un states pursu to the open public meetings act adequate notice of meeting has been provided as follows by having time dat place of the meeting posted on the votes and Boards in the administration building January 12 2024 by sending a copy of the meeting notice to The Star Ledger newspaper and the local Source on January 12th 2024 and by filing cop Hillside and Public Library j24 Howard there are more announcements we're going to go straight to the superintendent report good evening blessings and peace to good evening good evening to our scholar students who are in the room always it's a pleasure to see our students come forth this evening waiting for a treat as we have been fortunate over the last few weeks to have many of our Scholars students and student athletes and academic All Stars put Hillside on the map in a variety of ways so in a few minutes we're going to get a chance to see but I always say treat from our students how many folks last night got a chance to visit Hillside High Schools National Honor Society night come on if you didn't get a chance to attend you missed a tree our students L under their advisor did an excellent job our students pretty much ran the show and they brought a little flavor which is always always a treat and so those who are Juniors who will more than likely stand on that stage again next year you have a lot to live up to but we continue to do great things how many folks were at the W black history black art show last night congratulations to the staff and students of w and representing and we continue continue to allow our students to Showcase their their talents I don't think it's hidden anymore I think folks are starting to recognize and know so congratulations to all of those Scholars those students staff members all the hard work and the leaders right because it's under those great leaders that this is happening I know we have a lot going on tonight and I I I said to my team I'm going shorten the superintendent report and then I was sitting there doing it and I'm like but how do you cheat highlighting and emphasizing some of the great things so I'm going try to be very respectful of the time and go as quickly as I possibly can so that our students can be the star of the show this evening our mission our vision is always same unchanging we are definitely going to continue to make sure that we are providing an atmosphere for our students to excel to thrive to become citizens of This Global Society become entrepreneurs inventors creators not just consumers but producers our vision statement and mission statement was reiterated most recently couple weeks ago about a week ago at our strategic planning session where just about every board member here on on the day was in attendance and many parents and staff members came out as we continue to look about look at the new possibilities and new Pathways for our students I won't go through this these are our priority goals I anticipate these priority goals will be updated at our upcoming I I think this is an announcement so I'm going to kind of infus it but March 11th if I'm not mistaken March 11th will be our board retreat and at our board retreat we will have additional conversation about our priority goals so I'm sure by our March meeting our new priority goals are revised I won't say new revised party goals will come for continue to always speak about the role our driven our Drive our why and our our continued aim to make sure our students are successful I share every day that I was talking to a colleague of mine who's in another part of the state of New Jersey and they asked me a question I said these students are some of the best students in my 30 years that I've had a chance to just engage with you just don't recognize until you get a chance to travel outside of your own Community just how powerful these young people are and keeping us grounded about why we do this work my why every day is the students every day that's not to diminish to the adults but I love the energy of Hillside Public School students as we enter into the month of March time is flying by we have about four and a half months left of school we hit 100 days of school on the 16th of February I don't know I that some of those folks are looking for those 180 days to fly by but I I'm I'm excited about where we're going but I also recognize that we don't have time to waste and there are some things that are happening to us that I'm not always smiling about and we're we're still striving and and and trying our best to make sure our students are prepared and there's some there's some spaces that are going to be some tough conversations over the coming weeks but as we enter into the month of March women history month and so Social Work month I don't know how many folks do that we have a social worker in the house that's right but March is also National reading month and how many folks knew that I didn't hear see no one threw their hands up that that one's important to me right National reading month because this goal that we've been talking about is a priority that all of our first grade students walk out prepared and I can say that we're we're making strides right principal Graham yes we are and we're making strides not just incrementally but steadily and quickly there are still some some spaces that we know we have to challenge ourselves a little deeper dig a little harder but definitely our aim is to make make sure that we use months like March and every day of school to emphasize reading so how do you emphasize it sometimes you got to put these little challenges out before folks so somebody might say this is too light some people might say oh my God that's too heavy I I have a a prize associated with the principals only know and I met with them today but on Monday if I'm not mistaken you will have the details to this but by March 31st 2024 all Hillside Public Schools students the collective not each person in total we are trying to read 15,000 books in the month of March so if you do the math right there's 3,000 students in our district 15 ided by 3,000 is five books a month that's like a book a week and some students are going to surpass that real easily so 15,000 books and for those who are on top I have something special for you now last month I tried this hopefully it works this time but I still want to celebrate our first graders so if you have not seen the video already that is on our website along with the hundreds of other social media posts and videos talking about our district and our grade students and staff I want to show you that this particular video did make national news national attention the Amazon and Buddha blog so hillsides on the map in more ways so let's give it a shot and I'm G let you press the magic button you [Music] sure hello my name is I am the science for Hillside schools Hillside Public Schools is the first district in the state to partner with Amazon and budup for computer science professional development Amazon bu up is coding with that there's coding vocabulary that the students use like the characters are going fight they build it with different blocks and different pieces to put it together you made Amazon future engineer and bu program provides three years of ongoing professional development to our teachers on the content and pedagogy of Computer Science Education the sponsorship provides everything the district needs to implement a a sustainable computer science initiative how can we use a trigger an algorithm what do we have to put in the beginning of our algorithm to get our Sprite to move we need that dream very good is basically like a game where you start of all very excited about Amazon programs that allow students to code uh to use their critical thinking skills problem solving skills much they create what they create they're actually teaching the teachers I introduced Amazon up to my Scholars soon after we had the training it has been an exciting Journey so far with them and just to see thec enjoy the coding with them makes me feel successful and joyful as well that was a fun anyone remember what that word meant and what do we do when we debug it we fix it right when we debug we fix so if there's a problem in our algorithm when we debug It We Fix the huh am I glitch that's that's right we've had a glitch before in my first grade classroom we've been using scat Jun we are now going into some more structured lessons so the students are using coding and scratch Jun to achieve a goaly continues to advance coding skills are becoming increasingly important introducing our students to scratch and scratch Junior helps prepare students for the digital future by giving them a taste of coding and computational thinking I really like scratch because I like to draw on Scratch and I created they love scratch Jun they love collaborating together with their classmates and showing each other how to do different things they're making their sprit moveth having their spr talk um say something specific putting music to their different uh scenarios we've done a dance party put three spres for the characters each has have a Cod sequence of movement movement forever the program teaches students algorithms reverse engineering design thinking it enhances students making mindset fuels creativity boost productive collaboration students learn perseverance as they problem solve and help their peers through Tas it teaches them not to give up to find another way there's always a different strategy the facilitator Becky that we had has been amazing she's really helped us see how we can integrate the computer science not just in a separate classroom but across all content areas and I think the teachers are really excited to get another um layer of support in bringing this new technology into their classroom and into their losses good job friends whatever their imagination go um that's what Amazon up [Music] [Applause] so first of all I want to say thank you to students staff and all those who help to make sure that our students are engaged I don't know if you heard the words that were being used back there but algorithm first graders reverse engineering first graders right I can go on you're talking about putting them in a space where they can be innovative so principal Graham is back there smiling right like a proud father so that's what it's about right as a leader I'm sure he felt good so thank you to the staff students the leaders AT AP moris and thank you to Ron Williamson who put this together and making sure [Applause] [Music] that I said if you have not seen please make sure you go increase the views and the likes I think the last time we checked we were well over 1,200 views and the blog that is sated nationally Kudos and congratulations now I want to bring forth a few spaces that are new not really new but refresh let's use the word refresh so at this time we have a small presentation that is going to take place by our new president and I'm sure a familiar face but she just shifted from president of one seat to president of another president of our Hillside Educational Foundation and her team please come forward with a special presentation [Applause] evening M president good evening Madam president best vice president Howard is board and good evening to everyone now my minutes so we have just started to revamp the hillside Educational Foundation and I'm going to let Miss laa read off the names of our committee so on our executive board we have our chair m Kimberly cook we have our vice chair Dr David Jefferson Jr we have our Treasurer Christine Sida we have our secretary Angel Waller we have member cherelle Smith member Joyce Stanley member Terrence Robinson executive director Dr David ien hols and side Public School liaison mrin thank you excuse me for turning my back to you so our mission is to support and enrich the educational experience of students within the hillside public school distry by raising funds to provide enhanced learning opportunities support beautification of facilities and assess and access to essential resources for our students through collaboration Partnerships Community engagement and transparent stewardship we aim to bridge funding gaps Foster of cult of philanthropy and ensure that every student has the opportunity to achieve academic excellence in support and inclusion and an inclusive environment our efforts are dedicated to empowering Educators inspiring Student Success and contributing to the long-term prosperity of our community Through the promotion of educational advancement so a few of the projects that we are aiming to do this year is we have too many grants it will be awarded to two teachers in each school and thank you for all those who have already started submitting their applications we also will be awarding two scholarships to two of our seniors Scholars please look for the application process as well as other opportunities that will enhance our St programs across the district that is not all we also have a few surprises that will start kicking off in the screen time but our first fundraiser we're calling all Hillside alumni teachers students residents business owners and all the kind part the hillside Education Foundation Foundation fundraiser is based on building a brighter future supporting education with every group leave your mark on History get your engrav brick to be displayed outside the Hillside High School for many years to come our deadline is April 4th and our bricks are going for $55 at this time the price does go up to 100 after April 4th but we do have a sample brick and this is just a sample you will get three lines on theck some of the best class of 1999 class president could be Board of Education member we also have for teachers where they can put their uh name the school that they represent and how many years they've been in the school district we've had quite a few wordss come people purchasing the bricks and you're going to be surprised as to where the money is going to go to fund our district so we ask that everybody come out and support thank you thank you very much to the foundation members chairperson president K cook and to all the folks who are here today want to make sure that we take one more second to Showcase I think it's a Walk of Fame that so many I've learned a lesson today in who has come through Hillside I never knew that Mike Tyson was a resident here at one point in time so you know you never know who name you may see on this I think I have before you go to go back okay so he academic highlights as I like to do every month in a few minutes you are going to be privileged to meet the medalists the the winners competitors our academic and cathon which has done such a great job over the last several years here in Hillside but they are the recipients and they will be recipients of fourth place at the most reg most recent Regional competition that's that a b [Applause] Applause and they will be competing on at on March second at the states where you go represent I have no doubt they're going to represent well we also want to again pay tribute to those students who were inducted last night in the National Honor Society I already mentioned one of day of school and that's a milestone and it's so important for our students but it's also indicated for us that we only have about 80 days left to get it right if we hav't so thus far um Kudos and shout out to our Jets our Junior Engineers they went to New York City and competed most recently and some of those students who competed in New York under the Jets also are sitting in the audience today as our cine student so they're they're kind of doing dual roles tonight but congratulations and cud to them and you know when I came in District folks talked about the academic the athletic that for a little small town we have so many students not even put up here yet the number of students that have already been have accepted Collegiate scholarship you've given out over we haven't but our universities have already given out over 1 million for scholarships to our student athletes but um I was on a call yesterday with my fellow superintendant and I was bragging about our track team one of my superintendent challeng well you know you guys must just not be winning because we've been waiting for decades so I had to you know it's good to have fun and competition amongst districts but I'm just going to salute our track stars because they represent it well I mean I'm not want to still all your shine principal Willard but your your your students your scholar athletes not just representing the classroom but also out there in the sports space so congratulations to them I only forget about my babies I just received a report yesterday that our students who are currently receiving Sunshine tutoring it's part of a grant that we received from the department evet and we also invested in our third and fourth grade students have in many cases surpassed expectations and language arts lit and math and are on track these are students who were one to two grade levels behind and most of them most of them have already caught up to their grade level respectively to third or fourth grade now that deserves [Applause] Applause with that being said Hillside High School comment stand [Applause] up [Music] all right so we would uh first of all um I am uh Terry Ward I am the new principal I guess I can't say new too much longer um at Hillside High School um began in July I'm excited uh because our students are incredible okay they are incredible night last night we had our National Honor Society induction several of them are here today with us uh and I was so proud but there was one thing that was said that hurt me to the core that I said this is not going to happen anymore and one of my babies got on the mic and said she's tired of people looking down on Hillside that's not going to happen anymore right we're going to move up and we're going to do this city proud so that that's right they don't know these babies they know some nonsense and they know some politics and things that go I don't care about that this is what's important that's right okay so I'm going to decrease now uh Mr Mandy has a presentation real quick because we have a play coming up Mr Man so um Michael Mandy I teach social stud High School Hillside High School lumni class 2001 um Miss prish and the hillside Theater Company um Miss prish is our on stage director I am the set director and Mr Richard cor the thir is our musical director in two weeks time we have our tring musical AA um and miss prish and the Cass they she texted me at 6:40 finally leaving because it shows in two weeks so she knew that I was coming tonight so she said can you me favor I want the kids come it's a long day because it was 3:2 they were on that station pretet and the practice for three and a half hours so I have a complimentary tickets of course for all the board members and we want to thank you for supporting the Arts in Hillside a couple years ago we rebranded at the hillside Theater Company because Hillside has had dramatic arts now for check watchat 97 years um and for it used to be where we had three plays and then they kind of dwindled down because of budget in the 80s and uh we it kept it going and back in the day when Miss best and I were in high school uh we had a Drama teacher by the name of Pete Henning and he was like oh no we're doing this back and then Joe trainer who is now currently a set designer on Broadway went SM heading and said we need to have musicals we need to bring musicals back so 25 years ago why is 25 years um this best myself and there were 11 of us who worked on that show we got the music back and um so I have tickets for everybody it's in two weeks and of course I invite everybody here as well and everybody watching in YouTube live so that's going to be um the uh the 7th 8th and 9th of March the doors are at shows at 6:30 um so we we thank you again for your support of yours thank you [Music] [Applause] much and now now we'll give it over to miss cor uh and our academic de cathon I'm going to say athletes [Music] Mr so my name is Jackie um I am a graduate probably there with Miss as well Mr um and so this is my first year as the academic to cathon coach um so it's definitely a learning experience but it was also a great team that I in inited from Mr Scott Nelson and if Jani could hold up our mascot of Scotty in memory that he was the coach for the past few years and they really made a great connection with him um okay and thank you for allowing us to sort of showcase about what we've done all right so the binders in my hand are I wanted to give you an idea of how much material these students are learning there are seven sub seven subject areas and there's about over what 150 pages of material that they have to learn on top of their classwork their extracurriculars and everything else so I have them here if anyone wants to flip through them because I am old school I like my paper um so I printed them I know Emily had wanted for paper too um so really just to see that they are the amount of work that they are doing because they're in AP classes they are Emily does the Christian Club she was National Honor Society she's number one in the class they are so many many different things to do this on top of that and make forth in this Regional is kind of amazing so I leave it to them so this year the theme for academic cathlon was technology and humanity and we're exploring the history of technology and the responses to uncertainty that the future will have due to technology that we're not aware of there are 10 categories in the competition seven SE areas an essay a speech and an interview all right each player must give a prepared three minute speeech on the topic of their choice and this must be recited by memory without any notes a special shout out to Emily who received silver this the total power SCH points is a th000 she got 990 [Applause] she actually had the second highest score in all three [Music] [Applause] regions black is not a color it is the absence of light so why is it that I am considered black this question has been the mid of countless arguments between my sibling and I as I've gone back and forth arguing the points that we are brown and not life but I never stopped to think about why this was such a problem for me maybe it's because this would be another excuse for me to be overlooked by Society if black is simply a shadow meant to represent something lost where would my bright quality shine through this is part of the reason why I had to develop tough skin growing up I remember being taunted for the Deep complexion of my skin as children mocked about not being able to see me when the lights turned off I also remember myself envisioning a day where these RAC rist remarks would end but the jokes became more brutal as my classmates referred to me as monkey in the nword which means worthless I am not a monkey and I am not the nword I wanted to scream but to no avail because Society had already made up its mind about who I am I am not black on a pallette to recreate my skin you would need a myriad of colors to replicate its delicacy but if you took black and mixed it with the color it would simply absolve it leaving gray remnants behind which do not showcase who I truly am I know it is easy to look at me and call me black due to the dark nature of my skin and it took me a long time to realize that being black is not what I had a problem with what truly bothered me was being the victim of colorism people are often confused about this topic which simply means Prejudice or discrimination against an individual darker skin typically amongst the same racial or ethnic group colorism is deep deeply rooted in slavery and downplayed by others the first time the colorism that I was exposed to all my life became extremely evident was when I was privy to a pair of mine saying I would never date anyone dark dark not understanding the underlying message their words held or maybe they did understand and didn't care it's so easy to not care when the group you are affecting is already deemed irrelevant by everyone else which is why this problem has persisted for so long this problem is the reason why artists such as ice spice are constantly praised for exhibiting lighter skin tone while darker artists such as Megan Le stallion are constantly ridiculed for pairing too masculine it's the reason why the original actress in The Fresh Prince of belir Aunt Viv was replaced with a much lighter one as if you would not notice colorism is the reason why I did not want to be black because then I would have have to acknowledge that as a dark skinned Nigerian my community would constantly see me as less than as they push whitening products and though narrative bright is right we have all set by for too long as this narrative was pushed through the media in fact we even feed into it even if we are not aware the only way to stop this is by acknowledging the truth which is black being Beauty pride and intelligence I am black and rather than push this away I will and shine a light on colorism why should I feel ashamed for my skin When I Was Born This Way the True Villain is colorism and the only way to take away the power it yields is by accepting that we are all beautiful just the way we are the light absorbed from my black skin has finally illuminated to reveal the fact that we can no longer let Society shame us and make us into care about things outside of our control h maybe my siblings were right I am black and I wouldn't change anything about it thank [Music] [Applause] you well I don't know how to call that but uh the competition begins with an essay uh players are given three written prompts to choose from and they have 1550 minutes to write an [Applause] essay each player must also conduct themselves a formal interview with three judges many students did really well in this category which is why no medals were awarded there were like 14 gold next up is Art where we explore art history we explore architecture from Greece paintings from Europe lost wax codings from Africa and photographs from the United States not only did we learn about each artwork but the techniques that they use and how technology played a role in this the music section focused on composition from science fiction soundtracks which includes Star Wars June and the 2001 A Space obviously we learned about the instruments used in these musical compositions as well the impacts of the pieces that they had on the movies mathematics the mathematics session uh honed in on interest rates probability geometry and differential calculus as you can see by the example question we needed to be able to apply multiple different concepts about triangles to answer the question we had to split that we had to split that uh Circle in half find three triangles find the center of that triangle and then find another triangle mat is s ma [Applause] sucks now be careful you got mathematicians I stand by what I said the economic section covered everything from basic economics um to more advanced concept concepts of the subject area for the literature section we read a novel The l Of Heaven by Ursula Len as well as 10 other short stories and poems each on Del into the topic of technology and how Humanity responds to having this type of power the science section taught me about my personal favorite neuroscience and we learned about how how the brain operates and the different elements that affect it and like how we are the way we are yeah Mr finally the social science section gave us a detailed chronological history of computers from the first machine in the ANC to the phones we all have access to in our pockets and it was responsible for who invented these computers and who was responsible for making it accessible to the [Applause] public after taking tests on all of the subjects uh the deaon ends with a super quiz all of the participant all of the participants Gather in a gymnasium and share their teammates on as they answer questions in person it it's kind of like being on Jeopardy live it gives the teams an idea of where they may stand amongst the other schs so like we actually came in for that the super quiz and hisy said oh that doesn't really mean anything but we came in for the way super work on the screen as you see in the photo they have the the teams all sitting they have the scorecards there's one judge per they have essentially no time they put the question up the Proctor's reading the question you kind of have to read quicker than the Proctor it'll be like answer a the first book of the Bible word for word answer B the entire complete works of Shakespeare they're these huge answers and then they're like or air go time and you kind of sit there and you go how are they supposed to know this that fast but when you get it right the tradition has it that we throw our mascot in the air and there are a ton of kids who are at our region who will remember PR for the rest of their lives so the regional competition took place on January 27 they start back fourth place on for our regions and 11th overall for the state this is the fourth year in a row that memic cathon is made it to States competition and we will take that on Saturday March 2nd at Westwood Regional High School so overall our team earned eight medals and four honorable Ms special shout out to our MVP pla [Applause] Garcia he was always here even when there was nobody at the meetings building a tunnel yeah do everything and I guarantee you're going to see them on that plaque next year for NHS and so just as a final thank you um to obviously the parents for letting us spend hours with your children every day um Mr amaka because he took his time out because he was a math teacher and um so he took his time out to tutor us in the differential calculus and the geometry that Mr Manny he's history teacher English a little bit um Mr Ward for allowing us to spend two days with the students right before the competition um we worked from 8 to three on a little bit of everything and they were able to bond and just really kind of focus um right before the competition and then the teachers who volunteer because we need volunteers so um they spend their Saturdays either reading essays which is what I used to do um or judging the interviews the speeches and it's a whole day event that they are spending their time and obviously the board of education for letting us participate in P but thank [Applause] you and obviously Mr Mandy and Miss ctor for all of that time that they spent with these young people uh and the young people obviously once again who did double duty for quite some time between this and the Jet program uh guys are incredible uh when I went I did a um I did a um observation and I'm in the class with pre and I'm watching these guys it it blew my mind the conversations they were having back and forth it was AP aush yeah okay a push so and I'm in the class with them and I'm just going how they know that and I'm looking stuff up you know so I'm I'm just like was really impressed it really does my heart good um and and this is what I'm talking about when I say they're not going to look down on us anymore all right they're not by the way notice the lovely jerseys that they all have right and once again thank you to miss cor and Mandy for these lovely jerseys and that's why I said these are our a I want to say one word wisdom and I know you are this is why I say all the time that this is the best place and if you don't understand what these students are doing you're cheating yourself out understanding what is happening at the high school all the naysayers and all those who have negative post you're disrespecting these Scholars these students these athletes right this is what it's about here in Hillside so and and it's funny because I've had a chance to see many of them now grow up over the last two and a half years they are on their way to Bright Futures and they're going to be the next folks we talk about so you might as well buy your brick now put your brick down now because you've already started laying the foundation for those behind you we salute you and we Applause so I'm just gonna do a quick really quick um uh presentation about the high school just to highlight a couple of other things okay so of course sside High School uh I happen to be a principal I'm very proud principal can I just do it like that okay all right this is our team administrative team myself uh Mr EMA Miss Bartholomew Miss uh Rogers and Mr McNeil okay so that's our team uh you know that we work with every okay um priority goals are the priority goals of the district Student Success student well-being engaged Workforce operational excellence Partnerships Student Success multiple Pathways uh you know we had votch we had traditional classes our military uh junior RC we build support systems we have senior seminars uh counseling services what you see there are different College uh fairs and or trips that the children went on uh we actually have one student who got accepted into West Point pre okay so West which means the following year he'd be in West Point all right um so these are some of our Partnerships and dealing with well-being uh I'm sure the board already knows but the community might not know that we have a partnership with ruers enhancing uh School Mental Health Services uh and they're providing monies for different assemblies one of which we have coming up uh next week um we have Support Services through hackin sack Meridian School of Medicine and of course we use move this world uh and several of our um home rooms faculty members use move this world with our students all right uh as far as Communications goes we have the Hiller which I believe Miss cor all right P runs the Hiller uh and of course our website and Ron in back there who helps us constantly with the website and making sure that everything looks correct all right and this is just some some highlights so this is uh you know from our athletes from uh football and you know of course this is eight years in a row Regional Champs eight years in a row that's just a couple of our students doing their sign offs for the money uh going to the different colleges uh that's Diego down in the corner there he's already gone he's at Yukon now all right so he's actually gone um oh wait wait let me just and up there is um Jason Davis excuse me Jason tayor sorry Jason Taylor Hall of Fame player Jason Taylor who came to Hillside to try to convince Darren to go to the Hurricanes so uh greo came we met him we like the guy from where though what was he from um was he from Pennsylvania yes he was P he was funny he was a nice guy Darren doesn't want P but you know but it was uh jrc uh always there always at every event you know to present the colors um excellent constantly so we uh salute Colonel and uh so Colonel drf and um Sergeant um D Diaz okay academics as you can see of course and that's Emily up in the corner that's our team over here that's one of our um honors you know when we give out the honor roll stuff uh that's the Jets over here in the corner my jet members can take a look at that and see what I did and probably go a and then um uh our students I see Brandon well yeah I think Brandon's right there right there is that you right there right okay that's Brandon right uh student government uh you know and uh some of the things that they've done and put on and uh that was pajama day uh I I do have one pajamas in the background there please I I would like to also note that that the superintendent gave me H for that cuz I was not in uniform that day all right all right um and this is just some of our other things uh ml students going to um Statue of Liberty all right to learn about Ellis Island uh family Success Center which is with us now uh handing out turkey dinners uh during Thanksgiving those are our girls from the basketball team and the cheerleaders going to Yale that was girls uh you know go to Y this empowerment day during the summer uh and our kids going to NJ it of which two received onsite scholarships and acceptances to [Music] [Applause] NJ all right and that is it so I just wanted to present that to um make sure that everybody knows we're doing things all right so stand proud when you think about Hillside because we are on the [Applause] move thank you principal Willard so you you started off by saying when can you stop saying you're new well I think you for the P being new I think everyone knows who you are if they don't know who you are definitely after tonight they do and it's really about your students I don't think your students call you new anymore no they just warn each other when they see me coming down the hole so they they know you now they're not a stranger folks again everything that you've heard tonight I go back to this real slide real quick board members I appreciate your patience this right here is the slide that if tonight didn't reemphasize what we're trying to accomplished if you're not sitting in the in any seat that you occupy as a leader in this community as a board member as an educator if you're not sitting in that seat understanding your why come back and replay some of these tapes I challenge you to have conversation with these students because there's so much that it's about them that about is that's about them as deep you need to understand that Hillside has produced so many great people but I'm about building even more and right now when I look in the fa of these students and we talk about budgets and Building Things it's because the Legacy that we want to leave for them so that they can come up here one day and say I sat in the chair here as a student and now I'm the board president followed by another board president young ladies women doing things in this community young men going to the University of Michigan right yeah Brandon I throw that in there we're doing things here it's not about urin Glover it's about the students part of two weeks ago a week ago I believe it was we had a great conversation with parents and folks in the community we have two more sessions coming up so put put your on put on your calendar Mark your calend that's on March 7th we will be at Hillside High School in the media center we will begin at 6:30 and try it in promply at 7:30 but if the conversation goes goes well we will continue to talk and then on March 20th we will be at her and looker doing the same thing new new Pathways new possibilities new renew Pride let's get it let's go love you much have a great day and continue to celebrate life and celebrate our babies before we move on um first I just again want to congratulate all the academic deine members as well as all of the new inde depes for the National Honor Society um I've attended that program since I've been on the board and I myself um I'm on that Hall in that Hall of Honor as well last in 99 so it really makes me proud to see to see this and what I do want to emphasize tonight as well um the president of the NHS Emily she um as well as everyone else the officers that gave wonderful speeches last night um but she did give a speech last night and on leadership I believe it was and it was a phenomenal speech and for her to come here today and give another outstanding speech by memorate it's it's just I'm in awe so keep on all of you keep on it's really it really fills my heart to see to see Hillside stand up and and do the things that you do so again just wanted to applaud everyone all of the students for your great [Applause] work residents are requested to State their [Music] names we're going to go into public comments now residents are requested to State their names addresses and subject matter in the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting May exceed 15 minutes the presiding officer limit each statement made by a participant to 3 minutes duration issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected or identify in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments might I have a motion to open public comments all in favor good evening Angela Lawler 54 herden Street um first I do have one question in regard to the signage for the family Success Center um what is the status on that if I may ask um and also um for the public um mainly not for the board the board is aware there was supposed to be decision made on the charter school on February 15th but it has since been postponed for a couple of weeks so we when I say we I mean Hillside Education Association are still moving forward we're pushing out the message that it is not the right fit for Hillside so I do appreciate the board passing the resolution at the last board meeting unanimously um but know that we are still pushing to not have the charter school open in Hillside and it is just not right it is not the right fit for us at this thank you good evening everyone rura 133 Silver Avenue also teacher at WK um first off I just want to say thank you to the superintendent um for the superint for the strategic planning that we had last week um I thought it was really great and I look forward to um attending more of those and those conversations were really great at our table at least um secondly as a graduate of Hillside Public Schools 20 years ago this year um I just want and a all of Honor person and the cathete as well I just want to say congratulations to our B athletes congratulations to Emily um this is what hillart is about this is why we do what we do um and the last thing I just want to say is thank you to everyone who came out um board members as well as public um to the blackest stre month event last night at WK it was a wonderful event um and I can't wait to start planning for next year I actually already have ideas regarding next year so yeah thank you so much for coming out motion to close president Howard would you like the committee reports [Music] Please Mr Shiro would you give report on the finance committee please the finance committee met on February tues thank you report on buildings and grounds please feary thank you g could you get the report on education good evening everyone education met on this past Tuesday and we review items 1 through 26 this you give could you also get a report on the policy committee yes policy met on last week Thursday last and we riew items one through two thank you and Parks could you give the report on the labor um the labor committee met um this past this past week to go over the items one through 1 through n 29 now we will move into the board member entes so if those candidates are here please come to the front and be so we are going to conduct the board member the vacancy um seat that's on the board presently with the four candidates that we have here um the board members are going to ask them um a few questions that they will each answer there are some questions in your um packet we don't have to go through all of them of course due to the time um but we're going to um ask those questions through the interviews and then we will go off into our executive session and we come back out that's when we will vote on the vacancy would anyone like to start with the vote first I would ask that we each um state your name and move B about your yourself you can start on this side please yes evening my name is Marie harra I am a hillside public schools graduate I am lifelong resident of Hillside um and I also have a child who is also H Public School [Music] gradu hello good evening hello everybody my name is Alissa Kimbro I am a lifelong Hillside resident as well um I started in Hillside public schools in this actual building so it feels surreal to be here um some of my teachers are in the audience I'm a Hillside High School graduate 2011 and I'm currently a social worker a licensed clinical social worker so I'm interested in lending my expertise to the board good evening everyone my name is Renee Dr Renee Howard um I am a veteran middle school math teacher I've been teaching in Jersey City for 20 years and I'm looking forward to this interview hello everyone I'm board and in the public my name is George cook I'm a long time Hillside resident graduated of Hilla High School 1986 former board member for 8 and a half years I'm hoping to come add some experience to the board and help out thank you thank you all um so what we're going to do Don would you mind um asking question two to each of the candidates good evening everyone even I'll ask the same question to each candidate the questions will be the same uh we ask you keep your com your your responses short and to the point the question is what relevant experience or skills do you bring to the position of board member what so I had a muled background I have a bachelor's degree accouny master's degree Banking and finance I have um almost a 20 years experience in that industry I changed careers about 17 years ago I'm now a an educator I am a bu educator I'm certified to teach accounting and um a general business and so I teach um I've taught everything um e-commerce Insurance accounting uh right now I'm teaching criminal justice it doesn't follow in the business field but that's one of the things that I teach I teach uh we design I've taught um financial literacy I've taught just everything under you know under the business Spectrum so that's what I have to offer Bo as far as my experience great thank you um I am a licensed clinical social worker so I have my bachelor's degree in social work my master's degree in social work and I worked in soci Social Services for over years specifically with nonprofits and in our school system so I've worked in school-based programming and I've also been School social worker before so I know in depth what our youth need and what they're going through again my name is Dr reene Howard um some of my educational background I have a ba in physics a master's degree in educational um leadership a Ed and um education and Technology I have been teaching in Jersey City Middle School or Jersey City public school for 20 plus years I bring that classroom experience as well as other experien as being a math coach so as far as education is concerned especially mathematics I have a um I have a VCH for that yes um a former military I've been in Federal Express 35 years in leadership positions and other than that I served on the board eight and a half years I held every position from president to four years set on every committee I served at the county level I served at state level as a board member legislative committee and the Board of Trustees I've done just about everything I can as a board member and I've of Hillside I County College Foundation college students and heing Hillside I still on the hillside Scholarship Foundation where we help Hillside graduates and she get their education by going to college thank you thank you um member courton given can you choose a question from the list that you will ask all of the candidates to answer thank you for president best so my question would be what do you see as the biggest challenges facing our school district and how do you propose propose addressing them if I before you answer if anyone needs the question repeated please by all means just ask right and what we'll do I'm sorry M what we're gonna do is start with with um Alissa go that way I'll repeat it again okay what do you see as the biggest challenge facing our school district and how do you propose addressing them I think the biggest challenges facing school districts are mental health um a lot of our kids so when I was a school social worker I was actually the hi officer and another problem we had was with technology um really affecting the mental health of our students we had a lot of bullying a lot of harassment and that really took a toll on a lot of our students so technology mental health um and I also also think that the students needs are not being met on a physiological level which is also affecting their mental health so if a student doesn't have food to eat at home or they don't have adequate shelter how can they focus in school okay that's just three of them but I'll add a last one is that we're still recovering from covid so we really need to have um more implementation of evidence-based strategies and really work with really work with our school social workers and our teachers to come up with better planning to help our kids get to the level that we need them to be at to be successful could you repeat the question certainly what do you see as the biggest challenges facing our school district and how do you propose addressing them some of our Chan um sorry um in today's fastpac world we need to use technology in order to fill in some of the gaps such as communication and data management I think if we harness that and use a reflective mindset we can become more proactive on some of the problems we may not be able to solve all of them but we can use it as a source for um answering or addressing some of these problems another thing um I think that we need is more transparency I know with side we started this strategic planning which I think is a good start but I also think that we also need to set forth the goals that hillsite has for 20 2024 so that we can have more participation from the community as well sorry for that one of the issues we have to address is a two-year Co Gap this is something that affects every District not just the hillside issue we to focus on this drilling down on certain subjects and finding out where our kids are deficient at is number one drilling down those subjects we also have proliferation of charter schools is affecting everyone in school we need to work to work on that work with state to get laws pass where they we're all on the same level we all working by the same rules we need that Drass school lunches people falling behind and again that's a national issue not just the hillside ISS so we need to work with our state better people to get more money into our district to help these children out sometimes it's just it was two two income household somebody left somebody passed away now they don't have we have to look at everything holisticly to help our children again use a problem that affect everyone not just um I agree with uh just about everything that everyone here said I'm not familiar with um a lot of the things that are hindering or or a problem here in Hillside but um as previously stated I know that the perception of Hillside the our school district um our students are looked down upon it and that was spoken about earlier and I know that that's something that you all are currently working on but I would um I would like to be a part of that that work um as far as an educator I know that there are uh in the in some districts uh that educators are not don't feel as supported as they would like to be and that also affects our children um and so I think that that's also something that needs to be [Music] addressed thank you member can you can you ask one of the questions to each of the candidates please we're going to and we're going to start with Dr Howard to be the first person to respond this time how do you plan to engage with parents teachers and all stud stakeholders to ensure their voices are heard you do me a favor and repeat that one more time how do you plan to engage with parents teachers and other stakeholders to ensure their voices are heard first of all I would like to be to everyone as far as being at events visiting schools talking to my colleagues doing things that I need to do to make sure that we are all on one page and working cly another thing I would like to do even though it's not pers with me I would like to have a student representative at the board so their needs and concerns can be heard as well so it's not just the adults in the building or in the community the students will have active say and what they need and their concerns monthly at board when it comes to communication and health it's the issue small town but it seems like you have trouble reaching everybody so we have to use every resource we have whether it be Twitter now X Instagram Snapchat website the TV channel work TV channel I know superintendent is also doing personal meeting we have to find some and some people still want to fashion letter it's still required know sit home with children so we use every method possible to reach our students and then if there is an issue reach out quickly immediately with the truth because things went crazy on social media if it lasts um okay so a plan to engage uh parents stakeholders to ensure their V voice their voices are heard we can form committees when there are major decisions or major um issues that we need to be addressed perform committees that involve the teachers involve the students involve the um parents so that their voices can be heard and they can be part of this the decision Mak process to engage more with stakeholders and parents and students I would love to form a community Advisory Board where we have a mixture of people on that board and they addess Liaisons to us into the community and they really will have their voices heard I also think it's a great thing working in school Based Services we used to have Community liaison board meetings where parents and stakeholders could come into schools and really see what's going on and learn about the programing so I think those are great ways to um engage with parents and stakeholders but also so being accessible and being transparent so not only um being seen at school board meetings but you need to come out to events you need to host events so that people know who you are and people know your name and how to reach out to you if there's an issue thank you and for the final question let's have member Shiro sure if the hillside charter school is approved by the state it'll create a multi-million dollar budget Gap in the hillside Board of education's budget if you were on the board how would you propose we balance the budget in that eventuality very very hard decision are going to be made I'm sure it'll be maybe a Million Dollar Plus Gap and that's not going to be easy to fill so everything has been table whether you want to discuss it or not could be Transportation could be something have to do with buildings stuff you really don't want to do you will have to touch I doubt you're going to get much money from the state even if it's on an emergency basis we're having everybody else is having have be to address the tough issues and maybe even make the tough Cuts if you don't have a choice than Miss I I agree um there there will be some decisions that have to be made um some tough decisions um unfortunately uh hopefully it won't affect the teachers the manow um the students but I'm sure that there is a way that the the budget can be balanced without having major Cuts within the the school district I think that if we are being honest and being realistic sometimes Cuts have to happen but I also think that we need to focus on maximizing the resources that we do have before we make any of those cuts and I also think the community needs to be involved and a lot of those uh budget meetings because fiscal responsibility is one of the things that is of utmost importance in the school district for something like that I think it takes a collaboration of all individuals to roll their sleeves up and look at what we have what we need to do and how we can move forward like my um colleagues have said it will not be an easy task but I think if we put our heads together look at the look at what we have as far as our budget is concerned make sure that our instructional um Integrity is in we can make those difficult decisions and it would be a difficult decision but it requires everyone to roll up their sleeves and think what would be the best for [Music] Hillside thank you all for all of your responses that would conclude the interview portion so now we will [Music] um would you like to ask a question I'm sorry if you want we weren't going to do all the questions but if you want to please yes okay why are you interested in serving on the school board so now we can start back with Miss Harvey so um anyone that that knows me uh knows that I'm always looking for a way to serve um especially in in Hillside like I said I am a lifelong resident graduated from at school here my son um is is here he graduated from the schools here I'm always looking for a way to serve within the community I've been on uh I've been on the board of the the Hillside Family Success Center I've been on the hillside Council of the Arts I have I've helped with the um house music festival that used to happen at h i um was on the PTA when my son was in school I used to attend a board meeting um and then I started attending the board and the council me and then I started attending Council meetings so I've always been involved and and so that's that's one of the reasons why I'm interested in being for because I'm used to community service and I'm looking for another way to serve so Dr Howard answer the reason why i'ms for the board I have a passion for Education that's that's who I am I am a math teacher with 20 years of experience and I believe with collaboration with the board and my experience and a dayto day working with children with special ed as well as regular children I can bring that unique perspective to the Board of Education as an educator that's the reason why I am passionate about jining the board thank you I'll have Miss I am passionate and I want to U be a member of this board because I'm a lifelong Hill C president number one and two I've been through Hillside schools and I know how it feels to need somebody or to need a service and not be able to have it and I Love Our Youth and I want to be that Advocate and that person for them and sitting on this board is another way to Advocate and another way to serve and I'm passionate about this community so I really want to lend my expertise to the board councel fun started voice a lot of things in Hillside and this is another way to get back and also another way to say thank you to the Hillside School District is because of this school district that my daughter will be graduating in March with our masters and nursing John H [Music] [Applause] University thank you so me parks would you like to ask one more okay okay um well all right so how do you plan to ensure transparency and accountability in your role as a school board member and I'm going to start with GNA mix it on up now I'm G start with M can you repeat that [Music] question it's not even on okay so how do you plan to ensure transparency and accountability in your role as a school board member make sure I do my job I want to let people know what meetings are when the agenda is posted question possible and also means getting information as quickly as possible from the superintend whoever I adver me not saying that this happens here sometimes people don't want something heard seen sneaking emergency meeting not well adverti again that's not something I seen happen here want to make sure correctly and all board members know not just one it's been one this one them that one they all have the same information and will to talk to see not just School whatever answer questions remember certain things you can't answer as a board member but this easy question to answer it don't don't can you repeat the question how do you plan to ensure um ensure transparency and accountability in your role as a school board member being honest being accessible to folks so like I said before you need to be seen they need to know your name they need to know your why right um I think those are all really important things um communication collaboration get outside let people know hey our board meeting is today having a community Advisory Board would help so that's how I plan on being transparent and accessible to miss Harvey I agree um I agree uh I I think that we need to get the word out we need to be accessible we need to be um visible in the community and we need to be open and honest when it comes to the decisions and the the um the things that we have request as board members um I have to concur with um the people that are interviewing with me yes we have to do all those things but not only that we got to make sure that we say or do what needs to be done to make sure that the people are aware there's a lot of people that do not know when the meetings are what it concerns what are the excellent programs or Partnerships that we have in Hillside Hillside have a lot of great Partnerships that I think our community is not aware of and I think as a board member we should be the poster child for those Partnerships and the good things that they do we should yes be open and honest but in order to them do that we have to be out in public not just like as my colleague said not just at meetings but at events that the town give and talk about the things that Hillside School System is doing and doing well thank you thank [Music] you may I have a motion to go into executive session be it resolved I be it resolved pursuant to the open public meetings act at the Board of Education meeting Clos executive session at this time to discuss matters relating to Personnel pending or anticipated litigation attorney client privileges the board will reconvene in public session at the conclusion of the closed session and matters discussed in Clos session will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exist and we are not going into to just liberate about the interviews we're going in for reasons that I just read thank you know