[Music] read the resolution ACC all comfortable what and it's always to negotiations go all the my office is very no it's just it's just okay 7 I'm just okay so I mean I read the coming yes spre I'm going too late on Lisa yeah sometimes he has like um like mixed like other things going on the regular monthly meeting of June 20th was reconvened and called to order at 7:34 p.m. at Thomas Edison school 37-1 fairon Avenue room 19 fairon New Jersey There are 16 members of the public in attendance Mano can I get a roll call please Mr baldowski here Mr Banta here here miss kovich present Mr Rosenberg here Mr spendel present Miss yman present Mrs Mayhem present we the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the fair law board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof distributed to the persons on the approved list post posted in the Board of Education administrative office and sent to the Bergen Record and the Star Ledger the announcements posting for the regular monthly meeting along with the date place and time thereof was distributed on January 5th 2024 please join me in the flag IED Al to the flag of the United States of America and to theic for it stands one nation under God indiv with liy and justice for all I will now turn it over to Dr ganio for our superintendent comments good morning good morning wow um it's been a it's been a few months but um but it's Summer's here um so uh first I'd just like to thank everybody for wonderful first year for me as superintendent as your superintendent of schools and thank the board um for all of your support and our administrative team um and our community and um it's uh the past week has been absolutely amazing uh being able to be at all the schools from the moving up ceremonies to the awards and recognitions to the clap outs and of course uh graduation was absolutely wonderful the other night on Tuesday night and while it was a little toasty um the rain did not come and um amazingly enough about 10 minutes into into the ceremony this big cloud got right in front of the Sun a little bit cooled us off and a little breeze came in so just a wonderful night to recognize 46 of our graduates and their families and it was just a wonderful ceremony just like to thank um not only all of the administrators and teachers and staff members and support staff who were there to make that possible but everyone who supported our students um not just this year but every single year uh it's a testament to the wonderful work that takes place here in the fair alone community so um I'm extremely happy and proud to be a part of that um I would also like to uh on one of our resolutions this evening we do have uh retirement here at central office at our district office uh Miss morganstein in our uh student services department is retiring um so we thank her for all of her years of dedicated service to the district and we wish her well in retirement uh we have a very busy summer coming up so while it's relaxation for many people um we have a lot of construction and Renovations going on as you can see here um wasted no time miss manuso Mr yobs the whole facilities Department uh Miss Bey very very busy with Roofing projects and all kinds of Summer construction that are taking place so it's an opportunity to really um get a lot of work done in the summer to get our facilities uh up and running and ready to go for our staff and our students uh come the end of August beginning of September uh and then last but not least I know that we've had conversations and there's been um questions in regards to the P benches at the playgrounds so we do have those were officially installed so Forest Avenue uh Forest Avenue School mils warn point and West Morland all had their benches installed so thank you to the facilities department and our business office for carrying through on that um just like to thank everyone again for a wonderful year uh and I wish everyone a relaxing summer this is the public comments on agenda items only please limit your questions at this time to agenda items please provide your name and municipality in which you reside and sign in comments are limited to 3 minutes this is not a dialogue between the speaker and the board all comments will be taken at once and when comments are complete the board president or District administration will respond as best they can the floor is open yeah I got it I'm gonna have you stand over here oh okay good evening Miss mayah members of the board Dr denisio my name is Dina de santis three days ago I was informed of my reassignment for the coming school year I am here to request that I remain in my current role as fairon high school guidance counselor a position I have held for 20 years I would like to make the board aware that my reassignment to middle school student assistance counselor was not something I sought out requested or volunteered for while I understand the district's right to assign roles based on certifications I last served as a part-time Middle School substance awareness counselor two decades ago in my early career while I worked toward my guidance counselor certification upon completing this certification I intentionally sought out a high school guidance counselor position because the Middle School population does not resonate with me it seems counterproductive to allocate $114,000 to transfer me to a role I briefly held to decades ago wouldn't the middle school students be better served by someone passionate about this work and up toate with best practices to my knowledge this position was not advertised to find a more willing or suitable candidate it feels like I am being penalized for holding a certification in a role I long ago realized was not a good fit for me I am the senior member of the guidance department at Falon high school the only current Department member who has earned the prestigious educational specialist of the Year award and my most recent summative evaluation rated me as highly effective with a score of 3.85 I am the school's military liaison and co-led the military tribute monument and Wall of Honor project raising almost $25,000 from Community supporters throughout my career I have impacted thousands of students helping them to find their why discover their passions and prepare for their future endeavors as co-advisor of the fairon high school interacts Club one of the most active clubs on campus I have engaged students to learn the value of service gain self-confidence and contribute to a positive School Community our philanthropic Endeavors allow students to see their capacity to make a real world difference in the fairon community and Beyond I am left wondering if my role as a fairon Education Association representative influenced the decision for my reassignment this decision also negatively impacts the guidance Department as a whole which is already crippled by an unfilled maternity leave position and recent resignation I question if my reassignment and the resultant negative impact to the guidance department is due in part to the contentious grievance recently resolved by perk my reassignment also messages staff that raising concerns places one's career in Jeopardy my reassignment would result in three vacancies in the department for the upcoming school year leaving over 600 students without a dedicated guidance counselor during a critical time when the master schedule for students is not yet completed thank you I appreciate the kindness the rising seniors will soon be embarking on college applications I respectfully request that you vote against my involuntary reassignment and allow me to remain in service to the fairon high school Community thank you for your time you ready for me good evening I just had a few words also on uh dena's behalf you okay start yeah okay so uh a couple of things that Dana may have left out because her um her role with the high school and here in district has has spanned two deck games and uh it is quite extensive so Dena has um worked with students to support uh various charitable causes she's uh helped to get a service dog for a disabled Soldier raises funds and awareness for polio has spearheaded blood drives these happen on a biannual basis and most recently uh she has helped to raise money for suicide awareness uh Dena work empowers students to make real word decisions and not only in this community but beyond um as they reach out and take uh take off into college and and all the great things that they end up doing and look back at their experience in the High School uh and with her uh guidance as a counselor on a personal note U I've you know been a long time friend of Dena a colleague for those 20 years we've been here about the same length of time and I've always been struck by dena's Passion to support her counes her Tyler uh advocacy and um putting their best interest um at heart this is why I was also glad to know that she was going to be my own son's guidance counselor helping him to navigate his high school journey and I do hope she continues to be his guidance counselor as mentioned Dena is deeply involved in the culture at Fon high school and it would be to the community's detriment that she be transferred it would be to the detriment of the high school guidance Department if she and her scope of knowledge were reluctantly removed from the Department whatever comes of it you should know the full impact of the decision you are making and so that you can make that decision with Clarity and I thank you for hearing me out good evening my name is Kristen Burke um I'm a teacher at ferland high school I began my employment in the district as the same time as Dena in 2004 though I am employed to work in the classroom and she in the guidance Department she and I have been working collaboratively outside of our primary ruls for the last 19 years as new employees to the district sorry we looked for ways to serve students and immerse ourselves in the fairon community Beyond just what we were hired to do I started operation heart a club called Helping and remembering troops um a co-curricular organization and she assumed the Helm of the animal rights clubs positions that neither one of us were paid to facilitate in 2005 Dina approached me about having our clubs work together on a joint effort to bring a military service dog home to the States from Afghanistan the return of tiger State side was the start of our collaborative community service journey and we haven't stopped since we next work together with service dog organization to provide a specially trained service dog to a wounded veteran we committed ourselves not to just give a donation to the organization but to raise the to toal funds needed to help a veteran here in New Jersey at the time this required $155,000 we and fewer than a dozen students worked tirelessly to raise These funds in less than one year by organizing a number of events like car washes snack sales a raffle for a free limousine service to the senior prom and a battle of the bands that was held at the community center during this time one of our animal rights club members tragic Ally took her own life it was important to Dena for the student to be remembered so we decided to raise an additional $5,000 to name a service dog in her honor our work in earned coverage on channel 12 news as this as news about this endeavor spread throughout Bergen County we were chosen by Bergen County to be honored as the Bergen County annual salute to Champions Award through the Bergen County Office of disability services while this award was certainly a feather in our caps it was a recognition that Dena declined unless the students would be acknowledged as well the committee swayed by her passion and insistence that the students be recognized for their massive efforts honored both of us and each individual student during the award ceremony in 2013 without realizing it we both applied for the position of the interact Club adviser when the students activity coordinator came came to me and said there was another person that was interested in the position she wondered if I would be interested in a joint advisor ship I asked who it was and when she said it was Dena I instantly said yes her dedication and work ethic are unmatched and I knew that we would continue to do great things together we have helped to bring the ideas of our club members to fruition fostered a spirit of giving back to others and helped our students to see the power they make they have to make a difference in 2022 we unveiled the military tribute monument and feron High School alumni veteran wall of honor at the high school and hosted a dedicated ceremony and lunch for more than 200 veterans and alumni together we raised more than $25,000 to put this project together and it's the culmination of hundred hours hundreds of hours of unpaid work over the course of two years including a global pandemic in my role as the head Association representative at the high school colleagues frequently comment to me that she has helped them with students and parents and if they have a question that is guidance related she is the first person they go to for assistance moreover students have expressed that she is willing to help them whenever they need and many have said they think her letters of recommendation to college were what tipped the scales in their favor I also personally know of several members of our faculty in the community at large who have specifically requested Dena serve as their ch child's guidance counselor I strongly urge you to vote against removing Dina from the high school and the student body that she serves with distinction thank you thank you okay as you can see I don't have anything written uh my name is Tony Morrow I am a parent of a current high schooler who's going to be a senior and an a student at TJ the reason why I am here tonight is on behalf of Dina Mrs DeSantis and it's not really I'm not going to sit here and talk about everything that she's done for the district I think you all know this everybody's been saying everything she's done but there's one thing that struck me as I'm sitting here listening first of all obviously she has helped my daughter at the high school so that's why I'm here to vouch for her and I hope that she stays and that she could help my incoming son when he comes in um but really what hit me which I hope that everybody thinks about is the fact that she clearly said that she does not have a passion in this new role that you are considering her for so why would you want to put somebody in a role that they really don't have any passion for and don't want to do something that she hasn't done in 20 years as a parent I could say that it is extremely important to us and to our kids to have somebody who's in charge of them that really wants to be there and wants to do the job and wants to help the students so although she is obviously an awesome person she has done many wonderful things in our district from what people have said I think it is important to let her continue to do what her passion is and what she has been doing for 20 years and she's obviously been excellent at her job and I think that we should allow her to continue to do that and perhaps find somebody else who really wants to do the substance abuse counseling in that other role so please consider that and I thank you for your time can everyone please make sure that they're signing in a piece of paper um good evening my name is Jennifer Balman I'm also an employee at the high school but I'm tonight I'm reading uh a statement on behalf of another staff member who could not be here uh calop paleos she's a French teacher at the high school as well as a town resident this is her statement I'm writing to say what it blow it would be for Fon High School to lose both Dina DeSantis and our custodial staff in my eight years working with Dena she has absolutely always been a source of support and resource resourcefulness for my students I have always been able to turn for her to her for matters great and small and have never found her anything other than above and beyond the Call of Duty I know the high school students and their families with their specific challenges and needs rely on her heavily and as adults in the school we also know just how much knowhow and experience live behind her every email every conversation and every meeting and to speak of the incredible team of custodial staff is to speak of a competent skilled and caring set of individuals from whose absence it will be take a long time for our school to recover whether it is the day-to-day workings of our large building or their unfailing support for events throughout the year their support makes them an indispensable part of our team and our culture I understand that our district has many diff difficult decisions to make and I'm sure that the decision to transfer people is always carefully and thoughtfully considered I am just sharing my my thoughts on the matter in in hopes that it can help illustrate the import of these changes I am proud and grateful to be a part of this District thank you for taking the time to listen to me can I start uh good evening Board of Education members my name is D Don Cham and I'm the rising co-president of the interact club and also a student at the Fairland at Fairland High School um today I'm here to speak on behalf of Mr santis and I would just like to talk to how much of an impact she's made on me through having been an officer for the past two years I've been the great I've been given the great opportunity to work so closely so closely with m santis to me personally M santis has been an integral part of my past three years at ferland high school as one as as one of the advisers for interact she has consistently supported me by introducing me to programs such as Riya also known as the rotary youth leadership awards to further encourage me to expand my leadership skills to not only benefit the interact Club but also my social skills to benefit um speaking with others to keep this short and sweet Mr santis has dedicated much of her time and energy to interact and interact would not function properly without her to me and interact and everyone who's here today I would like to I would like to ask you to not move remove her from the high school she is extremely important to all of us and we can't bear to lose her thank you dear Falon Board of Education I'm giving this speech on behalf of Ryan Noki who could not attend this meeting tonight good evening my name is Ryan nki and I now a graduate of Fairland high school and a former member of the interact Club in my junior year I served as vice president of the club in a now recently completed senior year I served as president of the club therefore through my continued involvment in the interact club and as a member of the executive board I was able to get to know Mrs santz very well just to provide a little background for more than a decade Mr santz and Miss Burke have worked together to lead in my opinion the most impactful Club in the entire School while they both have jobs as a teacher or counselor they have stayed committed to running the club yearby year which requires a lot of effort the interact Club has made a difference in inside and outside the flhs community through a plethora of activities to name a few the yearly School 13 trip to Patterson during Christmas time to provide the less fortunate elementary students with gifts to provide them with the same Christmas and holiday spirit we all enjoy our P our principal event to benefit Suicide Prevention organization our current list car washes clothing drives blood drives and much more as is there many events to list while the interact Club does have an executive student board that helps coordinate and carry out these events it goes with Sou it goes without saying that none of this happens without the two wonderful women Mrs santz and Miss Burke who run this club the effect that this club has had has had on our school Community is unmistakable and without having Miss santz at the helm it would tremendously complicate the future of the club furthermore not only as Mrs santz an integral part of interact Club but also a beacon of inspiration and encouragement in the guidance office speaking from my own experience she always greeted me with a smile and was very welcoming every time I walked in the guidance office she was there to encourage and supp support me on in decision day and even called my parents to tell me how proud she was of the job that I was doing leading the club with this in mind I believe that moving Mrs santis out of the high school and into the middle school will be a loss not only for Mrs santis and into the relationship she established but a loss for the F Community as well as the interact Club therefore I kindly put forward my recommendation to keep m s Mrs santz at Fairland high school so she can continue to make a positive impact day by day thank you for your time sincerely Ryan noi and I also have to add from my own word like Mrs santis has been a very inspirational person and been a great leader for the club and I'm sure a lot of the intera club members can say the same so I hope that you vote against her movement to the middle school thank you Avery Park Avery Park thank you Avery Park good evening all my name is Liz moresa I am able to do two things at once I am the human Ser uh human services coordinator for the burough of fair laon and as of two days ago I'm no longer a fairon school's parent um so I want to I want to talk about obviously Dina Des Sanz uh I wear two hats with uh when it comes to Dena so I'll talk a little bit about par parents first uh Dena was my son Shane twigs's guidance counselor Shane has an IEP Shane if anybody knows him you know he's the sweetest kid who talks really quiet and he doesn't interact with people very comfortably and um Dena was just instrumental in kind of helping him my son started High School in covid he was behind a screen he started at Bergen Tech half day and Finland High School half day and by the time he got to his junior year he wanted to drop berant tech he loved fairon high school and uh Dena sat with him and you know they talked about it and he put together a schedule they put together a schedule that he really loved and um I am forever grateful for your help with him so I'm not going to talk about him anymore because I'll get all teary eyed and you know graduation um the other hat I wear is human services and I was the food pantry coordinator up until about two years ago so uh Dean and I had actually met before my son went to high school when she was instrumental in coordinating food drives at the high school and and I always say to people I would always say to people our biggest donations come from the students in this town every school does a food drive um and that's what keeps our program going you are helping Dina people in town students that you don't even know about by doing these food drives the word that people keep saying is passion passion passion I'm a huge that is such a huge thing for me if you are passionate about something you do your best possible work and to take her out of that school and take that passion away you are doing an absolute disservice to the students and you are doing disservice to this community there are people eating dinner tonight because interact brought food to the food pantry my son is going to Bergen Community College because Dena guided him to do that the decision is clear to me she needs to stay at the high school she's passionate she loves it and I think she's doing a great job thank you all so much hello um my name is Ashley Luther I am a 9-year Royal Australian Air Force veteran I run the Veterans Affairs Department here in the town of faon we look after, 1500 veterans um currently plus military families plus a whole lot of military moms that um give me a lot of time on the phone um we also I also run the food pantry now as of August of last last year I'm here to talk on the um involuntary movement of Dina de santz from the Fon high school guidance counseling position three years ago um Dena invited me to the military track um attendance to the faon high school graduation it was one of the first years that the faon veterans was ever in attendance from that I was able to gather letter letters um in support for these military track students that they may never have seen before we had go heimer's office Lisa Swain's District um 2 we had the mayor and Council we had personal letters from both myself and a recent Roc graduate this information for a military track student is so important they Dina is ensuring the reality of success in our future military students she is ensuring their grades are appropriate their transactions are appropriate their deportment is appropriate she is assisting and preparing them um and being a point of contact for these milit military track students is so important 2024 you know where you are many many years post 911 but it is still as important today as it was back then to have recruitment in the military and unfortunately those numbers are dwindling it's not something that um students are looking for anymore but to have an actual point of contact in a school to discuss that option with is so important Dena has um assisted many of my veteran benefits and events through serving food assisting um veterans to get to their seats during medal uh Awards ceremonies where they got New Jersey U Meritus Awards um some of the Vietnam guys got awards that they never even seen before and that was all due to dena's students that she organized she reached out to me and said how can I assist that's something that happens with Dina a lot I was speaking at a rotary function on behalf of the food pantry and at in the middle of our lunch and she runs up she says I run interact Club have you ever heard of it I was like no what is this club and she said it's it's this club of amazing students and we we hold food drives and we collect school supplies and how many kids did you say that you had and I have 68 children currently attending my food pantry 68 students that are in failon schools ranging from elementary through to high school and Dina Des santz came up to me to say please we what what kids can we help support what do they need to start school how can they be confident in themselves to be able to learn and be educated um thank you so much uh at the end of this with my 30 seconds sorry I get very this very n wracking um I believe it's a detriment to the Future students of failon not only in the high school but in future years who knows we might get another 20 years out of her please vote against her removal um thank you so I do want to let you all know it is our policy to um have 30 minutes worth of public comment so if there is anyone else who would like to speak we do also have a couple of people on our Google uh drive so if you want to give one or two more people an opportunity please do so now hello my name is Christine mcspirit I am a current teacher at Fon High School where have been teaching at Fon for the past 26 years so I can attest to uh dena's uh involvement in school as well as her dedication to her students but I'm also here uh on behalf to read a letter uh good evening Fair loan board uh Fair loan Board of Education members allow me to introduce myself my name is Alex cordillo the president of the Rotary Club of Fon I would like to apologize for not being here in person as I am working this evening on behalf of myself and my fellow rotary members I wish to express my deep concern for the transfer of Miss Dena Des santis to the Middle School Miss santis has served as a guidance counselor for Fairland students for over 20 years at the high school she is a counselor with senior status in the department and many families in her town have come to rely on her to support their children through their High School experience and into post-secondary choices Miss D santis being transferred to a new position outside flhs will disrupt the partnership between rotary and the interact Club as she's one of the two advisers that has worked with us for years on various projects and initiatives Mr santis is there for our day of service and many other special events working with students building a bridge between our club and the school district I ask that you reconsider this action now that we have shared our concerns before you finalize this decision please do it in the spirit of the rotary four-way test number one is it is it truth two is it fair to all concerned three will it build Goodwill and better friendships four will it be beneficial to all concerned sincerely Alex cordillo M Lis president of the rotary Fair uh Club of faon 2024 2025 faon High School alumni class of 2006 and in addition to Mr cardillo's um comments and letter I would also say uh working with Dina for the past 20 years her removal from the guidance department will be extremely detrimental to the guidance department and the students that she has been working with and uh fostered many many strong relationships with current and present and future students thank you very much for your time um Miss manuso can you please take a look at the Google Doc please we do have a couple comments so I'm just going to read them into the record this evening the first comment is from Mel jerser her comment is on 5A as F president I would like to wish miss deelia and miss morganstein a very happy retirement your respective departments will have big shoes to fill congratulations to Naomi Epstein as well thank you for your 16 years as a power professional in our district 7 a17 welcome all new hires 7b1 a special welcome to Natalie balen we look forward to working with you you have big shoes to fill but given your experience we know you will do great welcome aboard seven F5 6 11 12 15 and 16 wow I see some big changes in custodial structure I hope this is the beginning of positive changes where our district hired custodians are the ones in our schools building bonds connections and relationships with our kids and staff the community they build and pride our custodians feel is beyond compare often the contracted custodians are not as connected to our schools and aren't as vested into the community as the custodians listed on this agenda item I know most of these custodians from volunteering in our schools and they're in a class all all their own along with Mr Leo at West and Roger at faon high school I am happy to see them throughout our district this is awesome uh she also says I want to con congratulate all our seniors for graduating Tuesday well done class of 2024 a special congrats to class president Prima I will miss seeing you at these meetings and on the stages at the faon high school I wish you much success in your future endeavors I know you're going going to be great I would also like to take take the time to thank the board members that attended the Falon High School senior award night and all the graduations I know all our time is valuable but it is truly appreciated by the students to see how vested you are in their accomplishments have a great summer everyone our next comment is from Cindy Joe Quackenbush Dina DeSantis I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with DEA desant since my son Joseph Jr and Jessica entered High School in 2005 and 2006 respectively Dena was guidance counselor to both of my children I had many occasions to meet with her on behalf of my children in many different aspects of their growth at the high school Dena is passionate about her job and her career at fairon high school her drive for the the monument in honor of all who served in the military and our school would never have come to fruition with her countless hours tears and stamina to make this happen it is a beautiful tribute to our our military students and I was proud to be a sponsor in that program I'm sorry this is just a little funky this is also from Cindy Joe quacken Bush regarding Dina Des santis not sure where this is falling in public comments so I plac it in two places on the agenda item um I'm sorry so it's the same statement except there is one part added and that is I would ask that you reconsider your intention to move Dena to the middle school as a sack counselor she is made for the high school she is made to continue to guide our students in their career paths no matter what and where they choose she was such an influence to my children's care decisions and stood by them throughout their four years to move her from Fon high school would be disappointing to her not to mention all the students who would benefit from her guidance and love for her job I ask you again to reconsider your intentions thank you for your time next is Jack suser speaking on behalf of Dina dandis and I don't see any comments there that was the only comment that was noted Lisa deia I am supporting Dina Dan santis to be recognized as an invaluable guidance counselor at the high school for 20 years she was recognized as educational specialist of the Year Dena is dedicated to her profession providing the utmost care concern and direction in guiding the students to become successful not only in high school but in their next steps after graduation Dena truly enjoys excels in working with this age group she lends her talents to the running of the interact club and was responsible for the fundraising and installation of the Veterans Memorial at the high school dean students are fortunate to have such a wonderful guidance counselor caring for their academic success I am supporting Dina Des santis to be recognized as an oh I'm sorry this is just in two different spots on the agenda same comment John Cosgrove I heard tonight that the board is considering moving Dena de santis to a position in one of the middle schools I believe that this would be a huge mistake Dena has been a dedicated member of the high school staff always putting the students first My Hope Is that you will leave Dina at fairon high school and continue to let her do what she does best thank you for your consideration John Cosgrove karen s stain onage onage thank you I know I was like probably not going to say this right but I appreciate your help thank you for the many years I worked with DEA DeSantis she was a dedicated wonderful high school guidance counselor she always had the best interest of every student in all situations to move her from that position would be a disservice to Future high school students and our last one is Kathy gno Neco I would like to speak on of Dina Dan santis and in support of her remaining in her current position as a high school guidance counselor I worked as a guidance counselor at Veron high school for 10 years with Miss D santis due to unforeseen Health circumstances I had to leave my job at the high school but I've remained friends with Miss dandis during my tenure at the high school we worked very closely on numerous projects Miss dandis was always looking for ways in which to serve the students and the community she was an integral she was integral in the development of the high school college information nights financial aid information programs and ensuring the well-being of her students you will not find a woman who is more concerned with her students and the community's well-being I urge to reconsider reassigning Miss santis to the middle school the high school guidance Department cannot afford to lose someone with this level of knowledge and compassion it will be a great loss and that is all Mrs Mayhem the floor is closed I will now open the floor for board comment Mr spindell I'd like to make a motion to go into close session to discuss item 7 F3 second we can't do that unfortunately we're unable to do that may I ask why second uh the uh individual listed on that item um has indicated upon receipt of rice that any conversation will be in public so any conversation by the board on this matter would be in public then I would like to speak on this matter are you withdraw your motion I will withdraw my motion okay you good with that yes okay I have many questions rather than comments regarding what what is going to possibly transpire and these questions are I wanted to really know how and why this individual with such a passion with so many people who have backed her and given her so many accolades why this person who originally had this position decades ago withdrew from that position to get a different position why she was selected for this particular job I also wanted to know why if she is selected as going to the Middle School how we are going to find three guidance counselor Replacements all also why was this job not posted to see if we could get another individual into that slot and the most poignant fact that was stated tonight if you don't want to go into a certain position you're not going to benefit the students what's ever you're going to be a detriment to that particular job that you're going to be taking and I would have rather discussed this in closed session but since I was unable to I'm bringing these things obviously out in in the open so thank you very much for your you're listening to me before you respond for the record that is not the district's practice to discuss Personnel matters publicly nor is it considered to be a best practice uh I think under the circumstances I'll leave to the superintendent if he wants to respond uh generally uh board members certainly under the circumstances can make comments and and comments can be made but I'll I'll leave to our superintendent sound discretion how much detail he wants to get into publicly uh so first and foremost thank you for that question Mr spindell and uh thank you for all the members of to the public who are here this evening for your comments um they were all heard um and I know I speak not only for myself but I do know this board of education who listens to all of the comments for from all of our constituents that being said um I will not be speaking um it is not my practice to speak on any Personnel matters um and under these circumstances I will not um however um I can tell you that you know being a superintendent of schools and the amount of time and thought that goes into all decisions related to um our staff members and assignments within our school district and Community um none of the decisions uh are ever made lightly and there's a lot of consideration and conversations that occur and our goal is always to take our talented staff and put them in positions of strength um as you can see from even the resolutions this evening uh we have a large number of change of assignments um we will have more next month and most likely even possibly more in the coming months uh we've had an excess of 10 in the past few meetings um we have a total of 16 change of assignments tonight there are change of assignments are the management prerogatives prerogative as everyone knows um and as I mentioned earlier really our goal is to always make sure that we're having thoughtful conversations around the strengths of every one of our staff members putting them in the position where they're going to be successful um in order to best serve our students so I want to start off by saying I will be voting no for the 7 F3 motion and I have a couple more questions um I would like oh first of all i' like to thank the administration for the benches I also for the bills list the mashio food I can't find indicate how much the board dinners cost I look through it I don't know where it is and lastly uh we went through multiple stages uh of meetings so that we can have it this board meeting televis and fairon TV is it finally happening so I can speak to the fairon TV comment that you made or question uh Our IT department has been um I don't know what the status is but I do know that they have reached out to Fair law TV um to be able to communicate and being able to take a recording and and have that posted so we'll follow up to find out what the status of that is and the maso's question if somebody can answer me that I don't have the answer to uh we could certainly look into that and get back to you okay and be able to provide that to the board thank you the I'm sorry uh Dr Dean can I respond of course uh the the board dinners follow the uh the circulation the $10 per person I'm not exactly sure on the invoice because I don't have it in front of me I can get back to you on that but we are following the cost of $10 per person yeah because I looked at the maso invest that was given to me and nothing of that said board dinners or anything of that sort it might not be carved out that specifically but I'll get back to you thank you so I'm seeing a lot of people in the audience and and through Google that I have interacted with during the time that my children were in faon high school and I take their statements very strongly and I will be voting no on 7 F3 thank you oh okay I didn't hear you um thank you um and thank you everyone for for coming um this is a hard decision for me because um and I think I'm going um to be fair to Dr denisio and to Mr santis I'm I very rarely do this I'm I think I'm going to be abstaining on the motion tonight um because I know Mr santis and I know what Mrs D santis is all about um from way back before she was a guidance counselor at Fon High School um and I want to thank everybody for so passionately coming out here tonight for Mr santis um because um I know what Mr DeSantis has done for the high school and I know um on the other hand I know that Dr Des uh Dr Deno has to look at the whole district and what the needs of the whole District are um and so and it sometimes doesn't make sense it sometimes um you can look at it a lot of different ways um so I I appreciate I appreciate everything that was that was said tonight and for sure I've been listening um really carefully um I just want to be fair to everybody so so that's why I've come to that decision and I very rarely um sometimes I think it's a cop out and I very rarely utilize the exstension vote um but I've actually been thinking about this this for the last couple days so um as far going back to the regular the the rest of the agenda I want to thank for school PTA but I want to thank all the ptas for the tremendous end of the year um end of the year activities for our students um I've attended some I've seen some I've attended uh most of the moving up ceremonies and what we have in this town is absolutely tremendous the parents of this town are so generous to our students um and our schools the teachers of this town um and the faculty just what they do for the for the kids moving up and graduating is absolutely amazing so I want to thank everybody for that um have a good summer the floor is closed um it is the approval of minutes can I get a roll call can I get a roll call sorry Mr Bowski yes Mr B yes Dr berini yes m brown yes Mich yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr spel yes yes Mrs May yes motion passes can I get a motion for f okay thank you very much can I get a motion for 5 a through F so moved second roll call please Mr bosi yes Mr B yes Dr ber yes m brown yes Mich abstain on 5e Mr Rosenberg yes Mr spendel yes Miss no on 5e yes on everything else Mrs May yes motion passes please note that in 6A you will need to abstain on yourself should you be attending the njsba Conference in October can I please get a motion on 6 a through D so moved second roll call please Mr bosi abstain on 6 A5 yes on everything else Mr yes abstain on 685 my name Dr berini Miss uh upstand on 685 on my name Rosenberg yes abstain on 6 A5 my name yes she's abstain on 6 A5 my name and yes on everything else you skipped me it's an old one yeah actually [Laughter] myON uh abstain on my name on A5 and yes for everything else yes abstain on 6 A5 my name can I get a motion for 7 a through 7 p and seven R so moved second roll call please Mr Bowski yes Mr B yes Dr berini yes Miss Brown yes Mich no on 7 F3 7 A4 7 A2 7 A5 7r1 you want me to repeat it 7 F3 7 A2 74 7 A5 and 7 R1 yes thank you Mr Rosenberg yes accept obstain on 7 F3 Mr spel no on 7 F3 yes on all the others Miss no on 7 F3 and if I can group all the uh the custodial movement uh I'll vote no on that as well and yes on everything else this may yes motion passes can I get a motion for 8 a through G so moved second so uh roll call please Mr Bowski yes Mr yes Dr ber Miss Brown yes Miss we on eight correct yes yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes M yman yes Mrs mayh yes motion passes can I get a motion for 9 a through e so moved second JS roll call please Mr Bowski yes Mr B yes Dr berini Miss Brown yes Miss we're a nine correct yes I'm sorry Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes M yes Mrs mayh yes motion pass oh crap sorry I forgot we're g add to as JJ uh the no as I I uh the uh disposition of The Residency matter that was heard in executive so JJ yeah resolution will be I I this will be JJ resolution JJ notes resolved by the Board of Education after review and consideration of all relevant information including an opportunity to be heard by the board the board determines that the student in RI 2023-2024 D5 is not properly resident in fairon from September 2023 through two and including the present date and authorize the removal of said student effective immediately can I get a roll call oh do I have a motion so move second can I have a roll call for 10 a 10 C through E 10 G through says 10 a through 10 C 10 B doesn't matter so it's 10 a 10 C through 10 E 10 G through 10 JJ can I get a motion so moved second roll call Mr yes Mr yes Dr berini Miss Brown yes M no on teni Mr Rosenberg yes Mr spendel yes Miss no one 10 I I and yes on everything else I I or I I I I Mrs mayem yes motion passes yeah okay I just wanted to make sure at Le okay can I get a motion for 11 a through C so moved second roll call Mr bosi yes Mr B yes Dr berini yes Miss Brown yes Miss bich no Mr Rosenberg yes Mr spendel yes no Mrs mayem yes motion passes this is the public comment on other business please provide your name and municipality in which you reside and sign in comments are limited to three minutes this is not a dialogue between the speaker and the board all comments will be taken at once and when comments are complete the board president or District administration will respond as best they can the floor is open good evening my name is UNAM Marie Abrams I come here tonight as a fairon parent and a veteran educator for almost three decades 25 years of which were spent as a classroom teacher on Tuesday night my husband and I had the pleasure of watching our firstborn son cross the stage at Fon High School's graduation our other Sons will graduate in 2026 2027 and 2030 after hearing the administration's candid addressed to the graduates about the importance of engaging in real world connections I felt compelled to attend this meeting to share my heightened concerns about the threats to learning and attention posed by personal mobile devices I am not a lite having taught in the very first district in New Jersey to go Ono one with laptop tops two decades ago I've long been an early adopter of well-designed and intentional educational technology in the hands of knowledgeable and Innovative Educators technology can be transformative a personal mobile device in the pocket of a student in school on the other hand even when it's turned off is inhibitive if we look at the policies about smartphones as they're written in one current student hbook it would appear that our schools have locked down the use of personal mobile devices but rules are only as good as they are in forcible adolescence are hardwired to devise workarounds for this and many other policies and to benefit from any ambiguities within them one such ambiguity is the allowance of teacher discretion for the use of smartphones I can only speak for myself here but I will say that as a classroom teacher I wanted a lot of autonomy to deliver the curriculum there were very few instances where I like top- down choices from the administration but this context qualifies teachers deserve to deliver curriculum with as many distractions eliminated as possible and a smartphone in a student's pocket is a distraction as a literacy leader I'm always about 80% the last good book I read and tonight that book is the anxious Generation by Jonathan hate an author who advocates for phone-free schools and States clearly what research has now clearly verified the granting of smartphones to our children is the most unprecedented social experiment that humankind is conducting on its own young we would never condone tobacco alcohol or drugs in our schools but the current conditions and ambiguities of phone policies leave youth highly vulnerable to digital addiction smartphones while offering convenience and connectivity Rob our children of vital face-to-face interactions even when those phones are not visible even when they are in backpacks or lockers or those little parking Pockets that some teachers use and that more often than not students put burner phones in to keep their real devices attached to them like an umbilical court please don't mistake my factious for self-righteousness I don't don't know any better than any other parent or educator who's feeling just as helpless as I am I know that my husband and I have made the personal choice to restrict our children's access to non-academic content on their phones during the school day but that's not enough in 2017 I put a smartphone in the hand of my fifth grader I did not know then that what height calls the great rewiring of childhood would have such a profound impact on children's development socialization mental health behavior and interactions to paraphrase poet Maya Angelou when we know better we can do better and we must do better we must confront the reality that as long as our children have a smartphone on or near their body they are products sold to social media's advertisers their attention is being manipulated and monetized and this is happening during the school day if as the author asserts parents and Educators believe that the ship has sailed with smartphones then perhaps we might recall that the Titanic sister ships were immediately brought back home to port for close inspection and repair thank you okay the leaders of Tomorrow attend Falon schools today as height asserted any school whose leaders say that they care about belonging Community or mental health but haven't gone phone free is standing on a whale fishing for minnows if we as parents and Educators work tirelessly together to form our young leaders if we want to ensure our children's well-being if we want to safeguard their education we will need to make the audacious controversial and yes unpopular decision to go phone free in schools thank you do we have anything on the Google Doc thank you for the reminder this comment is from Olga Ginsburg I would like to acknowledge our Memorial and TJ Middle School class of 2024 the class of 2024 was the first class to begin its journey into Middle School in fifth grade they are the only fifth graders who did it virtually and mastered zoom and Google meets instantly during covid-19 they are the unique class of 2024 that makes us all proud congratulations to all and good luck in high school as a Memorial Middle School Parent I'd like to thank all of the staff and administration at Memorial for their support encouragement passion for learning they shared with our children during their four years at Memorial I'm especially grateful to our principal Mrs Schwin for all the assistance and support for that she provided the grade parents and to the eighth grade committee when planning all the end of the year events thank you Memorial I will miss you and that is all the floor is closed I will now open up for board member comments Rita Lisa I believe behavior is a language you can say whatever you want but your behavior tells me exactly how you how you feel about a person or how you treat a person I'm going to start off by reading two policies and then I will continue policy 0171 duties of the board President and Vice President part eight says serve as a Committee Member X official in accordance with byw 0155 bylaw 055 except for committee of the whole the all Comm shall consist of I'm sorry except for a committee of the whole a whole board all committees shall consist of no more than four board members of one of whom may be the president Who Shall Serve as an ex official member of all the board members committee unless he or she is this chairperson the president shall not have the right to vote to the commit uh right to vote at the committee meeting in their exact ex exactal uh capacity unless the committee has only two members voting and the vote is split in which the case the president May cast a tiebreaking vote we had a committee meeting of the education committee this I think it was Tuesday and three board members were an attendance plus the board president the three board members were the committee chair at bertolini myself and Mr Spindel Miss Mayan also was there I presented why cursive was important in our schools and how how helpful it is I was told we are two board members voted yes and one board voted no based on our committee process if two board members voted yes which is Mr Spindel and me and I and Mr berini voted no the board president cannot vote so it should be going to the full board whether the superintendent agrees or doesn't agree it has to go to the board unfortunately this policy was violated I asked nicely that the board president can't vote vote and it must go to the even if the whole board turns it down that is perfectly fine but policy needs to be enforced we as a board have three jobs and one of our jobs is to make sure we approve policies well if we approve policies and both board members voted yes for this policy you have six seconds then we need to follow the policy I will come back your time is up Miss May Miss yman May I comment um so uh just in response to that just to uh provide some perspective during that committee meeting I just want to clarify for the rest of the board as a superintendent of schools any recommendations for anything related to the curriculum is the purview of the superintendent and what I stated during that committee meeting was that I was not making a recommendation for cursive writing at that time there were conversations that were had as per board policy we put the requested items from board members on the agenda we had conversations I know that there are other items that will continue to be part of that process um the administration listened to the comments and the feedback from the board and we take that information and we bring that back so there is no formal action or recommendation from the superintendent at that time and I made that uh clear during our meeting that I was not moving anything forward um so I um have two um things that I would like to discuss one would be um and it doesn't have to have a yes no or whatever kind of comment um just putting it out there um I think that we should have some as little as it may seem we should have a uh graduation policy that addresses who should be on uh you know where the podium is um it's not necessarily who attended it w or who was able to go on there it was who wasn't able to go on there so I just I said like just more discussion on on that particular piece I'm sorry I I just don't compl completely understand I want to make sure I completely understand your question can you just repeat it rephrase it I want to make sure I come away with an understanding of what you're sharing so currently there's no policy in in place that tells us how to look at a prior um a prior board member and whether they can attend on the stand on where the everybody else is is sitting and it's not necessarily who did attend and was able to be there it was who wasn't there who had a child that was graduating that night so so we can make it clear for as you know people on the board leave we would have a policy in place that would say former board members can come up if their child is graduating or uh former board members can come up when their sisters brothers brothers cousin's nephew is is graduating so just to make a clear policy of who's so that you don't get we don't get caught off guard understood thank you for clarifying that makes sense to me now so thank you for clarifying I think we can direct as we do with other recommendations from board members we could direct that to the appropriate committee for discussion and I wasn't at the I wasn't at Tuesdays because of how hot it was um it would affect my health but I remember the year before there was no exit uh ramp on um that was uh handicapped accessible and we it was both sides this year good it was I saw a kid fall off and I was very concerned about that okay and then and just to kind of tap in on the the cursive um situation um class of uh Fon High School class of 2011 was the first class that did not have curses of writing in their curriculum and that happens to be uh my younger son and uh I had to teach him how to sign his checkbook because he didn't have any cursive curriculum so um I think it's important I know that the legislature is has been looking at it the last couple of years and I'd rather be above the curve and have Cur cursive writing in our curriculum or at least I know it's in third grade but it doesn't continue through whereas when my son was in school there was nothing um but to even just have handouts to say hey let's practice you know the capital letter L and and then go through that it takes it's it's a worksheet when the kids are waiting to go home kind of thing so that that's my suggestion and um the Senate um state New Jersey state senate has been um wanting to push something through and I would always like to be ahead and have it in the curriculum than when we have to be mandated in the ccum to do that so thank you very much yes I believe believe it was Miss Abrams yes who stated uh who brought forth the fact that uh there should be restrictions of cell phones in districts and this is a very timely topic because there's been a lot of commentary on uh the news as well as in newspapers and I believe the city of Los Angeles is the first one to have restricted cell phones uh in all their schools and I would like to know if faon could investigate a little further to see if it would be in our best interest to follow along with Los Angeles thank you um I miss Abrams I also wanted to thank you for bringing that up um I've been watching the news currently with baited breath um and watching Los Angeles pass that policy polic there's another District in the country that passed the policy but the Name Escapes me now but um I too would definitely like to uh throw that to the appropriate committee um to discuss it uh because I think that it is very a very important um realworld discussion that needs to be had sooner rather than later um so thank you Miss Abrams for bringing it here um and then I also wanted to um share that um my son who's leaving West Morland now unfortunately um he has had fantastic teachers throughout the year who despite it not being in the curriculum um have been working on cursive in their classes starting as uh young as second grade I believe um so even though it's not in the curriculum um it's nice to have you know children in the district because I know that the teachers are working really hard and they understand the importance of that too um and I even bought a similar cursive book off Amazon um to help you know Foster the skill that they are definitely working on um and the Stu the teachers at West Morland are doing a great job at um following rules and regulations on how much time you need for math and science and social studies in English and they're also creatively integrating uh cursive writing in there as well so I know even though it's not a it's not part of the curriculum I know for a fact that it's being done um which is what makes our school great and what makes our teachers great so I just wanted to comment on that I think I'll be the minority in this discussion I currently teach at fairly Dickens University and none of my students when I graded their papers with cursive knew what I was talking about because they don't do cursive anymore times change times change and every moment that we're spending time on cursive in our classroom we're taking away from other things social emotional learning mindfulness things like that that we want in our schools so I'm going to be a little sarcastic here and I'm going to say we don't teach our students how to churn butter because we have butter we don't need curs cve anymore cursive is a skill that can be used outside of school besides signing a check I'm not too sure what cursive is used for any longer and most of us don't sign checks we pay our bills electronically and we also have docu sign so I don't want to spend any time in our classrooms with cursive so I appreciate what you're saying that the teachers are doing it I think they're wrong thank you thankes um good evening I'm going to somewhat I wasn't going to talk on this tonight because um there was already too much talk on this I somewhat agree with Mr berini about cursive and I somewhat agree with Miss Brown about about kers um as someone that spent his career teaching social studies and American history Ki does have a place in learning history because that's what most documents are but and I'm G to use a quick but on it when I was teaching I found a workaround because everything's on everything documents are computerized now so um the cursive i i in for for a quick example in my classroom I would have cursive the cursive version up with the that's what's good about having technology in the classroom the cursive version and the non- cursive and the um printed version um on the computer um as far as the only the only reason that kids need to learn Cursi and it's a quick thing so it's it's quick is to learn how to sign their names and that that is important it is important um but as Mr bertolini said so eloquently um it it it time has come to take a lot of classroom time out of everything else that we're making teachers teach um because of the times and social emotional learning for for the example that Mr bertolini is much more important than learning how to how to learn how to speak cursive so um I agree with it I don't agree that it should have been at that committee I wasn't at that committee meeting but um I believe that it shouldn't have been at that committee meeting because it wasn't on it wasn't on the agenda for the for that committee and was it oh of course I I take it back then I take it back then um it isn't in the um current standards so um but thank you and again have a good summer um lot of things happen in the summer and some fortunately and some unfortunately just to run a school district the size of ours and to make sure that everybody is taught well and heard and needs are met so thank you Joe thank you uh just wanted to highlight on two things since board members commented on it uh to do a quick plug uh for Mr spendel and Miss Brown uh the njsba they sent out the daily Clips today and it actually included an article about do cell phones hurt or help in schools so since you guys both mentioned that yeah that was in our emails today from the school boards um I also wanted to on cursif just very quickly because I was one of the students of Fon schools that did not learn KF uh it was taken out of the curriculum by the time I was a student there um but I've still learned it I was able to learn it on my own um as there are many skills that unfortunately don't have the time in our curriculum to learn um so I'm not saying that it's not important it is certainly important um but I'm not sure if the time needs to be taken out um for those that want to learn it um there is opportunities and you can do it on your own uh parents I'm sure can help teach it as well uh simply focusing on penmanship may be where we start I don't know of cursive let's get working on penmanship um but I don't know if it's to our students detriment that it's currently not being taught um so just wanted to mention that thank you anyone else okay second round our personal experience is not science the research is the um the research is the science and it's conclusive the cursive helps students build fine motor skills by creating Synergy between different parts of the brain involving thinking language and working it also is helpful for students to take notes a lot of people say well they can just take it on the computer there has been studies multiple studies that says taking notes on the computer you remember less than when you write it by hand that's that's science that's not my opinion or anybody else everybody takes notes in college you have to take notes if you don't take notes well and you don't remember you're not going to do well at any job any bu uh meetings you take notes so to make make sure that a student can take notes faster and more likely to remember cursive is actually and before you all jump on me on that uh 25 states in the country 25 not one or two 25 has mandated the cursive is taught from 2 to six government uh uh California government um Gavin n made a handwriting instruction mandatory grades 1 through six it's been in the legislators in New Jersey s 1783 they're trying to make Cur part of the curriculum this is not just read making up something that oh never 25 States and the reason why they took it away because in 2010 the common core and they said that typewriting was important for some reason but anyways 25 States and the state of New Jersey will do it in a couple more years the reluctance to teach curriculum based um based on research because it's too demanding time consuming is not best practice and it's not and it's for the students and science-based and I think we should make recommendations to teach Things based on science because science should give uh guide us and there's multiple studies that show this okay next thing I want to talk about still policy I'm sorry um bylaw 0115 one thing I would like is that based it says committee agenda must be censor to the entire board not just the committee members I would like to make sure that the committee will be S um agenda will be sent to the entire board not the only the people on it also if there's any attachments so for example the job description there was um the the committee received um strikethroughs through the job descriptions as a board member I had no idea that it existed we everybody should be on the same page and in order for everyone to be in the same page every Committee Member and every board member should receive the same thing and it should be attached lastly this is to uh the education committee uh chairman agenda that should that based on policy again R if you can just finish that SES and nobody else has anything to say then you can have another minute well don't we have three minutes and four minutes that's what we all discussed I didn't finish let me finish should a board member whether a board me member of a committee or not wish for a topic to be brought up for discussion at a committee meeting they shall email the chairperson which I did the item will be put on a further agenda of one of one of the next two or meetings of the committee so I asked for a topic to be discussed and Mr and the chairperson refused to do it which is a violation of our policy thank you Mr spendel I defer my time toita no yeah um all right could I could I speak is that okay thank you and in Robert's Rules the president has the right to decide whether that will take place yes thank you I just want to say something quick about cursive and I'm going to agree and disagree so I'm going to split the baby so to speak um I'm old school I write everything down cursive now I remember about 10 years ago when laptops were just starting to be real popular in court and I'm sitting there with a trial I got my ped and my notes here and woman I'm TR trying to case against she's typing away like crazy and she was so much faster than I could ever write it and she got so much more information but on the other hand I do remember when I was taking my bar review course I wrote everything down by hand and I remembered it better I know absolutely so it's a double-edged sword you can write faster on the computer if you're good at keyboarding and I'm not because I didn't grow up with it not like the kids today you know we had a typewriter in the 10th grade that I took you know typing and but it's it's a double-edged sword it can be very very helpful but it also has its drawback so I'm not sure why I would fall on this but uh just want to know there there's good and bad in both in in curs thank you excuse me can I get Mr kegos you can however I offered reader her time after everyone else was finished I did not say she couldn't finish I asked her to wait I still would like to know from Mr kigo sure so it's been the board's practice that individual members have a certain allotted time in which to speak and I would defer to that consistent practice I don't know if our bylaws are specific we defer to Robert's Rules when there's a question when there's gray when there's ambiguity because our bylaws can't cover every circumstance so I I'm happy if it's the will of the board to look into this further I'm happy to do it um but I would recommend that the board follow its practice consistently which has not been to seeding time to one another that I would like to if it all possible have this looked into so that it could be definite can I get a straw Poll for who agrees with having this looked into can I get a thumbs up for they would like it to look be looked into that's four if you do not agree please put your thumb up now it will not be looked into does anybody else have anything to say sure go ahead Dr berini we talk about computer skills and Jean I was not raised on computer skills we were too old for that however uh besides computer skills in cursive there is printing and and students today either use a computer or they print I'm gonna give you I have how much time do I have Julie okay I won't need that much I I don't want you to thank you though Jean I appreciate you deferring it on but I'll give you just one example when I changed my mind from cursive to uh printing or computer skills uh when my old District I was principal of the high school and we had a science academy there and we had 36 kids apply in eth grade for the program I was stunned when I read their essays they had to write their essays they couldn't use computers they had to write the essays every single one of those students printed their essay there is no need for cursive again besides signing a check reading a document I'm also a social studies teacher documents are now converted very easily into print so we don't need it we need other things in our schools besides cursive signing a check yes and they could sign a check kids today they print their name on a check if they even know what a checkbook is it's just times are gone it's everything's electronic it's doc you sign and cursive is no longer needed any minute we spend in school on cursive is a waste of time for our students anyone else Lisa then Michael so back when I was on the board from 2008 to 2011 there was legislation that was passed for financial uh P personal financial literacy and it took three years it had like a three-year Gap or a two-year Gap to put it into place and it took a long time which again there were students that weren't able to get that program because it was a gear up process so I would hope that when the legislature does pass it that we're not going to wait the roll the roll out period in order to place it within our curriculum and that's just what I'm going to say my no no cursive curses cursive because there's always a gap of when you have to started and Fair Lawn has always waited till the year that it has to be implemented so I would rather see a a big a bigger you know run on it and place it within the curriculum when the state passes it and I'm pretty confident at some point they're going to so that's just a just an an opinion on that and my son can type 12 20 words a minute that's what he does all day he types and types and types he's a coder so um but he can't even read the love notes that I sent him on his birthday like your students can't read your comments on your papers so so that's a problem so he he's been I I surveyed him on on the question so and and that was that was the results thank you very much everybody have a great summer Michael I don't want to keep going back and forth on on on cursive um I agree with what Ed said except uh you know especially I would rather I would rather I don't I'm not as as confident that the that the legisl is going to pass that but I will say that that as a teacher I would much rather them learn how to print where it's neat um as a as an educator when kids did learn cursive I can never by Middle School I can never read it read the kids cursive never mind so um probably not but I printed my what what I wanted to tell them um as far as um I I want to talk about something pretty serious you know I've been on this board a long time second to only Jean Banta um which I'll never catch up to um and I don't know half of what jean knows I'll admit that um we're going back backwards a few years ago this board did not not agree with each other at all we were an embarrassment I think we're looking like an embarrassment again in a lot of ways if you want to say something about other people the public meeting other people on this board the public meeting is not the place to do it it's an embarrassment and it's a shame that the last meeting of the Year we're rearing our bad side again because this board is such a good board this school district is such a good school district Rita if you don't want me to eat before me point of order oh I'm no you know what point of order I I take it back I take it back because I just yeah have did something against what I said can you give me 15 seconds thank you if anyone on the board feels that we that we shouldn't eat dinner before meal especially when we're getting home from work and stuff like that I'd be happy to pay for my dinner and a matter of fact from now on I will be sending miss manuso a check for my dinner by the way I don't even pay have the board pay for my Atlantic City trip besides my accommodations I pay for it myself have a great summer everybody please and let's be nice to each other including myself will this be your third take it you can't defer it's an exception thank you no on a serious note there was a parent two months ago that brought up uh a concern of school safety when her child was hit by a car I just want to know is there any current update because I I publicly said that I was going to follow this through so at this point I am so actually I I know that Dr Denise and I both reached out um and it is and we spoke about it at the shared services committee with the council and we discussed options and it will be going back um to the council for review as well as back to thank you pedestrian safety you're welcome Rita I'm going to give you another minute I have a my question is actually what Mark said The Pedestrian Safety Committee did they meet already and if they did can we have a update I don't believe they did meet again and when are they planning to meet I don't that's so that one is not through us that's through um the burrow so I actually can reach out to the chairperson and CC uh Michael and we can let you know when they will meet again thank you Dr danco did you have something to say just uh few quick updates um just listening to the conversation so just to clarify um committee agendas for the board committees are shared with all board members everybody has complete access to not only the agenda but the hyperlink documents the folders with all of the information so the board is fully apprised of that that's all through our Google Drive process and they receive regular updates and our board policy regarding putting agenda items on um the committee agendas uh 0155 board committees um we're following that and we're in accordance there's no violation that's all I have okay there is a violation just letting you know and it's and it's documented the note is uh the item will be put on future agenda of one of the next two meetings of the committee so uh it's in accordance with thank you I appreciate it thank you the floor is closed um I just wanted to let everyone know that for upcoming meetings we will be meeting at Memorial Middle School for our summer meeting meetings due to construction and refurbishment of this building so please go to Memorial Middle School um those meetings will be held on July 25th 2024 and that is the regular monthly meeting at 7:30 pm at the memorial middle school media center and then on August 22nd 2024 is our regular monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Memorial Middle School Media Center um we will be um adjourning into a closed session and there will be no um action taken so it should be about an hour um Can the fair board of education motions to recess into closed sessions items to be discussed during close session include hi reports Personnel contracts and legal matters can I get a motion please so moved second um 9:17 p.m. have a good good night everyone have a great summer