all right the time is now 7:35 and I'll call the meeting to order adequate notice of tonight's meeting has been provided in accordance with the open public meetings act by the following methods distribution of notice to the record posting of agenda on the school district website and through parent Square please rise for the pl M Troy here Dr Mista here miss Molina present Mr Park here Mr zepa Miss SEO Miss Thompson Miss Wilds vice president Melman and president Le here we have a quorum also in attendance is our do is our assistant superintendent of schools Dr caramanos as well as our um in filling in for our board attorney Mr laer we have Miss uh Cherry as well as our three student reps Hannah Choy Emily gilbard and Renee Kim and just to um put on record Dr the gadens is unable to attend he has a personal situation thank that brings us to actually just before I get into the public comments regarding agenda items I just want to notify the board and the public there was a last minute change to the agenda under education um but once we get to that portion I can get into some of the details so that brings us to item D public comments regarding agenda items anyone from the public wishing to speak uh please stand up provide your name and address have two minutes to speak anyone from the public right seeing none we'll move on to uh we have no public presentations tonight uh any comments from the Board of Education members for our student Representatives okay all right seeing none uh that brings us to approval of agenda items can I have a motion please motion M Melman in a second second um Mr Park um actually oh yes want to do the updates first okay okay we're actually going to take a little bit of a turn and we're going to go to administrative reports first we'll come back to the consent AG agenda items we'll follow that with committee reports and then do the consent agenda okay welcome um okay so um a few updates that we have uh the first as you know Dr gon is not here um as some of you may heard uh Dr beon had a heart attack this past Saturday uh fortunately there happened to be a doctor uh right nearby who started CPR immediately and following that he was transported to Valley hospital where he had a stent put in um he is now home and he is on his way to recovery and he is expected to make and he expected he will make a full recovery um however he much to his dismay he is out this week his favorite week of the year second favorite his first is September um directed by his doctors Because unless the doctors said he couldn't be here he was going to be here um but as directed by his doctors he is out until July 1st he will be returning to work on July first um he is absolutely devastated that he cannot be here for the last meeting of the year um and overall the last week he's absolutely he feels awful that he will not be at graduation um however he wishes everyone a very restful summer and he looks forward to welcoming you all back in September um so I'm here to give that update so I will be here if you need me for the rest of the week and until July 1st um so now after that update um I will share some other updates that uh Dr gon was going to share tonight but here I am to share for him uh first I want to congratulate all three of our school buildings uh we received uh gold status for our safe roots to school programs uh in both in all ACS LMS and LHS um special thank you to Emily lamb who's our mental health and wellness coordinator who's done a remarkable job and to Jamie scine who's been our community Public Health educator who's been really supporting a lot of the work that Emily's been doing um and a quick ath well not so quick athletic update uh we had the 2324 athletic uh Leonia High School athletics season is officially over uh we had the sports awards banquet on June 3rd at the fiesta in Wood rdge uh the banquet was a very special night for student athletes coaches we were all there you know some of our board members was there it was a great night um however since our Awards we had some students attend the state meet of Champions as well as the uh New Balance track and field Nationals championship uh so first we had for the state meet of Champions we had seniors jadden marshan who was crowned state champion in the 400 meter with a time of 4693 seconds um this makes Jaden the two-time state champion in the 400 once in the winter and once in the spring and the first time in school history that a student athlete has from Leonia has won a track and field State Championship uh senior Kendall Hall she ran the 100 meter 100 meter hurdles at the state meet of Champions and she finished in 20th with a time of 15.75 4 seconds and Senior Omar Brown ran the 100 meter and he finished 22nd with a time of 1127 seconds uh so very fast right faster than I could ever run in my in my life um so we congratulate all of them uh additionally three students went to the Nationals uh competition this past weekend uh Jaden gen finished uh second overall in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 5211 seconds and third overall in the 400 meter with a time of 46.58 seconds um this with this second and third place finish in both events Jaden was named All-American yeah yes he's absolutely amazing um and we also had two freshmen Dominique and Daniela Cameron uh Dominique Cameron finished 12th overall in the 2 Mile with a time of 11 minutes and 20.08 seconds and Daniela finished in 27th overall in the 800 meter with a time of 2 minutes and 20.39 seconds so we've got some very fast kids here is what I'm is what I've gathered um we also wanted to thank our board representatives for the the three of them for Hannah Emily and Renee for their hard work uh you will see on education there is a resolution for them uh for for all of them and I do have some uh printed resolutions for them uh Emily and Renee have the tonight is the senior Sunset so after my update Emily and Hannah I'm sorry sorry I just don't want Hannah to leave you know Emily and Hannah yes um Emily and Hannah will uh be excused after I'm done reading their resolution so they can make it to the senior sunset uh so on the agenda yeah um I just want to say that they started the year with a senior sunrise and Dr Gaines and I were not invited to the senior Sunrise thinking that we were going to be invited to the senior Sunset however we didn't get the invitation to that either so here we are um all right so the resolution um Hannah Emily and Renee have served with distinction on the Leonia Board of Education and and whereas through their leadership the Leonia board of education has gained fresh insights into student concerns student priorities and what is on the mind of young people in the community and whereas they have further contributed to the community by serving as a valuable spokesperson sharing the student perspective at board meetings and whereas they their exemplary commitment to fellow students and the school district has promoted clear communication between the Board District administration and the student body and whereas uh they have maintained a professional decorum at meet at board meetings shown respect to board members and strive to learn the proper etiquette of serving on a school board and whereas they have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the education of all students without neglecting their own responsibility to strive for success in the classroom now therefore it be resolved that the Leonia Board of Education recognizes Hannah Emily and Renee and their dedication and commitment to advancing educational opportunity and open communication between the Board District administrators and the student body and be it further resolved that the members of the Leonia Board of Education extend their sincere appreciation to Hannah Emily and Renee for their dedicated service on the Leonia Board of Education and be it further resolved that the members of the Leonia Board of Education extend their best wishes to all three of them in all of their future endeavors thank you and one only two more updates before I end my update and then you can go um first I one other item that you'll see on the agenda so under education uh we did move it's not on the printed copy but it is online we did move uh the so under Personnel um under Personnel item so under Personnel item uh W the appointment of magdalina naira as ACS principal we have moved that under education so that way we can congratulate her while she is here with her family and welcome her uh so um just to give a little background to the public uh as the district knows Dr Martinez has announced her retirement as ACS principal effective uh January 1st 2025 uh we are very grateful for her 16 years of service to the Leona's children and as part of her as as part of her career spending 38 years between New York and New Jersey um once weed notification of her retirement we started the process of hiring and find finding and hiring a new principal uh we had after posting the position we had about 70 resumés for the position uh the selection process consisted of multiple rounds of interviews with a combination of ACS teachers building administrators uh from LMS and LHS Department supervisors as well as District administration uh we had about 17 colleagues who gave up hours of their personal time including evenings to participate in the process uh as a result of all this time and effort we are very proud to uh recommend Maggie to the Board of Education as the next principal of anasty Scott Elementary School she's been an educator for the past 18 years uh she has led the north Bronx School of empowerment a diverse and student- centered Middle School since 2014 Maggie's focused on her students building based leadership family and community Outreach and staff development expertise have forged her into this into the skilled and dedicated leader that she is today prior to assuming her role as principal she also served as Ela math and a special education teacher and as part of the selection process the interview committee members were asked to rank each of the candidates and Maggie led the process from start to finish she was uh ranked at the top throughout the whole process um so we are very excited to uh welcome welcome her on board um and after tonight's approval Maggie will use will make good use of the six-month transition period similar to how Dr gon's um transitioned when he started he had that we had that six-month transition Maggie will also have that opportunity uh getting to know the school getting to know the district getting to know us and we getting to know her and getting to know her um so we welcome Maggie and we have our home in school here from ACS uh here to welcome her and uh present her with a little gift so welcome [Applause] Maggie I'm sorry could you just talk into the mic for the public because we we so you can't see it because now we have this high technology but we do live stream these so for the public sure thank you um so I just again just want to express my gratitude for the faculty of the staff that I had the opportunity to meet an interview with um for entrusting me with this honor to be named as an ex principal um I want to thank my family that is here with me tonight um my husband really pushed me to make this change and I'm grateful for it I'm very excited for it um I'm excited and eager for the next coming months um to have the time to meet the staff the families the students um to really get to know them um I want to learn from the community learn how I can be an asset um I really hope to just add to the great work that I already know is happening here um and I just want um everyone to know that um I really am committed to the success of children um to Leonia as a community um I am a Relentless advocate for children um I want the very best for every single child in this District District um N Scott um and I do this all in service of the students and the families um to help contribute to an amazing Community thank you Maggie um and then I have uh just one more put it anywhere anywhere um I have one more update and then we'll take a pause we'll take some pictures we'll do an introduction you know and then you guys can go okay I'm trying I'm trying really fast girls um and then the final thing I wanted to do is thank everyone for a remarkable 23 24 school year it has been a fantastic year uh we just I just um miss m and I just came from evg graduation where we graduated our sixth graders from evg but then also welcomed them to Leonia uh we gave them some nice Leonia public school shirts so that way they are part of they get roped into our school spirit too um we it's been a great year um we wish everyone a very relaxing and wonderful summer uh we want to welcome our Rising LHS 9th graders our Rising LMS 7th graders our Rising LMS fifth graders our incoming kindergarteners and all of the students that are coming to us in between um we do have some summer programs going on uh our smile extended school year our enrichment programs our LMS herec come um um because the work never stops here in Leonia we constantly are going uh we also have a variety of Summer construction going on so some of our buildings might be um our building schedules will be adjusted as as the summer construction goes on um please keep an eye out for upcoming notifications through parents Square uh we will still be notifying parents through parents Square throughout the summer um keep an eye out for free and reduced lunch forms if you qualify for free and reduced lunch that will come out uh through Genesis right sometime in August um and keep an eye for on Instagram I have some fun ideas we have some fun ideas for Instagram over the summer some tbts throughout the throughout the summer so that's all for me thank you very much so we'll take a break right now yeah take a break okay okay [Music] you for e for EXC [Music] [Music] yeah exced regulated yeah it's regulated it's for the kids so but the thing is you need a bottle to fill in well the power was yeah I I walked in and I was like it's actually cool in here cuz Z and I would just outside of graduation it's really hot and we were in like a Bandshell with no Breeze how long was it it only an hour it was actually wasn't even an hour it was like 50 minutes now and I were like we have time we don't have to like run to the for that was really cute that was really cute thank you okay so that thank you for the flexibility there was a lot happening so I appreciate the flexibility about meeting yeah no absolutely um okay so we're going to go back to the approval of consent agenda items we did have a motion by Miss Melman and a second by Mr Park um I was going to ask um if there's any items for discussion on the consent agenda items any board members okay seeing none can I have roll call please miss Choy yes Dr M yes Miss Molina yes but I'm abstaining from anything that's ACS related Mr Park yes Mr zepa yes Mr seel Miss Thompson vice president Melman yes and president Lake yes motion carries on consent and genda items okay thank you um we're very out of words today uh that brings us to committee reports just um president Le yes I just have four items my oh I apologize I know you kind of skip yes uh we are at the school business administrator administrative report thank you that wasn't on purpose thank you um so this some good news you know some updates so one of the items relates to the projects uh for our capital capital items so our projects are moving along as plan um however there is a little hiccup relating to the LMS LHS mitigation projects uh the LMS mitigation needs uh mitigation Pro project uh project needs to go out to bid for the second time so tonight you'll see a resolution rejecting both bids during the first bid opening outlining the reason for the rejection and the need to go out to a second bid opening uh the the second bit opening is scheduled for the 26th for next week the second the second item is the LHS uh mitigation project that also went out to bid twice so now we're at a point where um we you know there's a resolution on to for a reason for going out to negotiate with vendors and reducing the scope so there's also that resolution on tonight as a result there will be an additional board meeting that will be needed uh as of right now it's looking to be held on Friday June 28th at 9:00 a.m. the venue has not been confirmed yet but is anticipated to be held at the Boe uh building conference room and we'll obviously have an advertisement to confirm that that so that will that will follow and there'll be information on our website the second item related to the EBT benefit the summer EBT benefit so the data so just to give the public uh and the board an update the data for the summer EBT benefit has been submitted to the state by the required deadline the district will be submitting updates as needed for their uh requirements uh and what that is is basically all eligible families should be receiving a benefit of $120 per child who are currently enrolled in Leonia for the 2324 school year and who are eligible for free meals you know free or reduced meals uh the EBT card should have came already in the mail and the cards were issued by the state and not the district so if there's an issue with a family qualifying that didn't receive the cards feel free to contact myself or my assistant in the business office and we'll try to connect you to the to the proper uh state agency the third item relates to the budget so the district has revised their 24 2425 budget based on additional grant funding that was approved by the governor uh the grant funding basically allowed districts that lost state aid to recoup 45% through this additional additional Grant however there is no further guidance if this additional funding will be available for future budgets so part of uh myself with the finance committee we're obviously doing due diligence as far as budgeting for future budgets and not anticipating this uh Revenue to continue and we'll we'll provide further updates if it if it will continue uh there is a resolution tonight recommending the approval of the utilization of this additional funding a majority of the funding was to offset loss in tuition Revenue based on updated data as well as to F uh filling a current vacancy and um and supporting teachers instructional needs relating to equipment purchases um identified in certain classrooms that currently do not have a Smartboard so the district is is trying to close the gap and and get smartboards in every classroom not just in uh uh strictly you know instructional uh spaces and and Dr caramanos could elaborate on that um as well as replacing outdated art room furniture at ACS and LMS the budget revision has been reviewed by the county office and has been approved by them to move forward with this revision and to present it to the full board for approval tonight and the last item has to do with uh the lasts the new laughs agreement the this is great news so the negotiation committee as well as the last last negotiation committee um as well as the district negotiation committee has agreed to a new last agreement uh it's on for tonight for Board of approval and I just wanted to thank that you know everyone involved from The District's uh negotiation committee to the last negotiation committee for their you know hard work and late meetings late nights getting this done so thank you and that is it thank you uh Mr Thomas I was just to clarify for the extra board meeting that has to happen the significance of that is because we really need to have those projects be constructed over the summer correct correct so it's it's really the awarding of contracts over the bits thres requiring the board to approve it um before we could even start and and sign agreements with these contractors that we identified as being the lowest bid um and like you said it it'll it'll move the projects along and the time frame is to complete it before the start of school thank you okay so that brings us to committee reports and our student representative so we don't have much to report other than the fact that we had a really good year this year we found so much improvement and just overall Joy with the pep rallies in Leonia day and Emily Hannah and I wanted to personally thank Dr Gaines and Dr caramanos for always being outside in the morning because personally I found a great difference walking into school with a smile um so yeah and we want to say thank you for an amazing year having us being student representatives and also giving us an amazing experience just to sit in and listen and yeah that's it thank you thank you so next is the board of bed practices and principle uh yeah we met in uh may we didn't have a June meeting um we have finished the CSA evaluation um and now we're all working on our board self evaluation which is um something we have not always done in the past so we're excited that we're starting that process and then next up for um kind of the whole board and our committee is um working on our board goals over the summer so that they're ready in September okay thank you um buildings and grounds so we met last Monday um like always Eric sold the Thunder talked about all the projects um but LMS mitigation and LHS mitigation hopefully we get um new bids and they come in and budget so we can approve it on the meeting we'll have later this month um I think you didn't mention about the doors right the the doors are ordered for AC ACA ACS and LMS right LHS um but they're about 12 weeks out so they're probably going to be installed in September um but they'll do it like at nights and so it's not a distraction to the kids and also over this summer there might be some um downtime at LHS um depending on PSC and G Electric stuff thank you that brings us to education Miss Thompson we met earlier this month and had a fantastic presentation from Miss Russo about uh the special education program in Leonia in particular focused on uh the students that uh we send out of district for their education and and sort of how those decisions are made um how um you know the the various considerations uh including um how that impacts our budget that was really informative that took up most of our meeting and uh we really appreciated Miss Russ's time and uh explaining all of that to us thank you and then that brings us to finance and planning which is myself um we likewise also had an excellent presentation from Miss Jen Russo on the out of District placements and the the process and thought that goes behind that um so it was very enlightening and um helpful to the board to understand that process and we also likewise with with buildings and grounds Mr Thomas evage has covered most of the topics that were discussed tonight um we spent some time discussing the mitigation bids um as well as some of our insurance rfps um for the year um which are now finalized and that was it and that BR us to policy which we hav't met right so we had our last policy meeting with right before the last Boe meeting um so we haven't met since then however some of the outcome of of the committee is reflected in section M on some of the policies that have been updated for the district in the second reading that's taking place okay I believe that brings us to policy I just want to make sure the right version okay yes so that brings us to letter M policy um which are policies uh which are being moved to approve the second reading um can I have a motion please Mr sigal and a second Mr Dr Meer and that's roll call the motion was by Mr C Miss Choy yes Dr Mis yes Miss Molina yes Mr Park yes Mr zepa miss the SEO Miss Thompson by president Melman and president Le yes motion carries on reading of policy second reading of policy thank you a few new business items are these old okay right can I have a motion for the new business items item N Miss Melman in a second Dr Meer and these are related to staff so there's no discussion um can we have Ro please Miss Troy yes Dr Meer Miss Molina yes Mr par yes Mr Zea Miss SEO Miss Thompson vice president Melman and president Lee Yes motion carries on new business okay thank you uh that brings us to item o public comment uh the second public comment section uh pertaining to any school uh related matters if anyone would like to speak from the public please step up to the podium provide your name and address you'll have two minutes to speak once twice okay oh that's um okay seeing none uh we will move on to the board comment section on any school related matters any comments from the board members yes m m i want to thank Z really nice to have you at Ed tonight and it was really really nice to hear welcome fonia with all the kids like that really it got me like I know that you guys always participate in graduation but this totally brought it to another level and walking up on the stage and seeing those t-shirts was just it was really sweet so thank you um any other board members any comments I do want to thank zany and I know do Dr Gaines not here um in the full committees um and I wanted to wait for after we appointed um Miss Nara as as the new principal um for all the hard work that went into the process I really appreciate it um from the board's perspective I know most of the board members here live through an extremely similar process when we're looking to fill the CSA position and it's not an easy task at all and we had half the number of candidates that were received for for this position and and I mean ACS we have a lot of parents that are you know super involved very aware um and tough to find someone that will keep them happy but after going through through the credentials um I think we you guys you know found a really great candidate and the process was very well thought out so I really appreciate that hard work um and we do thank Dr Martinez for her many years of service as well um and you know we appreciate all that she's done for the district and we'll enjoy the last few months that we have with her and wish her the best as she prepares to move on um okay and all right any other board members board comments that brings us to close session does anyone have any matters in item R requiring Clos session discussion so anyone have any items that they'd like to discuss under um Personnel or any other close session related matters okay so seeing n I looked at everyone um okay seeing none we will not have a closed session um that brings us to open session approval of personnel items item R uh can I have a motion Please Mr Park and a second Mr ZKA okay and roll call please miss Choy yes Dr Mista yes Miss Molina yes but abstaining from anything e yes Miss uh Mr Park Mr zepa Mr SEO Miss Thompson vice president Melman and president Lee Yes motion carries on person Personnel items okay can I have a motion for adjournment Mr Park and a in a second Mr seel all in favor any opposed or extensions okay motion carries 8:15 amazing yes 55 right