to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for [Applause] all New Jersey open public meetings law is enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon ordance with the provisions of the act the courtly board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 11 2024 and posted on the district website at www.foe.com published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspapers the record in the Star Ledger filed with the clerk of the bur of Fort Lee and mailed to all persons if any who have requests and said notice please be advised of this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and online at a future date the open public meeting act allows for remote participation at board meetings defines meeting as any Gathering whether Corporal or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all of the members of a public body held with the intent on the part of the members of the body present discuss or act as a unit on the specific public business of that body roll call please Mrs buyer time here m colbat c m Curry here Mr Knight here Mrs C here Mr Lopez here M Morel here Mr Rino here Mrs RoR here the board will be convening to Executive session to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters the board will reconvene into public session at approximately 7:30 p.m. I have a motion to go into executive session motion motion moral second Curry all in favor I any opposed Al flag FL United States of America the for stands indivisible liy and justice for all the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the ACT portly board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 11th 2024 and posted on the district website at www.fb.com published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspaper the record St Ledger filed with the clerk of the B portly and mail to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be advised this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and online at a future date the open public meeting act allows for remote participation at board meetings and thein meeting as any Gathering whether Corporal or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all of the members of a public body held with the intent on the part of the members of the body present to discuss or act as a unit upon a specific Public public business of that body roll call please Mrs k presid m k here miss Curry here Mr Knight here this C here Mr Lopez here Morel here Mr here this is R here the board will be an executive session at 6:30 p.m. today to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters Dr kevitz Will You Begin by sharing the superintendent report yes thank you good evening thank you for all who are participating in tonight's meeting I would like to thank especially our custodial staff to make sure all of our facilities were available for all of our students today and our staff so great work and thank you very much for all your hard work is very well appreciated and on that note for those of you in Zoom land we will be holding a delayed opening tomorrow as well to make sure that everything uh for us and make sure that everyone will be safe but an announcement will be going out I know there were some questions that we received regarding breakfast and we'll hopefully have an answer um by the time we send the announcement out today uh we have many events taking place in our schools and I encourage parents and Guardians to read the announcements on our websites and calendars and be part of your child school I know this week at school number two there's no name calling week so please please don't forget to read the Eagles newsletter and learn more about that um our high school students are not available tonight but I know that we did have seven students from the high school participating in the Bergen County Choir who uh practice all week in Bergenfield I would also like to remind everyone if they have any questions regarding their children to always start with the classroom teacher then the school administrator then through the chain of command um I look forward in the coming months to work with all of the board committees on a lot of the topics that we are facing and I'm very happy that uh we're here tday thank you thank you do we have committee reports I don't think any committees have met yet um okay do board members have questions or comments on tonight's agenda or any other topic I have a couple um just generally usually we get our audit in October have has been finalized I thought I saw a reference to it and when will there be a presentation on it they coming February okay first February meeting and um we have until the end of September to use our Esser funds correct and and what what do we have left it's pretty significant right um well compared to the original Grant award no it's not significant but we'll be utilizing um the remainder of the funds with our grad six grades 2 to six L tutoring program okay that's going on right now so that's going to take up the majority of the funds that are remaining and we are also going to be utilizing the remainder of the funds to purchase instructional resources to provide tier two and tier three intervention to our um students so we'll be using them all we won't be in a position to have to return any no we'll we'll use all the funds okay um also on 18p the new position that we're creating um for migrant parents how are we going to I know you can't ask for birth certificates or you know driver's license or things of that sort how are we going to identify the parents that would be eligible for those funds so these parents are eligible when they fill out registration paperwork we don't ask for their status it's just based on the based on a form that that they fill out and that they qualify and then based on the report that we sent to the state in October the state actually determines whether we have enough students that fill those criteria to qualify for an award this is the first time in a while that we've actually received funding but we're not we don't have a form that asks whether the parents were born in a country other than the United States right um I don't think so but I don't know the answer to that question but it's it's a it's a form that is approved by the Department of Education got it okay thanks one thing maybe I should ask earlier Dina in regards to our financial report is it everything from 2023 till December 31st is that way no it's June 30th our FAL year on July 1st through June 30th okay item 6 is that the entire um is that the entire amount for the entire year or is this what's discussed tonight so that is what we received uh for the 2324 school year as well as the carryover funds that were left over from last year so you're able to carry over I believe 15% of the total award so that's what that includes money's left from last year and this year and I believe Paul it's a your question the form asks where students attended School previously so they can identify a student attended a school outside of the United States what is the difference between instruction and support services speak I can't hear you what is the difference between instruction and support services so I will answer and then I'll ask this necess to add on if I miss something so instruction it typically relates to just that that instruction of students it's typically academic uh support is anything that's used to support a child's academic ability so for example um the 100 600 line is for instructional supplies so that could pay for workbooks uh instructional programs um digital curriculum materials that students will use so it's anything instructional that a student will used directly whereas a support a 200 600 it can be um other kinds of supplies uh such as professional development supplies for teachers to support the education of the child um it could also include anything along the realm of um social emotional counseling things like that and it's apply across the districts across the schools it's not only to C right those numbers come from the chart of accounts that um the state provides are you talking just specifically for the P yeah so for title one that's just based on the schools schools that qualified so there were I think it was school number three number the middle school if school and the high school so based on your um your free and reduced numbers what happens is that you get your allocation of your title funds based on your fre Ed numbers then there's like another um has done by the state there's a calculation that's done by the state for the title one funding based like I like I said on your free and reduced numbers then there's other things that go for eligibilities at the schools based on the free and reduced numbers that occurred in those school so the state actually does the calculation that tells you from those total title pun how much is allocated for school number three because they qualified the idas middle school and then the high school about two and three those apply across the district or yes well those schools those schools didn't qualify for Title One funds right however title two title three title four funds can be applied in other schools it's just title one that cannot it's very specific thanks any other questions from the board I have a comment do I get it now I speak the microphone yes I can yes I would like to say congratulations to the teachers that are retiring and um I know they'll be missed and I hope a lot of other teachers don't re retire or resign thank [Music] you any other questions or comments okay may I have a motion to open the floor to the public motion second you motion back second Rino all in favor any oppose or extensions we will hear first from any members of the public that are physically located in the cafetorium then we will take questions and comments from those participating remotely for remote public participants please select the raise hand button Mr rerio will recognize each Unity member in order of raise Hands by lowering the hand please unmute your microphone state your name and home address for the record and begin your comments please limit your comments to 3 minutes seeing no one here in public um Jason do we have members of the public participating remotely yes Jean sunic you have been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Jean hi uh Jean sunic uh 1094 Buckingham Road fortly New Jersey um I I'm calling to uh actually uh address uh Dr Kravitz Dr Kravitz we've been going back and forth since November um with regards to a simple documentation that I've requested and uh to be honest with you my my patience is running thin here um last communication I received from you was that I would have it by Friday and Friday has come and on and I'd like to uh hear uh what the delay is and what's the hold up and and in general you know the whole back and forth um I I feel is is quite unprofessional and unreasonable when a parent is asking for something and it's just getting the runaround so um if you could tell me when when uh when I should be receiving it and uh if there is a a protocol um in terms of uh replying to parent in general because uh I understand I'm not the only one here in the in this type of predicament I me Madam president just through the superintendent I'll take responsibility for any delay U there were a number of legal and procedural issues raised um in that communication that my office had to look into respectfully I did have several emergent petitions before the office of administrative law New Year's time um that being said um the okay can I reply Mr krais can respond directly to the parent privately Mr sh thank you for your your comments every time there was an opportunity when you email me I did I was working with board counsel regarding that that letter and that requested that's okay I I mean I I understand that uh uh the uh the attorney is is taking full responsibility for it but um I you know that doesn't help me here you know I I would rather not have to go to any next levels um the the board I have c seat on it and uh I I think a resolution is in order here you know in term and not just for me I mean this should this type of resolution or p call or something should be in place within the school uh uh within the school system for any parent that uh uh ask something they should not be yes to death and and given the runaround just in generally speaking so I hope uh this would not just bring a conclusion to my situation but also set a uh a procedure going forward for parents in the future as well okay thank you thank you okay are there any other public participants wishing to comment yes Fatima you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Fatima hi thank you um uh inclusion was emphasized during the last meeting meeting inclusion um of children of different Fates especially as you know gives them self-confidence and helps them feel part of the community just this is just a reminder that Ramadan begins on March 10th many people have noticed that in North Bergen Cliffside Park and Anglewood have in front of their Town Halls a large Crescent and or a sign that says a happy Ramadan in the same way that a Christmas tree or a monora is placed in front of town halls during Christmas and Hanukkah so I just want to uh put that out there that um we would like to see a uh Crescent or some kind of statement a happy Ramadan uh sign for the um Muslim children that uh go to school in Fort Lee that's all thank you Michelle Perez you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Michelle Perez hi sorry having a little technical trouble um hello everyone thank you for showing up tonight I know it's cold and dangerous out there I wanted to wish you all good luck at the beginning of this new year with a new organization of the board um I was actually going to say this last time but because it was the reorg it didn't make any sense appoo of nothing in this meeting I wanted to encourage um whoever is in charge of answering questions at the meetings that if anyone says any parent or resident says anything offensive do perhaps follow your rules of conduct and call it out and perhaps stop them there were quite a few um what I would consider inappropriate offensive and biased comments at the end of last year um I didn't say anything at the time um I feel like the start of a new year we can look at this a new and since you all just uh read out the code of conduct at the reorganization meeting it reminded me that you do have these rules available so that was it thank you have a good night thank you mahale you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes [Music] m M hello yes we can hear you please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes hello can you hear us male I think Mel has an audio problem I'll um and we just lost him see you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Steve hi this is Candace um I'm on westf place and I have two kids in the system or sorry one kid in the system and want to join and um again I want to reiterate keeping can we put on the table making sure that we are up to date on all learning State learning standards um and utilizing the parent opt out for those that are worried about parental rights and um I noticed in my child's experence there are some teachers in the classroom where I would prefer um a more a less punitive approach I guess is the best way um the the one I lean towards is responsive classroom instead of yelling you know for example um they use a chime to make sure that they don't have to say you know yell over the kids and say quiet down but if there are any extra funds to put our teachers through that training so that there can be a more Universal class classroom management classroom to classroom and then thirdly the um teacher shortage um I know there's nothing you can do but whatever it is you are doing or can do if you could speak on because um yeah my my child's uh I I feel bad for all parties I feel bad for the kids in my child's class I also feel bad for the teachers right like if you're sick you shouldn't be forced to come back um so if you could just speak on that too thank you thank you for calling in um as far as less punitive I would always suggest speaking with the teacher if they don't as I said before get to the administrator at the building level and discuss your concerns and they an assist you as far as teacher shortage you know as you've heard me say there are 47 I think 417,000 open teaching positions in the United States currently in the next 5 years there is expected to be a million I know this year alone we have kind of done our best to poach teachers from other districts um we're trying to saal them away if you can we have um a lot of teachers go on matery leaves and as we try to replace them one of the problems that we do face in a lot of districts in the same way um there's as a shortage of as a shortage of teachers exist and there are maternity League Replacements we're all buying for that same maternity leag replacement once a position is available that attor leave replacement wants to take the 10e track at that school so that leaves always the opening so for example if a teacher goes on maternity leave in January we hire that person to replace them from January till June um as a maternity leave replacement and then let's say another a surrounding town has an opening where a teacher retire and says I want to leave the profession they will leave here with their 30-day notice and then go into that 10e track and that's happening pretty regularly now in the in a lot of the districts so we're doing our best to get as many as we can we're working with outside organizations as well um and I'm trying and I apologize for that but I a shortage everywhere I speak with my colleagues regularly in the county in our area we're all in the same boat so I'm sorry for that sorry can I just respond real quick um is it I KN I noticed that with the substitute require or one of the um not criteria what about I say one of the conditions with being a substitute you're not allowed to teach in your own kid school is that correct I don't know if that's by board policy if you can teach if you cannot teach in your students your own child's classroom I understand scho okay further research that but child thank you bar Paul sarpin you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Paula sarin hi there can you hear me yes yes thank you yeah so my name is Paula sarpin I'm at for Horizon Road um Fort Le New Jersey um thank you for promoting me so I just want to extend at huge congratulations to the Fort Le High School theater Department um it students its staff um for an amazing weekend of shows this past weekend if some of you went this past Friday Saturday and Sunday they performed a series of one acts of monologues they did like a rent tribute um they showcased like their improvin standup skills um so I don't know if anyone attended um but they also had the clue performance back in December so if you've been to any of the shows you know like you've seen the talent of these kids it it's just so impressive um personally my son's been involved in Fort Lee theater since middle school where he was um in Jada so the Junior Academy of Theater Arts which wasn't and still isn't funded by the district and now he's at forley high school and he's fortunate enough to be part of the theater company and he joined the Academy of Theater Arts um which we're so lucky to have and I'm so grateful for that um I really can't put in wordss like the skills and confidence he's gained from being part of the theater program from his educators um it's really had positive impacts and effects on on his academics as well so my question and kind of statement is that it seems like until students get to the high school there isn't a ton or much of Theater Performing Arts offered that's sanctioned through through the district um and just you know give them the fact that studies show like student involvement Performing Arts right it's been known to improve their self-esteem which is so important right now their confidence their problem solving abilities communication their focus their concentration so much more so really it just be really great to see more District support for the theater department and its Educators which work so hard um with not a lot of people um at the high school level and at the lower grades and I'm just hoping this is something that's on your radar and that would be considered thank you thank you for your your uh comment I know from a district perspective we're looking at a lot of the the program that we have and how we can Implement more as we as we all know there are limited budgets to what we can have but I know we've discussed in the past publicly uh increasing foreign language increasing music programs increasing Theater Arts uh stem all of those programs and as we move forward together um I'm looking forward to working with the board to create a strategic plan that would really look at all of those programs and how we could possibly bring them all into into what we're looking for for the future thank you male you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Mel hi can anyone hear me this time yes we can hear you yeah so my name is Miel kesco 254 Hunter Road forly um so I'm calling in regards to uh what was discussed in the last meeting and I have a question about parental rights and U longterm what are we as parents entitled to know about our children I fail to see why some other parents were so grabby to think that they uh co-parent with me my children and they can impose what we want to do and how to have our teach uh our children thought in school so with that in mind my question is would the board plan to keep in place the law that gives us the right to know their record meaning 9240 and uh the other question is how would that interact with an IEP program my very concern is that I need to know what happens to my child based on his current conditions and based on his current disabilities and in no circumstances I would see myself enrolling my child in this particular District if that right is denied from me so the other question is what are the procedures for school choice vouchers if that's applicable to fortly in general or Bergen County thank you for your email as far as um I'll excuse me your questions there are a couple questions couple answers I can give maybe um I hope I do the best of my ability number one for school vouchers and school choice currently the state of New Jersey does not have a school choice program they have a school interd district school choice there are approximately I think 15 school districts in the state of New Jersey maybe a little maybe more than that who accept students uh depending on the school School District that number is limited meaning that whatever that number was set about 10 years ago that number stays the same so in this area I know Bergenfield is a interdistrict school choice that participates I believe bota does as well as Anglewood Public Schools public in Englewood it's only for the high school um there are other districts around the state that do that you'd have to research them and they'll tell you how we would go about entering a lottery system where the students could possibly attend as far has children with IEPs all children who have IEPs must follow the same state standards that are required it's it's delineated in the IEP that says you know there's no differential U traditionally the resources are the same everything that is being taught in that grade level is must be taught for every student whether they have an IEP don't have an IEP have a five4 they all learn the same material how it is taught can be adjusted but the same material must be taught uh based on the state standards that are released um as far as the board question that would go to the board as far as um I think the question was somewhat Broad in terms of parental rights um generally speaking the board has an obligation to apply with state law um so whatever the law provides in terms of access to or lack thereof um the board has to follow state law and their policies um as presently comprised uh or written are in accordance with state law um beyond that um again it's a very vague question that I think Mrs colbath was at a seminar I did a few months ago in buron County um we we can talk for hours about all the different parental rights there are so without a more specific question I can't really give a more specific answer uh Howard Leo you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Howard LOF uh thank you very much I'm Howard Lipoff I uh live at 161 Main Street in Little Falls I'm a teacher and at the lsf Cole intermediate school and I'm the treasurer of the um the uh Fort Lee Education Association and I just wanted to respond there was was a few um speakers before me mentioning the um uh teacher shortage it seems to be a problem in some of our schools in Fort Lee um Dr Kravitz mentioned that this is a national problem uh and I believe he's correct everything I've heard um uh shows that that's true I think that um the way that Fort leag needs to sign this uh to the best of um that could be solved is by having salaries and benefits that are better than other school districts so people want to come to uh Fort Lee so um right now I know we have a contract in place uh but um in the not so distant future we're going to enter negotiations again for a new contract and I think that uh the board uh should keep that in mind that in order to make sure that we do well in um gain teachers into every classroom and u high quality teachers like the ones we have in Fort Le uh we need to work to really have excellent salaries excellent benefits and excellent working conditions I just wanted to make that clear so people listening to this know know that That's essential to deal with uh the teacher shortage I want to thank you very much and have a nice evening thank you thank you Margarita fadner you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes uh good evening uh my name is Margarita VOD far Victoria Place um I have been with the districts for a long time my my old older daughter is 24 um so I care deeply about the school district the atmosphere at schools and at our town overall um so you know just about myself I'm against any type of discrimination based on race or sexual orientation or religion I'm against far right ideology I'm against far left ideology I'm against Banning books from both sides and uh but obviously you can have H inappropriate books in the library so that's that's a different topic right um I'm for supporting our homosexual students our transgender students and um I'm for inclusion and you know for celebrating all type of holidays uh but for some reasons that's not enough to some parents unless you start and I am a Scientist I'm for Science and I'm for sex education at Intermediate School schol and the middle school but from what we saw last time there is a very small group of parents that kind of came together because they basically lost the election uh we had four seats or three seats uh went to Fort Le strong that were more for the dialogue between the parents and teachers and with the focus on the academic and only one seat went to Fort Le together that kind of like wanted more radical changes in the sex education so because they kind of like lost their ction they kind of came together last time trying to make an an impression that the majority of the forly parents are where they are and that's just not true they tried to because the forly parents uh made their voice heard during the election the majority of forly parents are basically with me and uh this this small group which basically husband and wife and couple friends like five six people they uh they basically try to paint fortly District in black and because I have such experience with fortly District I just couldn't hear that because they say we need to save our transgender students we need to save our teachers from bullying uh you know teachers Librarians being bullied and that's just not true 99.5% of parents against bullying teachers bull bullying Librarians or discriminate and being not inclusive we're all for that so that's just like and I understand if they had you know kids in high school who were bullied or discriminated against they have kindergarteners and they're saying about you know discrimination I'm picking up my son from the high school I see gay couples holding hands coming out of the forly high school nobody's bullying them nobody is you know harassing them that's just not true that's just not true and and uh forly District was always has always been excl inclusive we don't need drama we don't need radical changes we don't have to talk to the uh kindergarteners and first graders about masturbation and easy transition and puberty blockers that will not make us tinly that not that's not what makes us tinly okay we need to focus on academics and um you know elections you know parents majority of parents uh made their voice heard that's all I wanted to say and I also wanted to to wish happy Ramadan I just yeah yeah yeah I'm done I just want to wish happy Ramadan to all my [Music] neighbors anyone else yes Sarah Crick you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes minutes Sarah Crick hi good evening so sorry having some issues there good evening everyone and thank you to our board of education for coming out tonight in this snowy cold night many people don't know that you are all community volunteers that are unpaid and many thanks to our uh Administration Dr Kravitz and Miss Baker and the team who always attend evening and weekend events for our kids in our school scho so much gratitude to all of you uh my name is Sarah and I have two kids in the district um and I live on Second Street in Fort Lee and I came tonight really just to reiterate um some comments I made at last Board of Education meeting um which is really to urge the district to stay in compliance with the state of New Jersey and focus on priorities like setting a long-term strategic plan um a thoughtful exercise of where we are today and where we want to be in academic performance uh focusing on the teer teacher and staff shortage which I know Dr Kravitz gave an update and continues to do and then finally to continue to focus on diversity equity and inclusion programs so really making us a national leader in neurodiversity and other forms of diversity like representation in our teachers and language access um those are priorities that for me as a parent I really uh value and I wanted to speak also to a group of parents who have really urged that our priorities should be uh ending policies that protect lgbtq kids and focusing on the health curriculum and banning books and things like that and I wanted to urge those are not my priorities as a member of the community and I also wanted to stress again just that lgbtq families are welcome in this community and sending our support to our teachers and Librarians who have been attacked at Board of Education meetings so suggesting that they're putting salacious or inappropriate books in the school libraries which they haven't and the final point I'd like to make is that for districts that have pursued these priorities of this right-wing culture War those districts are really suffering there's four districts in the state of New Jersey that have pursued that agenda they're being sued by the state of New Jersey um another city in the B Bergen County has been taking down lgbtq Flags welcoming kids they're being sued and so all this money for public education is going out the door um I'd really like to urge us to stay focus on those other priorities and not pursue kind of this right-wing cultural War stay focused on all the priorities that I mentioned and remain an inclusive and supportive District so thank you so much thank you Leonid you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Le unit can you hear me yes we can okay I have a question I guess uh Health curriculum brought up again and the question I have is this if I opt out my daughter what is going to be a substitute so someone is taking Health curriculum I will opt out what is the substitute thank you hello so if you opt your child out of particular portions of the health curriculum what um occurs afterward is that Alternative Health assignments or uh physical education it depends on the grade level that your child is in uh will be assigned to your child that do not reflect the portions of the health curriculum or the content that you are opting your child out of thank you um another question basically I hear a lot of focus on LGBT community right because I want to focus on curriculum uh so what I want to know right now is LGBT community um Schools are they being discriminated against are they being bullied are they being uh made made fun of can anyone answer this question and if the answer is yes don't we or already have anti-discrimination policy thank you if I may just I mean that's a very vague and generalized question um generally speaking the board um and the administration complies with board policy uh and state law if there are any individual complaints or circumstances you're aware of uh you by all means can bring it to the attention of the superintendent um and same can be investigated um and responded accordingly the board cannot comment publicly regarding any specific or any General uh pending or potential or anticipated legal matters Brad Rondo you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Brad Rondo uh hello yes uh my name is Brad Rondo 2298 Le Moy Avenue um so I I actually you know uh want to respond uh to a question that was raised at the last uh meeting by a fellow parent and and that was just I think reiterated by two parents tonight which is this question that has been raised several times of why are we talking about urging the district to do better on diversity and inclusion shouldn't we be talking about academics or the curriculum um and and I can't speak for all parents and I'm not going to presume to speak for all parents I'm not going to presume to know uh what's in the mind of 99.5% of parents or any parent other than myself speaking for myself uh I do not think there's a contradiction between wanting our curriculum to focus on anti-bias education on anti-discrimination education on diversity equity and inclusion and also wanting our curriculum to focus on excellence in mathematics science English language arts and social studies social and emotional learning is a critical part of quality education at the elementary levels learning to be a citizen of an increasingly diverse country and an increasingly interconnected world is an essential component from my perspective as a parent of any quality public education the fortly public schools are in many ways a model of what public education is meant to be in this country because of the incredible richness the incredible diversity in our community however as a parent of a young child I know that one of the things that happens when students enter into a very diverse School is they encounter new types of people people they have that have they encounter things that are outside of their experiences and that's why I as a parent believe that beginning anti-bias and pro- diversity equity and inclusion education at the youngest grade levels is essential to helping our schools live up to their potential to creating the kind of environment where all of our students can achieve uh academic success and can grow into productive citizens of the increasingly diverse country that they are growing into uh so to me that is why we're talking about diversity Equity inclusion and why that is part and parcel of asking the question of how can we support our students to the greatest academic success thank you thank you st katso you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Steph katso you're muted Steph catso please unmute your microphone Steph catso I prompted you to unmute your microphone through Zoom hello hello yes I was unmuted I don't know what happened so we um I'll begin now we heard a lot of um the same people who come forward who speak all the time regarding diversity Equity inclusion um I think Michelle was asking for parents who are speaking to be censored by the board I'm not sure if I heard that correctly I am not sure uh the diversity equity inclusion the the United States of America is the country that we're in I hear a lot of people speaking about the diverseness of how our city looks or Fort Lee looks I grew up in an extremely diverse Community uh we had an excellent education we did not have to learn about any sexuality masturbation um drag time story reading or anything for small children parents have the right in this state to direct the education of their children I don't see why the pushes from these other parents to inject diversity equity and inclusion they say this like it doesn't mean anything we're talking about sex for children under the age of nine children are not sexual beings children are not born in the wrong body children need time in their own bodies so when you go to someone's small child and try to push diversity Equity inclusion what you're really doing and like what Sarah said you know she wants us to stay in compliance all of this seems to be about being in compliance with something but we're not really sure what the compliance is because the compliance seems to be bringing ideology and activism to small children and though you may opt out I can tell you because my children were opted out all along there is nothing in place so unless they're going to put gardening in place or something viable in place rather than teaching sexuality to children and um I I've seen some very small children being dressed in dresses it it's crazy and wild what's going on so we need to focus yes more on curriculum not on diversity equity and inclusion we are the United States of America you we are a diverse country this is a Melting Pot we have equality not Equity equality we have individual rights it's not a group thing it is for the individual and each person is an individual so I find that that all of this is very disingenuous it's not coming from a place of caring about other people's kids it's coming from a place of wanting to be an activist in a small child's life and that to me is dangerous and something that parents in this city should think [Music] about thank you Brad Rondo you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video Mr rero I believe Brad already spoke is there anyone else waiting to speak there are no more raised hands I I just make it uh hold on very brief point of order when the code of conduct for public participation in these meetings specifically prohibits bias intimidation to ascribe nefarious motivations to the co to the comments of other parents because of a political disagreement to call dressing allowing children of any age to dress in a way that reflects their gender identity and gender expression quote crazy to me that sounds like that is a violation of this board's stated code of conduct for public participation in these meetings I would simply urge uh the chair to um consider where the line is uh regarding disparaging the character and questioning the motivations uh of other parents uh in public comments that seems to me to cross a clear line all I wanted to say thank you de katso you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video I I'm responding to Brad Rondo Stephanie Stephanie it's not a back and forth argument with listen I'm not going to be censored in any of my speech by another parent by another parent Bria you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes prya hi good evening can everyone hear me yes yes hi so first of all I just want to say thank you everyone for coming out in a ter absolutely terrible weather um thank you for all you do uh what I wanted to bring up to everyone's attention was um the whole uh bus situation this morning and it's absolutely understandable the weather's terrible the roads are terrible the buses are delayed my son had to wait 40 minutes and again it is absolutely understandable it does happen however is there a way that parents can be notified um in real time or even the crossing guard can be notified through an app or an alert that hey the estimated time is around this time the bus is delayed something to that effect um just because this is more of a safety issue too these kids are outside waiting um by the curbside they tend to get on the road to see if the bus is coming or anywhere near in sight um so this is really a safety issue is there anything um in progress that might be used to address this situation or issue you're in the process with the beginning of um next school year we purchased a new program called transfinder and we're actually in the process of trying to learn how to use a product and how to implement it because it will be something that parents will be able to see in real time so we are aware of the situation and we are working I know good thank you thank you for letting us know thank [Music] you Julene statu you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please stay Hi how are you it's Julene Stu 1156a Inwood Terrace how's everyone um I just wanted to know whose decision it was to make a delayed opening tomorrow I'm all for safety but I'm out getting my son from his high school basketball game right now so I'm just wondering if you guys thought that it wasn't going to be safe tomorrow morning why is it safe tonight for all these parents to be out um you know I can understand like a Bergen Tech having a delayed opening their kids come from 80 you know different districts but you know to my knowledge I'm not aware of any of the surrounding towns that have delayed opening it really reeks havoc on a lot of parents who need to get to work um so I would just yeah come in I would just like to know um like where this decision came from and again I'm all for safety but we have to be consistent if the conditions were so bad then I don't know that we should be out now you know with this ice picking up kids from Sports and you know the kids walking around and the teachers out so that's my question I also support everything Margarita and Stephanie said I find it very insulting that um a a a panelist was allowed to come back on and speak in regard to a comment directly made and that someone else could not she was cut off so I think we need to hold the same respect um universally for everyone if we're going to let one parent come on we shouldn't let another one be shut up it's it's really unacceptable um that's about it thank you so much and have a great night stay safe love thank you for your call misso so I make the decision for Del late opening I do it in conjunct with other towns so Leonia riverdell Bergenfield Dumont orell uh Edgewater Fairview Cliffside Park Anglewood Cliffs Anglewood and palate Park Ridgefield Park bota Little Ferry are all delayed from tomorrow so in conjunction we we uh 7:04 the the comments are going back and forth so we all recognize the concern for tomorrow morning temperature over night will drop an additional 5° from what we understand um so to ensure the safety of all the students we wanted to make sure that everyone will be see arriving tomorrow um I came in person because you took three minutes and who allowed Brad Rondo to come back on to my excuse me um my name is Stephanie cotan this Co ex you have not been recognized or identified by the chair to speak well you cut I finish please promoting me so here I am finish please it was the second time that you were speaking pursuant to the board protocol generally speaking there was no board protocol you allowed Brad R to tell you what protocol pursuing to board policy pursuant to state law please cease from disrupting the orderly conduct disrup you disrupted the conduct every member of the public has given one opportunity to speak this in like your third opportunity no I did not speak pursuing to the board I did not speak you cut me off and you allow thank you you allowed someone to speak you did that who promoted him back on to the floor uh I'll take a motion to close the floor to the public motion motion Morel second party all in favor who who allowed that to happen he's telling them what their policy is all in favor any opposed or extensions I well yes how many yes votes were there six six yes three extensions motion uh pass all right five yes four extensions motion pass wait who voted yes I didn't hear yes around everyone how many yes votes were there now I have fours and five yes no no dou Doug is so we have four yeses five exensions motion passes have for abstention does not affect the outcome of the vote I'd like to change my vote to no no as I've said Court members if I said before I said before this is not Congress right so pursuant to robt was of order um an exstension cannot affect the outcome of the vote vote on the motion four yeses and five extensions means that the motion passes now let me finish if anyone who abstained because we're not finished with the roll call yet if you want to change your vote to no just vote no and a no vote means that the public participation will we strike that five no votes and four yes votes we that the motion to close public participation fails and public participation can continue however I'll just also note pursuant to just general principles of orderly conduct of board meetings it is up to you if you want to let participants speak two and three and four times however your past practice and protocol has been generally one person or one opportunity per person I'm not arguing for or against it just trying to help you maintain orderly order and day Quorum for your board me thank you I'd like V please I'm know I think it's better practice to allow people to only speak once but since we did allow someone to speak twice tonight I think In fairness to someone who actually came here you give her the three minutes and I am fine with that if as Brad spoke he did not call anyone out by name and that will not be happening in public comment this back and forth of mentioning this person and that person you may not address public members by name in public comment you may address the board that is it so if you wish to speak I am fine with letting people speak more than once I let I'm I let people speak just as Miss kbat in the past you have let people speak more than once in public and I'm fine with that as long as we are keeping it civilized we aren standing up here calling people names because we disagree with their public stance on something we don't agree on things right now and we are having a civil conversation of changing our votes or not changing our votes and that is fine if you wish to speak again you will address only the people in this room about your comments and you have three minutes there is no back and forth yelling at each other that is all I'm not sure how parents in this school district think they are going to censure other parents it is very very very anti-American number one number two you had people coming on here dictating policy in the way they were speaking so during the election there was a group of parents who were constantly pushing the Dei my point being yes we are diverse yes we are inclusive yes we have equity which should actually be equality those were my points the other point is trying to push this on small children is wrong it is wrong it is morally and ethically wrong people do not want sex taught from activist teachers to their children or an activist state or an activist government I do not come into a classroom and teach your children to become Christians or to become Muslim or to to become Jewish these are activist things that people see are being done and this is why parents are upset it's not cuz they're not inclusive it's not CU they don't care about people that are gay or homosexual or whatever you want to be called it's because we have a real radical problem with children not knowing and not being able to form thoughts so when you have an adult dictating this to a small child you are opening up the doorway to a lot of problems and more importantly is we've had a lot of teachers in New Jersey being charged with sexual abuse in the last year and I I do have a problem with the curriculum that tells children if they're bullied they're going to be depressed they're going to cut themselves if you have a choice in life you're not going to become depressed because you're bullied I was bullied anyone sitting on this panel can probably raise their hand and say they've been bullied you have a choice in the outcome of your own individual life and yes I do have a problem with the language of the globalized citizen because we are citizens of the United States of America and we have rights that people don't have in other countries because we're a constitutional republic so I have a problem when people come back on and try to tell me how to c curb my speech to fit their agenda there were three people on tonight that did that and what is your position as a board in having parents trying to Cil the free speech of other parents supposedly these parents love diversity equity and inclusion doesn't seems so from my point of the [Music] room are there anyone well are you going to answer the question what are you going to do about parents trying to censor other parents free speech so again just um as the board is fully aware public comment is your opportunity to address the board there's no obligation for the board to respond I would submit that at this juncture given the uh uh context uh of that particular question it would warrant further deliberation and review of this board in the committee structure because no one board member can speak on behalf of the Board of Education thank so I think it's fair to say the board can take it under advisement and respond um if necessary through adoption of policy um and or actions thank you Jason anyse yes leanid you've been promoted the panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes 48 W place this yes I know I'm speaking second time but this is completely different issue so uh about the delay openings if we have such severe weather why do we open school why don't we have remote learning that's one question and the second question as far as I as far as I understand before like I'm not sure about now only people who had covid were able to do remot learning if a person is sick uh but not with co uh the person cannot do remote learning why is it in place and can something be done uh is that yeah so basically what I want to know why don't we have delay opening instead of uh just do remote learning for tomorrow due to T weather do you have any other additional questions or that's the question okay so the state doesn't recognize remote learning in in instances of snow uh or inclement weather so we cannot go to a remote learning module um for a day like tomorrow and the reason why it's not only for students it's actually also for staff as well to make sure that they safely get here and arrive without um making sure we have enough staff as well so those are some of the reasons that that I look at when making that decision regarding a delayed opening as far as closures we have three snow days built into the school year and we just want to make sure that we don't um you know we're in the middle of winter if you will so we try to make sure that we have days where there truly inclement weather that would allow for that motion to close the floor public okay M Kat has made a motion to close the floor to the public Mr Rino second all in favor I any opposed or extensions okay moving on to resolutions for um the first set we do have two walk-on resolutions on residency 4B will be administrative F that 4B will be pulled by the superintendent that is the memorandum that we requested to see a copy of and then there are two walkon resolutions 8 and 9B 8B reads therefore be it resolved that the fortly Board of Education hereby dis enrolls the following non-resident student from the ply public schools that is student ID number 5653 929 842 fortly High School grade n and 9B therefore be a resolve fortly Board of educ ation hereby disenroll the following non-resident student from portly Public Schools student ID number 5056 715 445 portley High School grade 10 we have a motion to approve items 1B through 3B and 5B through 9B motion Mor second pullback roll call please this is buyers k Mrs Kack yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs cang yes Mr Lopez yes M Morell yes Mr Rino yes Mrs R yes I have a motion to approve items one Cur through 2C motion second motion K second Morel roll call please Mrs liers K yes Mrs kak yes M Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs cang yes Mr Lopez yes M Mor yes Mr Rino yes Mrs rer yes we have a motion to approve items 1 F through 8f Mo motion Morel second Curry all roll call please this is BU K can you to me this is K yes this is Cur yes Mr Knight yes Mrs C yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr Lino yes Mrs RoR yes this V uh yes except for on 3F Iain for my name which one was that 3F on on the bill my name I my name may I have a motion to approve items 1 p through 20 P motion motion morel second Curry call please this is K 8 yes so yes except for on 8p on two and three I vote no two yes Miss back um the same on 8p and a big thank you to Mrs Malone and Mr Garis on their retirement 2 p and 3p uh yes to all the others Mrs Curry yes Mr n yes with the exception of AP which I'd like to vote Yes on one and no on two and three Mrs Kang yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr REO yes this RoR yes moving on is there any old business uh new business I encourage you all to sign up for the Bergen County School boards association meeting scheduled for February 6th um Vincent DeLuca from njsba educator and residence will be the speaker and the topic is how to build relationships in a hostile environment and build an inclusive Comm Community um timely um on Old business when we voted on that Viola water you were going to investigate to see whether there was some type of alternative program um that we could offer in in the school is there any update on that there is no update I I know Thea has reached out to me we played telephone tag a few times um principal hasn't gotten back to us withing any Alternatives as of yet but always look I have a motion to adjourn Mor second all in favor oppose thank you for coming