[Music] indivisible withy and jusice for thank you roll call Mr to yes Mr buau Patel here Mr Romano here miss Pang Miss White here Mr Schneider here Mr rera present Mr vichel Patel Miss Ana Patel here Mr Lugo here you have a quorum right uh opening statement yes in accordance with the open public meetings Act 1973 c231 Sunshine Law the Edison Township Board of Education has called No notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time in place thereof posted in the Board of Education administrative offices copies of these notices sent to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger thank you at this point we will adjin to previl session in accordance with njsa Section 10412 the ENT Township Board of Education adjs to confidential session for the purpose of discussing the following confidential personal and board matters pending litigation student matters property acquisition 2022 23 district and school self assessment grade report motion to Ed on motion all in favor I I I don't think we we had join the privil session and we will resume our regular meeting at 7:00 I seconded it Mr thank you you didn't hear it thank you okay thanks call to order at this time we'll reconvene to open session roll call Mr to Mr Lugo here M Patel here Mr Vel Patel president Mr AA here Mr Schneider here miss white here miss Pang here Mr Rano here Mr B Patel present we have a quorum thank you uh before we start our open session we want to observe a moment of silence for two people who just passed away yesterday they had terrific contributions to the school district it's a huge loss for Edison Township School District Andy Rola and Jim M let's observe a moment of silence thank you all right so this is going to be a long one so bear with me I know everyone is excited about today's presentation so welcome to this evening's U Board of Education Action meeting we have a full agenda today including facility improvements architecture form appointments auditor renewals and the renewal of our financial advisor later we will also discuss see presentation of our Brokers first I want to acknowledge that may is Asian American Pacific calendar heritage month I had a pleasure of attending um an impressive aapi assembly at woodro Wilson Middle School last week with our PR vice president Mr Romano uh kudos to Mrs hesa Patel Mrs blevens uh Mrs mandata uh and the staff members and all the students of woodro wison middle school for their extraordinary efforts and students's wonderful performance at the aapi assembly I would also like to congratulate all the seniors who received awards at Edison High School senior night here last week on May 16th this is an event I always look forward to as celebrating students achievements is very important to me personally I believe in recognizing every single Improvement and achievement for the seniors at JP Stevens High School who will be recognized on June 6th we look forward on celebrating with you I also had a pleasure to attend Edison Coral Festival where I witnessed wonderful performances by students students from both the high schools thank you to Mr Lee uh Mr listner and all the students and staff members who worked extremely hard to put such a big event together later this evening I'll provide an update on our ad hoc culture and climate committee which I had asked uh superintendent Dr alrai to create that to raise to address the concerns that were raised regarding the student safety vaping and the drug issues which is also a national issue as well as to provide an update on the bullying data this speaks to the vital importance of providing a positive and safe middle and high school climate to all of our students in all of our buildings our first meeting was very productive and we plan to hold the webinar on June 3rd to seek parent input I take the safety of our students very seriously including the conditions in the bathrooms which were brought upon to our attention recently and the overall culture and climate of our buildings I will continue to work with the administration in their commitment to our students over the past four years I have consistently praised the hard work of all of our Educators and staff members this month as the schools celebrated teachers recognition month I also attended annual Guru W program which was hosted by HSS of central New Jersey this honors Educators contributions the event was organized by HSS chapters in central New Jersey and attended by several teachers from medison Township School District and it showcases their commitment to recognizing the significant role of our teachers every year HSS invites the teachers and students and students and parents welcome the teachers in the Guru vanana event which shows the appreciation through traditional Customs this event emphasizes the importance of a guru a teacher who guides the students towards Enlightenment and success now you won't have to wait too long it's coming to the best part uh now to one of my favorite parts of the year in addition to student recognition this evening is our annual teacher and Educational Services professional Rec recog night this is a special evening for all of you as you are the backbone of our school district you play a very vital role in the wonderful things that our students learn and Achieve every single day your hard work your passion and resilience are truly appreciated by everyone in the school district together we all make Edison school district very proud you are a testament to the extraordinary commitment to our staff parents and students and the pursuit of Excellence for those who are recognized today a huge congratulations we heartily thank you and appreciate all your efforts and all your exceptional contributions that you make to the district every single day and you make all of us very proud my deepest gratitude to all of you and to our Educators who are not recognized today you are also deeply valued so to all the Educators and all the services professionals everyone who is recognized today this is your moment enjoy the time and that being said I will pass it on to our Rockstar Dr aleri right all right thank you Mr board president uh good evening ladies and gents how's everybody doing come on it's we got family friends teachers everybody's here you can do a little bit better than that how we doing all right this is the uh the hash we are1 Edison photo all in one shot right here hope so hopefully Miss Daniel was able to tweet that out tonight um listen I'm going to keep my comments brief this even evening I I Echo the sentiments of board president Patel um and heartfelt condolences obviously to the families of uh the dinas uh and the uh moldies as well as um I know they made a huge impact on staff students in the community here in Edison Township so um our uh our heartfelt condolences goes out from all of us here in Edison Township um for me this board meeting and the one in June is why we are here right this is this is this is what we do teaching and learning leadership building staff capacity student achievement it is the most important thing that we do each and every day and although this is the formal celebration of this I know our building leaders our supervisors and our central office staff can't thank you enough for what you do for our kids each and every day it does not go unnoticed by myself or anybody that works in my charge I thank you so much for the work that you do this is fantastic every board meeting should be like this it should be a celebration of what we do here in Edison for our students and for our staff you should give yourselves a round of applause keep up the great work we're ending the year on a high note we're ending the year on a high note and and with that that'll be all my comments for this evening Mr Patel all right thank you so much and uh next without any further delay we'll start the wonderful celebration appreciating recognizing all of you thank you [Music] on behalf of the entire JP Stevens Community I'm pleased to take a few minutes to congratulate our Teacher of the Year Joe cashen I've known for about a week now that I was going to speak about Joe so I went around asking his colleagues and students about the man what's he really like the words I heard over and over again were thoughtful kind selfless forward-thinking he's a man of character exceptional character and by the way he's an exceptional educator he's a leader in our English Department and our school Joe volunteers his time to help students often times during his prep period no matter where when or with whom Joe is always there to help he coaches soccer and baseball as well and always instills in his players and his students the confidence to do the best they can he he's a man of integrity and I can't speak enough about Joe um he's just it's been a Super Choice this year congratulations Joe cashion I think my favorite memories in teaching really surround all the outside of the classroom thing so helping students apply for college apply for job jobs if there's any sort of issue with any health insurance or any way I could just kind of help be their advocate for them and the hopes that they then pass that on and they continue to grow and have success uh beyond the classroom congratulations to Shah eatman the ESP of the year and the middle sex County school counselor of the year she's our AP coordinator handling a ton of AP exams she's a kind and generous school counselor who works with all of her students to make sure that they're successful through high school she runs the black student union as well and she just brings a positive happy energy to everything she does at JP Stevens we're so proud to have her here and she's we're proud that she won these Awards what's great about Edison highy this year's teacher of the year Dr Jonathan Clark as our Latin teacher he takes our students from being a lost Legions of Rome to being the junior class schal League you'll find every single day he's in the class getting the students moving getting them motivated but he does so much more than that whether it's his work with having everybody find their inter rment or it's all the work beautifying our already beautiful school with the courtyard Club there's nobody that cares more or bleeds more red and gold than Dr Jonathan Clark thank you very much for all you do for our students those moments when the interaction is such that that there's humor that maybe I had not anticipated initially being there there but that moment of we're being serious but we can also laugh about it I think are Great Moments um and I'm part of the reason why I stay in the job and I tell the students is is that I'm they surprise me um pleasantly and it's it's those sort of moments um of laughter but seriousness too that that keep me going we are so proud to announce Miss Arno as the power professional of the year for Edison High School anytime walk into a classroom where Miss Arno is you immediately feel the warmth that surrounds her students are smiling and so are the teachers every teacher that I talked to about M Miss Arno has said the same thing she goes above and beyond for her students and you feel that when you walk in and see how drawn the students are to her Miss Arno you are what's great about Edison High good evening it is my honor to recognize miss Cameron as our teacher of the year as a dedicated 7 grade science teacher Miss Cameron serves as an inspiration to her students colleagues and our entire School Community one of her most remarkable skills is her ability to design interactive and dynamic lessons that Captivate her students imaginations her commitment to education extends beyond the classroom positively impacting our school Community this year she was also awarded advisor of the Year by the FBA State Organization for her outstanding work as a co- adviser additionally she is one of the driving forces behind our wwms Sunshine Club celebrating the milestones and joyous moments of our staff she's a champion for all students in and out of the classroom congratulations Miss Cameron on this well-deserved recognition I would say one of my favorite memories is taking um some of my students I run fbaa so we took some students to Chicago and Atlanta it was really nice to be be able to create those opportunities and experiences for them they might not have otherwise good evening today I have the honor of celebrating someone truly remarkable in our school Community Rua fanic our dedicated school nurse embodies kindness compassion and an unwavering dedication to the well-being of our students families and staff whether providing Comfort to a student in need or offering support to a worried parent ruler consistently puts others first her commitment to our school Community is inspiring and I'm thrilled to announce that she has been selected for the ESP of the Year award let's join together in recognizing roua for her invaluable contributions to our school congratulations roua it is my honor to recognize Mrs Maria Weber as Thomas Jefferson Middle School's teacher of the year over her remarkable 34-year career as a special education teacher Mrs Weber has been a beacon of inspiration in the classroom but also a Guiding Light for compassion and inclusivity each day she goes above and beyond to ensure that every student feels empowered to achieve their academic and personal goals Mrs Weber serves as an adviser for the school store where students gain valuable skills in sales and marketing Inventory management and teamwork under her guidance through her unwavering dedication and tireless advocacy Mrs Weber has transformed the lives of countless students her passion empathy and commitment to Excellence Inspire us all congratulations Mrs Weber on this well-deserved recognition what resonates in me the most and makes me want to do this job is when I hear a student say to me thank you for teaching me how to read thank you for helping me learn how to read um especially at this age and I know that I can send them off to high school feeling comfortable that they can read at some level earlier this year Thomas Jefferson Middle School was delighted to select and announce Miss Rita Desai as our Educational Service professional for the 2023 2024 school year Mrs Desai is a power professional in our lld program where she works with the students in a professional and caring manner each and every day she goes above and beyond to help the students and other staff members ensuring that the Learners have the best possible opportunity to succeed congratulations on being selected for this well-deserved honor congratulations to Mr Adam sack the John Adams Middle School teacher of the year his exceptional work as social studies and Aces teacher Mentor learning leader team leader parent University presenter an AI Power Team Member truly exemplify what it means to be jamazing I'm incredibly proud of his achievements and for inspiring and shaping young minds thank you so much for all you do Mr sack you truly are jamazing when I was 16 I started coaching and teaching swimming lessons um and that was really where I you know kind of enjoyed the experience um being a teacher myself going into college I you know knew right away I wanted to be a teacher and um have never really ever questioned uh my career choice good morning it's my great honor to recognize Mr Abraham Gama as Don Middle School Educational Service professional the year Mr glama is compassionate kind and caring always meeting students where they are and helps them towards their learning goals he can be seeing each and every Friday rocking his coffee house t-shirt making sure that students uh are compassionate and greeting their customers counts change restock the shelves and all around is a great asset to the school so without further Ado I'm very pleased to recognize Mr Lama as Johns Middle School's Educational Service professional of the Year thank you it's my honor to introduce Mrs Kelly Farrell Herbert Hoover Middle School's 2023 2024 teacher of the year Mrs Farrell is an experienced special education teacher who sets high standards for her students and who works tirelessly to ensure that each student meets those standards Mrs Farrell takes the time to understand each of her students including who they are how they learn and those things that are unique to each child a few things that make Mrs far unique are the way that she enthusiastically shares her love of her family her work and her Irish heritage each year an entire month before St Patrick's Day Mrs farell begins wearing outfits that are exclusively and uniquely green in color in honor of her tribute to the Irish I will end my recognition of her Award with a limmerick Mrs Farrell at Hoover takes the lead in science she plants knowledge's seed her experiments pop excitement won't stop congratulations Mrs Farrell I'm very fortunate I started teaching here at Herbert Hoover when I was 22 and I have been here now for half my life and it's crazy to say that but um just the people that I work with and the kids that I work with and the connections and the relationships that you make is it's just an Indescribable thing and it's why I come here every day and why I'm so lucky to to be here is my honor to present Miss Jordan's Smothers as Herbert Hoover Middle School's Educational Services professional of the year for the past three years Miss mothers has served as an exemplary counselor to our eighth grade class but she goes beyond just being their counselor she's been a mentor a confidant a cheerleader and a coach to the nearly 350 students she oversees through her tireless efforts and genuine concern for their academic social and emotional growth she has created a safe and nurturing environment where students feel valued supported and empowered to reach their full potential Miss mothers is a true champion for our students a pillar of strength in our school community and a shining example of the difference that one individual can make in the lives of others thank you Miss mothers for all that you do for our students their families and our staff we appreciate you congratulations it brings me immense joy to celebrate Miss Cindy aimo as our educator of the year at FD are Miss Cindy your unwavering commitment to creating a warm safe and welcoming environment is truly remarkable you lead by example tirelessly working to ensure that each student's needs are met and you can cultivate strong relationships with both the children and their families making sure that we have a cohesive team to support our kids your dedication has made a profound difference in countless lives and we are fortunate to have you at FDR and as part of our family congratulations Miss Cindy on this well-deserved recognition your passion for teaching and your enthusiasm inspir us inspires us all and we are thankful that you are part of our school Community when you have a child that starts school there's no language and then slowly there starting to follow the routine of the day and they start to use their words I think those times those memories are are the best and the parents are grateful because they had a child that might not have been speaking and now are saying a few words and I think that's the best part of it all here is watching the growth today I am thrilled to celebrate the incredible Miss Carrie Aubrey our Educational Services professional of the year at FDR Miss Carrie you are an amazing par professional your dedication and warmth have greeted our students for years setting the stage for a nurturing learning environment your collaborative spirit ensured that every child's needs were fully understood and met leaving a lasting impact on their growth Miss Carrie your presence enriched our school Community beyond measure and thank you for everything that you've done congratulations on this well-deserved honor Mrs Nunes is the kind of teacher that amazes us with her passion and urg to reach all of her students she goes above and beyond to engage each and every student in order to ensure that they are all actively engaged in their own learning and assessment she has a strong connection to her multilanguage Learners because as she says that was me she works to ensure that all students gain empathy for people in life who have some difficulties and for animals around the world and then she also works at the entire grade level to celebrate upbeat local Traditions Mrs Nunes extends her support Beyond her classro actively seeking resources and donations to establish Hands-On stem clubs for students of all ages at Woodbrook in addition she dedicates time to tutoring students before school hours behind the scenes Mrs Nunes orchestrates schoolwide stem activities for Halloween and for the holiday enhancing the Ed educational experience for the entire School Community Mrs Nunes maintains an open door policy for visitors and student teachers and has mentored successful new teachers as well she's a true asset to Woodbrook to the district and to each and every student who's been fortunate enough to have her as their teacher thank you Mrs Nunes for exemplifying wood Brooks teacher of the year congratulations um one of my favorite memories actually just just this past week that pass one of my students came up to me and said you know Mrs Nunes I'm going to be a teacher one day and I said really that's amazing and she said I'm going to teach here at Woodbrook and I'm going to be your assistant and I said really I would love that and I said to her we'll teach side by side so she really touched my heart when she said that to me congratulations to Mr adona on being selected as wood Brook's educational support professional of the year your dedication to our students is truly inspiring your meticulous nature shines through in the impeccable organization of our library which Fosters an environment where learning can happen beyond that your Readiness to assist both staff and students makes you an invaluable asset to the Woodbrook Community thank you Mr adona for your outstanding contributions to Woodbrook Washington school is fortunate to name Miss Jennifer pitko as our teacher of the year a fine product of the Ed school system herself not a day goes by you won't find Mrs pitko laughing with students and colleagues we sometimes joke that she should take her comedy show on the road she is enthusiastic creative and truly engages students in Hands-On learning what other teacher would have a pumpkin rotting in a tupperware container in the back of her room so that students could see how new seedlings are developed keep an eye out for Washington school's pumpkin patch coming this fall Mrs pavito knows her students well and advocates for what they need to be successful but what is most special about Mrs pitko is her passion to help others while expecting nothing in return she's always one of the first to ask how she can help families in our community she supports our families in navigating their child's education not only in English but by using her Spanish skills too delivering food to houses and pantries donating goods and offering to help out any way possible are just some of the ways Mrs pitko is selfless to others she's one of our teacher liaison to the parent teacher organization from brainstorming for fundraising ideas to the execution of events she's our go-to thank you Mrs pitko for being a leader both inside and outside of your classroom we are very grateful to have you at Washington School seeing children when they have that light bulb idea that comes to their mind and they really grasp on to something and understand something right now in third grade we're working on multiplication and it's like such a wonderful thing when they start to have those aha moments Mrs jiki sella is our 2024 Educational Service professional of the year at Washington Elementary School she began in The District in 2016 as a substitute joined the FDR staff as a pair professional in 2020 and came to Washington School in 2021 Mrs Cella shows compassion for her students and respect for all she is an inspiration to all and a valued member of our school Community thank you Mrs Cella we adore Miss Jennifer Altman our teacher of the year at James Monroe a proud product of the Edison Township School District Miss Altman devoted 25 years of exemplary service one of Miss Altman's strengths lies in her ability to connect with her students she takes the time to truly know each child this dedication extends beyond the classroom as she stays in contact with her students demonstrating a genuine interest in their over overall well-being Miss Altman has been at the Forefront of educational Innovation piloting new programs implementing standards based report cards and dedicating her Summers to literacy Academy and her active involvement in school events exemplifies her commitment to fostering a sense of community and school spirit in addition to her role as a teacher Miss Altman serves as a mentor to new Educators generously sharing her wealth of experience and best practices her warmth and infectious smile brightens her first grade classroom and we are grateful for the positive impact she's had on the James Monroe Community when I was little my parents bought me this fullsize chalkboard for my playroom and I had everything I had the chalk the white chalk the yellow chalk the erasers the chalk holders and I would go to school and then come home and do exactly what I did at school in my playroom with my class um so I'm not quite sure it's just always something I was going to be was a teacher and and I love it I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else it is an honor to congratulate Mrs SS as the ESP of the year for our James Monroe Community she is a huge asset to our school building not only is she an amazing Library Aid who manages and organizes the library every day but she also brings in monthly themes she does conducts read alouds for our students in her daily Library classes she's even brought in stuffed animals to act as reading stes for all of our students when they participate she's added a puzzle table to our library all to make the experience of reading magical and enchanting in addition to her regular duties as our library a she also hosts our annual science fair this year with over 70 participants we are honored to present this award to Mrs SS congratulations hello my name is Miss paper senos principal of Martin Luther King Elementary it's my honor to celebrate K's Teacher of the Year miss clli miss CLL is a true champion of Education whose impact extends beyond the walls for classroom Mr belly is not just an educator she's a mentor counselor cheerleader and confident Mr belly sees the potential in each and every child and works tirelessly to help them realize it she creates a safe and nurturing environment where Curiosities en courage mistakes are celebrated as opportunities for growth and kindness Reigns Supreme thank you Miss Mr B for your unwavering dedication your boundless passion and your profound commitment to shaping the future you are an inspiration for us all so my favorite memory among many is that my first year when I started teaching I was walking down the hallway to my first classroom I was nervous and I heard somebody yell Michelle Dean and I turned around and it was my first kindergarten teacher and she was now my colleague and so I got to work with her and that was just such a wonderful memory I am proud to introduce Valerie yui our reading specialist and educational support professional of the Year Mrs yui displays immense dedication and passion for fostering literacy and learning at MLK from serving on our inrs committee as a case manager and valuable resource furthering our education to better understand the needs of our Learners to founding our School's First reading committee her tireless efforts have not only enriched the minds of our students but also inspired colleagues and parents alike congratulations Mrs yui we truly appreciate your commitment to nurturing a love for reading among our students this year at mle Pork school we have an extremely noteworthy person for our teacher of the year this is none other than our Music Teacher Diane Ruiz she is absolutely phenomenal she's always doing creative lessons she's our safety patrol adviser she heads up our chorus she attends every music concert and works with her uh other colleagues in the music department she I can't say enough good things about her she's also involved in the Edison Community as she is a chorus director at one of our nearby churches so we wish her all the best she's incredibly deserving she's been part of the mow Park School Community for 41 years and every year she's being creative and Innovative and such an integral part of our school so congratulations Mrs Diane Ruiz my favorite one that I have to say I have a a child that is what's called a Selective mute and does not participate verbally in in the class but wrote me a song and chose to record it at home and then shared the recording with me and I I was over the moon I just couldn't believe that I've inspired that kid to want to actually write something and then share with me Miss Anthony embodies the unwavering dedication and tireless commitment as her role as a parir professional her Boundless Energy and passion Infuse every aspect of her work from supporting students academic Journeys to fostering a nurturing environment within our school Community with their compassionate spirit and unparalleled expertise Miss Anthony goes above and beyond to ensure every student feels valued and empowered her steadfast presence and invaluable contributions serve as a beacon of inspiration shaping the future of all of our students today we celebrate Miss Anthony as men Parks educational support professional of the year lynon school is is proud to present Christina gerovich as the 2324 Governor's educator of the Year miss gerovich has served as a first grade teacher interventionist and kindergarten teacher throughout her 18-year career regardless of the role she has earned the respect of students families and colleagues for her dedication to student growth and development Mrs gic's students describe her as fun smart silly pretty and most importantly caring entering into her classroom you will find students engaged in their daily lessons collaborating with one another and growing their social and academic skills in a variety of ways it is amazing to witness the transformation of a kindergarten student from September all the way through their moving up ceremony in June as they prepare for grade one aside from being a great teacher Mrs gerovich is a supportive colleague and champion of lindenow school she serves on a variety of committees sharing her perspective and ideas to improve the school climate and culture for all of these reasons and so many more we are happy to congratulate Christina gerovich for being selected as the 2324 Governor educator of the year for Lyon out School congratulations Christina a student that I had two years in a row I taught her in kindergarten and then looped with her into first grade and just seeing her um blossom into the individual she became socially academically in those two years was you know a tremendous amount of growth and um it's nice that she still comes back to visit till this day as she's in middle school and remembers being in my class as much as I remember teaching her I am so excited to share that Michelle carvas is our educational support professional of the Year Michelle goes above and beyond every single day for the students of Lindon now from serving on our pbsis committee to staying late when our buses aren't here Michelle really does make lynen out a great place to grow Michelle you put the excellent in ESP we are so proud to have you as our educational support professional of the Year Mrs naap is an extraordinary teacher and even better person she teaches self-contained LOD class here at Lincoln Elementary School her love and passion for Education can be felt as soon as you walk into her classroom she has DED dedicated her career to working with children of all cultures and disabilities she loves every student and makes sure they feel love throughout the school day she has every student engaged in lessons based on their Readiness level she has at times seven different lessons going on it's truly incredible to see she currently is the chairperson of our special education committee the advisor to Unified sports club Mrs nap is a role model to all teachers and continues to to welcome teachers into a classroom to model effective teaching and behavioral strategies that could be used in any classroom setting she is the proud mom of two boys that she absolutely adores and smiles from ear to ear every time she talks about that in her spare time she also volunteers at a dog rescue center we are so proud of you Mrs naap congratulations Mrs nap on being Lincoln Elementary School's teacher of the year when I was in high school I worked with the Adaptive fed teacher with the students with disabilities and I absolutely loved it so when I went to college and I decided I wanted to be a teacher I'm like I have to be a special education teacher it really inspired me shaie Sasso is our Educational Service professional of the year and we are so proud of her Mrs Sasso goes above and beyond for all our students at Lincoln Elementary School she takes students for individual and group sessions observes students in different settings helps create Behavior plans and constantly advocates for students she also takes initiative to help homeless students and their families for example she raised over $700 for a family in need Miss sasso's door is always open to students and staff so much so I'm not sure how she gets anything done thank you for being such a resource for us all we appreciate you so much Mrs Sasso congrats to you on this award I am honored to be speaking about Wendy heck John Marshall's teacher of the year year she has helped our Learners become innovators dreamers and artists for the past 27 years Miss Haack has beautified John Marshall's hallways with bright and colorful handp painted murals if you are ever looking for Miss hack you will find her in the hallway hanging up students work Miss hack also participates in school spirit and wears unique earrings that all of our Learners love she is also the safety patrol adviser and always meets with her safety patrols to promote a positive school learning community these are just some of the reasons why Miss hack is so deserving of John Marshall's teacher of the year honestly my favorite memories are the ones that kind of occur now when that little magic happens and the first grader discovers you can take a leaf under a paper and make a rubbing and it magically appears on the paper or uh that crayon and water don't mix scientifically and now the crayon looks like it glows off the paper and their faces light up and so those would be probably my favorite memories that continuously happen our school nurse Brianna D carvalo is a beacon of care and compassion she's a Superhero in Scrubs Brianna has a heart full of empathy and hands very skilled in healing she is insightful and kind and she connects school and home with her exceptional communication skills that are timely and effective she also shares her generous smiles and that helps everyone our school nurse is topnotch unparalleled and second to none we love you Mrs de carvalo it is with great pleasure that I introduce you to miss Taylor tosti jmp's teacher of the year since day one Mrs tasti has exhibited all the major attributes that you went in a teacher she demonstrates genuine care for each student addressing their individual needs and and tirelessly working to ensure they reach their full potential whenever presented with a new challenge Mrs tady accepts it eagerly and without hesitation outside of the classroom she has served as a club adviser for various new clubs including our student Sunshine committee where students created positive messages cards and artwork to support not only JMP Community but the Edison Community as a whole furthermore Mrs tsa's impact extends beyond our JMP students to numerous kids eager to delve into the World of Dance sharing her passion expertise directly after school through her dance classes she truly is a teacher from morning till night in fact fact is challenging to find a moment when she's not teaching which underscores her undeniable worthiness of this recognition J&P is honored to have her as a cherished member of our family congratulations Mrs tsat on becoming jmp's teacher of the year one thing that sticks out in my mind is when my class did a board game day they earned a full class reward and I said all right let's bring in board games and just play for a whole afternoon and they went above and beyond we had like 30 plus games and I was literally like juggling playing multiple games with them and they were just laughing and smiling all day and I'll never forget that day I am so honored to introduce our incredible Educational Service professional of the Year nurse Suarez she is an integral part of not only JMP but also the Edison Community she goes above and beyond for JMP students staff each and every day she helps heal more than cuts and scrapes she also helps heal Hearts congratulations misses Mr Morales is a positive force in our school over his time at jmi he has fostered a love of physical education in his students in a variety of different settings showing his ability to adapt to an everchanging environment whether teaching in the multi-purpose room classrooms outside or in the hallways Mr Morales figures out a way to get students to be physical and challenge themselves m Mr Morales is the epitome of a lifelong learner and he always finds ways to improve his craft and his goal of engaging all his students whether starting his class with his famous dad jokes or learning how to communicate with non-verbal students Mr Morales strives to make a personal connection with all his students his passion for fostering healthy lifestyle extends beyond the walls of our classroom with him getting students involved in our Cricket Club Basketball Club and our project UniFi as our project UniFi Ambassador Mr Morales is constantly finding ways to bring out the best in our students and make our jmi community more inclusive and caring thank you Mr Morales for your leadership dedication commitment your NeverEnding supply of not too terrible dad jokes and for caring about our students as if they are your own congratulations Mr Morales on being named jmis 20 20 24 teacher of the year when I was done playing baseball at the age of 18 for like Recreation he said uh what are you going to do now I said I have no idea and he said uh you're going to come coach for me I was like oh I am he goes yeah I think you'd make a great coach I've seen you you know with kids and everything you're great with kids so you're going to come coach at me and just being his assistant coach and watching how he dealt with the kids inspired me to want to you know do the same thing so what I'm teaching I would like to congratulate Miss Laura store as the educational support professor of the year for James Madison Intermediate School Miss dor is instrumental in the inclusion of our self-contained and special education population into the general School Community M stor Works hand inand with the self-contained teachers and the general education teachers in making sure that all students receive the expressive and receptive langage anguage skills necessary to be successful and that's why I would like to express a special thank you to miss door for all that you do here at jmi congratulations again miss stor as the educational support professional of the year it is my pleasure to introduce you to Ben Franklin's Teacher of the Year miss Sophie Shakara Sophie serves as one of our self-contained teachers here on the Ben campus and I can even begin to uh commend her for her high levels of energy commitment and dedication to serving our children she is highly collaborative exceptionally empathetic super compassionate and just an overall exceptional human being I am so proud of you Sophie congratulations it's not the big things it's like the tiny things so for them to just say something or make a a sound independently or go on their own in and transition into another classroom by themselves and not feel so scared and make them feel like was home in my classroom and this whole school Community feel like home for them I think that's the greatest memory it is now my pleasure to introduce to you Ben Franklin's educational support professional of the year to someone who has been most deserving of this award for some time Miss Jessica flarez Miss flarez is Ben's guance counselor and is a true figured here on our campus Jessica is highly compassionate super energetic and comes to work each and every day with the mindset of making the lives better for our students while simultaneously making herself available to all of our staff members for whatever the need may be she's credited with many initiatives including our pbsis program I'm super proud of you as well Jessica I hope you're proud of yourself continue to let your lightning shine I am thrilled to announce that Ms Laura French is is the educator of the year at EC Miss Laura you are a magician in the classroom turning learning into pure fun your dedication to our students is unparalleled and you make a relationship with each child ensuring their success but what really sets you apart is the magic that you bring the way you light up a room and make learning and Adventure your rapport with students is incredible ible creating a positive and happy environment where every child thrives you truly love each child meeting them at their need we are so lucky to have you at the ELC congratulations Miss Laura French on this welld deserved recognition and May the force be with you as you continue to spread your magic in the classroom I do there's so many memories but um one year several years ago I had um end of the year graduation and preschool program and there was a student that was usually in a wheelchair and he had learned to walk with a walker and he was able to walk in the procession and there wasn't a dry eye in the house and the same um that same program we also had a mom that had returned from deployment and we were able to capture a video of her seeing her child for the first time and it was just it was just a great memory that we always I think I'll always remember it is my distinct honor to recognize Mr Bill Donner as our Educational Services professional of the year at EC Mr Bill you are an amazing child study team case manager who ensures that every child's needs are met and tailored collaborating seamlessly with our teaching staff you guide each student towards success your genuine care shines through as you give those high fives to every child as they enter school every day Mr Bill you are an incredible asset to EC we are fortunate to have you and this recognition is truly a mark of everything that you do for kids [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Right congratulations once again everyone that was better than watching a Super Bowl so thank you so much uh now I would like to give the floor to Mrs Goomer who will um you know honor you all and let's take some great pictures with bouet flowers and let's celebrate everyone thank you here you go Mrs gommer Board of Education president barl Patel Vice President Joe Romano and the rest of the Board of Education welcome here tonight this is my by far my favorite day of the year uh every time I interview a new candidate to our district I asked them why they went into the educational profession either as teachers or a counselor Library whatever it is I find that they fall into three categories the first is they say I knew when I was in elementary school the second one is I went into career and I felt my calling was to work with kids and the third is often I had a teacher who fill in the blank regardless of why all of these teachers here today went into the profession I'm pretty confident as we all are that you definitely are going to be those teachers who now Inspire your students to go into the profession and it's my distinct pleasure to be able to stand up here and say thank you to you I'm going to be calling each uh recipient up with their principal and their Vice principls if they are here uh if you would come up to the front family this is when you get to cheer take pictures and just be that supportive family and get to really celebrate your people today so first up I'd like to ask Dr bra to come up to present to Sophie chakura and Jessica [Applause] Flores families don't be scared to come up and take pictures we know how you are [Applause] from James Madison Intermediate School I'd like to call up Miss Donna Abbott Marco and Brian murfield to present to Christopher Morales and Laura store [Applause] from James Madison primary school I'd like to call it Mr Syler Taylor tosatti and Liza Suarez [Applause] from James Monroe Elementary School I'd like to call up Miss Cindy faroh and Maggie Kenan and Miss Jennifer Alman and Aaron SS [Applause] from John Marshall Elementary School I'd like to call out Miss Amy Hoffman Miss Wendy heck and Brianna de cavalo [Applause] from Lincoln Elementary School I'd like to call up Mr Shan Scully Tony DeFazio Lisa nap and shaie Sasso [Applause] he sorry no go ahead it's fine I can take go go go go seriously from lindenow elementary school we have Mr platet Jennifer Fischer Christina gerovich and Michelle carosi [Applause] from meno Park Elementary School come up Mr Dugen and Dr Feldman Diane Ruiz and hea Anthony from Martin Luther King Elementary School uh Miss Gina papos and Lisa dleb back if Michelle ceski and valer uni could please come up [Applause] from Washington Elementary School Sandra Schlatter and truck Lan Vu to present to Jennifer pavito and janaki Cella [Applause] we from Woodbrook Elementary School if Miss cillo and Mr Randy narvas can come up n Nunes and David adinolfi [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] from Herbert Hoover Middle School Mr Brian McGrath and his honores Kelly farell and Jordan's mothers from John Adams Middle School Dr Joan Valentine going to present to Adam saach and Abraham GL Lama [Applause] [Applause] from Thomas Jefferson Middle School I'm presenting Miss Anto emden Maria Weber and Rita Desai [Applause] from woodro Wilson Middle School Jennifer blevens Nick Zino and Renu mandada presenting Christine Cameron and Rua fanic could not be here today [Applause] from Edison High School Mr Charles Ross to present Dr Jonathan Clark and yoosta or Arno sorry and from JP Stevens High School Mr Robert Robertson to present to Joseph cashen and Shaha Hall eatman [Applause] [Applause] and from eelc Dr Anthony shot to present to Laura French and Bill [Applause] Doner plant and if I can ask Dr sh to stay up there from FDR he will be presenting to Cindy aimo and Carrie [Applause] Aubrey for congratulations to all the recipients and to all the teachers and staff you are why we can do what we do you are the heart of this organization and we thank you for a beautiful year thank you Mrs Gomer and thank you so much uh all the wonderful teachers and all the esps of the Year congratulations before we dismiss you all to your After parties wherever you going like Tommy or Applebees or Fridays or wherever we just want couple of more minutes from you so that you can see our wonderful student Representatives so first from Edison High School Mrs charvey padman abini good afternoon Board of Education members and public my name is Char PAB and I'm the student council president and student student representative from Edison High School recently Edison High School we had our battle the classes event it went successfully and we had over 120 students in attendance it started during period 11 and ended towards 400 p.m. towards the end of the event we had free bubble te for the students who signed up which was sponsored by a Kei bubble te the event ended in a tie causing the student council to host a penny War which will be held during the lunches classes and staff will be to compete by giving money and pennies in a jar to see who can raise the most money to win the battle the classes event we'll be having our culture Fair on May 24th that the DECA is hosting this will allow students to immerse themselves in the different cultures at Edison High School the orchestra concert will be on May 23rd from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and we hope it goes successfully thank you thank you next uh JP Stevens student council president Mr Aaron bunel good evening everyone and a big congratulations to all the honores here tonight my name is Aaron Bol and I'm the student council president at JP Stevens High School since the last Board of Education meeting our student body has continued participating in their respective extracurricular activities and are wrapping up their club events for the year recently our model United Nations Club hosted their own conference the gymon which was their final conference for the year as a club we've also been making significant strives to in promoting inclusivity within JP Stevens as we sent our diversity equity and inclusion team to Wood Wilson to present to the students from all four middle schools additionally our music program with our school band performed this month also at wooder Wilson due to the renovations currently occurring in our Auditorium in addition to these events the spring sports are also wrapping up and our sports teams have been doing amazing three members of our boys tennis team won the respective flights in the tennis GMC tournament this year and in Spring Track both our boys and girls distance teams and the high jumps teams set school records and place top three in their respective GMC tournaments um moving on to student council matters we've wrapped up our annual spring event JPS Family Feud that took the place of our old JP tradition Mr JPS the event was very successful and is something we hope to run in the future as well we hosted our teacher appreciation breakfast this um this month where many of our teachers came together and received appreciation gifts from the student counil overall it was a huge success and our teachers were very grateful for the breakfast in the coming weeks we'll be organizing our yearly botc event event which is currently being set for Mid June we're also continuing our botc mini games during the launch peers which have been a great success and have helped us Foster a greater school spirit overall JP Stevens has been conducting many events and I hope the board has gained a good perception of JP's current affairs thank you all not only for your time but the consistent effort each and every one of you guys put into making all of this possible your efforts don't go unseen and they continue making a difference in each and every one of our lives every single day so thank you to both our high school Representatives at this point we'll dismiss you all to your After parties congratulations all the best and have a wonderful rest of the school year at this point board will take a recess and we reconvene back um soon thank you right call to order again uh at this point we'll open up for public comments resolutions only uh board president yes uh I'd like to introduce a resolution actually and make a motion to introduce a a resolution we discussed at the finance committee meeting um this resolution would be to bring back a portion of item four from last month's meeting um since that meeting this was about Academy construction since that meeting John to our business administrator has given the board plenty of education on what a co-op is um we had plenty of times to ask uh Dr Al delli and Dr U and Mr to about um co-ops and um we actually discussed this in our committee as well which you'll hear about I'm sure in the minutes so I'd like this resolution and this motion to include um the following bullet points from item four from last month's agenda which was tabled it's a total of 23 bathrooms for bathrooms for our entire District to be specific this is four bathrooms for Ben Franklin four bathrooms for this building Edison High School five bathrooms for Herbert Hoover Middle School two bathrooms for Lincoln Elementary School four bathrooms for woodro Wilson Middle School and four bathrooms for MLK Elementary that is a total of 23 bathrooms for a total of 1,393 536 so those bullet points would be the motion on the floor please Mr President do I have a second I'll second that motion all right board member comments then we'll open up to public comments on the resolution I'm for putting everything that was tabled on the on today's agenda you can you can do a vote on the roll call you will get an opportunity during the rooll call here for it right okay any other board member comments my motion on the floor is just the bathrooms right now Mr Rivera yeah my motion is to put everything that was tabled on it if possible you can only do there is only one motion right now Mr Schneider has put a motion for bathrooms he has stated in detail about all the amount and all the Motions any board members has any comment on that specific motion that Mr Schneider put together here yes Mrs Pang so this is just to go without baiting is that we're going to give it to co-op without bidding that's the motion so in uh what Mr to showed us was that um this is the first time I'm hearing this resolution so I'm just asking so Mrs p i I'll will answer to that sure so Mrs Pang that is correct it is without bidding this is the same from my understanding and I will have to have Mr to way in here from my understanding yes Mr Schneider you are correct this was table in the last meeting we tabled quite a few things here we tabled almost over $3 million of work then in the following meeting probably it was May 7th we brought some stuff back which was crucial such as jmi turill some of the things were important right like U to get the Success Academy started on time right the bathrooms and everything is summer work right now Mr Schneider just to correct you you're only specific about the bathrooms right 23 bathrooms throughout town so 23 bathrooms so let's take one at a time 23 bathrooms there was stuff other than that but we are talking about 23 bathrooms here we tabled other stuff such as painting painting the gym right Mr to there was painting a gym in in uh in the stuff we table painting painting of the gym yeah painting of the gym there was U yeah gym painting new ceiling in classroom multi-purpose room Renovations and all the other stuff over here the motion is for the bathrooms what happened is academic construction and it's a from water industry is a part of the co-op had got almost close to $4 million of work or about $3 million of work this motion is 1393 get 536 not million Mr to I believe has a record of the motion and before we make a roll call will probably make sure what the motion is so the table was to you know um because everything was going to one company without any public bids so this means if we agree to this motion we are not going to bid we are not going to bid for the work so about 1.5 million of work goes without bidding we are going out without bidding we already approved without bidding last month or this month some work for turfield for Success Academy and for other stuff to Academy construction now academy construction I don't know which company is that what they do maybe they are Construction Company maybe they are good company they are bad company I don't know anything about it but so my concern over here is academic construction should not be getting millions of dollars of work here without bidding by doing this we are giving one company millions of dollars of work without bidding I've Sav my statement as a board member comment if anyone doesn't have any board member comments we'll go open up to public for the comments president I have a board member comment yes go ahead so in our finance committee meeting we uh talked about it and also on email uh when you say there's no bidding that's misleading because the way that the co-op works is that these companies have to be vetted through the State Co-Op and they bid to get into the State Co-Op is that correct Mr to that's correct so um by saying it's it's not being bid would not be accurate the second part is that we do um even with a co-op from our learning from Mr to they have to still get multiple bit uh quotes right so um the totality of this work which is 1.39 3536 was less than half of what the second quote was and while I appreciate our stewardship of tax dollars I'm very concerned about 23 bathrooms throughout town that need to be renovated we also have a lot of behavior issues in our bathrooms that as board members we hear about a lot and what I find is the nicer our bathrooms are the nicer our facilities are we will respect the facility we'll respect the schools you're chuckling but that's true let's not go over F gestes like how how I'm chuckling that's not a discussion here you introduce a resolution I'm not Mr Schneider I not looking to pick up a fight here as a board president introduce a resolution I am doing a process over here where board members come in and then public will comment and then we'll make a roll call this thing may pass it may not pass I am just doing a process here so Mr Patel it's my do not go by my face gestures you put a resolution I respected that I did not even do a table of the motion okay do a table of the motion I'm just saying my comment so don't say I'm chuckling here Mr Patel it's my floor thank you okay so um 23 bathrooms I think that breaks down to about $63,000 a bathroom if it has to go to bid meaning not go through the co-op and go to bid my understanding is each and every one of those 23 bathrooms would need architectural drawings associated with it okay am I right Mr to it's accurate so um one thing is for sure if we don't approve this as it was on our agenda last month our children won't have renovated bathrooms this year this was summer work if we approve it right now tonight we have 23 fresh bathrooms scattered throughout this district for our school children and I believe that's important thank you thank you all right so Mr to why did we why can't we go out for bed here I I did not from my conversations with yourself with everyone else here I do not anticipate or see a situation our students cannot have a bathrooms this year renovated this year I am under the understanding that in the finance committee from what we discussed is God forbid that was my understanding um the bids can go out after yes we Mr kibaz or someone mentioned about the architecture being architect being invol I get that but what is the rocket science in this bid that we cannot renovate the bathrooms this year if we go out forbid so first of all um speaking to these projects which are our summer projects and I you know there's a lot about Co-op and we're not bidding this that that's I just want to be very clear the company that's on a the co-op for whatever it is whether it's masonary General construction uh Plumbing they are awarded a bid for that work they have a bid and the lead agency whether it's the state of New Jersey and we're the secondary to that contract or it's the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey or hun Educational Services or Ed data whoever it is they're the lead agency they've bid this they've awarded the contract for whatever it is could be General construction like I said or some other uh product and service so this is technically it's been bid they're the lowest um could we get lower if we do the bid ourselves and hire an architect possibly possibly not um in regards to that resolution that was tabled the reason why we chose to uh utilize the co-op in terms of uh when it was uh the Success Academy was in order to get the project done in a short period of time so six weeks seven weeks of Summer same thing with bathrooms right uh you ideally you get out of school June 30th things are done you want to have uh work start around the 1st of July and hopefully get done you know some in the end of August so it's utilize the co-op in order to expedite things and get you know projects done in a short period of time because it takes out some of the additional design that's already been done by whoever is on the co-ops in-house people um along with you uh mobilizing and things of that nature um if we do go out out to bid which we could um and it comes back it may be higher uh it might be difficult to get on the winner winning contractor schedule uh and it could have be done during the year yeah probably but you're probably looking at second shift work right so looking at 4 to midnight going to pay a premium for that so that usually goes under premium time so I mean theoretically you could do one or the other the idea was to get this done as quickly as possible in order to benefit the kids right we put this as part of our budget plan it was part of our budget presentation which we approved so uh we were trying to move it forward that's why the resolution was there uh but in terms of compliance it's a it's a compliant bid in terms of procurement um it's just a matter of someone else did the bidding for us rather than us doing it ourselves hope I answered that thank you Mr to that was a very good explanation and we appreciate um the whole response and I know uh we discuss over emails that you explain the board members about the whole Co-op process now here's the thing uh I don't know if any board member is not supportive of the summer projects this is for our school we all supportive of the summer projects the concern over here was academic construction the same company same company getting so much of work right is it a fault of a board member here no this it's not a fault of a board member the same company getting so much of work millions of dollars it is clearly not justified when everything comes on the agenda at the same time which came in last month it was close to $4 million of work absolutely we should have planned this better they should have came up earlier in the year and they should have came up probably in February or later but if we if we bring on the agenda like 4 million of academic construction and if we if we were anticipating bid we should have gone out for bid earlier in the year we should have planned this this gives us little bit of discomfort right now in saying that uh you know what all we have coming up in the next future months for which we will have to go over this stabling of the motion and uh you know bringing the motion back and things like that and then we will we will be running out of time so it's more of a planning thing I'm really concerned about here um so that's that's one of the concern I have and my other concern is really not against bathroom work or anything but really against academic construction other thing I heard Mr to in in your statement is uh probably it will be delayed and stuff like that so there are some calculative words over here where you say you know it may be overnight work it may be delayed and stuff like that so this is all about planning right nothing is impossible it definitely sounds like there could be a potential delay in the summer work and we are into May 24st so we understand that but if you go out for bid let's say tomorrow you reach out to architect because this thing we have been discussing from 1 month now so tomorrow if we reach out to architect and go for bid is it absolutely impossible to do the get the bathroom Renovations done that's my question right so speaking to to bidding so as we're discussing this right with co-ops and when we can bid um I just want to be very clear when I speak to everyone right so this project was part of the 2025 School 2425 school budget which we just passed the so since the project was there the funding was there the earliest we could have went out to bid was probably now or next month so the most expedient matter to get it done was to put it on Co-op to get it done during the summer so from an administrative perspective we did our diligence in order to trying to get this complete um as quickly as we can possible now if we're going to explore doing our own bid right uh we have two architects currently on um uh our architect as our architect of Records I would just need the board to to tell me which one you'd like me to reach out to in order to give them these projects because I'm not going to make that decision does the board make that decision does board tell Administration which architect to use for a project so since I've been here we've dis we've discussed it and you know we're discussing as a board now but since I've been here we've discussed as a committee like in uh facilities we've had a conversation all right we have this project coming up we have one two three Architects as architect of record which one would you like to give it to because you know what I don't want to say that I gave this architect this project or I gave that AR it's not it's not John to it's the Edison Board of Education that should make that decision or the Edison finance and Facilities committee and so on and so forth Mr to can I ask you a question sure can I the argument is that's fine I'm sorry that's okay I wanted to Bri but you can go I'll go after you Brian you're the floor I'll Brian you're the floor okay so I have a question for you yeah it seems like the issue is they don't want to give a company $4 million don't we we have companies that we pay millions of dollars already like DMR I'm sure gets paid millions of dollars nobody's questioning that we have bus companies making millions of dollars nobody's questioning that we have food services making millions of dollars and no one's questioning that I'm just trying to figure out why this one particular company is being questioned we pay tons of people millions of dollars throughout the school year to me these are projects that need to be done for our students some of them could even be safety issues like I'm curious like the the ceiling towel replacement is it a danger is it going to collapse on our kids like I don't understand why we're not looking at these projects these are recommendations from the superintendent who he feels that the work needs to be done he as a superintendent decided to go through a co-op we as a board of education should respect that if we don't like the process that he took then we have a conversation with him but it makes complete sense how could you budget for a project when you don't even have the budget approved yet this work needs to be done not just the bathrooms all of it needs to be done and I don't see why we're having a month of an argument of this if the board doesn't like how the process was done great we have a conversation with Eddie afterwards in the future could we please go a different route but right now this work needs to be done so so I think my my con the floor yeah so my concern is not the company my concern is the process and planning right um I don't believe that you cannot design bathrooms with without getting budget approved is that accurate statement so I know you cannot go to bid can you design bathrooms without budget right so to design bathrooms right to have a bid spec done we'd have to have discussion in committee right and give it to give it to short answer yes or no right I'm sorry repeat that again can you design bathrooms without having budget approved as long as you have the money in the budget to pay for design correct right right so so if those so what I would what I would say is if you didn't have money allocated for the professional service for set architect whatever whatever that cost is let's say $100,000 arbitrarily if you didn't put that there when the FY 2024 budget was built then it's not there unless uh a motion is made to transfer money into those so I think so see look like the way it looks like right now is board is trying to hinder Administration and that's not anybody's goal I I yeah I don't think that's I don't think that's but this argument looks like that right at the end of the day at least where I send all approve it right but I want Administration to take this as a feedback that you can plan this better I I don't like the part that you keep defending the planning I think there's a lack of planning somewhere I don't want to get into details in this public meeting but we can talk about it I'm sure that this can be planned that's what's bothering me right at the end of the day the project has to be done I agree with Doug and Brian the project has to be done it's for the students and it's too late in the game for us to do anything about it but we shouldn't be in this position right to begin with Mr Mr Patel to your point I will say that in my my opinion right right absolutely uh my staff Mr cbus Dr Al delli I I think we put to put forth a uh very responsive plan and this was a good plan it was good for the kids so I still stand by our action as to what we did I I respect your stand well thank you uh Mr Michel for the explanation uh so yes I agree 100% and that's what I said earlier there is a lack of proper planning here this has to the financial items if we would have known this before we could have understood my concern Still Remains about everything going to one company over here that is academic construction that's that's my biggest concern the reason to go out of bid is academic construction so yes can we plan better yes we can plan better but also academic construction getting all these things if uh absolutely we go out for bid uh Mr to is 100% correct the cost could be higher if you go out for B it could be higher it could be lower it could be same it could be anything could be cheaper could be cheaper anything when we go out for bid it's a public bid when people open the packets we know uh when Mr to's office open the packets we know but the academic construction is um something that personally uh concerns me very much and that was my biggest concern everything going to one company that that was the concern last month when we tabled this that was the concern when we discussed this in finance and that is the concern Still Remains the Same nobody here is against the bathrooms we want to get it done we always proponent of getting stuff done but that one company the academy construction is bothers me personally a lot why is everything to just this one company and so much work it's um it's concerning for for this particular area thank you Mr Romano yes go ahead uh there was a motion made by a board member and it was seconded the motion was for the remodeling of 23 bathrooms I believe that is not $4 million it's less the rest of the project is not we're not talking about that now we're talking about 23 bathrooms uh the rest of the project if you want to go out to bid on that you want a motion on that you can but the fact is is that it's 23 bathrooms that we're talking about the funding is there for it if you don't like the construction company or the bonding company or the company that part of of the co-op it is your opinion to vote Yes or No but the motion on the table right now it came through Mr Snider I seconded that the comment from the board I am commenting that I seconded the 23 bathrooms with the co-op I'm not talking about the other parts of that bid I'm talking about 23 bathrooms that if you look at the program if you listen to Mr Snider it's called comprehension you listen into 23 bathrooms it's not anything else it's 23 bathrooms it comes out to somewhere around $63,000 per bathroom the motion has been put on the floor it was seconded the board members have made decisions any other board members would like to make a comment on it but there's motion there's a motion that's been put on the floor yes everyone knows Mr Romano there is a motion and M second it yes everyone knows Mr Romano there was a motion and you seconded the motion and Mr Schneider explained in detail about the whole motion and board members also weigh in Mr Riva weigh in Mr Vishal Patel weigh in Mrs Pang weigh in and I weigh in everyone has the right to State their opinion here their opinion on the 23 bathrooms not on anything else exactly everyone has a right to State their opinion on the 23 bathrooms here and the cost and the company and everything related to it it is about 23 bathrooms we get that and we also discussed this in the finance meeting that everyone I specifically said for myself I have an opinion I am a taxpayer of this town I am concerned about taxes I agree with Mr to and I said that before and just to remind that I will say that again when we go out for bid the bid may come out to be the same the bid may come out higher we don't know that at this point I had no level of comfort with academic construction for those items we agreed to certain items we brought it back at that time I did not have comfort and my position in the finance meeting was the same I did not have comfort moving forward with the academic construction my position stays the same I'm not comfortable going with the academic construction giving all that work to one company it's as simple as that because I believe as a taxpayer I don't think that's the right thing to do there are other concerns here I don't think there is any disagreement on getting the bathroom work done 100% agree upon getting the bathroom work done all right that being said I'll open it up to for public comments for this resolution only all resolutions now just this res because this resolution was introduced the only me the only thing let check with was the bathroom let check with the attorney on U Mr MCH uh what do you suggest from the public com just this resolution or do all that's up that's up to the board if you want to make a motion to open it to the public on this resolution you can you don't have to because it's a resolution but if if you want or you or you can vote on it as part of your whole package it's right there's a motion in a second that was made we'll justce this resolution and do a public comment comol Normal public comments on the resolution so um you could open public for everything right now you could open public for just this um all right so we'll open up for public comments for all resolutions in that case sir there was a motion put on the table it's Mr Roman it is for all public comments for all resolutions we are including this resol uh Mr to you got the motion right that Mr Schneider you added it no that's not the way it works Mr Schneider put up a motion someone seconded it the motion was for 23 bathrooms it's not for everything it's only for the 23 bathrooms Mr attorney is that true yes that's actually yes so we are including that resolution I think that the the question simply is we'll vote separately on the resolution right you can vote separately on this resolution now without opening up to the public for comment on this you can open it up to comment on just on this resolution and then vote you can you know we will how you want to proceed there's a motion resolution we'll vote on this resolution separately it will not go under personal finance or any other Administration item it will be a separate motion but in terms of public comments we'll open it up for the public comments for all resolutions including this resolution public comments for all the resolutions including this resolution I think there should be a motion Mr DC I think if you're going to do that there should just be a motion from the the board to open to the public on you know to hold this to hold the vote on this resolution until uh after the public comment on the resolutions and to open the meeting for public comment on all the resolutions that's what the board wants to do hold on Mr deas sorry so you said we can do a one public comment for all the resolutions yes you can I'm just saying that I think the board should make a motion to do that it's still it's still a question of what the board as a whole wants to do so if the board as a whole can the board make a motion when there's a motion already on the table so well you are suggesting a motion I'm not suggesting asking legality R can we make a motion when there's a motion on the table now because we have to vote on the motion that's on the table and it was seconded well everyone got that here uh I'm asking our attorney I I can do I can ask I can answer the question so so um Mr Romano so the board can that's what you don't have to that's what I'm saying is you can make a motion essent essentially we want to get technical about it it's it's a motion to uh table the vote on this this motion until after public comment on the resolutions and then you can remove it from the table for purposes of voting but we're making it way more complic me that's the proper procedure I think we're making it way more complicated as necessary if the board wants to vote if a majority of the board wants to vote on this resolution right now then the board can vote on this resolution right now if the majority of the board wants to open it to the public for either this resolution or all resolutions then the board can make a motion to table the vote on this until after public comment either way my recommendation is that a majority of the board should decide whether or not you want to vote now and then proceed with the rest of your agenda or uh to wait and vote on this after a public comment that's up to a majority of the board um shouldn't the board wait to hear the P the point of public comments is for the board to hear the public concern does anyone have table on the motion if there's no table we are adding it to the resolution anyways right so what's the point of uh just not adding to the resolution if nobody's objecting to nobody's saying table then that will be added to the resolution no I I don't think uh bo president I don't think that's what's being asked right now there was a motion in a second there's been discussion so now my my opinion is that there is only two current option well two and a half current options option one is you have a vote right now on this resolution no further discussion you vote on it option two is you table the vote on on this resolution until after there is public comment and then after public comment you can then vote on this resolution well that's what I was either way a majority of the board should decide whether or not they vote now or open it to the public legally you can do either one but everything has to be done by a majority of the board so that's what we need to do the majority board has to give an opinion on this either vote now someone can call the question and say I want to call the question there's a second there'd be a vote or someone should say I move to table until after public comment and to open it for public comment somebody can second it and there would be a vote but there has to be a vote the board has to do something to move this forward one way or the other to be clear Mr mench are you suggesting that public comment for this resolution is only this resolution or can we Encompass as per the agenda six minutes in totality for all resolutions including this one the reason for my question Mr D Pasqual was right there at the podium would he be speaking six minutes about this six minutes about the other thing and then six more minutes so that's minutes of Mr D pasal yes or are we suggesting that there's a resolution period and which encompasses this so you could do whatever you want my recommendation was that you just do all public comment for the resolutions at one time thank you that's what I was that was my suggestion but again a majority of the board has to make a motion everyone in favor to go all public comments and anyone in opposition of going all public comments or do I have to do a roll call really for that Mr if nobody's objecting then we'll do all public comments and resolution anyone in objection with that I don't see anyone unless we're roll calling to go to public we going to public comments okay just since we've had so much discussion on this I I I just somebody should make a motion to hold off on a vote on this resolution and to open it for public comment for all resolutions and then we can close public comment and vote so somebody needs to make that motion and then somebody needs to Second it and then there can be a roll call vote what motion for that you actually say it could we could we first vote actually my motion then my original motion can I amend that to just add it to the agenda then you can do that too so then we my motion is everything I said to add to the agenda that's that's first thing we do as a board then the next thing is you could say well we'll we'll just add that so now that's done and then the public can comment on what we're talking about basically that works too I like thank you that works all right so motion uh there's no motion now so Mr Snider has amended his motion he's amended his motion he has motion okay heed his motion and it's been seconded amend amendment is seconded all right so so the motion it is is to add this to the agenda the 23 bathrooms as Mr Snider has mentioned so the motion right now would be to add it to the agenda if that motion passes it's just a procedural motion we would then move forward with the agenda and then after public session you would have an opportunity to vote on the substance of that motion correct so there's two votes add to the agenda is vote one and then later is on the merits yes okay so your motion second so you to do a roll call Mr to I think uh who was who Mr made the motion who was the second Mr Romano all right Al say I it's on the agenda want a roll call or V Voice vote Voice vote let's go for unless someone objects all right we're good everyone Hi any oppose any n nope all right so now we'll open for public so this is in the resolution now uh this is in the agenda okay so we'll just do a separate voting on this one okay all right perfect awesome so now we'll open up for public comments for resolution Mr Dell I already called you one so go ahead ponal 2 Pine Street wow I haven't been here in a while and I could see all the fun I've been missing wow um so I'm a little confused this is the first I'm hearing about the bathrooms um so from what I understand this is in the budget it's going to the co-op so it's all ready to go but the concern is that one company is getting $4 million of work as one of the other board members said that we have other companies that are getting millions and millions of dollars of work so are we putting a limit on one company on how much work we're going to give them like I I I'm confused as to why that would be even be an issue why is that question brought up that question should be brought up to every single company that we have now why is the bus company getting $50 million why is this none of this is making sense um unless somebody has a problem with that company other than that they're getting more work and the bathrooms for some reason may need maybe somebody wants them delayed into the fall or or I don't know these are questions as a resident it's coming to my mind and I'm little confused why we would delay this if we have the money already to go to me that question of well we're giving one company too much work doesn't matter every company is getting work so so I I really would like to know the truth on what is the reason that the the feeling is we're giving too much work to one company there's more behind that and unfortunately the way things work in Edison is we say well it's 160 or whatever it's 63,000 per bathroom but we say it's 4 million do going to the company and what happens is the $4 million message goes out to all the residents no it's $4 million now it's going to cost $4 million for bathrooms and it hides the truth of what the the real amount is it's the way it works it's the way social media works it covers that idea of what the true cost is and as a resident I have to tell you it's very very disappointing to see the board arguing over bathrooms it's I don't get it you have a ba you have a superintendent the ba does all of this with the contracts he he is you're expert and you are undermining the person that does and knows all of this I don't know any of you that do the work that he does or knows the construction and all the contracts if you're going to undermine your Administration then you might as well and I'm not saying I want them to you might as well just let them go and you guys make all the decisions for what they're coming up with because you guys supposedly are the experts at this rely on your Administration unfortunately I'm sure there's some politics that's going on with these decisions also so why don't we get with what we're supposed to do get bathrooms for the kids get them done stop all these little silly arguments about should we have public comment here you guys are wasting so much time I haven't seen this in years and I'm sorry but it's embarrassing as a resident and I'm sorry Mr President but you need to get a hold of how this board is working right now because you guys are at odds over bathrooms over bathrooms What's the total of all the bathrooms can somebody tell me again 23 what's that 23 bathrooms back and forth comments during the when public is speaking Mr Mr D you can continue Point okay so you you have these projects that are millions and millions of dollars and you are arguing over such a small amount tell me that makes sense if you were in my seat as a taxpayer seeing you guys waste all this time it's it's really really really embarrassing no have a minute left but I'll let it go thank you all right thank you for your comments nobody is against bathrooms Mr deas so I don't know why you said that people there's no back and forth so I'm just going to answer I'm I'm going to answer I didn't hear you I'm I'm going to answer I'm I'm going to say you can sit down and I you can hear me I didn't hear you you you can hear me I'm I'm closer to the speaker so I can hear you now okay you can stand there okay all right so nobody's against the bathrooms it was about choice of company the timings cost and everything board members are discussing that right and you tell me that I got to get better control over the board listen uh that's your opinion yes it and here is what I'm doing Mr D Pasquel I have fought tooth and nail against anything that has to do with taxes whether it's here or Township or anything and I as a resident and there's no back and forth it was P you you made you made it was P already Mr D Mr Dell you you you have to sit you ignoring everything I said Mr D time is over I know your time is over but you tell the truth what I said you stop ignoring your time is over you stop ignoring what I your time is over you are ignoring what I said so nobody's against the bathroom I don't know who instigates you outside you haven't even called me in a while you haven't spoken with me I don't know who gets to you you should probably call me you have my phone number call me and I will explain you everything about my position where I stand and what I do and what I intend to do good that you come to a board meeting but I am asking you give me a call you have my number I have your number and we will never not in talking terms Mr D Pasquel so please feel free to give me a call and I will tell you about the whole and we can discuss and debate about what my positions are what My Views are and then you can decide between now and next board meeting that where you know because you directly called me out you go to get handle and stuff like that without hearing without reaching out to me on where my position is and where do I stand what my thoughts and Views are and I am concerned about the taxpayer dollars this so I I have a decision that I don't like when one company gets all the work that's it I do agree with you I was always in agreement with you that there are companies which get millions of dollars of work I was the biggest critic of that right now some of the companies still um exist and some of the companies do get millions of dollars of work we have school construction going on right so that scope of that work of building entire school is bigger than this right this year so far we have not avoided any school construction to any single company until last year different boards did adopt I was a part of those different boards too did AO those School construction those are millions of dollars there there are vendors who who are certain work within a certain price there are vendors who work more so if something concerns us as a board it conserns us the taxpayers of Addison elect us to go and take a look at every single line item in the financial agenda in the finance resolutions and vote accordingly it is our responsibility to look at every single Financial item and vote accordingly as a matter of fact I had emailed Mr to before a few weeks to get a list of every single vendor which is getting paid more than $155,000 two years back this is this is I I have a floor I'm the board president I'm responding to a resident's public comment so I have the floor Mr hible I'm responding to a resident's comment but it's not a board member board president is responding to a resident right okay all right so that's fine you guys can talk in the over there but here's the thing so I have asked for the list of those vendors and I do intend to look at every single vendor who is getting paid more than $155,000 two years back I sent an similar email to Dr Brean when he was doing the ba and the superintendent work so I'm not going to take a question from any Resident where it says board is uh you know why is Bard doing the due diligence yes I'm going to look into every single Financial item that I can find and I'm going to question that as in when it comes up comes across next for public comments Mr shei CH sh so um you know just for the record uh the fixing all the bathrooms in the school district was a direction uh we set last year under the leadership of Shannon pan and uh you know and also worked out with the um Finance facility committee uh the goal is to replace all the bathrooms in the school district and again we want know it cost a lot of money so just to want to see the stages you know when then can be done so um uh just to oversight the board one of the Board responsibility is oversight and oversight is not micromanagement I just have a quick some uh questions um about this um again you know we are all for the bathrooms and I was the finance facility chair we made the plan to fix all the bathroom let me repeat that again so um with um academy uh construction um can I ask which Co-op are they from and how long they have been in that Co-op and as far as these 23 bathrooms do we know the scope of the work are we just replacing the tiles or we're doing the whole thing uh so if I look at the bathroom right outside uh which was in bad shape and it's done when school is in session and basically we replace all the tiles and the look ni they redid the sink a little bit and um the floor I think was still the same so what is the scope of the work so you talk about $60,000 per bassroom and uh and the scope of the work makes a big difference right as far as the architect design these stuff and uh if we're talking about $1.3 million 5% of the architecture fee it's somewhere around $50,000 um if we can save more than that then that's fine um as far as I know there are bathroom uh uh remodeling going on right now and I think uh last month uh the Lincoln School bathroom was just uh uh got the remodel just finished so um you know uh the work can be done and also just uh you know uh as uh Mr Toast mentioned that you need a budget to be approved in order to go out a bid as far as I remember at the end of last year we have about 7 and a half to $9 million cash in hand so if we actually want to go out of bid last year we could have do that because we have the money to get that $4 million you know 1.3 out of seven we have the money so you know uh waiting for the budget approval for these to go out I don't know if that's a a good excuse because we have money uh on hand um the other thing is Dr when Dr Brean was here we talked about have a hiring a couple of uh permanent headcounts uh to um all they do is just fix bathrooms uh I don't know what happened with that um so um if we can follow up on that and that might be looking down the road it might save us a lot of money so um you know just to to reiterate fixing the bathroom was done last year okay was not done the year before okay if it's such an urgent it should be done in 2022 but nothing was done so uh um for Mr Schneider the talk is become an emergency you should have done it in 2022 when you you are School Board president okay so there are um just a couple other things on the agenda here so uh I see uh Finance uh resolution number six we're going to the same Furniture vendor again that's a that's a Furniture vendor that uh you know we gave them over $200,000 business for TJ alone so my question to the facility chair through the uh the president to the facility cheers is do we know um what are we buying do we know what are the what was the unit price of these items okay and also here there's another uh items giving to uh um Academy construction number nine uh $90,000 it's a small amount um you know if you want to get it done with the uh Herber Hoover because the new gym is coming up you want to make it nice okay uh Conor in the room we have we have been doing this for for for a long time so if uh $90,000 small amount of money so just to add to Z point if you add all these together that's quite a lot of money um I I don't know why um academy uh construction so special um and also for Co-Op is um how many um quotes or or bids are we supposed to to to get for uh million dollar projects um I I don't know if um if if we only had two that might be a little bit on a short side uh if we can get more that would be really great to have more comparison of that so um again that's my comment and uh I'm glad that that you know we are moving forward of the bathroom but needs to be responsible with taxpayers money thank you thank you anyone else board member comments all right uh anyone's public comment sorry for the resolutions only Mr Mar is only for the resolutions okay so motion to and public comments for Resolutions motion second all in favor I I right we will now move forward for motion to approve personal report anyone motion to approve personal report motion motion Mr Sneider Mr v p second roll call Mr to Mr Lugo yes Miss Ana Patel yes Mr vop Patel yes Mr AA yes Mr Schneider uh yes but um for any known conflicts I I abstain noted Miss White yes Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes president Patel yes motion carries thank you next is motion to approve Administration curriculum instruction pupil special services reports motion second Mr Romano Mr V Patel roll call Mr to Mr Lugo yes Miss Ana Patel yes Mr Vel Patel yes Mr R yes Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss ping yes vice president Romano sorry I was talking to Mr Romano they asking you to vote vice president Romano yes that was my fault sorry but we'll note that it was your fault too Matt president Patel yes motion carries next is motion to approve Finance report I have a question in regards to this report because I do have some concerns yes Mr uh specifically D two um appointments of special counsel and there's two firms that are listed um I didn't receive any information in regards to this firm or firms no resumés no qualifications I don't even know who they are um so I feel uncomfortable voting for these two individuals you know I did my Google research and one of the firms ends up being from Lawrenceville I don't know why they're interested in Ed Public Schools you know and then I'm looking at the second one and just the bad press alone through Google I don't understand how these individuals made it this far like so my question is who actually vetted the these two law firms because no one on the board got any information about them so I don't feel comfortable voting for this um in my understanding there was a third group that actually applied um the bush Law Group I don't understand why their names not here or why was there not discussion that put them there um like I David Rubin I thought did a phenomenal job for us while he was our councel so i' like to put a motion to add the bush law firm as one of the attorneys for this group if we're going to hire these two individuals I feel more comfortable with an attorney that know not two that I don't know so I'd like to put a motion to add them I'll second that well Mr Minch there there was a time to add the Motions now he's adding a motion what are I thought this was a roll call motion to approve Finance reports if you are having concerns I will let Mr to answer we'll have to get Finance reports done right now my understanding is I was allowed to do that motion and now the motion's on the table and it's been seconded first you want to resp resp from Mr to about the lawyers law Firs because I don't I want to hear myself so Mr to and Mr Dr Al want to respond about the law Firs I mean Mr question question yes yes so we had we had a total of three um law firms respond to the RFP two of which are currently onto the agenda uh one that is not um we had the opportunity to review their rfps the reason why the other one isn't not I've had conversations with board members um uh and it didn't seemed like we had five votes to pass that law firm so um even though I'm a new superintendent I I can count to to five and and if I didn't have those pieces I knew that uh probably not something I'd put on on the agenda for approval well no one spoke to me about this so now I'm putting a motion to add this attorney to this group the three and Virginia White seconded it so I it's on the table I I want to vote I want to put them on Mr MCH we and Mr Romano what do you say so in other words there's a first and a second so now there'll be a roll call to say yes to put this on the agenda is that what we're asking yes essentially to amend the resolution since we don't adopt the agenda I think the motion and the second automatically adds it under Robert's Rules I could be incorrect but I think that's how it goes well that's not what we H happened before right we would have to do a roll call to add it on the append it amend it on to the resolution you know I I my knowledge of Robert's Rules is not uh I I can't say that Mr to is right or wrong I've always seen if you want to amend an agenda you make a motion a second you vote on uh amending the resolution and then it if it fails then then the board would vote on the resolution which is currently here which has two names on it and if the motion passes to add the third firm name on then the board would vote on the resolution as amended with all three so then this motion would be to amend correct ma yes this motion just be to amend perfect and um Mr President so just to be clear if this motion passes then we have three law firms on right and if somebody doesn't like a law firm they could just vote no correct correct presumably if there's five votes to put it on there would be five votes to approve it as a whole but yes you're absolutely correct if you could still vote no you could vote to add it to the resolution and then votee no on the resolution so we could add it to the agenda and then vote no if we wanted yes okay but but in this instance we are amending what's here you we're amending I supposed to adding a brand new item like earlier this is amending what is here so that's the mo there's been a motion there's been a second no but but then there won't be any choice to approve the first two no so so adding a third amend if you approve like automatically amended with the third company then there's no choice there's no option correct you can vote no overall if it gets pass so so right now um there's a motion in a second to amend the resolution we need to have a roll call vote on that if the third firm gets added on explain this well if the Third firm gets added on there'd be a afterwards there's going to be a motion to approve the finance reports as amended or not if it doesn't get amended yeah but it's not clear to all the board members that we can still pick and choose which two no you can't pick and choose that's what no so so what is right now every understand was telling me that you can pick and choose so I think we should just I actually listen I only listen vote vote on whether we need to amend this to the to the agenda or not because it's not clear that we can vote pick and choose or we cannot vote you can't so then why don't we have the choice to vote on amending this first right that that's what I'm saying to everybody is that we vote to that the motion was made to vote to amend the resolution so the motion is to add Jonathan Bush's firm correct to the agenda correct correct okay as part of this as part of this that need to be voted right now right yes yes yes okay that's we're saying the same thing why don't so Mr MCH why don't the um why don't the board members have a choice to vote on everything separately well you no no they would have you have to vote on the motion now correct that's what's currently in front of the front of the board accept to either yes or no on the motion correct yep correct so a roll call has to be taken to accept do it or deny right yep that's the current motion position Mr yes that's the current motion if it fails there's no more to H we don't need to continue discussing it any further if it if it passes then it's added to the list regardless of what happens there would then be a second motion on the total list you can't pick and choose though which the firms you'd either have two or three firms you would vote Yes or no if you decide you don't like any of the firms or whatever then you can vote no on two you know on on whatever's there or you can vote Yes but that's that's the two votes so right now it's a motion to amend to add a third firm there's a motion in the second and there should be a roll call vote on whether or not you want to add the bush law firm as one of your three special councel um that are listed on this resolution so so there there's a roll call all right am I calling wrong I I I asked for a motion to approve Finance reports Mr Minch when this came you asked for a motion but nobody made it okay so so you asked for a motion there was no nobody made a motion okay to to uh approve the finance reports well that's your advice so yeah I'm going to go with your advice correct all right um so what's the next Mr M there should be a roll call vote on amending the resolution that Mr Rivera made okay so if you want want Bush Law Group added you vote Yes don't want Bush Law Group added you V board members here clear any questions I really want to have every board member here V ask questions anyone because there are Motions like this so everyone should feel comfortable you know going into it from left to right oh God no no there's yes Mr M what what about public comments can we open up for public comments I'm going to go with your advice now you can you you can do whatever you want I I I don't know how to say this can do whatever I want not the advice I mrch not how can I'm ring on your legal advice Mr so legally you are not required to open it to the public you've already opened it to the public you do not have to reopen it for discussion from the public on this particular issue okay is it I just have one question is it really okay to add a resolution or a motion after a bunch of motion public resolution public comment has been finished so the public has no chance to comment on this and just added a motion in the middle of a roll call is that okay so so uh first of all the from a legal standpoint I'm going to talk about policy I'm talking about law there is no requirement that the public have an opportunity to comment on every item on your agenda or every motion that's made before it's made that's not part of the law the law of open public meeting simply requires that you allow a public comment at some portion in your meeting okay so there's nothing that says you can't add it items subtract items and then every time you add or subtract something you need to reopen it to the public so um that would be suppressing the public comments you you I'm talking about the law you guys could talk about the the policy um if you if you just like before there can be a uh you know somebody would have to make a motion to table the vote um on the other question is if I recall correctly and and certainly Mr to can correct me if I'm wrong I don't believe there was a motion in a second um on the on the motion to approve the finance reports but I I even if there was there can be a motion to amend the motion that's been made so regardless to to my to my quick recollection uh we only had a motion from the board president I believe on the finance reports and then we Mr Rivera called a motion for Amendment to the agenda which was second but by Mr Schneider to add Bush Law Group I'm Sorry Miss White pardon me it's late haven't had any coffee uh to add Bush Law Group to uh the resolution for attorney correct so we have that active resolution on the table in regards to amending the cor right so should so it's it's my legal advice that we should just have a vote um but the the the board can still table it for purposes of just tabling it the board can table it for open into the public the board can vote Yes the board can vote no okay so any board members have any more questions roll call you do roll call uh well what is the motion here motion is to add right the motion is to add Bush Law Group as one of the three firms to the resolution that's currently being decided as part of the finance reports and just to confir if it's added you have to approve all three or deny all three correct okay no you don't have to approve all three you could amend it we could amend it well that's that's next okay so this is just for the amendment to add the law firm Bush Legal Group okay here we go Mr Lugo yes Miss Ana Patel yes Mr Vel Patel no Mr Rivera yes Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss Pang no Mr Romano no president Patel yes motion carries okay so so now if there's no other amendments or any other motions there' be a motion on the fin reports as a whole um motion on the finance report okay a second I'll give you a second on a motion for the finance report correct have a motion by Mr Schneider and a second by Mr romano and so right now this is a motion to approve the finance reports in their entirety which would include the three all three law firms that have been that have been you know now added to the list so you can vote yes or no on the package okay you guys ready Mr Lugo um I vote Yes for one and three and not two I'm sorry I heard yes and yes for one and three no for number two yes you can on which res one okay which resolution D2 D2 so Mr Lugo is saying is he wants to vote Yes for for the finance reports for items one I'm looking at the five I assume you're talking about uh D the procurement report correct Mr lug yes yeah so Mr Lugo wants to vote Yes on item one which is the architectural firms yes to the um uh specification for the for the bids for the fire alarms in the professional and no to the law firms no from that's no on no on number no on all so he's Vo on all three law firms got it right noted Mr Vel Batel the number no Mr Rivera uh no on Lennox and in clino and yes on Bush you can't do that it's all it's All or Nothing All or Nothing all them okay Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss Pang no this is a again a surprising resolution I have to vote no I'm sorry no no Miss Ana Patel yes Mr Romano no president Patel yes motion carries all right so now we'll go move forward to our committee report I think sorry I think You' want to do you still need to do the motion on the bathrooms there's motion on the bathroom Oh I thought that was included no no okay let's do that motion on the bathrooms okay so we already have a motion on the floor and a second so now I'm just going to call roll on this new Motion in a second Mr Schneider amended so I assume Mr Sneider wants to make the mot again uh again the motion on the floor is to um add the 23 bathrooms that were in the original agenda from last month at a total of 1.39 3536 that's a million 1393 million 536 and I think Mr Romano was the second I think I I would like to second that thank you very much motion by Mr motion by Mr Snider seconded by Mr Romano Mr Lugo yes Miss Ana Patel yes Mr Vel Patel yes Mr Rivera yes Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss Pang so this is the okay I have to say uh there's no communication whatsoever about this resolution before this meeting there's no I don't know where is the transparency from the committee or where is the communication from the committee so I have to abstain abstain vice president Romano yes on the bathrooms yes I got to go to the bathroom yes president Patel yes with a with a softer tone compared to Mr Romanos gries Mr President barring there being any other uh motions then we can move on to the uh committee reports all right so now we'll move on to our committee reports first we have our ad hoc secondary culture and climate committee our meeting was uh May 1st is a committee that we decided on um you know earlier this year to tackle the issues with drugs vaping and bathroom and all the situations so participants were myself Dr aler Ali Dr Chris hus Mr Pat kissan Mr Ross Mrs bevens Mr Bara uh Miss Heather Daniel and U Matt revnak um the committee's goal was to address some of the concerns raised regarding student bathroom use and safety as well as an update on our District's harassment intimidation and bullying data the committee discuss vaping as a universal issue affecting not only the students of Edison but students nationally the committee engag in a meaningful conversation on ways to prevent and or deter students from congregating and utilizing the bathroom to vape this included expanding the smart detectors infrastructure revisiting the code of conduct for uniformity in our approach and running monthly reports to analyze Trends in the behavior further the committee wanted to take a proactive approach to informing students about the harms of vaping conducting presentations assemblies get speaker series and videos for both students and parents where all activities the committee believe would have been beneficial seeking input from stakeholders is very essential and the committee discussed several means of going forward with it and to commit to reconvene after the parent Community webinar lastly the committee reviewed data points indicating a decline in the number of bullying incidents as well as conform bullying cases for past two years the committee commended our staff counselors and parents for all their efforts and meeting concluded at 2:00 the next is finance reports which included the bathrooms Mr Roman mon you were there in the committee so uh we discussed U Success Academy Furniture Success Academy uh is getting furniture with CFI it includes four offices including principles main office guidance security classrooms fully outfitted with students desk and teacher work stations conference room to accommodate group pent meetings all group room sitting teachers launch committee asked for clarification on the timing and other aspects for the co-op and it was mentioned that this needs to be started soon and uh needs to be completed to get the alternate School in operation by September great job Dr toi with all the efforts that you are making with the alternate school um Herbert Hoover culinary room renovation this is another item that is awarded to academic construction which are also the subject in the bathrooms similar inovation was completed at woodro Wilson last year and demolition includes new flooring ceiling lighting removal of all the equipment for redesign of the room new electric in different areas and moving Plumbing to accommodate new locations for commercial sinks committee was informed that this needs to be done up and ready by school opening and it is time sensitive committee asked about different Co-op and was informed about educational data services and ECS andj those are the two coops right we discussed at L Mr to um there was an update regarding shared services which um I started before a couple of years and the bond Council and financing summary so the idea was brought upon the committee and Mr to looked into several options spoke with the bond Council and provided his research and information that he received from the bond Council Linden our renovation project SSP architect is going to do a concept design proposal is to modify storage room into classes so updating the font system Mr Bara and Mr kassan are handling the project of updating font system at Washington school and the Success Academy per response to architect RFP the four firms which were top for the metrics and rankings done by business administrat stream are listed um were listed and we voted upon them today as our new Architects on record DMR SSP EI and PSA uh Mr to provided update on bid status waiting for New Jersey controller response and Mr MCH response so I hope Mr M provided that response um to you by now so we can move forward with the bidding and there is no delay in the bidding for masonry for HVAC for boiler cleaning and boiler service and maintenance so Mr MCH I hope you have provided the response that Mr to was looking for here um committee was informed that the bid is out as goods and services which has been a past practice which probably should have gone out as Public Works bid Mr to had reached out to the attorney and was waiting the response at that time thank you D so while I am um at this did we get the response sorted out did you get the response from Mr MCH yes we did get uh a response from uh Mr M's Law Firm right so we uh have the bids active on the street we took the necessary uh made the necessary agenda changes and uh shouldn't delay our timeline okay all right uh then summer work review academic construction uh oh this is the same bathroom thing we reviewed so we don't want to everyone heard enough of that okay we discussed the bid status jmi there are certain concerns with us architect you know so they will get back to we'll have more updates in the next meeting and John Marshall DMR was there and they'll be ready to bid by September Professional Services renewal it is renewed of our district Auditors Bond Council and our financial advisers aasia discussion about a tractor uh Mr kibas knows more about it so I'm going to not give too much information on that and there was a DMR presentation with switch gear apparently committee was told that Theo energy uh by Theo energy this is not an additional cost to the district it comes out of EC program as a part of contingency and just as D's project is about to finish the Architects will go ahead with the design as item like this would be timec consuming and per past experiences there are supply chain issues as well with this there was a update on John Marshall School provided by DMR Architects uh adum software license for 45k committee as TMR to provide updates on long range facilities plan and which is going to be discussed in upcoming of meetings by DMR architect and business office right the meeting was very long almost two and a half hours thank you that concludes the committee reports um now we will open up to public comments uh Mr Mara good evening Anthony Mara 5 Colo Court I'm again here on policy 5756 and I want to stop by thanking Mr Vel Patel for the brief discussion he and I had earlier today earlier this evening he pointed out that policy 5756 is not just about uh saying no to Mom and Dad I went home and I printed the policy and I had a nice little agenda worked out for for tonight uh for what I was going to say it was basically going to be a followup on the email that I sent but after I read this policy Tonight line by line my blood started to boil this policy is atrocious this policy reeks of protection for transgender but actually persecutes those who are straight how does it do that let me read it to you the third page with respect with respect to gender segregated classes or athletic activities including intramural or in Scholastic Athletics all students must be allowed to participate in a manner consistent with their gender identity in plain terms those who are born as men can compete with women we've seen this in the news and now it it's apparently in our our Ed in public schools that is discriminated against women same page all students are entitled to have access to restrooms locker rooms changing facilities in accordance with their gender identity identity to allow for involvement in various school programs and act and activities in other words those who are born as men or I suppose as women can share the other G bathroom straight individ students are being persecuted if you think policy 5756 is the end of it you're very wrong this will continue the persecution that is here will increase there will be two groups of students there'll be those who are straight and those who are whatever they want to choose we are allowing students to dictate their education they're here by definition because they don't know things they learn math they learn science social studies and whatever else is taught in school they behave as if they know all about life including gender identity I'm 67 years old I'm still learning but I've got more years under my belt than they do I've already spoken to the board before about the consequences The increased risk of suicide do they know that are they educated about it rendering themselves unable to have children do they really consider that it's your job it's the school's job to educate them but it's not being done this policy needs to be trashed it needs to be abolished put up a fight do something to fight against it stand up for what's right our children deserve it oh but Mr Mara we have there are laws if we do something like that we may lose Federal funding AR our since when is there anything that's worthwhile been ever done without a fight our nation was founded with a fight the Revolutionary War it may not win but at least put up a fight do something to stop this because I can guarantee you it'll get worse the persecution will get worse and nothing is being done by the board do something to stop the persecution oh and by the way yeah um Mom and Dad are being disrespected in this policy I pointed that out in my last email uh Mother's Day is come and gone Father's Day is coming what a wonderful way would be to honor mom and dad to wipe out the policy in particular that particular that particular section I could go on and on um put up a fight stop the persecu and it is persecution that's exactly what it is the lady the the females in the schools I can't imagine what they must think when a person come walks into the bathroom saying I'm I'm transgender I'm whatever terminology wants to use I I I feel for them do something to stop it because if it isn't stopped it will continue until I don't even want to think what the end will be thank you for your time thank you next for public comments Mr mesh Manesh patal I'm sure many of you know why I'm here I know doctor is smiling already so you know I'm going to go after him today one dream died after teaching 70 8,000 Edison students the music director of JP Stevens High School passed away this morning Andy din Cola what did he ask I want to teach my students music give me band equipment it took me four years of fighting with Jerry shei and all of you sitting up there finally I got 450,000 for my two high schools thanks to Doug and I believe Finance was in Hand of barl thank you for that but at that time we also ask for one more thing we spending a lot of money on trailers trucks equipment's being broken every time when he moves from one truck to the other please get us the trailers Dina cola's only dream was manes you think I will get my four trailers two for Edison and two for JP in my lifetime with this board and the board's previously it didn't happen believe me it hurts we paying taxes left and right you guys fighting for bathroom you're fighting for L things like a lot of kids but what you need for kids is trailers and you guys couldn't do it I had a meeting 6 months back with couple of you guys and says yeah it's on the board we got new ba  he's worse than you guys your ba is holding vouchers and the things left and right and don't let me don't say that he don't I'm telling you right now you got him at a little school somewhere in Matan put him in a district that has 180 kids in JP 120 ban kids in Edison High School and he's telling you don't spend this kind of money our high school don't well your Madan school is a tiny bit and my schools are bigger guys the dream passed away if you guys even have a little dignity tonight honor the man get the godamn four trailers and put him in schools before his funeral have some courtesy to the man let me tell you 78,000 19,000 doctors went to his music class out of those three is in my house and all of my kids say today dad give it to them they deserve it every board member deserves it I know somebody shut it off but my volume is loud enough you guys need to do this as soon as possible because you're going to see me every goddamn meeting and every meeting I come is going to get worse than this I won those trailers I promise you one thing and he was there Jeri I'll get you advertisers to get that money back but get those trailers right away everything is approved and it's still not done pictures are given still not done and Doctor you know very well you and I spoke on this subject three months back and I don't think it takes that long to approve this I'm sorry to say but all of you guys failed one man's dream for his kids today all the kids are asking for one thing and believe me if I went if I got a chance to speak in funeral I'm going to ask each and every kid to come in this meeting and speak about it and you won't be going home until two nights after thank you very much thank you next for public comments Mr deas Pine Street um so my my first question is is that you guys use robertt rules for your meetings and from my understanding at meetings at use Robert's Rules you should have an authority of Robert's Rules and I'm not picking on the lawyer or anybody but my my question is when when you follow Robert's Rules but you don't have anybody on that stage that can say well yes this is what Robert's Rules says or this is what Robert R rules doesn't say I I I I don't get it like why even follow Robert's Rules if you don't know what Robert's Rules says about certain topics and I'm not saying you have to know everything but it didn't seemed like that one decision was that difficult um so I I would really consider somebody have the book with them they do a small book of Robert's Rules they so that that would probably so if this comes up again um the other the other thing is is that I see all these people here and and the the reason I knew what was happening tonight is because somebody on the board decided to tell somebody um and what I understand it's a friend that there was going to be a vote on the insurance brokers tonight and this person decided to put it all on social social media and even accused a board member of shouldn't be voting for this this and this and said it was on the agenda so what I'm confused about and I would like to know I'm sure I won't find out but who would have told a resident what only the board should have known about a vote you were having tonight the only reason that in my opinion that board member would tell that to somebody is to again put the false narratives out there that we all know Edison does so you guys up there represent us and again the representation is one of you is putting out these false stories or these in this information that the resident should not know unless it's on the agenda or they come to the board meeting and find out and this has been going on for years board members use social media but they don't do it themselves sometimes they do but they use their friends to let them know information to put out there so before the board meeting they can go and talk about this board member or that board member are you guys teenagers are you serious you're adults act like adults you are in charge of a school system of thousands of kids and you act like the kids I can't even believe I have to say this again it's embarrassing it is embarrassing ing that we vote you guys in and you act like this and I know it's not all of you but I'm not going to name names because the person who I'm talking about knows full well who this person is who they told who this person was I put it on social media and I know who the person was but just so you all know and you're aware of this you have a board member amongst you that is using somebody else to put the message out on social media about information that the residents shouldn't know until a certain time thank you thank you next for public comments Beth Beth taly 15 Midwood Avenue um tonight should been a night of Celebration it's the meetings turned a little bit contentious I don't like to see that and I'd like to take a moment to honor two of our Eagles that we lost the last two days although I knew knew who James mown was I'm know not a personal friend of him but wishes to his family and prayers to them all it's a shame Gone Too Soon and he's touched the lives of many of our students and colleagues and parents throughout our town I'd also like to speak personally on behalf of Andrew De ni Cola who I've known I'm gonna cry since I was 13 he taught me as well as my five siblings as well as my three children and thousands of other children in our district I'd like to wish his wife his beloved wife who he love to death Kathy dinaa and his two children as well as his Grand children prayers and blessings to them all going through this and to thank them for sharing him with our district for 50 years um through his career as you know was mentioned for um he has touched the lives of our children not only teaching them you know phenomenal music abilities with his knowledge he has also taught them to be phenomenal people and human beings I hope we can all take a minute tonight to realize that there's more to this back and forth fighting that we can get things done without that and just you know tonight I miss Andy dearly as many do and will and just you know hugged your loved ones a little bit tighter tonight because tomorrow's not guaranteed guys and this fighting you know let's stop and let's try to work together and get things done thank you thank you next for board me public comments Jerry Jer sh Edison just uh want to Echo what Beth said in the past two days we lost two um teachers dearly loved by uh the students in uh in Edison school dist in Edison school district Jim madani 36 years of service and Andy dinola 50 years of service I know Andy a little bit better because both my kids uh were in his program for four years I was a band parent for seven years um he is a phenomenal teacher and I believe Jim is also a phenomenal teacher um they get the best of these students um they not only teach them the subject um that they're teaching they also teach them how to be a good citizen both of them will be dearly missed um change of the the topic uh just want to congratulate uh Mr uh ravnik and M celeski for winning the uh teacher Union um president and uh recording secretary uh there are seasoned uh leaders uh in for that group and they're in good hands the teacher Union is in good hand in the seasoned um leaders just observing uh the meeting today um just want to add some comments as to um how um you know some of the board members did Duck Schneider last year you said you're not going to add agenda items on the Fly you just did today and Brian if you're going to add the LA here on the agenda why don't you add at the very beginning a lot Public comments you said you did not receive resumes from any of the the uh the attorneys did you receive resume from uh Dave Ruben two years ago okay's go back and forth let the speaker finish my my floor you can't have a double standard okay you you want other people to do but when you come when it come to you you have a double standard you can't do that that right thank you very much thank you next for public comments Matt good evening Matt revnak ETA vice president president-elect so first of all a couple things it is a day of varied emotions um for those of us that knew both Andy and Jim I was colleagues with both of them basically for 35 years and it's a big lost the two legends of this District I know the people at JP Stevens this morning were shocked even though we knew Andy was having some health issues and even more so perhaps of of Jimmy just to share a little story with Andy the type of person he was not only was he a great teacher the kids that had him loved him but as you probably remember or know he was up for the first Grammy award for an educator in music he was one of three uh finalists and he didn't win it and I saw him the next day cuz we parked pretty much next to each other for almost 35 years and I asked Mandy I've congratulated him on it and I asked him about it he's like Matt he's like the person that one is very deserving that tells you the type of person Andy was you know very humble gentleman and the word gentleman describes him Not only was he a great teacher Not only was a great colleague great friend but he was really was a true gentleman to everybody that knew him Jimmy moldy Jimmy was a awesome baseball coach here at Edison High School had some great teams in the 90s I was actually coaching to JP Stevens when he was coaching here at Edison then he became a athletic director and supervisor and again a true gentleman you know being the ETA grievance cheer we sometimes have differences but he's a guy I know I could always sit down with we could always work it out talk it through and come to some kind of agreement my other relationship with Jimmy was both of our daughters were playing softball on the Travel circuit at the same time my older daughter and His Daughter by the way his wife and daughter are still in the district uh daughter's a teacher mother's a secretary and we would sit together at some of these tournaments I think our kids only played each other once and like I always do with opponents uh parents my daughters were both pictures as well we'd sit in the Outfield away from everybody else when your daughter's pictures you kind of isolate yourself from everyone you don't want to hear people complain but we had a great great time sitting together whether it was our the one time our kids played with against each other or when they were just in the tournaments together we always found time to to meet up with each other and talk my condolences to both families the dinaa family and The Moldy family they will ba basically both be greatly missed and again it's a sad day for our district the second part of your motion is what happened tonight the positive the teacher and support recognition is always a great night just like the student recognition and when I looked at the list and saw who is it I'm like every one of those people are deserving I know most of them I've seen most of them in action they are do do a great job as do most of our other staff our teachers our support staff Etc and I appreciate Dr aldarelli you mentioning that these were the recipients this year but there's a ton of other people out there doing a great job on a daily basis so again I thank the board for recognizing them they are very deserving and congratulations to them the final thing I want to mention this weekend is coming up Memorial Day weekend you know everybody's were you know thinking about the shore the picnics but please remember what the day is about it's remembering those people that lost their lives and served their time for this country to give us the freedoms and the things that we have in this country that many other countries don't have so when you're out there enjoying yourself at your picnics down at the beach walking the boardwalk whatever it is first of all be safe but second of all keep those people in mind that's really what the holiday is supposed to be about thank you and have a good night thank you next for public comments anyone else for public comments all right saying none uh motion to UNP public comments motion second Mr V Mr uh at this point we will adj to privilege session I do have one comment before yes Mr M absolutely go ahead sorry I will we'll have board member comments on any general things if you like to have go ahead Mr V I mean I I feel obligated to comment on Mr Anthony's uh persist in coming here about you know policy 5756 and I I agree partially with him and I say that for two reasons uh I agree with him that there are flaws in 5756 because it says parent consent is not required when not required for school to accept students assertion of changing in changing gender it says there is no affirmative Duty for school district to notify the parents when the student is going through the through that so I disagree with that cuz I believe parent or legal guardian are the you know best people to make a decision for the kid and what's right for the kid period I mean the law requires that when when kid under 18 goes for driving license law requires parent consent when they go for the job law requires parent consent God damn it when they volunteer Law requires parent consent then why not for this um second reason I say partially and I'm saying partially because the policy also protects the safety and support and confident confidentiality of those students which I think as a district we are we are accountable to do that but not without parent concern so I I would ask the administration to look into it and and see what can we do to find the balance uh of this of this policy thank you thank you any other board member comments right saying none uh we will adj to previous session uh in accordance with njsa Section 10412 that in Township Board of Education adjon to confidential session for the purpose of discussing the following Professional Services interviews we do not expect to come back from the privilege session today uh Mo motion to adjin uh the meeting second all in favor hi I meeting is at John [Music]