and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible andice for [Music] 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 interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the courtly board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 11th 2024 and posted on the district website at www.foe.com published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspapers the record and the Star Ledger filed with the clerk of the bur of fortly and mailed 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 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 the public body held with the intent on the part of the members of the body present to discuss or ask as a unit upon the specific public business of that body roll call please this K Mrs here M Curry here Mrs here Mr Lopez here M Morel here Mr Rino here Mrs 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 Rino second Curry all in favor oppos I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all 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 in accordance with provisions of the act the Board of Education asuse no this meeting be published on January 11th 2024 posted on the district website at wwwf .c publish in the board's designated online media Outlet newspaper the record and the Star Ledger F the cler of the Bly and mail any no please be advised this meeting is being recorded andv and online fut the open meeting act allows for remote participation at meetings meeting as any Gathering whether Corporal or by means communication equipment which is attended by or open to all the members body held with the M of the body discuss of body pleas K is absent M here Mrs C here Mr Knight here Mrs Kang here Mr Lopez here M Morel here Mr here this isi here board EX session at 6:30 p.m. to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters Dr PR will We Begin by sharing superintendence good evening and Welcome to our Board of Education meeting tonight um just a reminder on March 14th is the Harlem Wizards we'll be playing a basketball tournament at our high school from May 5 to 9:00 p.m help see a lot of people out there and support of our PT as we move into the month of March it's one of our difficult months as we have no breaks this month um but we are beginning to build our calendar for next year we hope to have it available at the next Board of Education meeting tonight we have Kate and Sophie from the high school to speak about what's happening to the high school so welcome hello I'm Sophie ryers and I'm a junior at high school and I'm Kate also Junior School Henry de Jesus was elected lieutenant governor 2024 for district count his duty will be to support and connect clubs as well as hosting divisional functions training officers through training conferences and distributing information through emails and newsletters the F chess club chess Club hosted Leonia High School's chess club in a friendly competition on February 7th competitors were matched based on their rankings and all of the matches were evenly played the main event saw both school's Champions going head-to-head FS Junior Aaron o protected the fort by defeating his counterart 2 to one on February 8th 2024 School number Four's physical education teacher and flhs Coach John Zamba earned his 800th career Victory as a head varsity coach coach Z has 460 wins in boys basketball and 340 in girls volleyball on February 9th senior members of our student council volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity of Bergen County restore as a result of our exponential season the flhs marching band has been promoted to the Open Class category for competitive marching band National Association us Bands please see the excerpt from the email sent to Mr wty under your direction and the programs instructional team the portley high school marching Virg have been elevated to the Open Class by virtue of your performance and scores at 2023 us for 2023 us band's competitive events per the threshold as outlined in the US band's participation plan additionally our adjudication Community has confirmed that the emble meets the criteria for promotion of of the program to the highest level of us bands Nationwide competition furthermore as an Open Class Ensemble the fortly high school marching brid have qualified to compete at the 2024 us bands national competition at netti stadium in East Redford in New Jersey on November 1st through thank you to Mrs Yun Miss Kim Miss HW and Michelle and all of the students for all the work they did to ensure a wonderful new Lunar New Year celebration in School Community they had workshops in both the media center and the cafeteria all day long on Thursday February 22nd the boys basketball team will be traveling to Colonia for the first round of the saate tournament the boys team won five out of their last six games to qualified for the Jo on Thursday February 22nd portly High School alumni hondi mendu who earned his NBA forn out in 2022 will be speaking to students to honor black history he is going to speak about his journey from Port Le to his current job as a product manager for iqvia Port Le High School teacher Michael lepry was recently inducted into the Fairly Dickenson University athletic Hall of thank you very much for that report uh since our last meeting we had seven hivs of which two were founded and that LE our report of this evening thank you again to everyone for attending thank you do we have any committee reports we had a policy committee earlier tonight um we discussed two policies one is 5111 relating to the eligibility of residents and non-resident students to attend our school um we need some additional information before making a recommendation to the board and the second was an athletic policy which um I think it's 24 31 um and there was an issue there a resident in town who attends a non-public private school it does not offer a softball team and um we allow homeschool students to attend and participate in our sports but apparently there is an njs AA rule that doesn't allow us to amend the policy to accommodate the resident so that's a done done issue thank you y thank you very much the athletic committee met on February 8th two topics we discuss that required further discussion and expiration are one the introduction of eorts to our schools which will require careful planning and partnership on our end but we're in the at the exploration part of this endeavor and second we discussed the possibility of the Town seeking ownership of National Field behind the Intermediate School to provide uh much needed support attention you this will require further discussion with that and mayor council thank you any other comme um the legal we met but I think we gave a briefing before the last meeting um primarily related to um what we have on tonight's agenda as 3B and the matter we'll see after the vote should be resolved thank you are there any board members with questions or comments on tonight's agenda or any other topic okay moving on may have a motion to open the floor to the public motion motion secondo all in favor any opposed or extensions okay we will first hear from any members of the public that are physically located here tonight then we will take questions or comments from those participating remotely participants are limited to limited to three minutes in which to make their statement or comment additional time may be granted at the discretion of the board if uh warranted response will be given after three minutes for remote public participants please select the raiseed hand button District technology coordinator Mr jro will recognize each Community member in the order of the raise Hands by lowering the hand unmute your microphone state your name and home address for the record and begin your comments please limit comments to 3 minutes seeing no one here in the public with us um Mr it is all yours uh Mike oo you have 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 Mike also hey everyone how are you Mike oo 230 Warren Avenue but currently right now at Luna Baseball Academy in Prim New Jersey quick qu um first thing um there's a gentleman named Leonid he's currently in Colorado he sent an email to the board two weeks ago and he still has yet to have a response back from anyone so he just sent me a thing to remind you if uh you can someone kindly respond to his email that he sent that I think about two weeks ago next um since um policy 5756 you guys all honor what is this District procedure when a child doesn't want their parents to know I asked this last week I was told to ask Trenton but this is a school Pol procedure a school district procedure so what is the procedure that's in place when a child wants to be identified as a pronoun doesn't want their parents to know does the school district change his portal to use the preferred pronoun and not let the parents know and last but not least if you're going to honor policy 5756 when will you resend as a board policy 9240 because they both contradict each other now you guys have the floor okay thank you Mr Alo thank you for your comments I think as the attorney spoke last week we follow all of the the the statutes that we were required to do regarding um all of the reporting that is required of us from every any instance a child that makes a comment makes a statement we follow all the laws and the procedures that are set forth that we are given by the state of the Jersey regarding and what is that procedure does the district have a procedure to follow the district follows the laws that we are given by the state of New Jersey regarding that but what is the procedure answer the question Mr Al that's we follow the the what is required of us regarding all of the statutes and I believe at the last meeting Mr Taylor as well mentioned the same answer okay so basically if the child says don't tell my parents you automatically honor that without doing any due process to make sure that the parents are not dangerous which is in complete violation of policy 9240 all right um Mr oo the superintendent answered the question to the best his ability and thank you for your coms Alex Wolf 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 Alex Wolf hi everyone I'm Alex I live at 24542 street I'm gonna keep my camera off because I'm outside and it's dark and wouldn't be able to see me anyway um I just wanted to express my gratitude uh first to public schools in general uh but secondly to our public school system in specific and really to our teachers um you know it's really something that we willingly entrust our children to our wonderful fortly teachers and we we trust them to to teach them math and science and social studies and health and we trust them to teach them how to be positive citizens how to be good people and uh I think we don't often pause and think about what an amazing thing that is um that our children come out of the Fort Lee Public Schools better people they come out of these schools with knowledge and with uh with a a view of the world that helps them to make their way in this world and I also want to express my gratitude for our teachers who willingly teach our children no matter where they come from no matter what language they speak no matter what they look like no matter who they are or who they might become they just teach them and they teach them with love and with tenderness and understanding and I want all the teachers of Fort Lee to know that we really really really appreciate what you do for our for our children um and we trust you we really do thank you thank you 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 iPhone hi can you hear me yes hi um this is just um I just wanted to remind everyone that um Ramadan begins in 15 days excuse me can you just state your name and address for the oh I'm so sorry sorry fat and Hassan Kingsland uh Lane um I just wanted to remind everyone that Ramadan starts in 15 days and um I was here a couple of times um just listening and uh initially I talked about Ramadan and maybe putting a crescent uh at The Bard ofed or the town I was wondering if there's any updates on that like do you guys plan to put one up can you um just ask the rest of or make the rest of your comments and then we will address oh sure no that's all that's all I wanted to ask I was hoping that um you know that was the plan okay um Mr Knight I hate to put you on the spot but I know I had to kind of as a member of no it's fine Council totally fine so um yeah we took it real serious when we heard from you last time and um we um I went straight to the council with it and um it's something that we're working on something that uh there's appetite in both the council and the Board of Ed and it's something that we're really excited about doing so that's awesome thank you so much thank you thanks for that upate Margarita you vanova 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 Margarita Ivanova hi everyone margarita Nova 1530 palate Avenue um uh the comment in the question that I have is so this past Friday my son goes to Intermediate School um there was an altercation with a bully and this child has bullied other children and has had complaints about him before and unfortunately there was an altercation and my son now has a broken nose um I'm extremely upset about it I came I spoke to the assistant principal I'm being denied to see the footage um previously when another child had a fight with a bully the parents were allowed to see the footage I don't know why I'm being denied and I'm given the excuse of being understaffed because I asked where were the staff members why wasn't anyone around to stop the the altercation it from what I understand it was it didn't happen just in one shot Where The Boys punched each other or whatever but it was you know minutes of chasing each other things being taken out of backpacks crowds of children around and as a parent I'm extremely upset that this even occurred that my son is now suffering with a broken nose at home and he suspended which I understand that's the policy to suspend both children but I want to understand what is being done to protect our children what is being done to put more security outside how do I trust the system to take care of my child when my child is in school thank you very much for for your question and your comment um we'll be looking into it I know the security committee met before this to discuss you know what we can do for security to enhance our security systems so we're always looking for that we take Ser uh school security especially student security and our staff very seriously and that's why you know we spend a lot of time and a lot of resources financial and Personnel um to make sure that every child is safe uh we will look into it central office will look into the your what what you expressed and I like I said there was a security meeting uh with some of our board members to discuss I don't enhance even more our security and and so from my office regarding the situation okay and Mr Kravitz am I allowed to see the footage to see exactly what occurred if you you can email me this evening at rits at fboe we we we'll contact you tomorrow and talk about what we can do for you thank you very much thank you thank you Howard lipof 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 I would Li hello thank you very much Mr rero and um the members of the board um uh first of all I want to thank Mr Wolf who spoke oh I didn't introduce myself I'm Howard Lipoff I'm a teacher at the Intermediate School I live at 161 Main Street in Little Falls um I just briefly want to thank um Mr Wolf uh I'm the treasurer of the fort Le Education Association I am sure that after hearing what Mr Wolf had to say the members of the uh of flee the Fort Lee Education Association will be very pleased we very much appreciate his support and the support of many people in the public and the board uh for the work we do I I want to point out I haven't heard it mentioned right after the last board meeting there was a piece of why I think is the the one of the best publicities for the um Fort Lee School District since I've been there uh and I've been around uh um 27 years in the district uh we had a wonderful article written about a program at the high school it was at northjersey.com or uh if you do the print editions uh The Herald news in my area the record in your area it was a an article about the rest wrestling team and the uh coach who's also a teacher and a flea member Jonathan Mendez it talked about how despite the fact that we have children from on the team from all different cultures um and some are Jewish and some are Arab and all different backgrounds that they get along so well and I thought that was a marvelous article uh not only talking about the great work that Mr lendes is doing and our wrestling team but I think it shows that in our school district that we have a culture where people from diverse backgrounds get along and work together so if people haven't seen it I suggest they go to northjersey.com I would recommend to the leadership of our district um that they put that AR article uh maybe on a website if that's possible let people know about because it makes the Fort Lee school system seem like the wonderful place it is thank you very much for your time and have a nice evening everyone thank you Mr Li Sarah Q 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 Sarah Q There Q has disconnected there are no more raised hands okay thank you may I have a motion to close the floor to the public motion motion Morel second Rino all in favor I any close or exensions okay moving on to resolutions uh we have two Walkin resolutions items 3B and 4B so Mr Taylor will read into the record item 3B and I will read 4 all right here's a resolution 3B whereas the fort Le board of education is involved in a litigation matter bearing caption doco versus Fort Le Board of Education arbitration case number 01 hyen 22 hyen 00003 hyen 7 7543 involving claims of delay damages which Discovery demonstrated to be the consequence of the failure of the steel structure that was designed by SSP Architects and whereas the fail steel structure was subsequently replaced by an alternate structure based on a new design provided by SSP Architects and whereas in order to forego the time expense and uncertainty of continued and protracted litigation the parties have agreed to amicably resolve the matter in difference now therefore be it resolve that the four Le Board of Education hereby agrees to settle this matter in accordance with the terms and conditions of the settlement agreement as proposed by its litigation Council and be a further resolve that the superintendent business administrator and or board president are hereby authorized to execute any documents in furtherance of finalizing the within settlement agre and Walkin resolution 4B reads therefore be it resolved at the courtly board education hereby permits the following non-resident student to continue enrollment at the portly public schools and waves tuition costs for the 2023 2024 school year and a student ID number 26502 72 I have a motion to approve items 1 B through or motion motion Curry second Morel roll call please M yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs Ken yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr Rino yes Mrs rer yes I have a motion to approve items one Cur through three Cur motion motion Morel second second roll call please who coat yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs C yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr yes Mrs Victor yes I have a motion to approve items 1 F through 9f motion second motion Curry second Morel roll call please Mrs K yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs Ken yes Mr Lopez yes M moral yes Mr Rino yes this R yes I have a motion to approve items 1 p through 8p motion motion Morel second second Lopez roll call please this Co yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs Kang yes Mr Lopez yes M Mor yes Mr yes Mrs RoR yes moving on is there any old business any new business um okay I have one for new business um one of the one of the policies that we did not put on that was an obvious one to discuss in the policy committee was 5756 which perennially comes up at every meeting and I I think it I didn't suggest it because I think it's a wider board discussion not because this is just kind of not your typical policy and and and I think it deserves a board discussion um and the tensions with 9240 I think at the next meeting I may I you know I'm not sure but I think we should all be prepared to um openly and publicly discuss our position on it so that we can kind of either do something or not do something and just not have every meeting kind of um for that to be it's such an issue that we're put on the spot with um so just I don't want to Blindside anyone at the next meeting to if you know maybe there won't be any action taken but I I think In fairness um I I just want to respond I mean I'm going by what Mr Taylor has told me in the past 9240 has a specific line in there that states unless a law or something else and I I've been in for at 5756 yes is is the law yes that that tell says that parents have this right except for the law that states which is in 5756 then that that could be a position that that's that's just what I've always been going by what I've always explain to me we have we have several policies it's not just 9240 um and and you know I I I'm of the view that the public deserves a little bit more explanation and flesh I think like situations like this I I have to think in our district are are determined on a caseby Case basis and if a first grader says something in a jocular way that would be dealt differently than an 11th grader Who Um can come in and substantiate that there are serious issues at home and I just think that there's more that that actually happens on the ground in our district when these types of things unfold and I I I don't think that there's any reason that we should hide it and and we do act appropriately but every situation is totally different um and so I I think maybe by like talking we could put it to bed so it just doesn't always put you know our Administration on the spot because they are you know they they're looking for some additional details um and so again I think it's a topic worthy of a board discussion um and and maybe it won't go anywhere um but I would like everyone to be thinking about that if you know we had a discussion at the next meeting um yeah I just want to um raise that um that other District that are loyal in that topic the focus on that topic consumes and takes resource away from other critical matters like teacher shortage academic curriculum um so I you know I do welcome the discussion but I just also want to make sure that we understand that the focus of District what we want to focus on what our priorities priorities are academic standing our priorities are student opportunities creating opportunities for our student and that's important to me so I don't think anybody's trying to hide anything I think we're very forthcoming as a board um there's a lot of things a lot of important issues that come up that we talk about in public my thing is because this is a policy and because it has been um put in our policy I would rather be I think initially it should be discussed and while we were having our policy committee today I did want to bring it up but because we were talking about other issues that took a lot longer so that didn't seem to come up because we didn't a lot a lot of time for the committee itself I thought the committee meeting should have been at least an hour long in this and it was um 5: well seemed it seemed like we just focused on just a couple of things and I think we could have had a little bit more um time to it um but I think this should be brought up in committee first just so that we do know you know as far as what the law is what the doe is saying that we have to do what we don't have to do looking at other districts to see what they've done what they haven't done what we want to do with it I have no problem bringing it in public at all I just think initially because this has been coming up in public as much as it has and there are so many different um so many different versions of you know what people believe and what they what they think it is and what it is that we should just have it in committee first just so that we get an understanding of it because something like this can take a whole evening and um like Amy said there are other important things in our district that we need to be concerned with and so I don't want it to be the sole Focus I'm not saying it's not important it is I'm just saying that I feel that it should be in committee that's what policy committees I think Lester could tell you right now that the policy is not mandatory that's that's say Mr Mr is waiting to yeah I just like to I like to say something as well I think if we're if we're following the law we shouldn't be ashamed to to say what we're doing and I think that that's what concerns me more than anything else is when when parents are coming to the podium and saying like what do you do in this situation if we're following the law we could easily explain anything else if we're following the law like why are we afraid to say it I think it's just I think the the Optics look bad that it's it seems like a secret even if it is it might not be but like why not say it that's all and I do think it's something I do also just wanted since you brought up the committee thing I do think it's it's it's not just a small issue it's the one issue that gets brought up every single meeting so I think it is something that there needs to be a public discussion about it so nobody i' like to re iterate I am not saying not to have a public discussion and I am not saying to be afraid or embarrassed or anything none of those words so those adjectives really don't belong okay what I am saying is is that I think so that we understand what other districts are doing how the doe worded it what we're allowed to do what we're not allowed to do that's where I say I have no problem bringing it to the Forefront putting it out there and saying what never has to be said at all I'm just saying that if we're going to start the discussion about this to see what we're going to do about this how to rectify it whether it's to resend whether it's not to resend to keep it not to keep it what have you I think it belongs in committee first so that we understand where we're going with this and then we have the discussion that's not to say it's not going to change once we come out of committee I'm just saying that's where it should start anyone else have um another thing there was a packet of signups going around for board members so make sure you take a look at that okay thank you um and then Mr Knight I guess uh I can send you the dates and the things you email me I'll um and I hate to break all your hearts but we are going back into executive for a legal discussion um we're about 15 if if I'm just to discuss a matter of pending litigation um I need to Circle back with the board to get some guidance um the matters and issues discussed are exempt from public disclosure as again is pending Andor anticipated litigation minutes will be taken and released to the public confidenti no actions anticipated Tak so I need a motion to go back into ex to adjourn motion to adjourn public motion back are we doing two at once or we do two separ toj public go back into use the same link so motion to adj our second Mor barely got it the first time let me try I me the link l link before Mr night the same one from earlier from 6:30 okay so colb back motion morale second um all in favor I any opposed okay Mr motion to go into executive session right we have to go back into executive session you can of combine just do it again just motion to go back and go into Clos session to discuss matters of anticipated litigation uh matters covered by the attorney privilege minutes will be kept uh released to the public if when the need for confidentiality no longer exist and no action is anticipated to be taken ation to so we're in ation yes and I made motion exective session how do you make a motion if you're not in because it US public do a motion to all in favor all in favor everybody's good are we close now have a good night thank you