviously do your investigation there were no incident reports written but I want to talk about more about the situation because I know there's a lot of context that you guys are willing to want to find out that only myself or one of the eight seven MSA board members are able to give and that context dams the reality of the situation and I know attorney I'm sorry if you're sweating because of how bad the situation is yeah don't worry but this situation is serious right if a vice principal and an administrator is able to and is comfortable with threatening a student eight students in a private meeting so publicly where she does not second guess your imagine what happens when there's no recording imagine if we didn't record that imagine if the student whoever did recorded that and I want to talk about the past six months because when Friday morning I opened my Instagram and I saw that Instagram real I felt traumatized back to the point when I felt on February 29th I felt as if I was reliving the memories of February 29th where the four years I worked hard for were going to waste I felt as if I was being threatened again and there's so many people asking in the community and irrespective of the community in general asking why is this being released now why is this 6 months after 5 months after being released now my question to you guys is who cares because the reality is every eight of us are first generation Americans none of us have our parents may have not even graduated high school our parents did not graduate high school and they wanted to see us walk the stage so the reality is why we're releasing this now is because we wanted to ensure our safety we wanted to ensure that we would get into our colleges and walk that stage without being threatened again by Nicole himin and I want to talk more about the situation the teacher did not the assistant principal did not randomly threaten us but this was built off multiple multiple meetings if you guys go and I know Dennis in the back is recording I would love for you guys to do an IT investigation and go through the emails as well but there's an over 15 plus email chain link of us trying to schedule a meeting with Nicole himelstein and trying to get down to why she saying No in fact I'll give an example of February 23rd I believe I don't have the dates but I can check my phone February 23rd myself and my co-president in the audience as well as my adviser meeting with Nicole himin as scheduled this was after the second time she stood us up we stood over 3 hours in the office considering this is a half day we stood over 3 hours in the office waiting for her and the secretary first started off when we met that she's busy she's on a call she'll get to you 3 hours later we say oh she's not in the office anymore and they kick us out my co-president and I go to fill out the water in the front front of the office there's a water station and we see Nicole himlin walk out so what type of expectation are we setting as administrators that you're able to stand up meetings multiple times she alleged that basically there's no time to plan this this very last minute planning but we started the planning way earlier there's multiple documentations and proofs and recorded evidence that we planned this as a board the last summer before in the 2023 summer so there is no excuse to say that this was planned last and I know Mr Ross is in the office and I want to really mention this I found this extremely disrespectful because there's another incident that after Nicole hilstein VI email said no to this that I personally as a student went to Mr Mr Ross's office and I sat 2 hours in the office and I waited and I waited I skipped class I skipped test I skipped my homework just so that I could wait in his office and me and Mr off me and Mr Ross sat down and we talked about it and in his own words obviously there's no recording but you could check the cameras so you can see the actual date that I met him that he said M Miss himlin doesn't know what she's talking about this event has always been good you guys can go forward so where is this inconsistency between the president and the assistant or the principal and the assistant principal between whether this event can happen or cannot happen there's a way major inconsistency between that and the fact to threaten Aid students over colleges we're not protesting like te high students we didn't do anything with a yearbook like East Brunswick students both of those students and those msas got Deb threats right what are we encouraging and advocating for and if they party where people break their fast after star starving and fasting for eight hours that's the reality of the situation and today I'm so afraid and so scared not for myself and because my own skin my own reputation my own careers in the game but I'm scared for the community members and the Muslims and all these students who are coming after me I'm not scared to talk and my fear is not my fear today and my fidgeting me not sleeping last night me and skipping so many events for the past week is not because of the fact that I'm scared for myself but what about the students who come after your time is up thank you thank you next for public comments um hello my name is has Rahman I live in 93 Carriage Drive piscatway um I'm a class of 2022 alumni of Piscataway high school and I was a member of Piscataway High School's Muslim Student Association at that time and as the annual tradition has been for all these years I had the honor being able to help out with the Edison High School ifar um and it truly was a pleasure working with the Edison High School MSA with some of the current board members here right now including and I say this as a testament to their character especially right now with their character being slandered by Nicol himelstein and as a returning alumni of last year's ofari as well uh again at coming as a guest it really was a pleasure being a guest of both Edison High School and piscatway High Schools I'm going to say I have to testify to character Bear's character the president of PCAT High School's Ms say back then so I hope that you take my experiences with this ifar to account in the administration investigation of this and not just discard my words because my words have been reiterated by Mr Ross also who I also had the pleasure of working with in 2022 from the previous years of my experience with this ifar this idea of security issues as was falsely brought up by niichel himelstein is just something that has come out of nowhere the fact that the Edison High School MSA and quote unquote outside aggressors meaning us meaning our MSA has been slandered like this is absolutely unacceptable trying to cancel our tradition because of this supposed alleged uh security issue is one thing but threatening students who are trying to push for it who are seeking outside help for this threatening threatening the eight Edison High School MSA board members this is absolutely after four years of hard work threatening their education this is absolutely unacceptable and I also have to say again working with the administration back then with Mr Ross at least I don't know about Nicole hlin but working with Mr Ross was a pleasure too to and I'm not surprised that he has been reiterating that that nothing that that these allegations of security issues are coming from nowhere so I deplore that all of a sudden that this switch up is happening from niichel himlin from other Administration members I deplore that the Edison High School MSA and our MSA our pasetto high school MSA as outside aggressors is being slandered as troublemakers and as causers of security issues and I reiterate the call of action of my friends here of my community members of the MSA board members and all of us here to take to account nickol himelstein for her actions for her threats and I hope that our Muslim youngans our Muslims in school right now our our upcoming Generations aren't deprived of the blessings that we had the blessings of having especially after the genocide that has started in October 7th and the threats that our community has been have been facing on the daily thank you thank you next for public comments Mr Mara Mr Mara that's fine that's fine excuse me ma'am excuse me ma'am he is next Mr Mara is next you can uh have a seat thank you Anthony Mara 5 Colo Court in Edison I'm here again to talk about policy 57 56 as I have before last time I was here I spoke of the golden rule a rule that God himself gave us the Lord Jesus Christ do unto others as you would have them do unto you you can't argue with the golden rule relationships that follow the Golden Rule are blessed those that do not they suffer the reason I bring this up is because policy 5756 is contrary to the Golden Rule I don't know how many on the board are parents does any parent really want to be kept in the dark about the subject of change of gender your son your daughter says to a member of the board of vet the school system I'm going to change my gender and you're not told because policy 5756 tells you to stay in the dark to keep you there so you don't know there isn't a parent around who wants to be kept in the dark on something like that but you're doing it if you don't want to be kept in the dark why are you doing it to other parents that's hypocrisy that is hypocrisy don't do it to others if you don't want it done to you repeal 5756 now [Applause] that same God Jesus Christ spoke about marriage and said and I'll read it verbatim this is not a bible school lesson here but it says in the gospel of Matthew have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female two genders not male female or some other numbers this is not chocolate vanilla strawberry pistachio or some other Myriad of of choices there's two genders that's why the suicide rate is high amongst teenagers it's not discrimination we're messing with the fundamental building blocks of human creation you mess with fundamental building blocks in a foundation the building collapses you mess with the fundamental building blocks of creation metaphorically speaking the building starts to collapse I also spoke about the Ten Commandments on one occasion specifically the fifth commandment honor your father and your mother less well known about that commandment he said it comes with a promise again I'm going to read it verbatim honor your father and your mother so that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you in simple terms honor mom and dad and there's a blessing dishonor mom and dad and the reverse happens it doesn't say that in the fifth commandment but it does say it elsewhere in scripture policy 5756 dishonors Mom and Dad keeping him in the dark there is an apparent repeal 5756 now you're afraid of lawsuits have some backbone have some courage what are you going to say to our students what are you going to say to our their parents what are you going to say to the parents when thing when the building starts to collapse oh I was afraid of lawsuits we not in the budget we don't have to find the money if you can be intimidated by a lawsuit then anything somebody wants can be accomplished by simply intimidating you a lawsuit it comes with the territory lawsuits happen have the backbone to stand up to the lawsuit if you cannot lift a 10 PB weight how are you going to lift a 50 pound weight if you cannot run a mile how are you going to run 10 miles my point is if you can't repeal it now when it's easy relatively easy how you going to do when was more difficult you think policy 5756 is the end it's just the beginning it's going to get worse the lgbtq community will demand more they will demand more and if you can't repeal it now how are you going to do it later when they're demanding even more rep feel it now there comes a point at which you have to have the backbone and courage to say I will stand up for what is right there are those who tell you that PO who will tell you policy 5756 is necessary for equality or something like that you're messing with the backbone of society this isn't about adding 2 plus two in math or spell this is fundamental human nature and it's now in your hands to make sure that it gets this policy gets repealed I thank you for your time and I have one other request there's another person who wants to speak on the same subject who's having back problems tonight she would like to get out as soon as possible her name is Cindy maw I asked the chair the president to recognize her next so her back doesn't continue to bother her thank you next for public commer uh you can go thank you so much for your time and thank you so much for your service uh my name is Cindy Ma and I want to um you know speak up against policy 5756 which I believe is anti-parent policy 5756 does not allow parents to know their own child's chosen sexual identity in school this policy is contrary to Common Sense students are not are not allow to even take aspirin without their parents' permission in school now parents are blocked from knowing about their child's chosen sexual identity which is part of their child's emotional psychological and physical well-being the government cannot usurp parental rights in this area of their child's sexuality it's wrong to hide this truth from parents it's the basic rights it's the basic constitutional right of parents to know what is going on with their best interests the state is turning kids against their parents instilling a distrust of their parents thinking they know better than their parents and adding stress to a students's already confused emotional state it is Educators responsibility to protect children from their psychological immaturity of equating their feelings to being truth Educators should not be affirming them in their transgender ideology that if you change your body to match your feelings you will be happy it's the opposite if you change your mind your feelings will follow a person cannot change one's biological sex even if a person changes their body sexual identity is given by God not achieved and and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free that's from John chapter it's from the Bible okay the claim that policy 5756 is put in place so transgender students can feel safe is really not safe for them or others okay the claim that transgenders will commit suicide from not being accepted from other others is false because the basis of this suicide is they cannot accept themselves if they do not know the truth the truth heals truth sets free lies destroy lies lead down to the road of Destruction there are so many transgenders who have regretted what they have done to their bodies and in the UK they are suing the hospital for surgeries because their bodies are damaged forever okay the hospital has been shut down if you follow the money the push for transgender medicine and surgery is a money-making business it explains so why so many transgenders despite the acceptance from society hormone therapy and sex change yet they still experience a high level of anxiety depression and suicidal thoughts they really are fighting against the god-given internal truth within themselves they're so many D transitioners that give this testimony in state hearings in Congressional meetings okay now the the school cannot Elevate Trends right over parents and other students when biological males are allowed to go into female bathrooms and locker rooms according to how they feel it violates female students and their feelings of safety why are rules changed to accomodate feelings instead of what is right there have been incidents of rape and school districts where girls have been raped by biological males claiming to be females lawsuits will follow for I mean lawsuits have followed these cases so just the the Boe is responsible and should be more afraid of these lawsuits coming coming than the pressure and threats from the government of not being politically correct this mandate gender ideology curriculum in schools does not produce safety it produces victims recent policy 5756 many New Jersey school D districts have already done so and I have sent you guys all the names of the school districts that have resent policy 5756 do not be implicit in allowing transgender ideology to dominate and confuse the youth in this Ed in in the education the basis of American government has been for the people of the people by the people we the people should stand against wrong biased policies that the federal government tries to mandate and exuse on us and our families and our children we you know this I got one minute the Spider-Man movie says you know what with great power comes great responsibility God has given you great power use that great power to stand for truth okay and we should fear God instead of man instead of caving into politically correct correct rights let's do what's right for everyone thank you for your time thank you next for public comments I got someone from this on the last last hi hello my name is seha um my address is 85 hemman Street um and I just had a very I mean I think it's a little bit of a quick address but there are some of the things that people have mentioned some of the words that they've used that I just want to reiterate and one of the things that I feel like most people here are really concerned about is the safety of their children the safety of their siblings at your schools my brother just graduated and the thought that he could not graduate had he attended an event or had he advocated for an event that identifies with head's identity is insane and it makes me feel afraid when I was growing up in us as a young Muslim girl being called terrorist being called all of these things now I thought the world had changed significantly these things make me afraid and I think that there's stuff um there's just things that I want to mentioned that the first Speaker said she said purpose of an educator is to teach and Inspire learning if we don't speak up for our children who will this is my brother but if I don't speak up for him who will and one of the things that I I want to like reiterate what Nicole said she said your positions can be revoked I have no problem contacting your universities where you got in and explaining what's going on if you want to take it further this is a threat as a vice president why have you guys not had proper checks and balances to make sure that this language is not used and if there were proper checks and balances why was this person allowed that's kind of like something that I'm like really concerned about what goes into your checks and balances if these are the conversations that she's having with students to tell students not to go to other authorities to confirm what she is saying is really scary to me these children are 14 to 17 18 year olds like the first Speaker said they need people to advocate for them they need their parents to advocate for them they need teachers to advocate for them how as a vice principal is it okay for you to tell them not to do that not to confirm what she's saying and then on top of that if they do you will threaten their acceptance what else has she done ver she's threatened like consequences for certain actions what else has she told these students they cannot do what else has she done to them that she says oh well if you speak up about this there will be cons quences it makes me really afraid for them especially minority students especially minority students with parents who don't speak English who are immigrants where were the checks and balances and if there were checks and balances done why was this person allowed that's all I have to say thank you next uh on the left thank you uh my name is Musa Naji address 570 Broad Street and I'm here on behalf of K New Jersey Council on American Islamic relations there's a lot of things being said that are dis similar I'm here to address the assistant the incident with the assistant principal at Edison High School um I'm not going to speak directly about T's character and how much of an excellent student he is I think there's dozens of people here who would attested that but I do want to congratulate the on getting to one of the best colleges in the United States regardless of the threats made by the vice principal so I didn't stop conratulations but I'm here to talk about the safety of the students in general all students at Edison High School all students in the district of Edison in general not just for high school students middle SCH students middle school students and Elementary School students there's a lot of policies there's a lot of workshops around student bullying student to student bullying but we have a unique case here with an Administration to student bullying and it's a lot more threatening to student to student bullying we have this is there's consequence es of mental and physical abuse here it's when a student works for 4 years and becomes a high achiever in order to attend the dream college and not only is T and the MSA students just High Achievers in the classroom but they are in the community they here to educate the community they here to to share their cultural and religious beliefs they here to share the this excitement that they look forward to they started planning this in the summer of 2023 this is an event to teach the community about Islam this is an event to teach the community and just bring the to educate the community on the religion and the beauty of the religion and the unity that it brings but for a vice principal to threaten the students to write to their colleges and give them an ultimatum that they have this event by themselves without any other students as they have done in the past and other students have mentioned this other speakers that Mr Ross himself has attended these events in the past and there's the concern of it's a it's a security risk in the past that doesn't fall on the students the MSA Club is not responsible for ensuring the safety of the students there they are the students the administration is responsible for ensuring the safety of the students so that falls on miss himin that is her responsibility to ensure the safety of the students it is her responsibility to ensure that the club and the event that is being upheld had is upheld to the C the rules of the high school it is not up to the students and canceling the event to ignore those responsibilities is what must be investigated here you've mentioned that there is an ongoing investigation and we we really do appreciate that and we wish we know you can't share details about the investigation but we wish you do share the end results of this investigation prior to the school year starting so that we know what is going to happen in order to ensure the safety of the students in the coming year aside from the investigation there should be a re-evaluation of the Su of the assistant principal's responsibilities in this in this high school if she is if the assistant principal is responsible for the clubs and other organizing groups at this high school then it must be reevaluated there's a clear case of a lack of cultural and religious sensitivity here she does not have the right respect the right tools to manage these clubs and ensure the safety of the students while also upholding the diversity of this community once again I don't want to repeat too much what happened but I I do call on the board to please share the outcomes of this investigation and to also please re-evaluate the responsibilities of the assistant principal to ensure the safety of the students and also to uphold the transparency um transparency values that you guys mentioned earlier thank you next uh you hello everyone my name is Robin Connell and I am retired but have taught at Edison High School for 38 years my address is to Ethel Road I decided to speak here after listening to so many people speak I also agree that I want everyone in this investigation to to be fair to listen to both sides of the story the students need to be heard and the administration also needs to be heard no one's been able to speak about Nicole kessman and I would like to say that in all the years that I have worked with her she has been a very fair administrator she listens we don't know what took place we have one video we have one we don't hear all the other conversations that were said prior and as a teacher in 38 years I have had a wonderful relationship with all of my students I really haven't had a bad relationship in 38 years but sometimes students or parents don't understand that no means no it's a difficult pill to swallow I'm not I'm not saying I understand why and what took place but I do understand that we need to hear both sides of the story whatever that story is and I hope that um as the investigation goes that we understand that it isn't a one side or the other and hopefully when this is resolved um it brings peace to both sides of this because I know that Edison High School has a wonderful relationship with our students and we do support the Muslim Community very strongly um I don't know what happened the year before but I do know that nobody here tonight is allowed to speak about it from the administrative side so because they cannot be heard I just want people to understand that there are definitely two sides here and Nicole kesman is a kind woman a mother of young children with a family that also is becoming threatened I don't think it was her intention in any way I don't think that there's anybody that works at Edison that feels that but if this misunderstanding has taken place we need to understand and not retaliate fighting back and forth is not the answer we just need to understand work to understanding and move forward as Edison always has thank you thank you next one [Music] on hi as an concerned alumni of EHS your name sure uh Hanan Arad 114 out of wild Road thank thank you uh as a concerned alumni of vs I came here to see everyone's opinions to have an open mind I recall we had a saying in EHS you can't hide that eagle pride and well for this alumni my pride is with my community for willing to be able to stand up and speak their minds on an injustice because for so many of you you can only imagine how petrifying you can hear in so many of our voices for us for first generations for immigrants to stand up and speak on this especially this young man today that I just met congrats to him that's huge we as minorities we we do not have the privilege to make a mistake every word everything we do has to be precise because we get hyp scrutinized for anything we do so for me when I watch that audio the behavior the audacity of the assistant vice principal in the context of that audio clip taking that context because that is important was beyond reprehensible to threaten to contact the colleges of accepted students meaning they've already proven their worth over a dispute over something as trivial as the coordination of an event is not only an overreach of someone's Authority but a glaring display of poor leadership skills especially for the one in the field of Education who's supposed to build leaders not clip their wings if there was such a big security issue which mind you again as a graduate of EHS I have been to MSA have been to these clubs they are well organized I have seen how hard these guys work and as someone who was a vice president of Key Club and other different clubs I know the work it takes then it was her responsibility to Foster an environment of collaboration and understanding in which she could come up with productive Solutions alongside these young children by being an approachable individual instead of one who became a figure to be feared and who used coercion tactics her actions in my opinion starkly contrast the views I was taught by leaders like Mr Ross who came to students no matter who you were how you acted in school he came with respect and approachability it's about the execution and the execution here was poor the callous and condescending tone combined with the swiftness in which this Situation's been escalated also seems to have revealed a pattern of behavior that is not what I expect from the assistant principal of Edison High School no matter the situation in your investigation I suggest looking at to the plethora of comments because again I just met this young man here so I went and looked in I saw the Care New Jersey Instagram post where alumni parents after parents children after children were saying year after year alumni people from my years we going year after year detailing recounting abuse after abuse by that individual underscoring that this may not be an isolated incident many of these students I might add were students of color marginalized background suggesting a troubling bias and that seems to someone may be on a bit of a Power Trip as a minority the fear of power being abused against us and potential discrimination is all too real even in Edison and I can account on that and we know there are people who are going to dismiss this as us just saying oh it's discrimination it's nothing and trying to undermine the struggles of people like us I commend these students for taking on this challenge the Board needs to set a precedent here that this kind of behavior is intolerable and hopefully prevent other issues because that I will say this as someone who has been in Edison for Jesus over 20 years there are many other instances that occur under our noses that are unbeknownst to us because they don't get recorded this is incident that could be a symptom a systemic issue in within Edison schools it doesn't mean that our schools aren't great in fact Edison schools are the best because we demand nothing than Excellence from our schools and we ensure that when an issue comes out like this our community comes out and says this is a problem so I understand that this is an ongoing investigation and you can't comment I urge you though to provide actionable steps to resolve this matter and ensure it never happens again and that these students their siblings that may go to EHS or will go into EHS are there already that the crowd here today that the speakers that are here today will not face retaliation aggression from this individual or any like-minded colleagues or Allies again I call for a precedent that ensures that this behavior is not tolerated no matter who's at fault so as to ensure that every student regardless of race or background can pursue their education without fear in an environment of collaboration of progress that is productive thank you thank you L excuse me after that I'll call Elizabeth Han I won't be giving my address because the threat was made against my family so I've sat here now for the last 45 an hour and listen to everybody get up here and speak and the facts matter you stated what does it matter that it waited all this time to come out all these months later the facts matter they matter we don't know the other side of it and I agree an investigation needs to be done and both sides need to be clearly examined but my question is why is my 15-year-old daughter getting threats because of who her father is because he ran for political office threats that have to do with this incident the police had to come to my house last night I didn't sleep at all last night so you guys don't realize words matter the facts matter when you get up here and you speak emotionally charged words with passion and and a number of adjectives you have to do that because you want to get your point across right but they matter there's threats being made against my family there's threats being made against the vice principal she has little kids it's a horrible way to live to be scared like that I've lived it once before when he ran for May I know what it's like you don't wish that upon anyone so I understand when you guys say I get nervous I'm scared and people are going to look at me or what they think of me I live it every day my daughter lives it every day and I might look white I might sound white you don't know my genealogy or who I am or where I came from my parents did but I live it because of political reasons so I just hope that whatever your reasoning was for coming out with this all these months later it was because you want to do it for the right reasons and not because you're listening to bad advice or somebody's pushing you to do it or putting you up to it for bad reasons because the facts better and I hope they get out and I hope that all of you do the right thing and examine this to the fullest extent you can thank you thank you uh you can go [Applause] next hi my name is usra Shake 52 Hill Christ Avenue um I'm a former EHS alumni class of 2021 I'm the daughter of immigrants and my brother is Saha shik I'm his older sister and I just wanted to bring to attention that the previous speaker made me feel really invalidated right now so um I appreciate those laughs thank you that also made me feel invalidated and everyone who came here and spoke so far I'm sure they feel invalidated as well I come to the podium to share a policy that you or maybe your predecessors have put into place called Hib a lot of my fellow alumni and maybe even current students always made fun of it this policy This Acronym stands for harassment intimidation and bullying Nicole himelstein kesselman violated that policy violated it against the students that she was meant to protect someone else had come up here and said what about the policies that protect our students against administrators Hib is great it empowers students to speak up against bullying in terms of their peers in terms of things that go on on the bus in the classroom in the lunchroom but no one speaks about what happens when it comes to an administrator harassing intimidating and bullying their students everyone can tell by that recording that that was harassment intimidation and bullying whether you want to deny it or you want to make it invalidate it invalidate what happened I agree I agree a full investigation should occur and I agree that the proper decision should be made I do not believe that threat should be made I do not believe that um a woman with children and I'm a product of Edison High School I'm a product of Edison Township I do not want to see death threats being made to anyone no matter what side they're on no matter what they believe in I do not believe in violence like that but at the same time I Believe In Justice and I believe that Justice will be served and I hope that the board will give the proper transparency to the situation now in terms of taha's character he's my younger brother I mean I can say that he's probably the most annoying person I know but in terms of what he does for this community it's a lot this is a beautiful event and a lot of you board members may not know about it but if you came out if you saw it it's a beautiful intermingling of our community of other communities it's not just for the Muslims of the community but it's also for non-muslims I'm sure a lot of um past alumni can attest that it's a very fun event to get to know other students culture and religion and be a part of it a lot of Taha former teachers are here and even though they might not want to admit it today in this situation he's a great student he's a caring student is he's a wonderful person he not only is part of a situation that he's just um like he doesn't do it to just do it he does it with his full heart and I'm sure a lot of I'm sure a lot of his teachers and his the fellow community members can attest to this I just wanted to end off by saying that that recording not only violates HIV policy by the way I saw I heard Dr Alder Elli is doing a revamp of the website and the current website if you scroll all the way down to Edis High page there's a big thing about HIV and press it as soon as possible and you can report it that's how easy our Township makes it to report an incident so I mean it doesn't matter how long it took for this incident to be reported but it's important that it's here right now and we should address it but anyway what I was saying was HIV was violated by ni hilstein and she violates everything that a vice principal should be in terms of the rights of her students students should not be unsa feel unsafe not by their peers not by their teachers not by their Administration I'm very grateful for the education Edison Township has given me and I feel like it has empowered me to come up here today and speak in front of you and I'm very thankful that I had the privilege of getting this education and I'd like students in the future to also have this privilege have this right and have the importance of speaking out against any hatred that they feel thank you next public comments uh in the back my name is Jennifer Woodruff and I live at 323 Wembley Place in marbor I want to thank you for your dedication and service on behalf of the community and the children I'm fully aware that your school district is one of the best in the state academically and you should be applauded but I'm here to speak about the 5756 policy is this working okay we know the 576 policy was designed to protect the lgbtq Plus+ Community but there's already a comp apprehensive anti-bullying policy in place that includes gender non-conforming students so why a special policy the 5756 transgender policy is ambiguous and divisive giving special rights to a small group of children while taking away the Privacy rights of the majority it puts teachers in an uncomfortable deceitful position often against their beliefs and their morals when a child wants to identify as something different in their birth gender the school must affirm it and parents do not have to be notified there is nothing definitive in the 576 policy as to when to include the parents or when to keep the parents in the dark this is not only ambiguous it is a legal nightmare I could give a laundry list of why this policy should be abolished but I'll stick to the basics the 5756 policy is affirming and encouraging a culture and behavior based on feelings feelings change feelings can be deceptive and acting out on them is often not good for us instead of teaching kids how to be critical or logical thinkers we're telling them how to feel we hear today that may be your truth but this is my truth there is only one truth and there are only two genders facts don't care about feelings so what are we doing what are we prom oting how can a student believe anything a teacher says if the teacher goes along with something that is contrary to basic biology if we don't affirm trans transgender ideology we are called trans phobes or hateful people that we don't love or care for the child this is so contrary to the truth when did love require approval if my parents allowed me to do everything I wanted to do and when I was a teenager would that mean they love me more the parents that impose strict rules and guidelines of course not too often today parents want to be buddies with their kids and that may hold true with some school teachers and counselors but is that what is best for the kids children not only need direction and guidance they crave it I am here and speaking against the 5756 policy so adamantly because I really care about these kids adolescence is a difficult time time kids are developing emotionally and physically and just trying to fit in if we just love and encourage these kids and tell them the truth most will outgrow this teenage phase but if we encourage or affirm their non-conforming gender the child is more likely to continue down the self-defeating and detrimental path the path that starts with social transitioning but leads to Medical transitioning and often surgical transition positioning we don't want these in innocent children to be medical patients for Life possibly not being able to Bear children themselves because of a decision they made at a vulnerable age when their brain was not fully developed being the adults in the droom we cannot be quiet we must stand up for these kids you are The Gatekeepers as the women so effectively said before you have great power and a great responsibility do the right thing we we don't want to look back someday and wish we had acted differently thank you thank you next you already went so there's only one time public comments for one person you in the back third row no you hello everyone my name is Mustafa Ury I live at 4801 Hannah Road um and I kind of wanted to just come up here to speak a little more for to give some greater context on the event that were that's in question the AAR event um so I'm a EHS alumni from the class 2018 um and I believe we held this event for the first time in 2017 um this is because Ramadan had fallen under the time where we're St in school because before the years before that had happened during the summer so we use this opportunity while Ramadan is happening during school to have this ifar event and the idea behind it was the intention was that it' be a community event we we collaborated with other schools Piscataway High School I think JP Steven's also involved and just making an open Community event for everyone Muslims and non-muslims Alik to come and enjoy and eat food and break fast together and that was kind of the idea behind the event and from what I remember it was very successful really good turnout I don't remember the exact numbers but I remember it being our only first year we had a really good turnout of students teachers alumni parents and just communities uh members of the community uh again so really successful event we had a lot of food even uh people brought in food we catered food I think we even had a chocolate fountain which was great um but yeah it was again a very successful event um and I think it was even more successful I take I take a lot of pride in it because me and the MSA board at the time um again it was our first time doing this and the reason I'm so proud of it is because one it was a great event the day of but also it's a tradition that kept on going year after year and again we started in 2017 and you know thankfully it's great to see that it's been going on even until this year um and so I think again that's that's a really really big deal right the whole idea of it is to bring the community together the whole idea is that we bring in Muslims who can come break their fast as well as you know break their fast with their peers and have some great activi activities to play you know to do um but also bring in non-muslims right so they can learn a little bit a little bit about what we're doing what the point of fasting is what the point of Ramadan is you know again make it a whole Community event so I kind of wanted to provide context on the idea that this isn't just meant for obviously it's great that SN high school students are attending but the idea is that we bring the community together right um and some people mentioned here before that the idea is to do an they were doing an investigation which is great and the both sides have to be considered um however I think when it it comes to a point where when things get personal in a professional setting um that's when it becomes an issue right during my time again I I was on the MSA board I graduated in 2018 anytime we had an issue or a problem or anytime there's disagreement it was always handled professionally whether regardless if there was disagreement or we didn't see eye to eye it was always handled professionally whether it be um you know talking with the administrators having having our us as students our voices be heard and our opinions heard and then being told whether what's allowed what's not allowed regardless of if we didn't see eye to eye it was always handled professionally and so again even though there's investigation happening I think it's a a point to note that this has become personal right when when you're threatening someone's a student's future when it comes to uh getting down to saying that literally on record having it said that you're going to be reaching out to your to your future they don't have any jurisdiction there but they're still going to be reaching out and trying to affect the student's future I think that's when it becomes personal and very unprofessional and so again I think that's that's something that that needs to be considered you know when conducting this investigation um and just just as some people have said have said before I think it's important that we us as a public know what the resolution is what happens what comes from this um cuz while while it's unfortunate that this happened and you know this the situation is transpiring I think it's important that it did happen so that we know what to do and how to move forward and we we uncover these things early rather than later right because this is if this weren't recorded if this was to happen again it could lead to you know a bunch of students future being affected when it doesn't need to be so again just like everyone said I I ask that you you know share the results of whatever happens and also one uh one point I also want to make is I do work with some of the students that were that in question outside of school through another organization called ym and I can only say that that to speak to their characters that it's only been to help the community right it's only been to serve the community it's never anything selfish it's never anything for themselves I'm doing this for myself I'm doing this again to college I'm doing this for recognition none of that the point of the work that we do the point of the the point of this work is for the community to serve the community to serve the people who are involved in our community and so I think to threaten someone or to have to threaten someone's future over trying to serve the community I think is a wrong way to address situation again I've only ever had good interactions um with with um you know the faculty during my time at high school um and you know Mr Ross included I mean it's I've had a great experience in in EHS but to hear this is really disappointing and really saddening to see that an event that we created um that we thought would be that that was a success and it's will continue to be a success is the point of such controversy and and such an issue uh and so again I only hope that this is resolved you know professionally and peacefully and and and you know no further uh quote unquote threats are made and we we were able to come to a conclusion so thank you thank you next anybody from yes you can good evening can everyone hear me I'm here today due to the deeply pleas your name and address oh I'm sorry uh jaria Muhammad and um I'm resident of Piscataway I'm here today due to the deeply concerning events that transpired with the Edison High School assistant principal and the students of the MSA I proudly taught in this district for seven years during my time I also co-advised the Middle School model un Club I share this to let you know that I understand the enormous amount of work that comes with running one of the largest clubs in the school and all that it entails the late after school meetings waiting even later to make sure all students are picked up by parents planning out of-state trips to conferences finding chaperon and hosting conferences where multiple schools are invited ultimately I helped advise the club because I cared for the values it stood for and the students not not because it was easy I also learned the great responsibility teachers advisers and all adults have in a school when we become Educators in whatever capacity we promise to protect support and uplift students therefore I was disappointed upon hearing that students from the Muslim Student Association Club were threatened with their Futures when they requested to hold their annual joint ifar with nearby schools this was an opportunity where students could have been commended on their efforts for fostering a sense of community and practicing their faith but instead they were intimidated I was hurt that this occurred in the same district that Prides itself on diversity we are living in a time when anti-muslim hate is increasing across our country and events like these further isolate our students who are already marginalized we need accountability and transparency and it is your responsibility as the adults sitting in this room to protect our children just as you would your own thank you so much next [Music] [Applause] yes my name is Muhammad ham Ahmed I am from my the road I graduated from John P Stevens High School in 2021 and I remember growing up in a time where in this town of Edison Muslims didn't really have that many facilities I remember we used to pray our Friday prayers in some random restaurant on Oak Tree Road which doesn't isn't even open anymore and I know that today especially after the pandemic I think me and dah's sister were a generation that uh finished high school near the end of the pandemic daha is a post pandemic student a lot of the facilities that these younger kids have now I didn't have growing up and a lot of it is due to the sincere work that dah has put in along with his friends including my brother who's sitting on the Ed over there you can likely ask as th sister said a lot of his classmates both Muslim and non-muslim about dah's character dah's sister has also said good things about his character I would also like to say th is an honest person in our time the MSA was just a couple of guys who used to get together and pray Friday prayers we would rarely have interactions with other people outside of our school we rarely had ifar I'm actually surprised that Edison High School had these iars and I'm really happy that for the future of our Muslim Community that our younger people have these facilities in both Edison High School and JP Stevens because I didn't know they were doing this thing together before something I want to State people have been talking about the fact that both sides aren't being listened to when Tha was speaking here and I think other people as well they said to launch an investigation not just into the video not just interviewing but looking at the emails too they are very very confident about what is happening here they're very confident that their side is the just side and it's absolutely unacceptable by the way that a student would be threatened in this way and by the way T at that time along with his other classmates and peers were all miners at the time they were threatened that they would be reported to their school for literally having a constitutionally protected religious event I remember when I was growing up there were other students who made some immature comments I remember in the early 2010s I believe that's when I came to Edison late 2000s early 2010s I remember comments being made about bombs mocking that of allahar was de by other students at the time and at the end of the day I know that this is just students immature kids are immature I was immature so I can't blame them for the way they acted when they were younger however the vice principal or assistant principal somebody in a position of power somebody that students would go to for help somebody that students were going to for help actually you guys were going to her for help to get this ifar thing done for this person to threaten you like that is absolutely unacceptable to happen in these schools if something like that happened to me that would be you know I would react in a very very negative manner myself and the fact of the matter is that nothing like this did happen to me for me it was fellow students as I just stated this is somebody who is in a position of authority as a child Authority is you know any adult is somebody you trust any adult when they say something you trust it as okay this is correct if an adult is saying I'm going to threaten you or I'm going to report you to schools for causing problems colleges for causing problems that is a very very damaging thing to say to a child and I just want to say nothing like that ever happened to me so it's very very concerning that we're going in an opposite direction to worse than it was in the early 2010s thank you next hello hello everyone I am speaking to you today as someone who has your name pleas my name is Adina Amir I'm from 85 hean Street as someone who has faced discrimination in the workplace I was working in the international labor organiza organization as a part of the United Nations and my boss told me I couldn't pray in the office and that I was too religious this is something that's against our constitutional rights and I remember being in the UN being with the with the constitutional rights of religious freedom being so scared to speak up it's not easy to say how scary a situation is when the person in front of you hold your entire future I commend the people who after graduating chose to still speak up about a situation that doesn't affect them anymore they're out of college high school but it's the concern for the community which causes you to speak up and it's a really scary and very important decision to make and so I want to make sure that we're not putting the blame on the students for speaking up for the the death threats that are made it's not the students fault for speaking up it's the people it's the administration's responsibility to protect these children and to protect the community it's not these children's responsibility to protect the people who are it's not a good situation you should not have death threats to you but it's not their fault [Applause] and that's the point I want to make the subjective reality and the objective truth are two can be two separate things you can experience someone in a positive light but that doesn't change the objective truth that they harassed someone thank you next good evening my name is majah shik 52 hrrest Avenue that's my son Muhammed Taha just for the record okay so I just have a question here uh as some ladies said that they're receiving threats for all this right and I have also question to the board all through that conversation she kept pointing out at my son I think you should have you as board members should have stopped that I I am talking to you I'm not talking to anybody in the audience there I don't think I don't understand why do you not stop that part as far as I know when the meeting is there you're supposed to address the chair not even the other board members am I right attorney so so now when she stands here and she talks to my son do I take that as a threat so that's one thing second thing is that I understand that this ifar event was there I am okay with that if the administration didn't want to hold that personally there are many things which I want to happen in my in my personal job my my my my job could tell me no you cannot have it that's fair enough but the question here is if you did not want to hold it did you get the right to speak to a child forget it's not being my son did did she have the right to speak and tell him that I'm going to report maybe not him only maybe all the eight other students did she have the right to speak and tell him them that okay you know I'm going to report is she is she that is that her right is that as an administrator do you think that's right is that's what you have given empowered the vice principls to do now I'm hearing a yes excuse me you can you can continue speaking it's your all right second thing I want to ask you when did this happen is this the Edison policy now that when there's a problem with a child the vice principal can bring the child in or get those people in if she think this children were out of line is there no parental involement now have anybody not one person has come here and asked this question here that if the principal the vice principal was having a problem irrespective it's my being son there were other eight other other seven children did they even approach any of the parents saying you know what your children are getting out of line we need to have a we need to sit down and counsel them so you call the children in a room and you blatantly threaten them is that what what it's coming to now and somebody asked somebody said somebody said that why is this coming up now why is it coming up I see three beautiful ladies sitting here all of us sitting here have mothers and sisters and and and aunts and and things so if in that me too movement if those those ladies who have come up after number of years what happens to them are you going to tell them that why did you come out now is that what is going to come down to this country now so they cannot speak just because they were silent they were they were abused for so many years after 3 years 5 years if they come I would like to I would like to know that I I hope you guys have the conscience to answer that question yourself every one of us has mothers and sisters I see three beautiful women sitting here in this board so tomorrow if tomorrow if they come out against some abuse they should not be coming out again so what did this child do wrong after coming after six months what would you have done it's a question of the careers which is involved here what would they would have done second thing I'm sorry I'm I I have to keep re looking what what I'm saying is that one more thing whatever you guys decide here I don't care I mean it do matter I'm sure you guys are competent you guys have been elected you have have second terms and third terms I'm sure the superintendent has a has a vast experience and and we I know we are in good hands whatever you decide there remember whatever you decide there's a clear message which is going to go out to the community and it doesn't matter it doesn't matter that Community is made of immigrants white racial whatever the racial demographic is it doesn't matter they will have that message clear message that today the board had a case in front of them and this is what they decided I want you to understand that no matter what you do no matter I it doesn't matter I'm sure I have full faith in this in this board I do I absolutely do but to have and and and somebody making somebody also said about oh that that lady is having threats I absolutely abor that thing I I I absolutely protest and I say that that's what the police are for right why have we hired the police they should go and so now what happens in this case when my son is threatened he is not supposed to speak up is that what it comes down to is that what it comes down to that means my son a child should be kept silent right that and and when is it is this not bullying if this is not bullying what is bullying you please tell me I would like you to I would like you to go on your website superintendent and have a clear policy about what is bullying because I know you're you're reamping a website please do that I know I have short of time but I want to say one one quick thing I believe strongly that Justice is not just it should be done not just done it should be seen to be done you need to have a clear action plan on what is happening here it doesn't matter and remember it's not just this one child that and did you did you guys even look at the social media post there'll be once we move into this kind of if we take a next step I can tell you people will be coming out of the Woodworks here I can assure you I can I'm sure you have seen everybody has seen those post where people of color have been speaking up and at the end I know I have only 8 seconds I just want to end and say that whatever happens I'm very proud of my son I'm very proud of what he's taken up today thank you you hi my name is Yasin Zahir I graduated JP Stevens last year and during my time there I served as the MSA president I would like to start by saying that as an organizer and attendee of the ifar in question there were no security threats to the school or the students attending the AAR we took attendance we had tickets for students from every school and we had checkin at entry to a restricted flow of students coming in and going out teachers from our respective schools were invited with advisers and security Personnel given by the school the event was ran safely in the same way it had been for the past 7 years the same schools that were stopped from attending the AAR frequently come to Edison High School for sporting events for football games if the students from these schools are allowed to attend as a part of football team as a part of the track team deca model un then these same schools Muslim Students associations should be allowed to come and not labeled as a security [Applause] threat when the EHS MSA students were antagonized and then threatened the VP said the VP posed a threat to their Futures take a moment and understand what I'm saying the security of these students Futures was threatened so I ask you who is the security threat with all all due respect this is this almost seems like bullying by a person in power and it truly pains for me to have this label on a on a person who's clearly educated and a senior member of the school yes it may have only been one recording but that's an incident that occurred one too many times under no circumstance should a student security be threatened by someone who can directly affect their future there are no sides to this argument educators are put in place to educate and to protect not to threaten so I urge you to uphold the promise of diversity and equality that Edison wears so proudly and stand by the principle that Educators protect students and stand by them not against them and their future thank you go next my address is 621 hosand West and piscatway so you will be wondering why I here from piscatway that shows the importance of the issue itself thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk uh I have two simple points and I want talk too much because enough is said and enough needs to be done now so I am a physician I am a psychiatrist do we understand what trauma we have given to these children we do we understand what is p PTSD when you threaten somebody and these grow growing Minds how do they feel so this is a trauma given to them and how come a teacher assistant principal traumatizes young brains rather than helping them and rescuing them when they need so Nicole is a human being she can uh she can do mistakes but she is a teacher she's a higher level Authority vice principal she is not expected to do this so as a physician it is a big trauma it is part of the ptst and young children can not bear that so we must keep it in mind medically speaking the second thing which I want to say and quickly say is what role model is this person has given to their children or the you know students uh my father was a teacher I was also a teacher for some time and I respect the teachers very much we should be the role models how could be a threatening teacher be a role model in any way at any level so we must understand that this is not acceptable and then the father came and now just few minutes before I realized I'm also a father how would I feel as a father if my son is threatened for his career for his profession for everything so there are many things to say but we must understand this should not be acceptable at all from a person who comes from Authority from a person who is threatening somebody who has no Authority from a person who is threatening somebody who is much younger than him so I don't need to speak too much this is enough I think so you guys need to do enough thank you thank you any more yeah the back good evening everybody my name is D aifi I am a student I'm an alumni of Edison High I graduated just this year and I was the co-president of the MSA um honestly my time at EHS was I didn't have many problems there but I just wanted to come up here because now that my time is done I'm focused on the students who still have to continue attending this school in the years to come um I'm not worried about my safety because honestly ly I'm already in college I have orientation on the first I could care less about what has happened in high school but I care about the students that are still going to continue having to deal with himelstein and her negative attitude towards them every day I understand that somebody has come up to say that bringing this up has F has um brought about threats to her family however that's that doesn't invalidate the fact that we should still talk about this just because the incident happened and some people took took the information and treated it poorly that does not change the fact that students were threatened these are minors these are kids who have to continue going to this school and we have to continue seeing himelstein on a regular day-to-day basis I'd like to say that in planning this MSA AAR event I was so excited when I when I found out that I was President my junior year for my senior year I was excited I had seen the ifar event two years because there was none during my freshman year during Co and so I'd seen it play out and I was so excited to improve on the event and just make it like a very welcoming and and create like a open Community for a lot of Muslims and non-muslim students I know that many of my friends who who show up to ifar party every year are not even Muslim and they fast with us that day because they see the culture and The Importance of Being like acknowledging the people around them um and I'd like to say that after the events that transpired with Miss tin I was intimidated from posing new events from fostering school spirit because if I'm going to come up here and I'm going to put myself out there and I'm going to try to plan this event this event that mind you is not easy to prepare for I had me and my board we we did continued the event after the events of Miss himin canceling it with the other schools but it was much more tasking than we had anticipated but we managed to make it through and I'd like to say that it coming out with an event like this and ask asking for support and for help and trying to get this communication started between an administrator and students who are trying to improve their community and getting this aggression i' like um back from the administrator you're you're disheartening a lot of students from ever trying to support our EHS Community um another incident that I had with Miss himlin that doesn't have to do with this and it wasn't a threatening incident but we had planned for class Council a March Madness event and we had set this date since September and she had agreed on this date and then two weeks prior to the event she said no can't give you the gym on that day you have to move the day up or you're going to cancel the event so me and my fellow class of 2024 board members had to scramble to get this event going because this money was integral for us to continue in our senior events we needed the fundraising money from this event in order to purs to continue with prom and Senior barbecue and all the events that made the uh a lot of students senior year significant and so when having uh an administrator who's unwilling to communicate and unwi and when she does communicate she does so with aggression it's disheartening to students and I wouldn't want that for my sister who's going to EHS next year I wouldn't want her to not be involved in the school just because somebody has threatened her and scared her away from going to college just because they they are asking they weren't we were not even being threatening we didn't accuse her of anything we simply asked her to explain herself and to communicate in an effective Manner and she could not even do that that [Music] scared that scared me and it scares me that a lot of other students are going to have to face that and I understand why a lot of the board members who are still attending EHS didn't come up here and talk today because I would be scared too if I had to continue in a school and fear that my college acceptance would be threatened because I wanted to host a cultural event I would I would probably like never talk to anybody ever again I wouldn't participate in school events why would I participate if it's going to threaten my success in the future and that's not something that we should be fostering at EHS because it's extremely important for us to be encouraging our students and encouraging our future students to continue to create a a community with a lot of school spirit and I don't think that Miss himelstein Fosters that community at all thank you thank you anyone else yes ma'am hi everyone um I just wanted to start off with the story your name and address yes um my name is Asma I live in 13 137 Bestgate and um I just wanted to like you know I grew up here I graduated from JP Stevens 1996 and um I always lived here I told my girls sometimes question me mama why didn't you move why didn't you move I said no you know this is the community this is the community that's like it helped me grow it's going to help me grow but after listening to the you know I I was like you know I was like hurt because I tell my girls no Edison is great Edison is great they're like no mama we have to move we have to move so I wouldn't listen and when I hear this voice you know um she just made me listen to it on the car and I was like about to cry I'm like what is this what happened here you know what happened to the teacher staff all this you know all the people who always cared about everybody cuz when I grew up here I know there was always bad good worse whatever but was with with the students not with the like you know teachers the teacher always supported us supported me when I grew up here they never had any problems with me if I had a problem I would go to them they would resolve it you know they would help me at every stage they helped me you know and now I hear this this kid like the the vice principal it's like I was like feeling I was like crying in the car I'm like what happened you know I have to go speak this is not right so you know I just want to say thank you for everything but I would really appreciate if you could you know listen to both side of the story and you know be Justice because then if my kids need to grow up and if their kids need to grow up I'm going to move out of from here Edison cuz this is not right I mean it doesn't cuz I always thought Edison is some place that is the best education best teachers best everybody you have equal rights for everything but with all this happening I mean I questioned myself did I I me know my is it for is it good for me to keep staying here or should I move out of this District so I just want to say thank you and I hope you know you come to conclusion which is Justice and fair for everybody so thank you yes you in the back Maha muner 8306 Han good evening everyone my name is Maha I'm a 2023 graduate of Edison High School and the previous co-president of MSA I'm not here to speak on anyone's character but I think I owe it to myself and the people behind me to share the journey with facts and figures and my personal truthful experiences that I've had with Edison High School and in particular with MSA just in 2022 2023 school year we collaborated with Piscataway JP and North Brunswick High School to host a AAR gathering for 500 plus students not once did we have a single doubt in our minds that we wouldn't be able to execute this event and this is because throughout my high school years the administration and faculty has never shown discriminatory Behavior or microaggressions towards me or any of the people that I know of my faith Mr Ross and other teachers have shown up numerous times in our general meetings interacting with Muslim Students asking them what changes they would like in the school that would allow us to feel more comfortable so when hosting set ofar party in 2023 every other school refused to host it because either they could not hold the capacity for such numbers or their Administration was simply uncomfortable with a of Muslim Students in one place we at Edison High School were lucky to not only Host this Gathering but receive constant support and appreciation for it to reiterate what many others before me have said there were no security issues we had our advisor and other school advisers along with security guards and a complete checking system at the end of the day you can expect minor misconduct from high school students I also agree that these students should take accountability but there were no such events that would cause her to threaten the board members of MSA such as reaching out to colleges I personally had my teachers who I invited and those that attended constantly tell me how glad they were to attend the event and learn more about Islam and just have an overall positive experience bonding with the students and the teachers however that being said if you look at the Care New Jerseys post there were also comments from board members of other clubs such as peacock Society one of the largest clubs at Edison High School that was told by miss himelstein that they would not be able to host their events and invite outside students other students have Express similar concerns about how overall they just receive ill treatment from her but last year receiving approval from her regarding this Saar party was as easy as a few emails and sending our adviser so this is not a US versus them War this is high school and this was an event that had serious miscommunication more from the administration side than the students I know that everyone here and behind me can agree when I say that this situation could have handled so much maturely and in a timely and professional manner and I do wish that Mr Ross and other admin ation could have gotten involved now miss himlin has created such negativity between her and the students through such behavior and honestly has hindered the confidence of students for future events but it is not okay for people to be calling her and I quote a pig or an evil woman without knowing the entire story if we all take a breather at the end of the day from the conversation that we have heard I wouldn't label this as islamophobia or discrimination but just as an administrator who has their own set of rules and guidelines to follow and might not have the most Pleasant of personalities and that is okay if the students are stepping out of their comfort zones and taking risks why are you as an educator and administrator not allowing them to host events that is setting the standard for such a comfortable environment for current and future POC students and that and reaching to extreme lens so that is a question that many people including I that has needs to be answered I know that there are many alumni today in the audience wondering what happened to the great Edison High that they knew and as someone who has attended Edison High School and just graduated pretty recently I can assure you that your child is safe at Edison High and has an environment to grow and prosper these teachers over here behind us are here today because they care however students waiting up to 3 hours just to have a meeting and hearing a blatant no and hearing possible action taken for their colleges is nothing less for all students Muslims or non-muslims alike and she could have contacted the club adviser at the time or involved Mr Ross again fully debriefing the event and the planning this does not make her an evil person or an islamophobe and while I can't speak for her intentions this is something that is just messed up at the principle of the situation and that is something that I wish can be clarified through investigation thank you thank you anybody else in the back yeah in the back hello my name is ma Khan uh 11 Caldwell Road and I am proud alumnus of Edison High School um to begin uh I want to say that I've I had an amazing experience at Edison High uh you know the Fantastic education in thanks you know in no small part to the teachers of Edison High School um that I received was the basis of all my my present and continuing success with that said it's extremely unfortunate that this incident has occurred you know I had again as a part of the MSA when I was uh at Edison High I had nothing but great experiences uh I had you know fantastic teachers and advisers that were a part of um my life and they were mentors and it was frankly amazing but with with that being said I think it it should be understood that you know emotions are running high with regards to many of the things that are happening in our world not just here in Edison but abroad as well um with the connectedness of the world as it is today we are seeing a lot of the things and we are seeing a lot of the violence and the genocide that is being perpetrated overseas you know if we see any sort of hint of that locally it it evokes uh a certain response um human beings are tribalistic for good and for ill human beings can be tribalistic and we sometimes we get defensive when one of our own is threatened and that is to say um you know when when our when our young people when their Futures are threatened we get defensive but also when you know a colleague of ours has you know allegedly death threats made against them we get defensive we get we get you know we want to protect that person and it's it's important that we first of all you know death threats or whatever that is is you know that's completely unacceptable if that's true but I don't think anyone I think somebody came to this Podium and implied that there was some responsibility for those threats in this room and I don't think that's true you know people are crazy online you know uh anyone sitting anywhere can make any sort of threats but I don't think anyone in this room is responsible for any sort of threats made against the person that that's being discussed it's completely unacceptable but the people in this room came to get some sort of just ice and answers in a constructive way we came to to the appropriate people the board of education so those dead threats are unacceptable but what's also unacceptable is downplaying and any in any way attempting to um negate the seriousness of what was threatened um the futures of eight young people is not a small matter people you know people do not take that lightly and it's unacceptable um it's unacceptable that those threats were made I I I would want to ask the Board of Education what sort of policies are in place regarding student discipline if there is a conflict between an administrator and a student is the appropriate course of action to go to such Extreme Measures such as you know contacting College admissions boards that just seems I mean the conversation needs to be had regarding proportionality right just as whatever action this person may or may not have done do not warrant death threats again an issue of proportionality just like that whatever issues have happened between a student you know whether it's Behavior related or whether it's a conflict over what is allowed and what is not allowed proportionality demands of us that we do not go to such Extreme Measures as revoking College you know Admissions and threatening futures um especially because from what the audio again the audio is not the full story that is fair but the audio seems to imply that it was a power tripping sort of thing she was threatening retaliation for him the person involved going to speaking to this person or that person and that sort of thing uh uh a sort of power tripping move is unacceptable you know an administrator should not be playing these Petty power games you know if if there's an issue with discipline yes then there can be disciplinary measures according to protocol but there should not be some sort of you know power tripping sort of ego you know in play where uh an administrator threatens the futur of of many young people just because they do not they question her her decisions um I want to thank you for your time uh I I you know I I don't know what to say uh this this whole situation is is really messed up but I I appreciate that you'll take the time and I hope that you will take the time to to do a thorough investigation to speak to all parties and to come to the right conclusions and take appropriate action it's unacceptable that you know this was allowed to happen thank you thank you hi everyone good evening I hope you all are having a wonderful day um evening my name is aan sad I am from The Humble town of Oak Tre Road uh from JP Stevens former board member you know and I'm here to speak about the incident as all of y'all may have heard um you know it really is it's it's it's surprising to me to see that the MSA has grown so much like I'll give you some context from my my era there was only 10 kids 10 people would show up but now I'm seeing pictures on Instagram videos of the community growing by masses and triples and I'm seeing even this thing it's a new thing that's that's brought up for the community um and and to see such a result from my my my my friend here Taha um when the vice principal is essentially you know harassing him in that way you know revoking access to college like I have to ask you all a question like imagine if it was your son or your daughter who came up and said that the administration is potentially revoking my access to college how would you feel you'd feel bad right you'd feel you'd feel kind of like damn like what happened you know and that's not that's not a place of safety um Also regarding the month right the thear event itself Ramadan is the month of the Quran right it's the month where our hearts are supposed to feel peace it's supposed to feel a sense of tranquility and what danger is there in an event where students are coming together non-muslims too by the way the msa's purpose is not just for Muslims but is to bring that inclusive environment for non-muslims as well to learn about the beauty of their religion what danger is there if they're collabing and yes I understand safety is an issue but this is an event that is made out of good intention and pure heart and and especially hitting these eight board members with with the statement like their college a is being revoked I think that is uh that is terrible that is that is something you know that should be more investigated um and I don't really have much to say but what I'm going to end off with is a quote by one of my uh my my my role models Malcolm X who says that a man who stands for nothing will fall for anything and I truly believe that here my boy tah shake and and all these eight board members they're standing for something right we have to give them credit they're standing for something here so this this idea of there being two sides there's either a side of Justice or there's a side of not Justice and and here as your your your your chair right here you guys have to find out what's the side of justice and I'm telling you it's quite obvious if I'm asking if if I'm seeing myself the side of justice is clear now you guys just have to open your eyes and make the decision thank you thank you go back my name is Daniel and I'm 227 CRS Road Edison um but like I said my name is Dan and I am an Edison High Alum class of 2022 I held a position on the MSA board for 2 years and I was the president of MSA in 2022 another year when we held a successful MSA of Star Party alongside one of the previous speakers who was president of piscat MSA Club I want to reference a video posted by Karen J on Friday which included a recording of Nicole keselman himelstein where you can hear her threatening the eight students on the MSA board this previous year and when you look through the plethora of comments underneath the video clip half half of them are experiences from students who have been a part of MSA and or attended the annual stars and the administration in question today is that same Administration that supported the MSA in organizing and hosting our star parties for the last few years the other half of the comments underneath the video are from students who were not Muslim and who may be have never even come to an MSA event during their time at Edison High School yet their experiences are very similar Nicole himelstein made them feel threatened with the power that she holds now I'm not here to argue the case of MSA because many people here have already spoken that but if a person in administration a vice principal has made not just one but multiple students over the years feel intimidated harassed and violated then we shouldn't have a bully interacting with our students the [Applause] comments the comments have proven that this isn't a one-time occurrence this has happened Time and Time and Time Again many of my previous teachers are here in the audience and I have to say that the teachers at Edison High School are amazing Educators Mr Ross our longtime principal has gone above and beyond for the students there as well Mr Ross was not the type of principal you normally see in other high schools he was always in the high schools he was always in the hallways greeting students talking to them and making them feel well he was truly what was great about Edison High [Applause] School my point that I'm making is that this isn't just an issue with the Muslim Community in Edison but all students if himin has felt comfortable enough to threaten students over the years she is not fit to work with students and while we heard that Nicole himan is a woman with young children it's clear that she didn't think twice when threatening kids students in high school so when we asked what's great about Edison High School it's the students who can stand up in the face of adversity it's the Educators who care for the students as their own kids it's Mr Ross who has always who always shows up for his students but I would not include himl while I don't believe she's an islamophobe I do believe that she's a roote administrator who could have handled the situation in a much better manner thank you yes hello my name is uh bosi Muhammad and I live at 49 Lilian Terrace Piscataway New Jersey and I was the MSA president of the 2024 year at Piscataway high school and I'm not here to repeat some of the comments made by others but rather I'm here to describe the stark contrast between Edison High Schools administration Edison District administration versus the experiences that I faced at piscatway high school and with their Administration and with their District administration a situation like this where a student multiple students eight students were threatened about their Futures with something that was so trivial such a trivial ma ma matter that didn't have to be handled the way that it was the back and forth that tah shake and the other members of the board had to go through to get those meetings those small meetings those informal meetings is unacceptable it would have been very simple for you guys to meet in fact at Piscataway High School all it takes is a schooly message to my principal and then I'm there in his office the day of and we speak we speak about everything Mr Balano we speak about everything that we need to if there's an issue a small issue to he helps us out my assistant principal who also manages the clubs at piscat High School Mr Beria if there's any small issue he helps us out if he hears of an issue that Muslim Students are facing he comes direct directly talks to the MSA that's what administration looks like that's what leadership looks like [Applause] I don't know much about this Mr Ross nor any of you but I do know that what proper Administration and what proper leadership should look like and it doesn't look like what I've been seeing if we had an issue I Met Myself personally multiple times with the superintendent about minor issues that you guys might not even think are important and all it takes and now it's taking a recording thousands of people who to see a video large Instagram accounts for you guys to address an issue for you guys to talk about an issue and you might not see the effects of what this problem has called has caused this threat many people are coming up here and saying that how dare this Nicole himelstein threaten these eight people but it's not just those eight people that were affected not just the eight people on the EHS board the entire MSA of the E of EHS was affected they were threatened they were scared How Could my own school do this to me and if we broaden that impact even further I was scared as the president of the pasca high school MSA to hear that my my friend my good friend tah shik was getting this type of treatment because he wanted to do an event an event that's always brought good in fact the board members at PHS pay for that event they they fund it they donate their own money sometimes to see that event they come Dr great he comes and he sees every single time how great an event is if you guys want go talk to him he'll tell you about that event he's not Muslim he's Christian he'll tell you about that event but regard regardless you guys have affected EHS Piscataway High School the board members at Piscataway High School including myself the people at PCAT High School who have heard about this situation you've affected them you've affected JP Stevens the board at JP Stevens the people at JP Stevens already you've affected over 300 people add their parents to that 900 people the schools all in Central Jersey the words of one person matter you might not think that they matter but Nicole himlin the way that she acted the way that she threatened these students has an effect and you can sit there think of me as another guy who's talking up here think of everyone as just another thing they're coming and talking about the same person you might think you understand the situation but I promise you you don't and if I'm being being honest with you you never will it will be very difficult for you to understand the situation unless you live it and even me personally I don't understand the situation those eight board members are the only ones that do fully that fear when I watch that video when I hear that recording and I hear taha's voice this strong confident inspirational young man that shaky okay not saying anything back it hurts me cuz I know the type of man he is I know what he's capable [Applause] of so you've affected this many people and I know you guys are having an investigation and I know the truth will come out from that investigation and I know all of you know what to do from that investigation now I implore you are you going to do it or are you going to negatively affect more people thank you for your time thank you [Applause] yes good evening uh my name is aami and I am the communications manager for Care New Jersey and I oversaw the release of the audio and first I want to thank um every member here I know it's been a long day for you so thank you so much for creating the space for us to speak up and um hear uh our their story and what they've been going through and uh secondly I would like to condemn the threats if they did happen um death threats or any type of threats really they go against the core values of Islam the core values of uh the mission of K New Jersey and the work that we're trying to do um there are a couple of things that I want to address that came up during the conversation tonight um this idea of both sism when we say that we need to listen to both sides and give them equal space that may be the case if it's a student versus student but this is a these are students be it at that brown students versus a school official who threatened these students so the grounds are not equal here right so we're not going to equate um the victims of these threats with the person who made these threats um I don't know um the assistance principal's character um so I can't speak to her but I can speak to the audio and um how it made community members feel and the amount of messages that we've been getting from students who they may not have commented on the video public but we've been getting a lot of private messages from people sharing their experience and um I even spoke with an MSA student because there's been questions about um why hasn't this come out earlier if anything the fact that it's coming out now should speak to how much fear these students were feeling at the moment they needed to wait until not only graduation happened but even even a month after to make sure that nobody was going to come after them and for some reason it's been construted as um something that should undermine the facts but that's just a distraction from the actual issue here if the audio is really is released a year from now it would still be valid because it's authentic and it happened and this school official um if you can not say something publicly then you should not be saying it privately this [Applause] school I find it hard to believe that these threats would have been made if it was in front of teachers or other students and again we condemn the threats that have been happening that is not okay um but at the same time it is not okay to try and to undermine the experiences of these students it is not okay to somehow question oh like is this really happening um that's like God sliding 101 um this happens and they're experiencing it and like everyone has already said the goal is to um bring about positive change and the reason that I wanted to bring the point of both sism here I really hope that the investigation isn't going to treat brown students Muslim Students who have been told that their event causes some kind of a security risk to their school when it's just a community event really they're just trying to get together have a meal together Ramadan is the most communal month of the year for millions of Muslims around the world and these students just wanted to hang out at school and have a nice meal and instead they faced these um threats and at the very least that's just not okay and I hope that the board members here don't acate a school official attempting to use her power well I should say abuse her power to threaten young Muslims I'm not I'm sure that's not the Legacy that Edison that the Edison Board of Education wants to leave behind thank you thank you anyone who haven't gone uh the lady uh hi my name is mahc Maneri uh my address is 19 asbook Drive um so I just want to start off by saying that I grew up in the Edison school district I have done my entire education here from kindergarten to my senior year of high school I want to be proud of where I grew up and for the town and the education system that has quite literally shaped me into who I am today but today I am disappointed disappointed that this Behavior has the potential to even be justified or considered to be remotely okay Edison is known for the rigor of their education Edison is known for creating students that go to Ivy League colleges for students that go far that succeed that become CEOs education from when you step into kindergarten in Edison school district is imprinted into us I remember being in elementary school and just thinking okay I need to do good I need to get that a and that's that's the story of every single student who has lived in Edison Township with this in mind I would like to just add that we need to reconsider the gravity of the threat that the vice principle made because Edison has always prioritized education to go after something as strong as a college acceptance is a very big deal I think that we do not think about how important our education is within this country and what college you go to matters it affects not only where you're going to go but what you are going to do with your life to take students who have worked for their entire education their entire School career and to then threaten that hard work is it's completely like it's it's genuinely unfathomable you are not only threatening the importance and the Excellence of and the prestige that is fostered within this District but you are then threatening the potential livelihood of the rest of their lives if they're then if that College acceptance is then taken away from from them I think we really need to stop and consider what was said and how important it is and the effect that it would have had on those students it is completely inappropriate and to even consider it to not be or to say it is Justified or you know students might have pushed one too many times for an event that really was not a security threat is not okay thank you thank you I we'll have two more speakers last two speakers you already went so you can't go again I'll get you Zed manuri 19 Ashbrook Drive so I wanted to talk about how the video played out so the video that was posted the teachers threatening tahash shake and all the other MSA students uh acceptances into colleges this is something that a lot of students work hard towards including myself who went to JP and went through the Edison school system and that's the number one priority of the school system so to go out and threaten that is a abuse of power and just it's not okay not not okay by not any moral or ethical regards or by regards of a vice principal being put in a position of power and also I wanted to bring up the point that even though the students might have pushed a few buttons or whatever the students did they're still students at the end of the day they are allowed to ask the ask the board ask the administration what they want to do and they should be allowed to express their their hopes and their goals of an event freely the Administration has to act more professional and more responsibly than the students because they are the administration that is their job they have been trained to do so and for the administration to go out and just abuse their power frankly for no reason and to try to just stop an event is inappropriate and quite literally disgusting I was on I was there at the first ifar that they were talking about I was help organ helping organize it I was on the JPS MSA board at that time and frankly I did not see anything that was any security threat or anything at all I thought that event went smoothly and I just thought it was a good event overall and that EHS was able to host it but to not just say that it didn't go smoothly but to threaten the students for asking for another event and asking for something that frankly they have the right to ask for as students and as participating members of the society is quite literally rude and disgusting and I think it should be investigated uh for what Miss hamilin did as something that is not okay for any administrator to do do that is all thank you thank you yes uh hello my name is AA gja and I'm from East Brunswick so I'm not from Edison but I grew up in this area so I've always looked up to Edison and all the surrounding communities as being very diverse inclusive very safe and wonderful places to raise a family and um I decided to raise my own family back in Central Jersey so um we have our own MSA in East Brunswick High School and it's you know as all student groups they're very protected groups you know these are plac where you have to feel safe with your advisers with your fellow students um they there are safe spaces for students especially after school or especially in a religious setting you need to feel safe like if you're praying in a mosque you don't want to feel like a bomb is going to come and kill you right so you need to feel safe in our sacred spaces and this is a religious group as well so there's extra safety measures that need to be taken in this type of thing and sensitivities um you know I don't think you know this is representative of Edison just growing up for anybody who's not from this area this is uh this is something that's shocking in our communities and that's why so many people have come out um you know the other thing I would just say is that mistakes happen we are all human beings everyone makes mistakes on this board up here in this audience if the students made mistakes that's okay if the administrator even made a mistake that's okay what's not okay is not taking accountability for it and saying sorry it's like a simple sorry do you teach your students to say sorry if they make a mistake then why don't your administrators just do take that simple step that would have prevented all of this from having to happen it's embarrassing it's embarrassing the actions of this board are embarrassing that it has to come to this that I have to come from East Brunswick to come tell you guys how to how to to do it properly we would be embarrassed in East Brunswick for this to happen and to be in national news now again people make mistakes are you going to make a mistake in the way that you treat this very sensitive issue or are you going to do the right thing because that's what the students are also going to learn from they're learning from that administrator and they're learning from all of you how to solve problems how to do conflict resolution how to get along with people how to be professional I'm so proud of the students that I've talked tonight I could never do that when I was in high school not only that but like we're dealing with a genocide that affects every single one of us sitting here every single day for the last 10 months and you guys decided to do this or your administrator decided to do this during Ramadan the holiest month of the year for Muslims where they're fasting for like 12 plus hours something that probably you guys couldn't even do some of you guys cuz it's so hard where is your cultural sensitivity and your racial sensitivity that you're trying to teach these children because it doesn't matter what color your skin is sitting up there on the board it really doesn't what matters is the decisions that you guys make that's what we care about not the color of people's skin it means nothing to me there is no room for ra racism in Central Jersey and I see a lot of it these days I see it in the back of that room in the corner when they were talking about this wonderful student a student mind you a minor a child when they're talking about students and the values that these students have and the virtues and all good things I see people in the back corner shaking their head about that how embarrassing are you as an adult as a parent potentially I hope your parents are not just here for I don't know that would be weird as a parent as an adult as a member of this community that children are looking up to how embarrassing for you to behave that way in public God knows what you do in private you all need to protect your trans students so that bill that's up needs to stay and you need to protect your trans community and trans students and you need to protect your Muslim Students here tonight and if you fail to do that know that you are making a mistake and you are the failed administrators just like the vice principal so don't make the mistake don't teach these children to make more mistakes from adults they don't need to see bad examples like what I saw in the back of that room over there shame on them so we're watching from East Brunswick we're watching from all over New Jersey people know about this story all over the country they'll know about it all over the world they're watching you I'm going to see what you guys do and with this fight will continue if it needs to be thank you you uh get the last speaker uh okay you can go ahead and after that Mr Ross is the last speaker hello good evening um I'm here tonight to talk about policy 575 oh my name is Jacob Pender I'm from Ruckers New Brunswick I'm here to talk about policy 5756 um I'll start by talking a little bit about myself I've been to school boards all across the state about this policy all the way from Sussex County all the way down to Kate May County I've been to over a dozen meetings regarding policy 5756 I've seen a lot of controversy about it I've seen a lot of districts repeal it um it is controversial policy but let me tell you what's happened in all of the districts that have repealed it um when the students came in that next day absolutely nothing happened because policy 5756 is nothing other than an echo of New Jersey state law and repealing policy 5756 does absolutely nothing for your students except telling them that they are not welcome except telling students that this policy is there the wording is there to protect the students the wording is in our law so the ambiguity of policy 5756 doesn't tell teachers that they can't tell talk to parents doesn't say anything about that it just gives the parents the it gives the teachers the options to not talk to those parents when you remove that policy what is the next policy in place New Jersey state law which says the exact same thing that teachers have the choice whether or not to talk to those parents based on what those teachers think so whether or not we have this policy or not does not affect every day what things go on in that school it says right here that you're going to have more input from your board attorney and you're going to have more input for the next meeting uh but that costs a lot of money and in schools districts where we see the repe the repealing of policy 5756 we see the prices of their board attorney go up in the tens of thousands of dollars so I'm up here I'll do it right now for free what your choices are uh based on my experience in the dozens of school districts you can one leave the policy because the policy is New Jersey state law and repealing it does absolutely nothing you can just leave the policy because you're not hurting anyone you're not helping anyone by leaving the policy you can repeal this policy and you can have a lot more of the people in the corner in the red shirts come out uh and want out their their children you can have all them come out you can have a lot more of the people behind us come out with the Trans Flags will all come out don't worry you can big cause a big controversy that's going to alienate a lot of your your parents a lot of your students make them feel uncomfortable whether or not you vote on it or not whether not you repeal it or not uh and at the end of the day you've done nothing but make your community a lot more uncomfortable um you can change the wording um even though that some board attorneys who get paid by moms for Liberty um will say that uh you can't edit it you can edit it um the only thing that you can't do is Crea a policy that will forcibly out students because that's not allowed in New Jersey so if you do that you will get an injunction uh but I don't think you're going to do that this is only talks about policy 5756 so the people who came up here today and talked about how their teachers are keeping secrets from parents well that's what New Jersey state law says there's one easy solution that every single person in this room because we all live in the state of New Jersey and we all live in the United States have and that's a a private school in private school um teachers are allowed to do that uh everyone in this room is more than welcome to send their students if there's any students in this room they're more than welcome to attend a private school that's an option that everyone has but we do go to a public school this is a public school so that is why this needs to be put to bed tonight we need to know that we are not going to spend any more money on board attorney's fees on a policy that has nothing at all this policy in school today does not do anything because we have New Jersey state law that supersedes this policy we need to be spending that money instead on a thorough investigation into your administrators who are threatening your students that's what we need to be spending our money on the money that you would be spending on your board attorney until this next DEC this next board meeting where you're not even doesn't even say on here you're going to decide next meeting this is going to go on and on and on and on you're going to keep going on about this that money hire some administrators who actually care about your Muslim Students who care about all of your students hire them give them a nice bonus tell them that the money that you would have spent on this ridiculous argument over a policy because a handful of people in the corner in red shirts want to out their their students because of those people we're going to spend tens of thousands of dollars or we're going to spend that money protecting our students protecting every single one of our students students thank you [Applause] Mr hey good evening and Mr Ross principal Edison High School appreciate the young man bringing up the um quote from Alex and I appreciate all the fine words of people saying nice things about me um I think about Dr Martin Luther King and he had a statement about hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that and I personally Choose Love and the people that know me know that after my family what I love most is the time that I've spent as the principal of Edison High School now those students who know me and the parents that know me know I love my students and my staff knows that I love them and I love my administrative staff as well and as another person to quote Harry Truman said the buck stops here decisions that get made in the building are at the end my responsibility and I take full accountability for that one of the benefits of being the principal for so long is that you get to hire so many of your staff I've hired all four of my assistant principles and I feel that I made great hires because I feel that time and time again Edison h the staff works with the love and works with the community to make this a wonderful place I'm not going to discuss anything obviously with the investigation um how do I know that Edison High School is a great place God Bush how do I know that Edison High School is a great place by somebody the alumni that I see here today by the product that comes out by the families that keep deciding to send their kids to Edison public schools and Edison Public Schools I don't care what anybody from another town says are some of the best in the state of New Jersey and I stand by Edison High School as a place where we respect all cultures and where we work every day to make sure that this happens now obviously there's investigations there's not going to be conversations and I've had some people reach out to me you know I welcome a time when in love we come together as a community and we can continue to work forward but I recognize that as the administrator I'm the person who makes decisions and whoever gives them out to the students in the end I take accountability for that and I can't be the principal of Edison High and just accept the cheers and all the good but I know what this school is about I know what the kids are about I know what my staff is about I understand the whole community and that forever it's been an aspirational place where people come here for a better life and generation after Generation all different types of people have always done that I take this as a sacred calling what I do every day and I'm going to continue to work and I'm going to continue to stand by my staff and my staff and the community I know that we will make Edison High a place where everybody is loved thank [Applause] [Music] you Elizabeth Conway 20 nether Circle besides being Elizabeth Conway I'm also the chairperson of the PTA PTO scholarship fund which is called in the last few years the Philip J capalo scholarship where at this point we've moved up each year and as of this year each winner of JP Stevens and each winner of Edison High School are awarded $6,000 in scholarships uh I had the names of the students last month at the June meeting but I just felt there was so many names that were an acknowledgement I held off till this month and the meeting was supposed to be tomorrow night and I was very disappointed because I'm going to the Yankee game tomorrow night and I found out by pure accident that the meeting was moved to tonight so I wanted to take the time to acknowledge the two winners because we always talk about Edison being nothing less than excellence and right now there's two more excellent students that have just graduated from our high schools our Edison High School winner is Maha Khan who is going to Cornell in the fall to study economics with the ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer our winner from JP Stevens is lash n I'm sorry this got small nup who will be attending the University of Maryland to study aerospace engineering his career goal is to work for the Aerospace I lost it I really sneak at this to be an uh aerospace engineer and push forward our country and I am so proud of them I wanted it to make it special to show the type of student that goes through our school district so that's positive just one question I do have I didn't know what was going on tonight and I'm truly sorry to hear about the goings on and I feel sorry for anyone that was involved but I do have a problem that the lawyer did not bring up when talking about a discussion about an employee of our district unless that employee in writing gave you permission to use their name during our meeting through the superintendent I might have come a little late and did not hear it that the person's name should not have been used their position maybe because there are multiple positions but using the person's individual name without their permission I truly believe was done completely Incorrect and I'm very disappointed that that took place but I'm also very disappointed that these children are so upset and they should not be thank you thank you motion to end public comments motion motion any second for motion to public comments second second all in favor motion to adjin the meeting motion second all in favor I meeting is a on [Music]