e e e e e e e e e e e e thank you uh are we live yes thank you good evening everyone and Welcome to our Elizabeth Board of Education meeting this is a combined regular business meeting and agenda meeting of the Board of Education pursuant to New Jersey statutes and the rules adopted by the Board of Education notice of this meeting was sent to the Star Ledger and cable vision of Elizabeth on May 3rd 2014 in addition this notice is posted on a bulletin board in a Lobby of 500 North Broad Street and pursuant to this act the copy has been filed with the city clerk of Elizabeth we want to welcome everyone present here to school 51 and our television viewers on this May 9th 2024 meeting of the Board of Education we're here to govern provide management oversight and make policy for the District the superintendent manages the district this is a meeting of the board in public not a meeting of the public the meeting is being recorded and will become part of the Elizabeth Board of Education permanent [Music] records we ask that you silence the sound of the electronic devices in order for the recording to accurately reflect and proceedings please refrain from talking while others are speaking there will be a public portion for citizens to address the board of uh of excuse me to address the board participants for the public portion must sign in prior to the start of the public portion so that they may have an opportunity to speak the sign in sheet States the name the address and telephone number and the reason that the person wants to make a comment we are pleased that you have taken this time to join us this evening for our Board of Education meeting thank you for your interest in the board in Elizabeth public schools at this time I'm going to have Miss for take our um roll call Barbosa carv present Cheves Jacobs pres Moreno Ortega pres naron present Galas Pana present Rivera present balis dorile present thank you at this time everyone can please stand for a moment of silence for Victoria Eugene Cruz Kella a social worker at school number 14 and number 16 Ann Marie infant infant a fourth grade teacher from John Marshall 20 School Number 20 thank you please remain standing as we do a presentation of the colors from our students from Admiral William F Hy Jr health and Public Safety Academy Junior RC [Music] [Music] please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and stars fangle Banner oh excuse me I'll have board member Maria cavalo lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all oh say can you see by by the dawn's early light what so proudly we H at the Twilight last gleaming who's brought stripes and bright stars through the perous fight or the ramp parts we watched were so gallantly stream in and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave prove through the night that our flag was still there Paul say does that star spangled B our head wave for the land of the free and the home of the bra [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you we can put our hands together for our Junior RC at this time you can remain standing as we go through our I ask our board vice president to lead us in our pledge of Ethics as a member of the elizab public schools professional Learning Community I would treat treated to do that I pledge to understand that the school Community is special place listen respectfully when someone else is speaking by paying close attention and not interrupting a calm voice and use proper language dress appropriately for teaching and learning Inspire the best of myself cting successes and learning from mistakes care about others by demonstrating acts of kindness be a lifelong learner by taking every opportunity to learn from thank you you may be seated at this time the microphones are open to the public for those who have signed in prior to this session I shall call individuals to the microphones based on the order of the signning sheet each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes in duration the total time made the total time public comment shall be limited to 60 minutes thank you no individual is able to yield their time to another individual all statements shall be directed to me as a priding officer no participants May address or question board members individually each speaker shall comply in all respects with board policy 9322 which was next to the sign and Sheet the following rules shall apply time limits shall apply or will be strictly enforced no personal taxs on individuals or naming of individuals no vulgar or indecent language a person may address the board no more than once during a single meeting and comments will not be debated again this is a reminder that the meeting is a meeting a board in public not a meaning of the public at this time I would like to call up Maria Loren good evening recently I had an IEP meeting it lasted 23 minutes and 34 seconds I'm going to coin that the express IEP that's what this District did in response to what the state said the district should do was to hold an IEP meeting to determine whether my child was to receive compensatory education because of the lack of his FM system which was duy mandated in his IEP which by the way is a legal document that needs to be followed in this meeting I was extremely shocked at the outcome that he was not owed any despite the fact that this District neglected to give him his device for 3 months the outcome was that he was said that he needed to ask for his device that's like a person that needs glasses asking for their glasses so that they can see that is the equivalent of seeing a person in a wheelchair and and knowing that they have that need and not giving them the wheelchair because they need to request it I think that's pretty appalling what shocked me more was this and I want you to listen very attently how do you guys in general think he performed he performed well um in his IP said he had access to it and he had access to the FM System since September he just never asked for it it didn't specify that it was mandatory um and it did say that he was he didn't ask for it he didn't specify it was mandatory that was jacn blasa the in-class support teacher who was there acting as the special education teacher Madam superintendent if this is the professional development and the professionalism that you say our teachers have I want you to know you're sadly mistaken you're not paying attention to have an in-class support teacher say this but more egregiously to have Mr O pres in that meeting to have the supervisor Nancy faletto pres in that meeting and no one correct her and allegedly you have a doctorate degree is absolutely appalling it is shocking it is abhorent that this would happen no one corrected this Miss Maria I'm sorry I'm sorry but in the rules I did say that you cannot can you stop her clock please and can you give her five more seconds since I was interrupting her you cannot name names so you named whoever was on the video I don't know if the person knew that you were recording please stop naming the directors as well I need to be fair to everyone who comes up so I'm asking you not to name any names if you're going to direct something direct it to me and that's it and then I will have our superintendent or whoever need to respond if they need to respond you can start again thank you well because no one on this board sitting here whether they're an assistant superintendent or superintendent cares to ask or get this information for me from me I have to come and say that at a board meeting so that everyone here can hear me and so that it is properly documented of what's happening I've never really had the superintendent say to me can you please speak to an assistant superintendent like she does many times to other parents that leads me to believe that no one cares and I got my answer at the last meeting it's the pants thank you for your comments at this time I'm going to have Christina Morana come up please good evening everybody it's been a while and I wanted to make sure I was here especially tonight since you're going to be going into private session and making a um important decision which has culminated in about 4 years of wasting taxpayer dollars on paying a lawyer to fight me so I'm here because I was listening to the board uh meeting last week the budget presentation so I wanted to provide some information that maybe some of you may like want to look into according to the New Jersey Schoolboard Association on average 14.78% of students in districts are classified in special education however Elizabeth the second largest District in new in the state has not seen an increase in special education classification despite our growing enrollment according to the superintendent does anyone not think to ask how that's possible especially considering the substantial increase in enrollment does anyone not think that something sounds off it's definitely not because you all haven't been told time and time and time again that special education needs to be audited that's why you need to look at the numbers that you needed to look at the numbers of parents requesting evaluations like myself and parents who were denied evaluations continuous ly denied evaluations even when we've had our own evaluations to present my personal experience and those shared by other parents highlight a concerning Trend in this District that this District apparently refuses to provide necessary special education services even resorting to Legal battles with parents wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to line I won't even say his name but we all know who we're talking about this is exactly why we need a special education parent advisory committee one that runs in the way it's intended to run to collect data and address systemic issues but maybe just maybe this is exactly the reason we don't have a functioning CPAC thank you at this time the public participation has ended all right moving [Applause] [Music] on all right so as I mentioned in January opening remarks as a board president um our board members were responsible for sponsoring initiatives each month uh this month we have created a video highlighting the initiative sponsored by board member Rosa Marina egga which is teacher appreciation week during this week schools throughout our district will be hosting activities that show our appreciation and gratitude for our ex standing and dedicated teachers who spend countless hours preparing lessons and activities to ensure every child achieves Excellence at this time I would like to both thank our all of our Elizabeth public schools teachers once more for their amazing efforts on a daily basis to help our students achieve their dreams and to present our highlight video for teacher appreciation week again the full video will be um uploaded to our website at the end of the month so at this time please prevent our [Music] video you ever find hi I am Rosa Moreno Orga and I'm honored to serve the Lisa Community as a member of the Lisa Board of Education as a board member under Madame President Charlene B delli we are exciting to launch a number of initiative during 2024 serving as as a member of the board of education for the past seven years I have really learned a lot about the many different aspect that go into a school education during teacher appreciation with I have a great time visiting our t-shir and expressing my gratitude for all they do for our student and their Community our teacher are the heart bit of our school thank you Elisa School teacher for all you do to help our student and our Learning Community success the future of Elizabeth is bright because of the wonderful work you do each day we love you you can't count on me like 2 three I'll be there you can count on me cuz I Can Count On You [Applause] thank you thank you thank you to all of our teachers thank you again to uh board member Rosa marinaa I went out with her this week and um I really enjoyed uh her personally delivering cards to the teachers and looking at them in their eyes and thaning them for their work and service and I think that they were very pleasantly surprised to have someone from the board come and shake their hands and just appreciate them on that day so I just wanted to say thank you again at this time I'm going to have our superintendent introduce our student [Music] representative thank you madam president it is my pledge first I would like to acknowledge the principal of Elizabeth High School Frank J sarel Academy Mr Michael Cummings that is here at our meeting this evening and secondly I'd like to introduce uh our student board Representative Vincent zapfino Vincent serves as the as a school Improvement panel member at the Elizabeth High School Frank J scarel acad where he takes an active role with teachers parents and administration to improve teaching and learning he's a member of student government and the National Honor Society he is also recognized by the College Board as an AP scholar for passing three or more advanced placement exams he has a passion for service to his school and community and we are proud to have him represent the Elizabeth High School Frank J sarel Academy to the Board of Education Vince sarafino has a 4.3 GPA and serves his community by volunteering for the Elizabeth Historical Society the Portuguese club and local community events throughout the city of Elizabeth it is my pleasure to ask our student board representative to please approach the [Applause] Das for thank you uh Miss Ford if you can just add uh Vincent sarapo to our uh list to our road call please we'll do thank you can you increase uh Miss Ford's microphone please I can't hear her can you hear me yes thank you I'll get closer at this time I'm going to have our superintendent of schools present our community updates thank you again Madam President we could now turn to our announcements for the month of May thank thank you very much and we would like to begin by sharing with our community a very special event that we had last Saturday on May 4th um as we were honored to have not only first lady Tammy Murphy but also Governor Murphy attend an Elizabeth family festival at the dun Sports Center and I'd like to share that we hope hosted over 3500 families at the Elizabeth family Festival in a continuation of the first lady successful series of festivals that have taken place throughout the state to support New Jersey's women Children and Families I'd also like to acknowledge our vice president Mr Stan Nan because he played a critical role in coordinating all of the services all of the agencies that attended uh and we are incredibly grateful families who attended the festival at the time G dun Sports Center were granted access to speak with representatives of approximately 100 different organizations and government departments Who provided information and services in areas such as Health Care Child Care housing food legal assistance among many other important and essential resources the event also offered music food fun and games in which uh attending children were able to participate launched by first lady Tammy Murphy in 2018 nurture New Jersey is a Statewide program committed to reducing the material the paternal excuse me and infant mortality crisis in New Jersey and ensuring Equitable care among Women and Infants of all Races and ethnicities the Elizabeth event was the 20th Festival held throughout the state according to First ladyes Murphy's team Elizabeth had the largest attended family Festival out of all of the festivals that have taken place the Elizabeth family Festival was developed in partnership with the office of the first lady Tammy Murphy nurture New Jersey congre Congressman uh Rob Menendez Senator Joe cryan assemblywoman Anette kiano assembly men Reginal Atkins uh Union County from Union County Elizabeth uh mayor bage our United Way of Greater Union County the partnership for maternal and child health of Northern New Jersey Elizabeth public school schools Elizabeth Board of Education City of Elizabeth um Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas health and Trinitas Regional Medical Center the Burke Foundation Jersey miks and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey just to name a few incredible incredible opportunity and certainly we expressed an interest in being able to offer our families next year a similar opportunity and because the Outreach was just incredible and the interest in the services uh parents were just in incredibly uh thankful for this opportunity so we're grateful to the governor and his wife next with regard to our [Music] recognitions just a few minutes ago we had the opportunity to acknowledge our teachers uh for our teacher appreciation and special thanks to our board president and also to Rose Mor Ortega is a board member who went to uh several of the schools and is not only uh attended this week but also intends to continue to visit our schools in the coming weeks to be able to thank our teachers for their dedication and their hard work so we certainly want to thank uh all of our Educators for their hard work and dedication next want to be able to honor our national nurses week that took place the week this week May 6th through the 10th incredibly grateful to the services that are provided by our nurses each and every day to all of our children uh throughout the the school district um amazing work that they do to nurture our children to care for them and with that I would like to be able to share if you notice that Mr Kennedy uh is not here this evening and I believe this is his first absence in in the time that he has served as the board secretary to the board of education and it's for a special reason as you notice notice on the screen before you uh today this actually this evening his son Danny Kennedy is graduating from the County College of Morris nursing school so we congratulate Mr Kennedy's son this is quite a amazing u career that his son is going into and how appropriate during nurses week as we honor all of our nurses in our district so a special congratulations uh to the young Mr [Music] Kennedy and now we turn to the recent publication of the best high schools in US news report Elizabeth High School fren J sarel Academy and Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy ranked among the best high schools in New Jersey as part of the 2024 US News and World Report uh best United State high school rankings Elizabeth High School was rated among the top 500 high schools in the nation in 2024 with a national ranking of 436 and a State ranking of number 23 while Hamilton Preparatory Academy received rankings of 1,269 nationally and number 63 in New Jersey in coordination with the North Carolina based RTI International a global nonprofit social science research firm US News ranked approximately 177,000 660 public high schools out of a nearly 25,000 high schools that were reviewed Elizabeth High School and Hamilton Preparatory Academy both ranked among the top 5% of high schools in the United States Elizabeth public schools with Elizabeth High School at number 23 in Hamilton Preparatory Academy at number 63 in New Jersey joins Jersey City Public Schools West Windsor Plainsboro Regional School District and Northern Valley Regional High School District as the only non exclusively vocational or technology school districts to have multiple high schools ranked in the top 63 in the state so a special congratulations to uh the leadership at both Elizabeth High School and Alexander Hamilton Academy and to all of the um team members that work at both of these high school diligently every single day uh to support our students and ensure their success and that also reflective of all of our other High School total of eighty in the city here of Elizabeth as we continue on with our important events just as a reminder to our families uh due to the closure of schools uh on January 19th and February 13th uh the calendar had been revised at a previous board meeting and just as a reminder to our families the last day of school is now June 24th which is a Monday and schools will close at 12:15 for students and team members and on June 25th uh schools will close at uh 12:15 for 10-month administrators as we move on uh last month I had shared with our community a reminder with regard to State assessments we are in the midst of administering the New Jersey uh student learning assessments uh through May 23rd so a reminder to our families ensure that your children are able to go to bed early and have a breakfast first thing in the morning and uh are ready ready for the uh to take the test to be able to Showcase their Knowledge and Skills so reminder of the calendar which again we will post on our District web page and our principles have been sending out reminders to all the families regarding the testing schedule as we move on a special annual event uh taking place on May 23rd our 31st Annual Excellence award dinner uh where we recognize our top performing students in all of our high schoolies and it is just such a joyful um event next a reminder to our families uh with regard to the eighth grade promotion ceremonies that begin on June 20th and the schedule again will be posted on our web page so that we are able to uh remind our families of This Joy occasion which begins on June 20th at 9:00 a.m. and you're able to see the schools uh listed before for you on the screen and the various dates and times for those ceremonies and as we continue on we end with our high school graduation and class awards ceremony schedule which is now taking place on June 24th and June 25th and again the schedule um has been posted on our website with critical information regarding the arrival time the time of the of the graduation ceremonies uh that will be taking place at the Thomas G dun uh Sports Center and again a reminder with regard to the SE uh the successful parent development Workshop series um we have created a web page where we will post completed parent development uh workshops to our families so that they can access this information at any time and you can reach this page by clicking on the parent Academy Workshop icon on the district homepage when it's thank uh our directors for their hard work and effort Mr aen for coordinating uh the workshops and all of our instructional supervisors as well and this concludes our announcements for this month of May thank you very much thank you madam superintendent are there any comments and questions or comments from our board members before we go into our agenda review Madam president yes vice president first of all I want to salute all our teachers on um teacher appreciation week and our staff and all the great work that our Administration does and just want to highlight the um the first ladyes uh family uh resource fair that happened at dun Sports Center thank you superintendent and and Madam president and the entire board for supporting this initiative um this is something that's happened throughout the state of New Jersey and we saw the um the major need that we have in our Community to continually doing things like this so want to thank our uh first lady for um her initiative and wanting to come to Elizabeth and Elizabeth really showing the shine and star that they are how um great things happen when a community comes together and um you know to all the partners that our superintendent mentioned thank you for all your support and great work um in really supporting our community in their times of need um as you know the major Trends in our community that's changing with um a lot of families um coming into Elizabeth where second largest school district so it tells you a lot of what's Happening Here in our community and um thank you for all your hard efforts and the work that you're doing thank you anyone else okay thank you seeing none we will begin our uh agenda review at this time are there any questions for tab 1 a and one or onea the official and private minutes from April 17th and April 18th seeing none please add it to the agenda are there any questions or comments regarding tab 1B treasurers and secretary's report for March 31st 2024 seeing none please add it to the agenda are there any questions for tab 2A a Personnel report I have a question Madam president yes board member carvalo your thing is not on I can't hear you my question is for Mr candelino I see that we are promoting we can't hear you I'm sorry can you hear me yes thank you um I'm trying to find the page I apologize um Christa the trainer our trainer our trainer Christa is being promoted to teacher correct she she uh well we put in a request that she be hired as a fette teacher yes she uh finished her degree and she preferred to leave uh working as a trainer because of all the hours and overtime that it entails so uh and she preferred to become a pH a teacher and I congratulate her and I'm very happy for her and wish her lots of success my concern is with um as big as we are as a district do we have someone that's going to be taking her place I don't see every placement in the agenda for her or my understanding though and I believe I I didn't see the minutes but it would not go into effect until next year so we will be putting a posting out for yes we will put a posting as a matter of fact I was working on that today to get the and we do have somebody in mind who has covered for us but we will put out a posting and we'll hire the best candidate thank you I my concern is we don't stop we run 247 uh all summer no no she'll be here for the rest of the year thank you and I wish chrisa lots of luck she was amazing um from grammar school all the way to high school I know that the sports programs are definitely going to miss her but uh some schools going to be very happy to get her thank you any other questions for tab 2A Personnel report thank you if you can add that to the agenda tab three tuition's report any questions for tab three or 3A seeing none can you please add that to the agenda Tab four so I'm going to do something a little different this month um I am not going to ask the directors to give a report to us I asked all of the board members to review the agenda prior to this session so at this time when I ask for questions if board members have questions they can ask the directors and the directors can respond if they don't we'll just move on so at this time Tab 4 a are there any questions for the directors for Tab 4 A [Music] sorry uh I have a question I just don't know what it was now I'll have to come back cuz I don't remember my question on here okay seeing none please add Tab 4 a to the agenda tab 4bb are there any questions for the directors or anyone for tab 4bb Madam president yes uh my question is for plant property uh just a question on page on Tab 4bb uh page one there's only one page um just a question who is the Gathering New Jersey that's yeah that's Mr kenedy's office a church I I only ask because the letter doesn't say where they're from it just gives Pearl Street as their address we will definitely get back to you um because that is actually handled through Mr Kennedy's office all of the request for the use of facilities so we will certainly provide the background as to the organization just curious thank you absolutely would you like to keep that on the agenda board member yes I've seen it on our agenda before thank you any other questions for Tab 4 BB seeing none please put it on the agenda please add it to the agenda any questions for Tab 4 C mad president uh before you do I do know that uh board member Maria Orga likes to know how many um field trips there are so if you can just give her that report please thank you yes assistant superintendent ctez and if we can just keep all the microphones on on so we're not having issues with turning them on and off just keep them on and ready thank you there are uh on this particular agenda there are9 field trips thank you and total for the year to date we have uh completed 793 field trips excellent thank you so much uh at this time um Miss bana yes thank you madam president it wasn't a question it was just a highlight but um assistant superintendent Cortez answered I just wanted to highlight and thank all of our staff that have um put through 109 field trips for this month's agenda so thank you for all the effort that you're doing and making sure that our students are you know going out there and exploring new things thank you thank you any other questions or comments for Tab 4 C field trip considerations seeing none please add that to the agenda uh tab 4D will be done later you you want you want to do that now okay at this time the superintendent will present the HIV report for tab 4D pursuing to board policy 51311 harassment intimidation and bullying and the New Jersey statute 18a col in 37 the results of each investigation shall be reported to the Board of Education no later than the date of the next board meeting following completion of the investigation and include any Services provided training established discipline imposed or other actions uh taken or recommended by the chief School administrator since our last Board of Education meeting on April 18th and through May 1st our school counselors and school-based social workers have completed a total of 28 HIV investigations of these investigations seven cases were founded for HIV as per New Jersey Law there were 14 males 14 females 20 21 regular education students seven special education students and that were the alleged victims there were 26 males 12 females 33 regular education students five special education students that were the alleged offenders of the seven cases founded for HIV three cases were founded based on race and national origin two cases were founded based on mental physical or sensory disability and six cases were founded based on other identifying characteristics of the services provided and actions taken for these investigations there were 11 skill development lessons and trainings 24 counseling sessions five referrals for outpatient mental health treatment four changes of classroom one change of school placement two administrative counseling sessions 10 in school detentions 19 parent conferences three referrals to outside agencies six out of school suspensions and seven cases are continuing to be monitored the Hib statute further requires that at the next regularly scheduled meeting after the board members receive received the initial report of HIV investigations that the board issue a decision in writing to affirm reject or modify the superintendent's decision pertaining to the 27 cases that were reported to you at the last board meeting on April 18th in order for you to do so the investigative summaries for those investigations which were reported to you at the last board meeting have been provided for your review prior to the meeting and this concludes our Hib report for the month of May thank you so much Madam superintendent at this time we are at tab five authorization report are there any questions for tab five I do want to make a correction to the first uh thing for authorization to accept it should be a Union County Board of Commissioners not Union County Board of chosen freeholders County Commissioners I don't oh whatever it is just check the stuff the County Commissioners yeah tab five page one authorization accept thank you uh um president yes I have one question on top five first page um is the authorization to ass set phones is the France jcari Academy Empower team um uh in this donation we will based on this is using for Academy heal and witness initiatives of Fran jcar and also for the Academy Empower team leader Leandro felicio uh somebody can explain what kind of academic hell and weakness initiative we have or um uh who can be part of who is part of the academy and power team leader Leandro felicio for clarification this is with regard to our authorizations report I'm going to ask Mr calino uh to share as it relates to the Empower Somerset uh partnership that um Mr Pula is engaged in uh the Empower Somerset has been a program that we've had now for a few years that is uh provided to us uh by our uh PA supervisor Mr prula and it's a program that we feel has been very beneficial to our students and we like to continue thank you can you explain what does he do in this program if if you did I'm sorry Charlene I'll be honest with you I really didn't see this on on the agenda for me this evening but uh I I know uh we it's um it's it's a program that they come into the different schools that we've had at sarel and at Edison and they work with our students um I believe it's with mental health and social issues okay mam president yes I want to request more detailed information specific because May is a mental health awareness month and I want to make sure that this is one of the initiative who support our mental health especially not only do this may is mental health awareness month does mean I want to reest specific details thank you okay thank you our superintendent noted that are there any questions any other questions for tab five uh I have a question for our ass superintendent uh Sedano uh were we able to begin sending thank you letters to the donations not for last month but this month we will begin okay thank you are there any other questions for tab five seeing none if you can add tab five to the agenda please uh for tab 5A um was there an updated 5A the calendar that would bring you that for discussion okay I'm going to ask for the tab 5A go to private please tabled for private session at this time are there any questions for tab six uh Finance and Accounting reports Madam president yes um if I can asked the director plant property to uh give us a little overview on the installation of the walk-in refrigerators that's uh number nine hi hi so far it's going pretty well the they are about I would say about 85% complete so they are working now on U installing the compressors on the roof and putting the doors on the on the actual refrigerators so will this be the final payment no I was hoping for a yes is this broken down and well their bill is to go along so I think the total contract was $800,000 so they they build every time they they know they bring in equipment or something like that they they build well we're halfway home more than halfway more than more than halfway happy to hear that Mr milanes thank you thank you any other questions for tab six one more question Madam president yes uh how far along are we with the conversion the conversion of the black box theater for Jefferson it is now complete yes home run all right thank you you're welcome any other questions for tab six Finance and Accounting report seeing none please add it to the agenda are there any questions for tab 6A transfer of funds seeing none please add it to the agenda are there any questions for Tab S award of contract reports yes Madam [Music] president um yes yes uh page number two I no s ret three contract with Panorama education um is to development and implemen Lisa School portray of a graduate somebody can explain this part for me thank you sure and also the date is from May 10 2024 through September 30 2024 can you please update the date 2025 and somebody can explain me this contract thank you page three thank you contract with Panorama education IC sure the the contract date is correct it's going to be running through September of the new year so 2024 of the new school year so Panorama is going to be collaborating you can't hear panorama's education is going to be collaborating with Elizabeth public schools to uh continue our work on developing the portrait of a graduate over the next four months Panorama will meet with various stakeholders and align our school operations and pedagogy around a collective vision for Student Success so we started our work for portrait of a graduate it and now Panorama is going to help us continue that work thank you you're welcome thank you are there any questions any other questions for Tab S I have a question uh for director Donado the denado uh for page three the first item um how are these schools uh selected this is for Mr Mar with in his therapy dog yes so we reached out to schools that were interested in hosting and we also aligned it with the work we're doing with our behavior supports at the school to offer it as an incentive to those students that could benefit from the support okay and you selected those three sorry thank you and I just wanted to make mention that the last thing on that on page three was very nice of was a school principal of school 15 uh doing the the massages I thought that was nice uh for page number six uh director Marcel uh so I know that I I I've heard that there's some issues with Microsoft um I just wanted to see like how is how's the partnership been going cuz I know you want to renew it so far uh no issues we had a little breakdown last week is that mic off thank you all right it's been addressed uh Jamie's not here but I have a question regards to rejection of bids it's saying it was due to material defect so what does that mean okay page six first item and president M president yes you said rejection of bids on page six the first item is um the bid that's on page five from food service and we may not be able to have that answer tonight what was rejected last month and now brought back cuz last month there was rejection of bids also in our agenda and it was broken down and not the same items that are here and then I see that some of this says didn't bid on all the items so I I don't want to hold back processing this cuz I know it went to bid but would like clarification we will gladly provide clarification as soon as our director returns we will certainly provide a full report on both of those items that are listed uh board member Calo when you say you want to hold the item which one are you referring to I that I do not want to hold it oh okay but I would like clarification on the three uh companies that won the bid and one didn't bid on all the items so where where did we get the rest of the items and if this was what we held what the director last month rejected a bid for okay you're referring to page five right yes ma'am yeah thank you all right perfect uh superintendent noted that thank you um my next question is for Mr marcelian uh I noticed that we have on page s the second thing with the chilon towers yes ma'am that is for for uh the uh repeaters for the two-way radio uh to support um the main repeater which is in the uh Courthouse so in case of a failure we we have a backup we also use it for emergencies so there be a critical emergency we switch everybody to that particular repeater it's a special channel that directors superintendent have access to and we've used it in the past in EM we used often uh we use it uh every time there a special event or okay uh around that time the area only around that area or anywhere no the entire city okay thank you my next question is for Mr milanes on page eight so I noticed one two three the fourth thing down you're doing the contract with cdwg a cleaning audit pilot program can you explain that please yes uh and how are the schools selected well we actually selected two schools as a program um to run the program is is a uh a way of tracking the custodians uh activity during their shift so what they're going to do is they're going to set up like uh barcodes in the different spaces that they are they're working and with their phone they're going to track their locations so we're going to see how we get a lot of complaints sometimes that nobody cleaned the space so this is one way of finding out who was in the space who actually clean it who didn't in this in the time they spent because it's going to measure the travel time between each of the spaces and why did you pick cicarell and 27 cuz I went to Cel other day and it looked pretty sarel is one of the largest buildings that we have uh we just picked it as a you know nothing nothing special in 7 just pick two of the newer buildings to do it in I don't know how I feel about that but okay um and you couldn't pick another building you just you wanted you just randomly picked we can keep we can pick any building we want okay we can track any other the buildings and it has to be two buildings right now it has but we can change that too it's not a it's not set in stone I mean this money is coming from us though it's actually the price that they gave us based on square footage so if I if we pick a smaller building it'll cost us less if we pick a larger building obviously it'll cost you more okay can I just pick it back off that item yes um is your goal in the long run like to make it districtwide if this works out if it works out yes okay this is I mean I think I think it's a good a good tool to use I mean we saw a demo uh my uh my coordinator and my two supervisors uh saw the demo and we actually liked it so let to get a shot accountability exactly I had a question in the excuse me m um president I'm sorry um was for member Cher want to speak you sorry go ahead I will don't go after you quick in the same item once we secure the contract I'm sorry I'm sorry I don't know who's talking or who who's who has the floor no okay I okay board member sheevz yeah okay than you madam president I had a question related to the same items once we secure the contract we can switch to another school you decide like not working absolutely oh you need okay perfect and I just spoke to the superintendent that's what I would like I would like it to go to a different School those two schools not to be sarel and uh 27 for us to pick two different schools so we will accept the the we don't want to stop the contract but we want to do it at a different school cuz again I went to Cel it looks pretty clean to me very clean okay Madam president if I can recommend that we take that back to uh committee you want okay thank you all right so we're going to move it so um Miss Ford item on page eight one two 3 4 uh number four contract with cdw-g in will be tabled okay noted thank you uh and then my last are there any questions before I do the last item I have a question Madam president yes um back on page seven the contract with the Chilton towers and I know that we we we've continued to do this my question is does the Elizabeth Police Department also use that rooftop I'm just saying we we we do so much work with them now and with the county rooftops I'm wondering if we need to we're not sharing our uh Resources with them right now so I don't even know if they're there I I'm talking about sharing rooftops so that we don't have to pay this kind of money um I don't know if they're there I haven't seen any other equipment but ours okay no no I'm I'm talking about us looking into I mean we we started using the the towers many many years ago 2008 the chilon towers yes in 2008 we've been there so since 2008 I mean we we may since 2008 we have built a lot of government buildings in the city maybe we can ccle back around and have a conversation about maybe some shared services with the county or with the city okay just a little Deep dive I could probably assist you with that okay thank you thank you thank you m carvalo yes we can bring that back to committee yes okay proper commit okay so we'll bring that to the properties commit we have our chairwoman here amazing so we're going to bring that also back to the committee to talk about it um president I foret one question sure um um top seven the last the renew the Exel learning platform I just want to know if this platform is for mathematics and language R right here say ESL bilingual and special education we have that platform for only for that for that specific areas or for the whole entire District I EXL it's an it's an extra program just for those students in those two populations it is language arts and math and it's often used when we have our special um after school programs specifically for different groups we using that platform during the school hours typically no we typically use them in the after school programs okay thank you you're welcome any other questions or comments for Tab 7 Madam president yes Jacobs I have a question for Mr milanas uh Tab 7 page 9 in reference to the serro contract for water restoration what is water restoration whenever there's a leak uh we had a few of them a couple of accidents uh there was a water pipe that broke in school 5 um it's a sprinkler head and it spill water all over the place so we had to actually uh bring him in and uh dry the space and make sure that it was it's sanitized properly thank you Mr Milan also I have another question I'm hoping that we can get a status update from our honey well contractor on the climate control systems and whether our air conditionings uh will be in effect and ready uh for the hotter season for our properties committing next week okay thank you y thank you U Mr Milan I just want to say thank you I saw your name a lot in this Tab and I was very happy to see that you are getting things done throughout the district so I just wanted to say thank you are there any other questions for Tab 7 seeing none at this time I would like our superintendent to um to introduce an item or share an item that um myself and vice president uh Stan naron are bringing a speaker to the district so it is on tab tab 7 page 12 the last item and she would just do a small speaking be my pleasure absolutely so tomorrow uh Friday May 10th at uh Johnny dwire Technology Academy we're going to be welcoming Miss Tarn St El elain as a guest speaker to commemorate the Haitian American heritage month and just to be able to provide a little bit of background um as with regard to our special guest Miss St elae is a three-time published author of a fashion editor at Cosmopolitan magazine entrepreneur founder of adorned in armor through her writing she exhibits an igniting confidence in others to take heart Embrace Royal worth and dream big in unconventional spaces as a Haitian American and a firm advocate for giving back Miss St Elaine provides mentorship and guidance for girls and is an ambassador with youth with a mission in cap Haiti it's wonderful opportunity of that our students that we'll have tomorrow to be able to engage uh with our guest speaker and spend quality time learning about her experience and in turn um our guest speaker will be learning about our students and their education that they are receiving so wonderful opportunity and I thank both our President and Vice President because these are the experiences that impact our students in such a positive manner to be able to engage in a round table discussion it's wonderful wonderful thank you thank thank you and just a quick note she's also the current uh International Miss Haiti that is correct she is Miss Haiti so we welcome her and we will be with her tomorrow um at this time um Miss Ford if you can add tab seven to the agenda please tab eight our board committee reports at this time I'm going to have our chairperson for Ed management committee Miss Stephanie toana I'll give her report please thank you madam president the educational management committee met on May 1st from 400 p.m. to 5:40 the attendees were board president miss Charlene Baff dorley myself board member Maria carvalo and Rosa Morena Ortega General councel was Michael simith uh General councel as well as Judge Malone Mr Harold Kennedy business school administrator and superintendent of school Mrs hug Olga hug Meer the superintendent schools presented a District's Improvement plan to the committee the committee engaged in a discussion regarding the district's performance in English language arts mathematics science and ontime graduation the committee reviewed the professional development offerings learning walk data academic enrichment after school and Saturday program achievement data and social emotional learning professional development offerings and social and Survey data additionally information regarding the district's graduation tracker was shared with the committee as a system that monitors a student credit completion requirements the committee also reviewed the 2223 School demographic performance data for both English language arts and Mathematics the committee concluded by reviewing the schools that exited status the district currently only has three schools in status out of a total of 37 schools thank you madam president thank you at this time I'm have the chairperson for finance report give finance committee give his report which is uh board member Jerry Jacobs thank you Madame President the finance committee met May 8th from 12: to 1:00 p.m. was attended by Madame President myself commissioner pastana uh commissioner nuran um Madame superintendent uh aogi Judge Malone Mr Kennedy and Mr maholtra uh Chris Bano our insurance broker um spoke to us about the 2324 health benefits program uh including the paid claims for health prescription dental and vision coverages uh the committee discussed recommendations by the insurance broker for the renewal of the health insurance coverage for the 2425 school year which will be finalized at this meeting um we also discussed the three-year overtime report by individual operation Department ments and the main drivers since 2122 thank you madam president thank you and last I'm going to have our vice president and chair of the legal committee give his report thank you m pres Madam president um legal committee met on May 9th um in attendance was our president um commissioner baas dorley uh myself um commissioner leand chz uh our general counsel edogi general counsel Mike SM smitz um Judge Malone general counsel Michael OPI Council uh har keny School business administrator and our superintendent um the legal committee discussed a lot of um pending matters and open litigation matters and settlement agreements that will'll actually be um discussing tonight in private and uh hopefully coming to a settlement agreement and um bringing it before the board for a vote uh the legal committee also reviewed um proposed changes to the CPAC policy and the board self- evaluation policy that we'll also be discussing later on tonight in private thank you so much Madam president thank you at this time I'm going to have Mr Vincent sarapo our student representative provide his report to our community good evening esteemed members of the Elizabeth Board of Education superintendent hugel Meer and the public my name is Vincent zepero and I'm honored to once again represent Elizabeth High School Frank J sarel Academy as Miss hug Meer said I am passionate about serving and preserving our community I have called Elizabeth home my entire life and for that reason I am humbled to present to you this report on the status of of the student body throughout this school year Elizabeth High School students have continued to demonstrate their Devotion to the city and their future through community activities LED and organized by the students themselves fjc recently participated in the Citywide Earth Day cleanup we had over 150 students participate in picking up trash throughout the Elizabeth Community we were excited to help give back to our community and I'm grateful for those who helped us coordinate this event the commitment to achievement and diversity is present throughout our district with students from all of our other high schools hosting or participating in events to highlight the year's achievements and celebrating those successes Hamilton recently held its One World Festival celebrating the diverse cultures that make up our communities the buge finance Academy held an avid College Fair and sent upper classmen in their Finance program to teach grade school students throughout the district for their High School Heroes event DWI was recently awarded a garden Grant from Union County and looks forward to expanding its School Garden Jefferson recently held its Avid night and an Art Exhibit highlighting student achievement beyond the classroom Hy also held an honorable breakfast incentivizing academic achievement throughout their school during this past month various acmy hosted blood drives in partnership with the Red Cross donating hundreds of pints of blood that can save countless lives Elizabeth high schools will also be attending teen Arts demonstrating their commitment to creative Excellence regardless of where you look the students of Elizabeth are an active force in their community and are celebrating the successes of the school year demonstrating their commitments to their home and their Futures our student Representatives have been at the Forefront of the effort to connect our school Community with our local community and have committed themselves to representing our student bodies with that goal in mind with their support I organized events in partnership with local historical sites sharing this City's Rich history and providing students an opportunity to share their talents with the Elizabeth Community we attended various holiday events including two Christmas tree lightings in partnership with the city of Elizabeth during the holidays we participated in the city's annual Easter celebrations and attended events to support our fellow board colleagues each of us has also looked forward to towards the future and made personal achievements to that end this year I was selected to serve as the king of the Elizabeth Portugal Day committee I'm excited to represent the Portuguese community and look forward to our celebrations in the in the coming weeks Ashley Heraldo will be pursuing fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology Priscilla Jimenez ranked number four in the state for impromptu speaking will be attending Nationals in Iowa Jer Jeremiah lorte was recently awarded a congressional certification for outstanding achievement by representative Rob Mendez Alandra Heron recently won the Princeton University prize for race relations and will be attending ganova University receiving the St Martin deor scholarship being ranked in the top of her graduating class Maria Zavala has been selected for the NJ Stars program where she will continue to pursue her passion in nursing ingred ozario will be attending Kane University with the full scholarship to pursue her her goal of being an elementary teacher I'm honored to have been able to work with such an accomplished team who has committed themselves to giving back as I reflect back on this past year I am eternally grateful for the Educators who have always pushed me to grow and of course to my friends and family without them I would not be able to be here today though our time here as students is short the impact we make on our schools communities and the people we bring into our lives lasts much longer serving as student representative has been an incredible experience and I I sincerely hope that the efforts made by myself and my fellow Representatives will serve as a legacy of inspiration for those that will come after us as for myself and my peers we will take the lessons we learned here and the friends and connections we made and use them to become better Leaders of Tomorrow thank you thank you very much at this time are there any questions for tab nine claims list seeing none if you can just please add that to the agenda uh for Tab 10 I just wanted to recognize that um this month is Haitian Heritage Month as well as Portuguese or Portugal day as well as Cuban American day for the month of uh May and also we are celebrating a teacher appreciation week that happened this past week as well as our national nurse week which happen uh May 6 to the 10th are there any questions for Tab 10 10 a 10 B 10 C D E or F seeing none if you can add that to the [Applause] agenda uh there was two items that were removed from the agenda uh which is the school calendar and uh the item for Mr Marcel no it was tab 7even page something that was removed about the custodians tracking them okay thank you contract with [Applause] CDW I guess we can vote on the agenda when we come back as a whole that's fine okay all right so I just want to do a few thank yous and recognitions before we go into our private session I think I'm doing very well on time so just wanted to thank everyone for attending our meeting this a this evening I just wanted to thank um our students that I see are in the audience thank you for attending our meeting this month thank you to our directors again uh we have Dr Kathy Vialis uh Ben canalino Anthony denado Sam Ian uh Alberto Marcel Mr milanas and Mr or Dr OA thank you so much for being here this evening it wasn't as long as normal and I appreciate your time and effort uh you could have been anywhere else but you chose to be here with us so I just wanted to thank you all for um your time and attention and answering our questions for the things you have to do did I did I call someone the wrong name oh okay okay thank you I also wanted to thank our superintendent and her entire cabinet uh for all that they do for us as well I want to thank uh Miss Ford for filling in for Mr Kennedy uh thank you and to our attorney uh for filling in for um Mr kogi as always I want to thank our technology department as always I want to thank our security guards uh for all of your assistance and uh lastly um I just wanted to say happy Mother's Day to everyone um I did leave some cards on everyone day is to say happy Mother's Day to people and those who are in audience I'll get to you if I didn't give you a card but I just wanted to thank everyone and on the card it says happy Mother's Day to all of the moms godmothers and mentors out there thank you for all that you do uh with love from me so just wanted to thank all of you I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend um any last Quick comments from our board members yes Madam president yes thank you two things first um I want to congratulate our vice president ston he was being recognized at the Union County School Bo association meeting for his 10 years of service estan I really appreciate you and how you teach us and you you help me in this journey a lot uh and you he was recognized um at the Union County Union of School Board Association also I want to congratulate commissioner Riva for the newborn uh member certification uh the community elect as but is our decision how many professional development we want to attend and I say as a young member right here he already has his NE member certification and that mean is a lot War uh Vis you know meetings uh like the community cannot see but I want to congratulate both of them and my last comment I want to say thank you to our student represent who represent uh every High School but in the future I want to request from Madame President I want to he voice from our student from element Middle School this mean it's great to he from every high school and it's amazing but I feel like we need to find any way to he the voice of our Middle School student and if something I want to bring for private discussion in another B meeting thank you madam president thank you Rosa I would have liked you to say that in private not in front of everyone but it's okay okay um thank you for that anyone else yes uh Madam president um thank you um commissioner Moreno for that acknowledgement and um thank you um commissioner Rivera for accepting the award of my behalf unfortunately I couldn't be there but um congratulations to you as a new board member and being certified um as uh commissioner Marina stated it is arduous work that you have to do and you know these are long volunteer hours that you put in and you know getting the certifications and going to a lot of special development um professional development courses is a lot so I commend you on that and um you know thank you everyone for supporting me for 10 years it feels like yesterday it's been a long journey but it still feels like yesterday you know so thank you again thank you anyone else really quick Madam president yeah sure after yep really quick um I know we have race hes in our agenda every month but um it seems like the people that are in our agenda this month have uh been working for a district for a really long time uh I want to congratulate them wish them well we have uh retirees that have been with us for 41 years 36 years 29 years 27 years 32 years uh take the time to read the agenda it'll be posted um up if it will be posted up before the end of the night um congratulations to all of them and I wish them all well and thank them uh for their service because they have made the difference and our children are who they are because of what their sacrifices so thank you thank you and I also saw Mr Cummings uh principal of Elizabeth High School who was here as well so I just want to thank him for coming as well any last comments from our board members yes madame president yes Mr Jacob I'd also like to uh congratulate uh commissioner ran for his 10 years of service and being recognized and also know commissioner rera for his new member board certification as commissioner Moren t these are important milestones and uh trainings that have to take place and lastly I'd like to uh wish all of our mothers here present and and in the city and all around the world Happy Mother's Day and I think that your card is also excellent touch there uh for Mother's Day and I'm hoping we get a nice big c too as well for Father's Day when June comes around listen you ain't even got to say you don't have to tell me I'm going to take care of all my men over here all right I just got to make sure that you don't have to say it I got yall next month we celebrating women March and all these other time I can't forget the men don't worry yall going to have something next month and I saw that um well before any other board members no okay I see Pat would like to say something with your permission Madam president I uh researched Mrs carvallo's question the Gathering is a religious organization based in Elizabeth does not have a headquarters but the pastor does live on Pearl Street they've been using our facilities for over 5 Years thank you Pat good all right thank you sir all right at this time all hearts and Minds cleared at this time I'm going to ask that um we I get a motion to go on private oh no no no no no sorry sorry I got to tell yall why we going on private for somebody come and do do something okay uh the president requests a motion to go into private session to consider matters exempt under the open public meetings act specifically for discussions of Personnel matters specifically reappointment of PC termination of reeg contractual matters health benefit renewals policy revisions and the 2024 2025 calendar in alignment with the collective bargaining unit legal mans litigations specifically settlements of worker compensation matters MB and AE the board will Rec convene in public and make a formal action may I have a motion please I make a motion to go into private session may I have a second thank you it's been moved be second to go into private session roll call please carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacob yes Moreno Ortega yes naron yes and before I pass the mic um congratulations to our student representative uh let's get we're in the middle of a we're in the middle of a vote you can't do that sorry I can't do that no want to vote you just vote okay I'm voting I you can't sorry I'm sorry okay congratulations yes thank you Galas pastana yes Rivera yes balis Georg yes thank you we are now in private session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e a Geor okay I would like um a motion to accept the amendments to the reading of the policy 9400 and before I get a motion I just want to read it um in um um the instructions complete your evaluation using the link to a confidential electric survey that will be provided by the board secretary the board's governance consultant will meet with the board to share the strengths and areas of concern identified by the evaluation this will assist the board in utilizing the results of this evaluation and developing the NJ qac mandated board professional development Improvement plan this plan will be directed towards increasing your Knowledge and Skills in policym and board governance may I have a motion to accept the amendment and second Reading Please I make a motion to accept the amendment and second reading and second reading thank you been moving probably second to accept the motion of the amendment uh and the second reading of policy 9400 may I have a um may I have a roll call please yes carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs Moreno ortea yes naron yes Galas pastana yes Rivera yes bis dor yes thank you there were some remaining items that we had discussed in private that I would like to be added to the agenda um Lord so much stuff sorry well I'll just go through it then um uh the Monthly prescription insurance coverage the monthly health benefit coverage with Etna uh the monthly dental insurance coverage with Etna a return of reappointment of PC termination of reeg a transfer of RC and the calendar for the 2024 20125 year and anything else that I may have missed may I have a motion in a second to approve the additional or add the additional items to the agenda please Madam Madame President yes may I add a few items yes please so I just wanted to add the employment of tenured and non-tenured certified and non-certified Personnel thank you resolution for non-renewal and resolutions for increment withholding thank you so much also settlement agreement of CM o bo OEM and the settlement agreement LP thank you so much may I have a motion to approve all of the additional items stated by me and Miss uh Ford I make a motion to approve all the listed items on tonight's agenda thank you a second second thank you um it's been moved in probably second to accept the or to add the additional items to the agenda uh roll call please [Applause] carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs yes Moreno Ortega yes naron yes Galis pastana yes Rivera yes bis dorg yes thank you at this time may I have a motion to approve the entire agenda in its entirety I make a motion to approve the entire agenda and it's entire date second it's been moved in probably second to approve the agenda in its entirety with the added Amendment or added agenda items roll call please carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs yes Moreno Ortega yes naron yes Gales pastana Rivera yes AIS dorely uh I want to um yes with exstension on Tab five page 1 tab six and um I want to abstain on um damn it hold on I want to stain on uh transfer of RC and I want to abstain on oh sorry I got too much documents Jesus Oh shoot uh termination of a AJ everything else is a yes I'm Sorry Miss Ford I can I amend my vote I'm sorry of course uh tab five page one to obain got it thank you uh lastly there is a section on I don't have my paperwork so sorry about that there is a section on the CPAC policy uh we were in the middle of a first reading and uh one of the items on that is uh that I could appoint a board member to sit as a lison on the CPAC committee um as of now I would like to appoint uh board member Iana Cheves to sit as our school board member lay on for the CAC committee starting uh now now effective today effective today um so I just need a motion in a second for that I make a motion to appoint board member CH I second that motion thank you been moved in probably secondly to appoint uh board member Iana Chev to be the CPAC board member leaz on for the rest of the uh calendar school year well until December 2024 until I and my presidency roll call please carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs yes Moreno Ortega yes naron yes Galis bana yes Rivera yes bis doraly yes thank you okay now that everything is done are there any board members that would like to say something before we end our uh May meeting before anyone said anything I know we know typically we normally do our uh presentations before our board meeting so we would have celebrated Multicultural month and I know that it's coming up uh so thank you to everyone in the district for all you're going to do for the rest of the month regarding a multicultural um month um that's all I have to say right now but anyone else has anything say Madam president just want to wish all our mothers a very happy Mother's Day um to all the moms mommy figures Big Sisters grandmothers and everybody who's raising a child happy Mother's Day to you thank you anyone else okay seeing none uh roll call uh may I have a motion in a second to adjourn tonight's meeting I make a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting at 8:20 p.m. it's been moved in 5 seconds to adjourn tonight's meeting roll call please car yes Cheves yes Jacobs yes Moreno Ortega yes naron yes Galis pastana yes Rivera yes and a happy Mother's Day to all the mothers bis dorg yes happy Mother's Day take care and God bless