I got it J can you lead us in the pledge IED Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands Nation indivisible Li 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 the fortly board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on June 28 2023 and posted on the district website at www.foe.com published in the board's designated online newspapers the record and the Star Ledger filed for the clerk the burough of Fort Lee and mail to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be adved IIs that 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 the word 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 the specific public business of that body may we please have roll call M here this Curry here Mr Knight M Morel here Mrs isent Mr here M here M here to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters the board will reconvene into public session at a approximately 7:30 p.m. tonight may I have a motion to go into executive session motion Curry second morale all in favor I any opposed any extensions FL of the United States of America and to the for it stands Nation God indivisible liy and justice for all the New Jersey open 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 no one can hear there seems to be an audio problem oh she they hear now okay in accordance with the provisions of the act the fortly board of education has caused notice of this meeting to to be published on June 28 2023 and posted on the district website at www.fb.com published in the board's designated online newspaper the record and the Star Ledger filed with the clerk of the Bureau of Fort Lee and mailed to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcast on local TV and online at a future date the open public meeting act allows for remote participation at board meetings and defines the word 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 the specific public business of that body may we please have roll call M CH here Mrs Curry here Dr Go is is absent Mr Knight here M here this Mr here here here the board convened executive session tonight at 6:30 p.m. to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters Dr Kravitz will you begin by sharing the superintendent report thank you Miss Kat good evening everyone and thank you for joining us this evening I would just like to remind everyone our HIV report we had three founded and nine unfounded we conducted our November 2023 Fire and Security drills our bus drills and we are very ploud proud to welcome two of our high school students tonight to speak about our high school activities so please introduce yourselves and tell us what's going on good evening my name is Tesa Lee I'm a senior at Portland high school and I'm the student body co-president good evening my name is Kate Eno I'm a junior in portley high school and I'm the treasure on De 3rd forley High School senior Dari lucenko won Golds at the junior fencing World Cup in analia Turkey our very young star bariton Gabriel tilan presented our country's national anthem at at the request of our BFW on December 7th as as a remembrance of the Pearl Harbor Day the following students from the honors choir Lois walk which is the number one in the county for alto Diane sa s High nunz Gabe tilan Andrew Lee UI Oda Karen Clark are named to the County Choir these students passed a rigorous audition and competed against hundreds of vocal students from high schools throughout Bergen County they will be performing with the Bergen County Choir on Sunday January 14th 2024 at 3 p.m. at Bergenfield High School in Bergenfield New Jersey our student council helped collect gifts for the Fort Le PDA that will be distributed to unprivileged Children our winter sports season started last week please check the schedule website and come out and support our teams the interact Club has been collecting clothes to be donated to the woman's shelter in Anglewood the h concert will be held on Thursday December 21st at 700 p.m. in the High School auditorium on Friday December 8th the following students Abigail Faron Kayla Wong and Laya abdalah helped to organize a blood drive under the guidance of Miss Glen this day should approximately helped 120 people in need thank you thank you thank you I would like to as the season approaches wish everyone a wonderful healthy winter break remind everyone this is the time of year we make our New Year's resolutions I hope everyone's New Year New Year's resolutions from last year have been successful you've completed them all but I'd like to make to make sure everyone spend some time resting uh sometimes we just our lives go by very quickly and we don't take the time take the time to just breathe I also would like to mention that it's been an absolute pleasure to work with three people sitting at the days uh Lisa Cho Catherine ganopoulos and Julian St my pleasure to work with all three of you for the past year several years and I'm very proud to say that um you're part of our 40 team and I'm part of your team so thank you very [Applause] much speak a little bit more about it or you want me to I have that's so um you know you both are the consumate board members um always you know both of you but Alisa always so prepared right down to like you know the page nine of the contract so we can always count on you but um I too um have had um enjoyed very much working with both of you um our district is much better for your contributions our students um and you know I maybe one or both of you will come back at some point but um just on behalf of the board we really appreciate all the time and effort and your insights um and what you brought to the the table for the district and we wish you both you know the best we have a plaque for each of you and they they read except for your years of service Alisa you have six years of service and Julene uf3 and it says in recognition of blank years of service to the fortly Board of Education your efforts and dedication as a board member have strengthened the bond between the community and the school so I'll present [Applause] one you get in it let me take a picture for you no no I'll take the picture you get the picture too why don't we have the entire board come on I can take the picture yeah angle yes we' got some here we the Board of Education and taking a whole thing take a picture thank you so much Bittersweet moment thank you so much in celebration of everyone or yes what do you mean anyone is welcome yeah of course um anyone is welcome to to um make some observations we also have for the for the public you're welcome we have a cake and some cookies and coffee and you should you know help yourself to them um anyone else want to make some comments I want to say something okay go ahead um well at Lisa six years I've gone by very very fast and I always appreciate your dedication especially to like the little stuff like that you bring up it's uh was very helpful over the years now Julene it's another story uh it's been a pleasure we've been friends for many years uh it just keeps getting stronger and I know this is not the last we're going to hear from you and I hope to see you back here very soon so I'm going to start with Alisa um because I remember when she first ran and um I have to say you always bring so much to the table um your a phenomenal researcher your questions make us think um a lot of times um I'm in arm with your questions you have many of them um but you have always had the best interest of the district the community and the kids and so um I just want to say thank you for all your dedication and all your time it it uh it you definitely it's well deserved and uh you did a fantastic job so you did yourself proud Julene um it's been a pleasure serving with you but on a personal note I'm just going to say I can't thank you enough Julene and I have gone through in the last two years basically started the same month some personal issues that made a bond between us that's never going to be broken she's had my back every step of the way a lot of board members here have but when you both go do something together it's like a bond that you will always have and I love you dearly and I can't thank you enough for being there from the very bitter beginning to the amazing so thank you so much and your viness anyone else I know but it's it's getting close so um well I'm going to allow the public because I see some people here and I know why they're here so we'll go a little bit out of order and because we're celebrating I'll go after go ahead Emily Emily okay I'll do it okay great the mic's a little too tall make sure you use the mic so we can all hear you and give us your name and addresses my bill's uh Bill to I live in kulage Avenue 377 and I just wanted to thank Jolene for her service along with all the other board members I know it's a thankless job but you are the check and balances when it comes to running a school and uh I wish you all well I know you guys really enjoy your job I see thank you so much I know that I know that Catherine is not here I you know I don't want leave her out that's true I want to leave out I got to tell you I never thought Catherine and I did a 360 and it was amazing that from the beginning to the end that I consider her friend that she when she spoke I listened because she always make her point so clear and and and validated so well that it was hard not to give it now it really was and I think that her insight to a lot of things is going to be soing us so Katherine if you're tuning in tonight we want to include you in in the big big thank you thank you thank you um you you had special abilities when it came to um children and giv your occupation um the insights that you gave to us on on twoo numerous issues to to Really list but um we appreciate your service and and again you will be very much missed on on the board so we have a couple of raised hands um can we they're they're they're they're not here on the agenda it's here for this part of the meeting this part of me Ella Ella erck is the first one that's Julie's daughter I don't think she's looked at tonight's agenda okay Ella I promoted your panelist Ella can unmute your microphone hi can can I speak yeah you're we can hear you now Ella hi um I'm Ella I'm here with um we live on inward Terrace and we're calling on behalf of our amazing mom Julene who has been on the board for the past few years and before that has has worked tireless tireless for this District since I was in kindergarten um Fort Lee is very blessed to have someone as dedicated as you and I know that I speak for both myself my brother and just everyone in forly when I say how proud of you I am and how grateful I am for all that you have done to make our um experience in the fort Le School uh District the very best that it could be and I know that we both know that there are so many more great things to come for you and we're veryy happy to have you back at home um and congratul I want to hear from Jake I like the sweater come on Jake open your mouth congratulations thank you I love you set up thank you guys congratulation on [Applause] Cornell Stephanie Stephanie I promoted you to panelist feel free to unmute your microphone Stephanie you're muted I'm unmuted I just wanted to thank the board memb so much for all they've done I know Elisa has been there six years I think my kids were starting Middle School it's she always showed up she always checked all the numbers and made sure that things were really in the favor for the children of the school so I want to say thank you for that and to Julene just the friendship that I've have with her and have grown to love her and just to get that um response from your children Julene I know nothing is more important to you than those two kids so thank you thank you for all the work for the time that yes it is a thankless job and yes there are parents that are always calling things to order but you both have served um diligently and it's it's an honor to have people that are so dedicated to the kids of Fort Lee and who want to make Fort Lee the best town to live in and the schools play a huge role in that so thank you so much and congratulations to your daughter on Cornell that's amazing thank you thank you thank you Mike alsoo evening fromed to panelist well do I still get my three minutes for the agenda or you you get two minutes M I got I know I got I gotta watch call a pause really tight on my time anyway I want to thank uh Katherine for her for her time on the board listen I've been on there I know it's a very thankless position and I just want to say thank you um to Katherine and Alisa six years I'm sure you've been through a lot of wars in there and I just want to say thank you for all the time you've committed there through the six years of your time here and you made our school district um a much better place and you always want to always look at it from the time you start until the time you leave are you leaving in in a much better place and at Leisa I can honestly say you are and thank you for your time for these six years next um I got brain fog today with the weather so I'm a little slow um Julene winds and losses will never define a person of who they are and what I've learned about you this past couple of months is that really you are a leader you came through the tough moments and you battled through the toughest decisions and you stood Always by the student over sometimes even your own personal beliefs so you never be defined by a loss Julene because in this town you are a leader all right peace out all right and I'll see you back in do I get three minutes right Paula yes do you first we've seen him indoors what's that it's nice to see him indoors for a change Jean you've been promoted the panelist hello hi can you hear me guys yeah we can hear you je hi hi um first off I'd like to thank uh the departing board members for all your time and service C Catherine Alyssa and Julene you guys are uh yes it's a thankless job a toz and you guys are are there for the kids and we thank you so much for it and then also a special thanks on behalf of uh fortly boys basketball to Jalene who's who's also a board member of uh of the basketball league uh that we run we're up to over 500 kids uh from the Fort Lee uh Community uh participating this this year we have 31 teams a second grade clinic and uh Julian has been an integral part in um growing the program so a special thanks to Julene for that and all the times you've gone to bat for us with the board with the district to making things happen so big thank you thank you everybody thank you okay we have the Kang family you've been promoted to panelist yep I got it hello hi hi this is Tanya and um the only thing that could keep me from being there is stupid flu 102 temperature this is no fun I want to be there so bad to give everyone a hug and say how much I appreciate everyone um Elise thank you Elisa for trying to be nice to me when I was on the board trying to be supportive and ask all the hard questions um going through things with a fine to home I do appreciate it I think I've mentioned that several times at meetings uh thank you for your time um I know an easy place to sit um but Julene my heart breaks um because um I started this one with you and um you better come back that's all I have to say um thank you is my is my is my Internet working yes we hear you okay thank you for fighting to open the schools for covid when they had the children locked at home and they wouldn't open the doors and you sat on the meetings hours and hours with me thank you thank you thank you for doing that thank you for always going for the kids always always every time you vote you always put the kids into it and that I appreciate because that's what it's always about are the kids and I'm going to miss you but you're gonna come back and um you've done a fantastic job you're strong and I couldn't ask for anybody I mean I started the journey with you you you you got you got me into this and you better be coming to the meetings just like I do I love you I love you so you take care of yourself I'll see you soon thank you T Miss Kesha Miss kesa I've been promoted to panelist feel free to unmute your microphone we'll move on to Michelle Perez okay you got two up there Jason so maybe so Michelle hold on someone was in front of you but we'll just keep you up on the screen she might be for agenda later you're you're muted Miss Kesha your microphone is muted okay I'm sorry do you want me to speak or do you want me to wait so so are are you are you speaking about the departing Board of Education members that we're celebrating tonight or the agenda no no it's so there will be an opportunity we'll have our normal time to speak about agenda or any other matters a little bit later okay I'll I'll be on I apologize no it's okay un Michelle yeah Michelle if you want to unmute okay can you hear me yeah we can hear you great hi hi um I'm joining the Love Fest um thank you to Julene and Catherine and Alisa um and for the battle over the past few months I I appreci all of it everyone having an opinion about the kids and what we should do for our children um I I don't mean to call out one over the other it's just that six years ago Alisa ran and when she went to the debate um when we had those um she said something that has always stuck with me that in Korean when you you talk about children it's our children and I love that and I love that everyone who serves feels that all of the children all all of our students are um something to be valued and so um whoever stays whoever goes going forward that that stays that that's a consistent uh value that we share in this town and I appreciate all of you thank you thank you Michelle thank you Victoria you've been promoted to panelist hello hi um this is Victoria and um I really thank you uh um all all three board members for your hard work I can't I I just didn't know the uh results so I didn't know julin I I somehow I thought julin was reected so I was very shocked now so anyways um thank you uh everyone for your hard work and um I especially called for Alysa um Alisa was uh working as a KAC Le asan and um she's been a great help so I really um appreciate I was very impressed about the amount of knowledge and uh about the Board of Education and how things work and um I really thank you and yeah thank you so much for everyone thank you thank you Amy KT you've been promoted to panelist good evening hi we can hear you Amy okay thank you um good evening I want to thank all the board member for your uh work over the last year um specifically um want to thank Julene and um Katherine as well as Elissa for the three of you who's served on the board for from one to six years um I um Julene I love your passion um your just your fervor fiction about what you believe is the right thing for the children um is um is remarkable and and and and and and it's felt by felt by myself and felt by many in the community um we thank you thank you so much for your service um your children your children are testimony of what we all want to you know strive to be um to our children which is a role motto so thank you um elisssa thank you for thank you for uh your service over six years you are meticulous you're just one of the most hardworking people I know so thank you thank you thank you for all your hard work and and and you inspire us you inspire many others in the district thank you for your work okay thank [Music] you hi everyone um there's so much I want to say I'm going to try to be as succinct as I can can first and foremost I want to thank um my family for allowing me to do this for sharing me with the community I want to thank Ella and Jake for always being there for me on days when I came home at 2: a.m. 3:00 a.m. for negotiations you never blinked you always supported me and and I just I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart I want to thank this entire board um for lifting me up and making me a better person even the people that I didn't always agree with I learned from you and I so appreciate that um Dr Kravitz Diane the entire C central office um there are no words I feel such a closeness to you that I know we'll be friends forever um the supervisors the principals the teachers the custodians the AIDS the the substitutes the lunch AIDS everybody who has embraced me in this District I will never like forget any that you've done for me or my children I am here um for one reason the children that's it um I don't have two kids I have thousands of kids most of them know it some I know more than others but it's the driving force why ran and when I started 15 years ago in the PTA at school too I I never dreamed that I would become this active and it has just been an absolute gift to serve you all um to the parents who have stood by me and supported me um I made such Amazing Friends in this town to the community the mayor the council everyone who's embraced me um did I forget anyone um our attorney Lester who couldn't be here tonight my friend over here and um you know I just I'm not going anywhere I will never ever stop fighting for the kids of this town or the teachers or the parents you know where to find me when one door closes something better always open so you will see me and I will continue to serve community and I want to thank you all thank you so much from the bottom of my heart [Applause] okay I guess we'll back anyone else okay back to our agenda um do we have any committee reports hearing none um do board members have questions or comments on tonight's agenda or any other topic I do have a few questions sorry true fion would not be a normal evening OFA um first thing is to C it looks like there's a first portion of that missing so maybe want to we want to amend that wording and I'm sorry to get to email you prior to this so Toc are yep it looks like it's missing therefore be it resolved and whatever the other drgon is that needs to there so the lead in for two two c um I'm adding therefore or be it resolved that and then the rest is there the following out of District placements actually therefore be it resolve that the portly Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent approves and then the the remainder is there and then jar and then actually sorry I have a couple more questions um 9f regarding the removal and recycling of old equipment I saw there there's some Chrome books and whatnot when students graduate do we allow the students to either purchase the that they rotate through that I do not believe that they they keep them and recycl them those are four-year-old Chromebooks so I don't think they keep them but I'll get an answer for yeah only because would it make sense then if especially like a graduates instead of just recycling it into a recycling place can that child take it with them then you know um to keep just they back oh we do we make repairs we need to if not they if they're workable um I did have another question I didn't see the math the summer math on here so if at some point just we can get that on there would be a meeting without summer sure thank you I just a comment like to make about 6C about the the providing instruction to kids uh given that corporations horrible history in flinton Michigan and also the way that they handled the uh much lesser but also significant situation here in Port Le um I don't think it's appropriate that they use our school as a public relations um tool I think that they're extremely irresponsible in both the cases that I mentioned and for that reason I'll be voting against it that out that was 3C hold on so they were the company that was involved in the situation with the water in Flint Michigan but they're also a company that when there was a situation where our water was contaminated with eal matter went on so Viola is the company that was responsible for the water situation Michigan but also a few years back when we had a situation where veal matter in our public water system that company refused to do anything as far as repipe out replacing filters or anything to protect the community so for that reason I think that should vote against allowing them to use our or our first grade classroom as a public relations okay anyone else I want to thank the New Jersey onri Community Church they're making a $4,000 donation um to our um louisf Co Middle School um and I also would like to recognize Miss trabado who is retiring from school one that is resolution 2p and Margaret ning uh resolution 3p for over 20 years here in the portly School District we appreciate um your service and you will be missed um we I should have read uh earlier we have two walk-in resolutions during private session today uh we had two residency appeals the first um the first resolution will be 4B and it reads as follows therefore be it resolved that the fortly Board of Education hereby permits the following non-resident student to continue enrollment at the fortly public schools and waves tuition cost for the 2023-2024 school year and that student ID number is 6439 5137 to uh Louis F Co Middle School grade 7 and resolution 5B reads as follows therefore be it resolved that the fortly Board of Education hereby disenroll the following nonresident student from the fortly public schools and that student ID number is 6268 9321 a ninth grader at the fortly high school um anyone else have any comments sorry just one other question regarding I don't think it's on the agenda or anything like that but I believe parents received correspondence from tonian in elementary school regarding early or pre-ordering now for students so can we just talk about the logistics of that because I just want to make sure that kids who didn't pre-order or have parents PID for it they're still going to have one offer to them um that's why we're sending all the notices home actually sing out twice a week starting January 2 when they come back all the um elementary schools have to be pre-ordered online so we actually sent the notification in six languages total so that the parents have ample time in order to um get an account online and place we are so if they don't have it setup though then what what kind of protocol would be there for them would they get refused meals I imagine not so we can't refuse anybody a meal but um you're going to have to start ordering online so if they need any help they can contact know the board office and we'd be more than happy to help and get it all set up I I think there'll be a couple of Kings to begin with but that's why we're going to keep sending out the notices that everybody is well aware of the change so may I have a motion to open the floor to the public motion motion Morel second night all in favor I any any opposed any extensions we will first hear from any members of the public that are physically located here at the cetorum tonight then we will take questions and comments from those participating remotely for remote public participants please select the raised hand button our district technology coordinator Mr rerio will recognize each Community member in the order of the raised Hands by lowering the hand please then unmute your microphone and state your name and home address for the record and begin your comments please limit your comments to three minutes do we have any members of the public here in the cafetorium tonight who wish to make a public comment if so please approach the podium and identify yourself yes sir hello yeah tap tap I think it's on yeah good okay do you hear me we can okay uh uh my name is Boris Boris sisin um I live in one horizon building building one and my daughters um I have two daughters one goes to uh public school number one one goes here she uh sixth grade uh few weeks ago it was it was a parent teacher conference right so I was waiting uh um the teacher while sitting um waiting for the teacher I've noticed uh stickers on the classroom on classroom doors and they say safe space for all and those stickers uh brought by glem organization and I got curious what this organization is did you repeat those letters again j l s e uh g l s e n g lsen okay.org g len. org that's correct okay do you guys know what this organization is no no okay so this is a gay lesbian bisexual transgender and Q in other words organization that Advocates or rather indoctrinates or help to indoctrinate our children okay few years ago I remember that uh parents had an option to op out from from um health education curriculum something like that okay so those parents who okay with indoctrination of their kids they can send those kids to this class the parents who think that there are only two genders that man cannot become a woman and the other way around that everyone is equal they have option to opt out and my family opted out and lots of families opted out it was a vote so the majority of the parents uh would listen to and this option was granted so now few years later I see that this organization is in the school is in the public school uh how they got there I don't know if you guys not sure what this organization is I don't know who sponsors this organization why they in school why they indoctrinating our children you should look into it I went to the website of this organization it's horrible they teach absolutely no values it's all about sex and sexualization of our children nothing else nothing else if you read the list of books that this organization recommends I thought it's kind ofan type of books I'll give you an example uh white privilege to kid understanding race and privilege nine things every educator need to know when teaching black students a black students different than anyone else I didn't okay why you guys dividing people in the black white this sexual orientation that sexual it's wrong we all equal so so so the 3 minutes is up and I'll let the superintendent but but we appreciate your comments thank you for your comment so what you said I'm we're going to look into it find out where they are in the school and what's going on I'll get you an answer well the stickers are there I was talking to a principal they told me well those people are not there that's why we're not doing anything to the children children are curious they're going to look it up and want them to be confused about the gender identity what is nonbinary I saw the pronouns of people who involved in this one person is them those people shouldn't be around children get some information and we'll get back to absolutely thank you what is your name sir I'm sorry Boris my name is Boris B my name is Boris and I live in Horizon how do you spell your last name STI k i m because the idea was we understand your point we have so please don't sneak out behind the parents back you should be transparent you should parents should know what's going on because what else maybe something is in the library that they should be reading thank you Stephanie okay hello my name is Stephanie can you hear me you can't hear me that's a shock that's first first time for everything it's first time so I've been thinking about the issues a lot because there was so much um vitri all during this past season and um I started reaching out to different lawyers trying to figure out what we can do because there's obviously a very large group of parents who want to um protect their smaller children which seems to be really the real issue for parents younger children not high schoolers from all of the issues that are arising from trying to force uh Dei lgbtqia A++ Plus on K through let's say sixth graders so there's an attorney Michael Yoder and I come to this so that parents who want to look up things the Denver public schools have just been sued after admitting to discriminating against heterosexual students DPS officials have engaged in blatant Viewpoint discrimination and Silent speech and the expression of other views that do not differ from their own but students do not shed Free Speech rights at the schoolhouse Tinker V de Moy and this case will serve as a reminder that the government which includes Public Schools cannot prescribe what shall be Orthodox in politics nationalism religion or other other matters of opinion uh that was uh West Virginia State uh Board of Ed verse Barnett um so there are lawyers picking up these cases and um there's a lawyer in New York City who's picking this up so basically if you are going to have lgbtqia Flags present on the property you also have to have a heterosexual flag present on the property because this is considered Viewpoint discrimination from the school no one really brings up the point because everyone's kind of kind to other people that have difference of opinion but it feels like the matters really being shoved down the throats of younger kids and I think that this is where all the contention coming from in our town because for me as a New Yorker we've kind of always gotten along and I I looked up this organization Lon it it's very troubling the reading list that they have there so if it's on a sticker in the school and children are curious they they look up things so this could become a problem or an issue maybe maybe it's as simple as taking the sticker down doesn't have to be like a federal offense um for me I noticed that my daughter in certain classes would change the things she wrote to kind of fit in and she said to me something the other day that really made me very upset she said mom I know this teacher's political viewpoints so I write my papers one way and I know this teacher's political Viewpoint so I changed cuz I want an A in my class and and I really don't think this should be the case obviously I'm an independent more towards the conservative side but I don't think that children should feel the pressure in high school to try to please their teachers political opinions this should be the last thing that's happening in our schools so I just wanted to bring it before the board maybe there's a talk that could happen but you know teachers should just be there to teach a subject and not indoctrinate a child nobody would like if I went and tried to convert everyone to Christianity and you know oh you're this you've got to change no one would like that for their child so I just think let's teach the subjects let's do what we're meant to do and let's leave the other things behind because there's so much that we do agree on that we don't have to fight those are appreciate it that's my point thank you Stephanie was like get a little bit more it's like the Academy Awards right okay do we have any we do is back yes Michael also you've been promoted play music when you when you stop talking Paula am I on the clock yes three minutes right Paula okay there you go don't waste it all right I'm not uh question is policy 9240 still in a here in fortly give me the label rights of parents it's policy number 9240 is it still in effect I I I have to go to the website and see do you see it on when you go to I pul I I pulled it from the website so I'm um it's on there it's still in effect okay if you read the first two paragraphs to the this policy which says rights of parents it basically says that the parents have the right to access records and everything that's going on with their children in their schools you can read the first two paragraphs it is clear as day all right if this is still in effect and this is Paramount to the representation of parents for the well-being because the parents are the ultimate responsibility of their children the well-being of their children correct right we can all agree on that that means there's no other way but the to we have to start to think about resending policy 5756 because 5756 has to do with Title Nine if I'm not mistaken is that correct yes correct yes yes policy 5756 is in accordance to Title Nine correct yes right yes yes in title n it identifies the sex of the child sex the definition of the sex is the biological right it's biological that's what's in Title 9 that's what was crafted in 1972 correct so I think as the new year starts this board has to do what's right for the parents regardless if they agree with it or not policy 9240 specifically and clearly states that the parents have the ultimate well have the ultimate care of their child and they have every right to know exactly what is going on with their children in their schools so then I would ask starting next year at the next board meeting the beginning of the recision of policy 5756 okay position is noted 5756 thank you everybody David Lou you've been promoted to panelist please unmute mute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record Minutes David Lou hello yes we can hear you oh hi hi everyone um my name is Dave Belo um but you need my address right right yes okay 2160 Center Avenue 2K Fort Lee um so I'm a parent of a special needs kid and um after being in this sepic meeting um the last few times it seems like the parents are searching for more community service for our kids um doesn't seem like there's there's any in Fort Lee so I'm I'm trying to raise the question how how we could provide more services for for with special needs kids when they're not at school um because I I know you know idea may be not be part of it but um ADA compliance uh you know in terms of nonacademic extracurriculars um need to be complied um so you know I I like to address this uh with the board and with the community um also I I you know I know I understand that you know these kids require a lot of attention and a lot of cost right so um I understand that as a as a parent as a as a taxpayer um so I've been looking into different providers like in the community to see what they could offer and um I've been looking around it seems like there's one that is interested and the one thing is also it's definitely you know it's hard to provide for these kids because of the cost that's that's that's definition answer because they require a lot more attention and more services so one question I'm trying to um address is that maybe uh for these kids because they they have to be um reimbursed by medical service like for like Medicaid has to reimburse them right but why not also set up something like a nonprofit or Foundation um that would um reimburse for for these providers for non-medical things like administrative so so that you know so that it's able to meet the cost of these these services that are for these special specialized students in Fort Le right thank you thank you com Margarita vigodner 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 uh hello my name is Margarita voder and I'm from five Victoria Place uh forly um so I joined late so I just first of all wanted to uh say say thank you to Julene I know it's her last meeting and I want personally uh to thank her for everything she did for the district um personally you know when I had uh questions or concerns I could always email her and you know she would find answers for me regarding some school issues you know and so I'm very thankful to her I also feel like she was a good um combination of uh always being on the side of the signs and inclusion but at the same time when it went too far and it didn't make sense she always stood her ground and I hope um I hope maybe she will run again but also I hope that the other members will do the same in the future be on the side of the science be on on the side of inclusion but also when it doesn't make make sense stand your ground regardless of what other districts do and I also have a another question so thank you so much Julene and also uh I I have also question given the situation of you know in the country I wonder if there is there are any plans uh or maybe it's in the program in our schools to have some kind of training um about uh anti-Semitism islamophobia and any type of hate uh because it looks like maybe our students can be confused when uh the freedom of speech and hate speech um can be very confusing to our students because the chairs of the IVs are not capable to condemn calls for Jewish genocide so I wonder if there are any plans to do some kind of uh training um regarding different types of haes uh hate speech or hate toward any you know Nation or or or religion and I also wonder uh how much of Holocaust studies are actually covered in school um thank you thank you very much for the comments um we do teach in in parts of our curriculum about genocide we speak about a lot of the different cultures um and you know anytime answer a question I I recommend that you always reach out to your teacher but we do have embedded in the curriculum as defined by the state of New Jersey some of those topics that you mentioned as well as you know we do do specific programs for bullying and speech about how we speak to one another depending on the grade level so it's something we're always addressing we always look for other programs and we'll work with the building level principles to create those programs so thank you Miss Kesha 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 Miss Kesha good evening do you hear me yes we can hear you okay good evening thank you for allowing me to speak my name is Sayan um I have a child in Intermediate School um when we had a meeting on November 29 2023 with the teachers I noticed that in the hallways where the kids go up and down the stairs um they need blinds um if I raised the issue with the principal and she said that um it's an issue that should be brought to Ernie Zabo the director of the school ground is he in the meeting is he in the meeting I can't hear we're having a little a hard time understanding did you say something about blinds curtain yes window there needed window shades on the hallway because window keep going yes so um if there is a way you can um use some of the fun utilize some of the funds to get window shades there because when the kids go up and down the the sun is blinding them then the other thing is uh when we have meetings with teachers it's only 10 minutes with at least 130 minutes um and we want the teachers to get paid for those and an extra three hours in the afternoons when they correct the exams and they deal with preparation for the next day they should be paid to um the other thing is that I also agree with Mr Boris which I don't know him but he spoke here tonight um those agendas we need them removed I actually have sent messages to the president and to the governors and Senators assembly men Assembly women we want them out of the schools um we do not promote sodomy we do not celebrate it and we do not celebrate anyone's doing any wrongdoings neither um principles of Bible Quran and Torah should be coming in the schools please bring them on extra curriculum in the curriculum bring the religion on we're not going to raise animal we want our kids to um be you know based upon the main good well intended principles that the almighty Lord created us to be reporting stuff please tell the teachers to report stuff I've seen uh Paul right 4 67 Stillwell Avenue with cables and wir tanging all over I had to reported the Board of Public Utilities but what strikes me is how come these teachers don't say anything the principal is not saying anything the other parents the police is there every morning they're not saying anything just just tell them to hey you saw something wrong recorded do you saw something wrong try to fix it okay thank you thank you Howard Lipoff 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 and I'm hello uh I'm Howard lepoff I live at 161 Main Street in Little Falls and I'm a teacher at the uh lsf Cole intermediate school and I'm the treasurer of the Fort Lee Education Association um my question is for you Mr um Dr Kravitz um there was um one of the B board members uh a little earlier tonight mentioned his disagreement with 6cr he mentioned and this is all news to me that this company violia uh who's supposedly going teach children about the value of clean water was involved with that Scandal or lead being in water and flint and um I'm always um apprehensive about uh private corporations coming into schools and maybe trying to um uh do as public relations and look good so I I want to know uh Dr Kravitz why is this company doing this well what value is it for them to uh be providing information or workshops for free for the students who who's going to be running this or they um teachers from that hired by the company and um since we have a board me member showing what seemed to be strong opposition uh maybe it would uh I'm asking you do you think maybe delaying this so that there could be more information before having a vote which is scheduled for tonight thank you Mr um so usually we get our requests for these programs from the building level of building principles as you know it's the will of the board so the will of the board could say the table they could say no they have that ability which is following what the you know I believe truly supporting the local administrator in every building if this is what they had chosen um if the board deems that this would be inappropriate then we can go back and ask that building level administrator to support some data as why that was chosen but as far as an agenda item it would be voted down or t thank you and thank you have a nice evening Michelle Perez 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 hello Michelle Perez 555 North Avenue I actually have uh two quick questions about stuff that's actually on the agenda I don't even know if you can answer it I'm just asking anyway um so for 3B about the uh $250,000 um where does that money come from in our budget and do we have it and uh just in case you don't want to answer that or just want to have everything up front um Margaret is been the uh secretary at school too and she's a lovely human being and I just wanted to say on record thank you for all of her service and the fights she's had with her health have been astounding so it's just been lovely to have known her for all these years I know I'm sure Julene could speak to that as well all of us at school to really really love her so uh those are my two questions well those are my two comments so the second one uh Margaret is a very special person work in the district I'm proud to say that with the same and anyone this board knows was she spect as far as your other question iose that to the board president unless you want to so so the 250,000 is not coming out of our operating budget the board had insurance for situations like this and the carrier participated in a mediation and it will be paid by Insurance okay uh Kang family 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 they don't say anything hi hi my name is Tanya Kang I live at 275 Tom Hunter Road you guys already saw that I look like I'm dying so I'm not going to go on there give you that um so I also would like to um just Echo what um Casey Knight and um Mr Lipoff said about uh the viola um yes they were the the water providers in Flint Michigan and yes they are the water providers that are now all over Hudson County and also um taking over Bergen County um so I appreciate them both speaking up on that uh I would like to say uh about Judy travado uh from school number one what a beautiful human being she is um what great knowledge she's brought to the students in the classroom and um what a was to be able to have her for all the years um I hate to see so many people leaving and um I hope that we are able to fill the spots with with with people who have the same heart spirit and uh values that the people that are leaving have thank you so much thank you okay seeing no uh more raised hands may have a motion to close the floor to the public motion motion Rino second statue all in favor any opposed any extensions um before we move on to the resolutions is there anyone who would uh want to make a motion to table 6c uh to obtain additional information on on that second okay um so we're voting on tabling 6C to get additional information from the uh building level I guess that would be um School four um table to get additional information on I understand your position will be the same but um I don't know whether there are alternatives or or actually just speaking on that it looks like M fa bucker they have some programs science as [Music] well so there might be an alternative right so if [Music] you ation to vote the motion the motion the motion before the board right now though which was made and seconded is a motion to table 6 C I'm going to take that back I'm sorry I didn't understand and I'm going to just leave it do my so you're withdrawing the motion I but but you're withdrawing your motion yes I am okay anyone else want to make a motion to Table 6 you okay um let's move on then and approve may I have a motion to approve items 1B through 5B motion motion Morel would someone second second Curry uh second by Curry roll call please M CH Yes except no on 4B Mrs Curry yes Mr KN yes M moral yes Mr R yes M pass um Yes except no un B yes back to Mr Rino yes on all of them four be no I have a motion to approve item one C through 6C motion motion Morel may I have a second second second Curry low call please show amended or just C 6C is language 2C has the following language at the beginning therefore be it resolved that the fortly Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent approves and the remainder is there yes except 6 no you said no right yes sixc no what's going on 6c this yes with the exception of I don't know Mr Knight yes with the exception of 6C which I V now M Morel Yes except I'm saying no to 6C Mr Rino no on 6C or yes on the rest no 16 yes and the same no to 6C are uh yes for the remainder may I have a motion to approve items 1 F through 15 F motion motion Curry second Morel roll call please M sh yes Mrs Curry yes M yes M Mor yes Mr yes yes this yes may I have a motion to approve items 1 p through 14 P motion accepted motion moral second Curry roll call please CH yes but I accept with regret on the retirements Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes M Mor yes Mr Rino St yes and again I accept regret Margaret's retirement and wish everybody good luck and this yes um moving on is there any old business can I just have two comments I'm sorry yes of course I'll give you the floor for the rest of the night it's it's it's old I guess but thank you for putting the agenda on the website so I see that um you can actually access the website or the agenda now from the notification for the meeting and then is there a way to get the date for the publishings with each announcement because I think I know we don't want to be flooding everyone's inbox with the emails and the announcements everything that's going on but things like the food bank and the drum circle and Girl Scouts were in there but I don't think I ever received emails on those correspondences and sometimes when you're back at the website you don't know if it's old news or current news so if there's a way to have like a time stamp on whatever is there I think it would be beneficial is there any new business yes I just want to say that I've been on the board now with the Lisa six years she's asked at least 50,000 questions in those six years that's an understatement okay that probably is I'm giving it to her but how I propos it that on your last meeting the question you asked I had the answer for with the Chromebooks love it so so I on new business it it it it the board is now aware that the district is looking into transitioning at some point to block scheduling um and so um and and I told that based on my conversation with you that there's a group I think your number was 25 that are visiting other schools um and so the board we could get some type of update where we are in the process is it possible to have a board member part of that what the inquiry or whatever is being done um is Renaissance a consultant that we hired involved in the block scheduling no so to my understanding the block schedule concept has been discussed prior to my arrival there was a conversation ancient history I I I guess I should say what schedule to us is something that fits into the art the district strategic planning and so and curricul Holly you know would would I would like to set up a a a meeting a there's a group of 25 teachers who are discussing what and started to see two two out of a possible four or five districts we're looking at just different kinds of schedules before we can say block is the right one before we know what times that would be what that would look like strategic planning okay you think that that would have been like the first the first nut to CRA before we started attending 25 I'm just making an assumption that's what you would have thought that that would have been a committee to say this is what we would like to move forward with I I'm just asking I mean we we you know we started a conversation with teachers we had two teers in two different buildings two different districts um you can you know strategic committee meeting yeah we have a committee meeting block scheding was actually you know mentioned in a convers in a update to the board well it didn't actually say block schedu December actually did December when I question I mean we talked about BL schedule the last one was was I I I ask you like what is this it's two I mean I was on a committee way back when way back when there was another superintendent and a supervisor curriculum that was here that for to in and it was a whole um you know open for with parents sure that every every program we did we are in the in school media we don't even know you know two tours of buildings does not represent something you know we discussing I think 25 people doing anything is a pretty significant amount of something so we we'll have to I we're getting we're getting subs for those people right so there's like a dollar amount attached to this and and Holly's recollection is that the last time that this was looked at in order to transition to it was a $2 million price t now I don't know just to begin it was back then that's that's what he had mentioned go everybody that we don't we don't have a lot that's why we're trying to GA our information because what happens when we have so many people I we have 25 teachers sitting in room saying what do you think what are you think what do you think what buildings do this what school districts are they have similar size to be on they no that we asked to building principles to start a group right an organic group from their own buildings to say who's interested we have a conversation um you know there's a lot that goes into even to do that would be a long time away if you it's usually a one to two year process so the first tour was about a month ago one tour uh we had our second tour last week um and we just getting information there were some questions I had today from a principal talking about how many minutes how does that work I so we're not even in that that realm of it yet to get before I would make a presentation and bring you know we recognize you have to bring all stakeholders into this clearly but we we don't even have so if everyone's first question is how many minutes we don't know you we don't even know what that would look like U you know there are multitude a multitude of variations of the drop block and alternating days and then 5 day schedules 4 day schedules I it's just so big I just think it would be really interesting like to have your thoughts of how many different variables they can be and what would fit us and and what you're you know hoping to come back to us with that you know I don't think we' had any I know I haven't had it onlye I'm thinking y okay okay any any other new business I'll take a motion to adjourn motion Rino second St all in favor any oppos any extensions