[Music] [Music] 29th and I call the Lyndon Board of Education meeting call it open let's stand and salute the CL to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible I want to apologize for some of my board members not being here tonight we have couple of them came down with the flu but I'm here all alone up here and as an educator myself I'm always trying to train develop encourage and motivate my board members so today I want to invite a board member to invite to come join me here and be acting vice president of the board tonight if she would be more than kind to join me lamari Centron yes thank [Applause] you I tell you thank you you know there is a say aged should bring wisdom I once ask someone you know we always hear to is saying that age bring wisdom but I never understood that term I just think when age just make you old right so but one day I I spoke to a gentleman who graduated from West Point and I was speaking to him about age and wisdom and I said what do you think brings wisdom does age bring wisdom he said to me and I I never forgot it he said one could get wisdom acquire wisdom at any age there's two ways to acquire wisdom and you know some of us may not be Christians but he said Jesus taught taught us what what gives us wisdom he said in order to get wisdom two things must occur in your life you got to love a lot and you got to suffer a lot and for me I spent most of my life life loving hurting suffering but I always became a better person when I came out through the darkness because one of the things I understood while I was walking through the darkness I was never alone so I always came out stronger and better for it this is why I'm as an educator all I try to do is teach and for all you older people in the audience sitting here today we have to become role models for the younger generation we have to continue to teach them we have to continue to develop them we have to let them know that the world could be a beautiful place but only if you give your best to each other thank [Applause] you in accordance with the open public meeting act chapter 231 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as follows on January 10th 2024 notice was sent to the home news Tribune the tapa Pinto Linda sta Ledger Union County local source and the clerk of the municipality by state law there is no smoking permitted in this building at any time in accordance with the listed items in this agenda this board of education may discuss an act upon other items not specifically referred to hearing as is allowed at the regular scheduled monthly board meeting under the Sunshine Law roll call misson president Mr Dela Cruz pres Miss Pino pres Miss rosada kada Miss Thomas M youi present Miss Armstead present Miss cillo and Dr berghammer present our next agenda item is approval of minutes motion to approve the minutes Motion in a second second roll call Miss Inon yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Miss ulissi present yes Miss Armstead yes and Dr bammer yes now this is the part of the meeting I really enjoy the voice of the students the parents and the general public um comments from the public members of the public Desiring to make a public comment may come forward at this time for those watching online if you wish to make a comment or ask a question question please utilize the raise your hand feia on the online meeting platform please begin your comments by stating your name and address individuals are inspired to speak on one Topic at a time and no individual will speak more than once until all individuals so Desiring have spoken once the public is reminded that to ensure the efficient and orderly operation of the meeting members of the public will be limited to speaking on agenda items for 3 minutes once again I want to remind the public that we have a a a clock there and the clock will start at 3 minutes when you begin to speak and when the 3 minutes is up the clock will go to zero we are asking you to respect the time because we have members of the public who is watching online they complain that we are keeping the meetings too long because the comment section goes too long so please I welcome you up to the podium to speak at this moment sound better mhm all right testing two three my name is faton suin I reside at 101 West Curtis Street in Lyon New Jersey and um I am here to speak I haven't got a chance to look at the agenda just yet I just walked in but if you'd allow me to speak um I would appreciate that so I was a former stud L as well as an educator in Lon public schools and for about eight years my duties as the ESL teacher at mcmanis Middle School included testing students who are new to the country as well as teaching them English but most importantly providing them with a safe and comfortable environment although I no longer work in the district I care deeply about my city and I have numerous family members who still teach at or attend school in lynon with that being said I'm all I'm sure you're all aware of the atrocities happening in palis as and I can stand up here today and give you a list of crushing statistics such as one in every 25 Gins are now dead or injured at least 30,000 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza 8,500 women and over 13,000 innocent children these figures may be higher as the are so many unaccounted bodies under the rubble more than 65,000 people have been injured and 1.7 million people have been displaced from their homes which is a total of 75 % of the total population and over 500 trucks used to enter Gaza daily and now only 100 or 66 enter to feed the 2.5 million GES and yet the genocide continues in Palestine today my parents and grandparents have endured the same oppression and displacement since 1948 please forgive my brief history lesson but the reason why I mentioned this is because the 75y year brutal occupation has only been glossed over as a current event or taught as a supplementary Lon in history classrooms instead of hearing about the plight of the Palestinian people we hear terms such as terrorists suicide bombers and aggressors both in written and video assignments given by teachers in lynon before October 7th when brought to the attention of the supervisor it was glossed over and minimized bringing up the teachers good character as if that could explain their not so implicit racism and anti- Palestinian sentiments this Force silenced through repression of desent is being perpetrated in our district and I'm afraid just like you have apathy for those atrocities the refugees coming from Gaza today are met with similar disregard while we celebrate some refugees in our curriculum in our city we turn a blonde eye to the suffering and traumas of others and I ask you why is that ask yourself why is it so easy for us to say I can't get involved in this conflict why is it so easy for us to gloss over things that are affecting your citizens the many Palestinian citizens of res residents of Lyon deser Fair representation it should be in the curriculum as a mandatory part of learning and history classes thank you for your time this Bo thank you for your [Music] comment hi Donna Hernandez 133 Princeton um on the education report uh number 17 I have a question um regarding the dates for May 23rd and 24th um is that going to be a full day because that's the day of prom and that the kids usually get a half a day so they can go home and get ready but if that's a testing day um and then if it is a full day and I know like my daughter has appointments already scheduled hair and makeup starting at like 1:30 if she goes in because I don't think she needs to take you know do the testing I think she did all you know both sections or whatever section she's good with if she goes in at 105 and leaves say 1:00 is that going to consider a full day for her if kids go in late and then leave early to go for their appointments that was my concern and then I see usually they're off May 24th um but I see because that's testing we're not going to get that as a snow day so I don't know can the testing I'm assuming it's a state testing it can't be rescheduled to other dates I don't know that I just didn't know if anybody realized that so I just wanted to point that out that you know that day is prom so there's not just seniors but all grades that you know are asked to go to prom will be looking to you know leave and get ready that's all thank you that's a good point would you um take it yes yes please just thank you m Fernandez that's a very good um you um observation we would take it advisement and make the necessary changes because I know if they are prom these girls are going to get their hair and nails done any more comments from the public is anyone online okay hi good evening can you hear me okay yes okay good evening um I just had a quick question um this is Christine or um um reside in Midville place um my question is regarding the substitute teachers um I have a daughter I have um two middle schoolers one in sixth grade one in seventh grade and recently she told me of um a substitute teacher that was in the class and pretty much didn't do anything so I'm just wondering about some of the quality of this substitute teachers in our classes in our students classes it was really concerning I think this was not just one time but it was another time um as well so you know you know we we're trusting that our um School our our students excuse me we're trusting that our students are you know in best hands especially if the the the main teacher is not present but we we really need to I don't know if there's a vetting process um any type of um uh testing or something that we can just ensure that as these substitute teachers are coming in to take the place of the main teacher that they're qualified and you know ready to do the work that was you know um left for them to do so really it really um concerned me a bit um that this this took place and wanted to know you know um you know what can be done about it and if there's a process that maybe I'm not aware of of vetting some of these substitute teachers thank you yes thank you for your comment we will look into it um with the school and the location substitutes um are required to be certified in order to get into the classroom teachers lesson plans are to be left for the substitute to um Carry Out the lesson and we also have um additional teachers who write lesson plans if the original teacher was not there so we will definitely look into this concern anyone add on line okay okay so we are going to move to our next agenda item which was our superintendent report good evening everyone I will start my report by acknowledging that past employees are no longer with with us Shirley kaplowitz was hired by the lyen Board of Education in 1985 as an art teacher during her 12 years as an art teacher at Lyon High School she worked there until her retirement in 1997 Miss ktz passed away on January 27th Maria pelli was hired by the lynen Board of Education in 1988 as an elementary teacher she spent 30 years in our district teaching fifth grade at multiple schools schools one two and six she retired in 2018 and she passed on February 19th may peace and love and memories Comfort their families uh for both Shirley and Maria during this difficult time on behalf of the Lyon Public Schools we continue to keep their families in our thoughts and prayers we have one retirement upcoming for Jan for June at the end of the school year Mr Harry Birch Mr Harry Birch is a biology teacher at Lyon High School he was hired in 2003 he's been teaching biology in our district for over 20 years and he informed me that he has been an educator prior to to [Music] 1970 I pause with that because so thank you Mr Burch for your dedication and passion to education to our Lyon Public School families and we wish you the best for your upcoming retirment with good health peace joy and lots of um life experience expences outside of the classroom our staff attendance patterns for the month of February compared from this time last year it is very close 40% of our staff were absent and 62% of Staff needed a substitute now I'd like to uh draw everyone's attention to one of our new measures for Safety and Security and that is our open gate weapons detection system here to my left the weapons detection system has been implemented at lyen high school and this is one of our security measures to ensure that our students are safe um the students cannot have their laptops go through the system but outside of that everything on their person can remain on them and we are pleased to announce that through the implementation well at the the start of the implementation of the weapons detection systems as well as the random weapons search that we've been doing at both middle schools and the high school has deemed that there were no weapons found in the last 30 days so we have good kids we have amazing students yeah we have good kids that attend our school district I'm happy to say so the weapon detection system um will remain at the high school and as you can see they are portable so it will also allow us to take them to um evening events and anywhere else that we deem necessary to ensure the safety and security of all occupants that will be in our our space um we have additional security measures that's taken place and I'm pleased to announce our director of security Mr Asen had presented to the board on Tuesday evening and shared out some safety measures and I'd like to inform the public about that just so that you um have a greater awareness one thing that we've implemented is our lockdown emergency notification system and that will um allow our schools to have um paging and intercom rapid response immediately um there will be Bells sounds whistles that will go off to if there's ever a crisis event that takes place we also implemented our Yonder pouches and I'd like to thank Mr Walters Middle School principal um for being the first principal to implement the Yonder pouches and to create um a blueprint that allowed um both uh soul and our high school to to follow and um as it was reported previously from one of our high school student Representatives Mrs zor Rainey who couldn't be here this evening she did state that um the students at the high school have been acclimated with the Yonder pouches they were the last group to have them and more importantly student engagement is up discussions are taking place we also have in um for our safety and security measures um is our visitor pass system now visitors when in order to come into our building you will have to show your ID and we will put it in a system and the system will print out a digital photo with your information and that's being implemented in all of our [Music] schools I'm now going to shift um the board um spoke to us um about implementing and preparing our students and exposing them to scholarships I'm pleased um excited to announce that there are scholarships available to our multil language multilingual language Learners fourth grade 8ighth grade uh 12th grade parents of ESL students Educators who are teaching um now have opportunities to apply for scholarships this information has been shared out with um the student body as well as our Educators so we are excited to get that going Mrs Perkins can I say something sure just walk just just just um you know one of the things I like to do is that I like to meet with all the people in the audience and even some of my hardworking basketball players and certain seniors sitting in the audience here right now it concerns me that they haven't applied for scholarships yet we really need to sit with these students and their parents and see if we could still do something for them they are lynon students and it is my goal it is this forgive me guys forgive me it is this board's goal that no student leave graduate from our school system without getting some scholarships is there any way meet we would like to know all the students who have not applied for scholarships meet with the guidance counselors let see what we can do to help you in in a lot of cases it may be too late but it's still worth trying all the time right do you guys agree with me okay [Applause] good I'd like to acknowledge a few of our students um start from kindergarten in first grade each year the art educators of New Jersey association collaborates with the art Educators throughout New Jersey to present an exposition of student artwork for the Youth art month we are pleased to announce that two of our students kindergartner Juliet Doran at school 4 and first grader Chelsea tenja at school number 10 their artwork was acknowledged and they are representing Union County their work will be displayed at the um ground for sculptures in Hamilton New Jersey from now until March 23rd there will be a closing ceremony that will take place and I'd like to acknowledge their teacher Miss Kathy Vincent uh when I saw Miss Vincent at uh School Number Four a couple of weeks ago I was there for an event with the mayor and she beamed with excitement she inter interupted our conversation on purpose because she said I just want to let you know the great things going on with our students in that moment it was clear of her dedication her passion and her commitment to our students Miss Vincent is also the one who does all of the backdrops for our musicals that take place in our our district so congratulations to those students and also to the fabulous teacher Miss Vincent woo congratulations to Abigail Armstead for winning the talent hunt singing competition she now qualifies for the next competition that will be held in Pennsylvania congratulations to staff member Miss linlin who for being one one of the 10 finalists for the 2024 Princeton prize for distinguished secondary teaching it's an on next phase for Miss linlin who is that the committee will come out and conduct an on-site evaluation of her teaching practices where she will be interview colleagues her supervisor and students to see if she will be the winner of this prestigious award we we wish Miss linlin who the best congratulations to Mr Angelo Monaco superviser of the before and after care programs he has been selected as the national After School Association 2024 Next Generation leaders his influence being a change agent and commitment to education has been recognized he's profiled in their upcoming spring 20 24 um Naas after school today's magazine and he'll also be going to one of their conferences congratulations Mr Monaco I'm going to shift over to our assistant superintendent who's going to share information about our local Partnerships thank you Mrs Perkins uh this past Saturday um I am pleased to share two events that some of our Lyon public school students were involved in which were very very exciting we have a group of 19 young men from both of our middle schools and high school who participated in the young men of Distinction conference at Union College on the Scotch Plains campus this conference is hosted by the fraternity Alpha F Alpha and they participated in a full day of events from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. along with over a hundred other students from Union camp County um throughout the day they had an opportunity to learn about life skills resilience communication and some of our young men learned how to tie ties I had an opportunity to actually stop by and see our students and support them and it was truly amazing to see them dressed up in suits and ties and they truly made lynon proud I'd also like to thank the two chaperon who spent their entire Saturday with our students Mr Kevin Finlay and Mr Jude petite fr in addition we also had 16 students from mcmanis middle school who participated in the UB the chemist Challenge on Saturday and the challenge was hosted by CF a stem-based company that inspires students and strengthens communities to build the future stem Workforce the students formed teams and they collaborated with their groups to answer answer a variety of chemistry based questions throughout the day so I want to acknowledge that that was chemistry that they were working on while in Middle School the students uh are now creating a video response to this year's theme where they will form a company that has to come up with an Innovative solution to a problem their team scores will be awaited competition of their video score and their performance this past Saturday we placed fourth and fifth out of 14 teams and this was our students first time and participating so that does deserve a recognition I'd also like I'd also like to TK thank the two teachers who participated and supported them along this journey Miss Dana macarelli and Miss Nicole Mar Marsh and the top five teams throughout the state of New Jersey will have an opportunity to uh further compete and TCH so let's wish our students good luck our student to the board aari Rainey could not be here this evening because she wasn't feeling well but she had asked me to read the following good evening everyone I hope you're doing well I want to provide updates on recent Innovations at Lynden High School many students Express concerns about the transition time with the newly installed weapons detection system but the process is now running smoothly students remove their computers from their bags place them uh above the she originally said on the table but it's now going above the system and they walk through Additionally the new security staff Aeros security is efficient furthermore they are inspired for the upcoming teacher of the day event because when she was at mcmanis middle school she had that event and thought it would be best to bring it to the high school seniors Will Shadow a staff member of their choice on Friday March 88th in order to participate students must submit a short essay for review by a committee this will be a good event for student engagement as it it was so successful at mcmanis Middle School additionally we are organizing a student versus staff volleyball game to all grades after school on March 13th as the end of the year is approaching I'm excited for all of the upcoming senior events and the opportunity to conclude the year on a high note thank you all for your attention and support as we continue to enhance the students experiences at Lyndon high school and now I would like to call up Mr fir Stone our athletic director who is going to be recognizing students for sports [Applause] achievement good evening everyone it is my pleasure to be here tonight to recognize some of our student athletic students athletic achievements so far this school year we have had quite a few and I really appreciate Mrs Perkins inviting us all to tonight's Board of Education meeting I would first like to thank the entire Board of Education Dr ber Hammer Mrs Lewis Mr Sarah piglia Mr Co and of course Mrs Perkins I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all of your support I also know that our coaches athletes and parents feel the same way I would also like to thank our coaches much of what they do is not readily visible and they do not receive enough recognition for their efforts our coaches generally share their Love of the Game their commitment their passion and their dedication to making our teams better and making sure that lynon Athletics is an important component of the educational experience I would also like to thank all of our parents for supporting our athletes and coaches throughout the year we can only do so much without the help of all of you and the rest of our community in regard to our athletic programs as a whole I am very pleased with the competitiveness sportsmanship and pride that our teams ex exhibited during their Seasons we also had plenty of individual and team accomplish team achievements at this time I would like to start calling up some of our student athletes along with their coaches first I would like to to start off by recognizing two students who have signed athletic scholarships to play at the next level Davon mclintoch and Miles Hamilton please come up with Coach Al [Applause] Chola Devon mcla football player has earned an athletic scholarship and will be continuing his academic and athletic career at East sturg [Music] University Devon was a two-year starter on both offense and defense he was voted a team captain this past season by both his teammates and coaches he was an extension of the coaches playing one of the most most demanding defensive positions on the field he finished his career with 25 receptions for 200 yards and 74 tackles and one interception he made all County all Union County and all division teams in both his Junior and senior Seasons let's give him a [Music] hand Miles Hamilton football player will be continuing his academic and athletic career at sacred har University miles had an amazing career on the football field he was selected for numerous postseason Awards and currently holds the record for most tackles in a season and career at lynon High School miles was recently selected to the 2023 2024 New Jersey football coaches association super 100 All State team and that was a long one and we'll be playing in the prestigious Phil Sims High School Allstar football classic [Applause] miles has proved that hard work on and off the field pays off he has and will continue to inspire so many with his hard work and dedication let's give him a round of [Applause] applause [Applause] next up our bowling star Damian yez please please come up with head coach Jim [Applause] or Damien took fourth place at the Union County bowling championships let's give them a round of [Music] applause [Applause] you next let's have nasia Robinson from our boys basketball team come up with Coach Desmond [Applause] Wade unfortunately coach uh anthy Drea canot make it here tonight he uh his father recently passed away nir Robinson a senior at Lyndon High School scored his 1,000th Career Point on January 30th versus Elizabeth High School at Lyon High School reaching 1,000 points is no small feat he is one of only 12 players who have ever reached 1,000 points for their career at Lyon High School let's give them a [Music] [Applause] hand [Applause] [Music] I would like to Now call up Molly MCD Molly McDonald from our swim team with head coach Nicole gelf Molly McDonald was named lynon's National girls and women in sports day recipient that gets better every winter and out outstanding senior female athlete from each High School is honored as the njs AA female athlete of the year with a special award from the National Association for girls and women in sport the national girls and women in sports day is here to raise awareness of and act as a reminder about the positive effects associated with sports and the continued need to promote gender equ qu quality every year Molly was also recognized as the njs AA female athlete of the [Applause] [Music] Year congratulations Molly [Applause] okay next I would like to call up a few other swimmers let's have Peter jarab Marley McDonald and philli [Music] [Applause] Salah Peter jarab a senior at Lyon High School won the 100 yard freestyle at the Union County championships at Ruckers University this is the second year in a row he accomplished such a feat he also took third in the 50-yard freestyle Peter qualified for the meet of Champions in both of these [Applause] events philli salak another senior at Lynden High School placed third in the 100 yard breath stroke at the Union County championships with a personal best of 1 minute1 19 this time also qual qualified him for the me of Champions Marley McDonald only a sophomore at lynon high school qualified for the meta champions in the girls 50 yard freestyle let's give them a hand [Music] yeah [Applause] [Music] at this time let's have Jer Ford Warren Jean Peter Lewis Gabriel Morales and Zahir muhamed come up from our boys track and field team along with Coach Daniel [Applause] McDonald also coach Micah patol these students have qualified for the National High School track and field championships in the 4x2 200 meter relay and the 4x400 meter relay the 4x400 meter relay team also qualified for the mea Champions the four by 200 meter relay is ranked number one in Union County while the 4x400 meter relay team is ranked number two in Union County both relay teams set indoor school records this year let's give them a hand than okay I would also like to announce last but certainly certainly not least I would like to say a few words about our female wrestlers although they are not here tonight because some of them have qualified for the state Regional championships in Atlantic City which is a tremendous accomplishment they have truly made history in [Applause] Lyon Adriana Fernandez won the first wrestling match in the inaugural girls Union County Wrestling Championships she became the first girl ever to become a Union County wrestling champion let's give her a hand Leila SoDo won the Union County championships in her weight class as well she is also a county Champion a state district champion and a state regional qualifier Becky troso Montilla also a state regional qualifier let's give her a hand as I stated they are now competing in Atlantic City for the next couple days so they will not be here tonight and if it's okay with everyone I would love to invite the entire girls wrestling team to our next board eved meeting to recognize their accom accomplish accomplishment so far this year thank you again everyone I appreciate your time all right just want to make sure she sure she's here quite often so thank you Mr Firestone we are now going to transition to um one of the best parts of our our time together is when we can talk about our it takes a village uh program and that's where we acknowledge a student a staff member and a Community member for continuing our partnership to build upon why we are here and that's to support students and also to to Really instill and understand that life long learning is not a one-way Road it's a two-way street we are excited for for how our students exemplify leadership expectation of us and more importantly they have a vision for themselves we are thankful for our Educators for showing up each and every day in the dedication and commitment to the word educate and finally to Our Community member you help us hold us together we need the community each and every day and that's why it is called it takes a village so I'd like to start with acknowledging Our Community member because our community member represents all of the transportation modes that we need to help our students get to and from school so bus driver Miss Lilia Valdez please come on up thank you thank you it starts with you they see you first before they come they leave their homes they see you and we've heard so many great things about you it's okay it's okay let them see you this is what it's all about so you keep on doing what you're doing we don't take you for granted be yes thank you Mrs spins may I say this everyone everyone who works for our district is important and appreciated we see you I know that's right so now I'd like to um Rec recognize our student well excellent excellent how [Music] [Applause] awesome so now we are going to recognize our student it's one student out of our 65500 students who um we are excited I am excited to recognize I met this student about three months ago when I was doing my rounds in schools and we had a great conversation because she asked me questions and I was able to hopefully answer them the best that I could but then I was able to ask her questions this student is in sixth grade she attends Soul Middle School I have Miss Long who I'd like to have come up to also share some more information about her but I I want to say that this student Miss Madison [Applause] Moray you are an exceptional leader I see myself in you and I hope that when you look out to any adult that you're able to see yourself in Us Madison you are on our strategic planning committee you serve as a great level leader and you helped us out with our women's video when you walk into the room you have more than something to say you have a light a presence and we are thankful that you are part of the Lynden Public Schools district so you keep on keeping on young lady all right and I'll turn it over to miss La I am just so proud of this young lady when I tell you there is nothing that I can't ask of Madison that she will not not only do for us but she contributes ideas and she encourages her peers to do the right thing and that's what it's all about being able to lead by example we are proud of you and and I have to say I almost blew it did you catch it today I said to her I she came down to the office I said oh hey Maddie I'm G to see you later right she goes what are you talking about I said oh that you know what your mom just called and she's going to pick you up early and so I played it off but anyway I'm I'm just very proud of you we all are and we want to want you to continue doing what you're doing congratulations and Mom and Dad I I I would be remissed if I didn't say this Mom and Dad thank you so much for your support you've been there for us um and we just just appreciate you so much thank you good evening I'd just like to take a minute to add to um all of the wonderful Praises that we're singing about Madison I had the opportunity to meet Madison's dad about two years ago when he came to enroll her in Lyon Public Schools and he spoke so highly of her character of her achievement and who she is as a student so it has been amazing to actually meet her and see it come full circle so congrats to you parents as well because it truly does take a village [Applause] right I want to say to this young lady you may not be able to dance like Bean or jump ball like Michael Jordan but you are just a different kind of a hero thank [Applause] you two [Applause] [Music] and last we'd like to recognize a staff member it gives me great pleasure to say that um I worked with this staff member for many years um serving as her building principal and to watch her show up each and every day day for students she exemplifies what all of our Educators serve our students and that is teaching learning love support growing exposure and I'd like to call up right now Miss Anna PES because I am so thankful to be able to recognize you for the amazing job you've been doing you keep it on and we also have our director of our multilingual langu language Learners Miss orene who would like to speak to you as well good evening everyone it gives me such great pleasure to um celebrate Anna PES she is amazing uh just uh she her Facebook page tells it all she's everywhere very busy she's very involved and I feel so blessed to have you our department our children are very lucky Anna PES goes above and beyond for the learning community at school number six Anna has assisted our multilingual Department in getting the ESL high intensity Ukrainian program off the ground thank you Anna as you're all aware the lynon school district received an influx of Ukrainian students as a result of the war and she has been very instrumental in helping the families and our children cope with life in the United States she was proactive in her approach she started a Ukrainian leadership group I was really excited thank you Anna a time for students from the same background to come together and share stories to help themselves acclimate to school life at school number six Mrs peles is an Exemplar educ educator assisting all ESL students at school number six Mrs pz is a lifelong learner committed to her profession she attends all professional development opportunities she never stops learning she is an active participant in the Learning Community attending all parental engagement events she has attended I don't know how many we've had several all of the uh multi- uh uh parental engagement event we plan she's there to translate for the parents she was there when we had our access assessment meeting for the parents um she's everywhere like I said she she is also the chair of multiple committees at school number six she Bridges the gap between family and school she keeps them informed by promoting our school and providing information for all families and we thank [Applause] you [Applause] all right done I know they got me on an island hello I will now turn it over to our business administrator Mr sarila who will share some information on our upcoming creation our upcoming budget all right good evening um this afternoon we uh received our projected 2425 state aid numbers um and it was actually much better than we anticipated would you speak a little louder I'm sorry uh we received our 2425 state school aid numbers uh and it was better than it was anticipated uh we received for the general fund operations an additional $1 million um we also received an additional 1.5 million uh for our preschool program um so in total we're up 12.5 million um so this is really good this is going to allow us to address uh a number of uh things within our budget um while also um really not being able to affect the taxes so we're really happy about it um but yeah we're going to be looking at um continuing with the capital projects as well as expanding programs and as I spoke about at the very least it's going to be a zero tax increase so so that that's good news and this will conclude my superintendent report before we before we proceed to the next agenda item I want to personally in fact this board want to personally congratulate all the amazing students parents community members for their achievement we cannot get get where we we are without people actually believing in in their dreams believing in our school system and supporting their children I want to speak for the people of Lyndon I hope we continue moving our school district in the direction it is going thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart I know Pastor my no pastor to my assistant board president she's going to take over from here um do we have the attorney's report yes please uh I have two items that I'm recommending for your approval both of which we discussed at the work session on Tuesday uh as a reminder the first is just to approve the uh the revised collective bargaining agreement between the board and Lassa um this just reflects the changes that were made when we negotiated a new contract with Lassa several months ago so so this is just incorporating those changes into the actual contract document that's item one and then item two is a settlement agreement um which we did discuss and uh is in the best interest of of all parties um so I recommend both those items for approval I'll ask for a motion in a second on items one and two on the attorney report second was there a First was there a first I oh yeah Bri second who made the motion questions I didn't know if there's any questions no any questions on the attorney to the report roll call Miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss P Miss UL yes Miss Armstead yes and Dr bammer yes thank you Madame President for allowing me to uh be the acting vice president tonight uh congratulations to the individuals who received their Awards this evening a round of applause one more last time for them we will now continue with our agenda Miss penino uh can you please read the education report good evening the education committee ofart recommendation of superintendent schools and the assistant superintendent press the following motions to the Lyon Board of Education for approval I approve moot um items one through 29 I respect we ask for a second any any questions are there any questions okay roll call please miss Inon yes Mr Del Cruz yes Miss p now yes Miss Elise yes Miss Armstead yes and Dr Burham yes okay we continue on the finance committee upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary present the following motions to the Lyndon board of education for approval I approve items 1 through 29 I do table number 17 uh since there are some concerns with the date I'm sorry uh numbers 1 through 26 but tabling 17 please can I respectfully ask for a second number 17 is the um the retreat Retreat yeset um several board members attend the retreat under March the 9th we have to change the date do we could we um could we just change it like that or we have to um um vote you do whatever you want it's do you know we um I would the only problem is I don't know if school boards would be available so but we can't have we don't have board members yeah if you don't so you could either take it off the agenda or you could just vote no on that particular item and then when you have a new date you could put it you could put it back want to say that you could put it back on the agenda Miss has been the one um that is working on getting the board members a day so that we can get it on the agenda okay yes so you taking it off the agenda or you just GNA vote now take the agenda okay okay we'll try this again the finance committee upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary present the following motions to the Lynden board of education for approval items 1 through 26 uh please remove though item number 17 because of the the date I respectfully asked for a second second so the first thing we're going to vote on is removing the date and then we're voting on everything or just does does anyone have an objection to removing I believe not so then we don't have to okay we've never really been sticklers for Robert's Rules of Order in the past there's really no reason to get bogged down tonight um my question is do do we have uh we want we want this done before the ending of the school year AB if it's possible we're looking at um to be honest we're looking at April yes to put it back on March is not good for everybody it's kind of crunch time so I believe April we all discuss this so we just got to come up with a date for April well before we come up with a date for April we also have to discuss it with the Board of Ed to see what day they have available too if you can let us know April it's available what dates are available absolutely I appreciate that thank you appreciate it y Comm right I mean I got to reach out the school board right are there any questions besides uh my concern no okay roll call please miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Miss ulise yes Miss Armstead yes Dr B yes thank you now we continue on to buildings grounds and security are we on Personnel oh sorry on Personnel report okay B the Personnel committee upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools presents the following motions to the Lyon board of education for approval all appointments and reappointments are contingent upon and may be modified based on student participation and the district's receipt of sufficient state school aid and other Revenue funding I would like to make a motion for items 1 through 50 I respectfully asked for a second second question any question questions okay roll call please miss Centron yes Mr Del Cruz yes Miss Pino yes Miss jise yes M Armstead yes and Dr buram yes moving along to building grounds and security report vill Cruz the okay I'm a little we were on finance next one is finance building we just did Finance we just did I'm sorry that's why I said we're we're not really sticklers for the yeah I need my coffee I'm sorry the buildings grounds and security committee upon upon recommendation of superintendent of schools and the business administrative board secretary present the following motions to the Lynden board of education for approval numbers one through number 12 looking for second second any questions roll call please miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Pino yes Miss ulise yes Miss Armstead yes and Dr bammer yes I do not know if I missed this but I know on the agenda we had a conflict with the um with the prom did we vote on that item or was it removed it wasn't removed because we have to wait yeah but we had to remove it from the agenda right told me not to remove it they said don't remove it go ahead amend it at the next meeting yeah I mean if you can move the date you'll move the date and you just amend it at the next meeting all right okay good okay moving along the planning and policy committee upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools presents the following motion to the lynen board of education for approval I approve items one and two and I respectfully ask for a second second are there any questions or discussions roll call please miss Centron yes Mr Cruz yes Miss Peno yes J yes Armstead yes and Dr buram yes and now we come to the comments from the public members of the public Desiring to make a public comment may come forward at this time for those watching online if you wish to if to make a comment or ask a question please utilize and raise uh the hand feature on the online meeting platform please begin your comments by stating your name and address individuals are invited to speak on one Topic at a time and no individual will speak more than once until all individuals so Desiring have spoken once the public is reminded that to ensure the efficient and orderly operations of the meeting members of the public will be limited to speaking on items for three minutes Happ people thank you thank you thank you hi Donna Hernandez 133 Princeton Road uh when you were talking about the scholarships earlier I have to say um Miss galeski who I believe is in charge of the scholarships she is awesome um she once she gets the a scholarship from any company um because I have been in contact with her regarding the PTA soon as she gets them she updates them on and puts them on canvas um and also I guess there's like a scholarship page it's just how do we get the students to do them that's the thing um I don't know if you know there's something that can be announced daily at school or you know but I know they are being posted it's just how do we get our students to physically fill out the applications um I also want to uh wish um Molly McDonald and Erica Hernandez um Good Luck next week back in October uh both of them competed at Kane University in the regional round for the DECA competition uh so they will be moving on and going to Atlantic City next week uh for three days to go for uh towards National oh um and another so regarding the um snow days I know we had two uh a lotted on the calendar we used one um on the district calendar it says if snow days are not being used the days off would be June 24th and June or June 25th and June 24th um I know when I was asked in the beginning of the year when they were talking about Project Graduation when the president of the mayor's youth commission had asked me when graduation was I told her it was June 25th but to just check with the superintendent because it can change she called me back and said that it would not be changed she was told it wouldn't be changed and this is a new place for Project Graduation this year and I know the date cannot be changed for that um so I don't know that you know graduation if you know the last day of students is going to be the 24th and teachers the 25th that's going to be a problem if we don't have our students graduating on the 25th because they're not going to want to go to Project Graduation the day after you know if they graduate Monday they're not going to want to come back on Tuesday um so I don't know if something you know can be looked into that too that's all historically thank you uh historically Project Graduation does not change uh many years ago uh snow days changed the end of the calendar the end of the school year calendar graduation Remains the Same Day with Project Graduation so that will continue um our calendar uh will be um updated for the March agenda to see where it falls for good evening everybody rob Mel 18 Trinity Place mon New Jersey LHS social studies teacher proud Lea president I genuinely love hearing about all the wonderful things happening in our district as I move through on a daily basis and see the things that our staff and students are working towards it's incredibly heartening our students work hard can be incredibly disciplined and across the district there is abounding potential this potential is nurtured each and every today by our staff as you make your way through the district you will see faculty and staff acting as caretakers for our students providing scaffolding as our students learn to stand on their own and this desire and ability to help our students succeed is what drove us to get into education in the first place what keeps us in education what keeps us here is feeling that same nurturing and support if we are to spend our time supporting others we need that support in return if our staff are nurtured and cared for they'll be better able to care for and nurture our students thank [Applause] you okay thank you for your comments uh is there anyone online that wish to make a comment no okay now we move on to new and un and unfinished business any board members yes I have a couple of things the um I would like to know in the contract with the busing company um if there's a penalty we can assess if they don't have working equipment under the buses when we need it if I'm out of if I'm out of context please stop me no I'm sure that there is default Provisions in the contract and there's probably notice requirements um if it's like a standard contract it would be we have to put them on notice and give them an opportunity to cure any defect um as we discussed I have to look at the at the contract I'll get a copy from John and I and I'll be prepared to discuss that with you yes because um I would like to know just on a basis on the we have to word it the busing company because we're getting a lot of little things here and there that is not looking good well that's two different things right so like if you well if we don't I'll need to know what the defects are and we you don't have to tell me that right now you could tell you can tell me that privately yeah um I'll look at the contract but if you are looking to take a closer look at them to make sure that they're in compliance that's something separate and different okay okay and my second thing um actually are the water fountains in the schools I know we still don't have since Co we stop with the water fountains okay are they accessible for the students to drink from if they are I would like to say if we can store filters in these Waters that they may be have an empty bottle and just filter up with the bottle instead of putting their mouth around the water fountain things have changed from you could we could even just go four years back so you used to drink in the water fountain and now people less and less l so I would like to know if there's a way we could get filters on these that the students can have a bottle if they have an empty bottle just fill up instead of putting them up on the water fountains the fill stations the fill station water um fountains we will trans we've we've uh started budgeting for continuing with that work that has already started um it might not be every single water found only due to the fact that there's also electric that's needed for those pill stations um but yes it is actually was in the budget that we talked about for the Capital Park project I'm good I have one question um as far as the lead program that we had and they uh the students graduated in um in January in school number eight are the any other elementary schools that will be um having this program available yes uh the Lyon uh Police Department is working is partnering with um we're we're bringing on two more schools so they were working out the dates and times and so once that's set up we will let you know but yes do you know what schools I'm sorry do you know what schools it was school one and school four that those were the potential um schools to start with but the goal is to get all of them so we we're working at okay thank you Mr B you're welcome I have a couple of questions regarding new business one of the questions is regarding our virtu yearbook um our virtual yearbook last year was very was amazing and speaking to Miss Hernandez again she is claiming that it's going to be even more awesome this year right yes but one of the things that I have been concerned about is that the students that are actually involved in this yearbook is not being recognized I think that um several people think that a yearbook was published by Johnson is it Johnson or or another company they don't know is that the students at lynon is the one who actually designed develop and published our yearbook these students need to get what do you call it credits the credits so maybe at the beginning of the book it should be say this book was designed published and everything by the the students of Lyndon High School what do you guys think about that that's a great idea that's a great idea so miss herandez while you're designing the yearbook could you put the credits is there any way possible that we can get a group picture of the students who also designed this yearbook to be placed in the yearbook at the beginning or somewhere what are your thoughts on that as well great idea agree that's a great idea yeah I agree I think a lot of people have no idea what's going on and I'll talk about that when I get my comments but a lot of people have no idea what's going on in the TV and um media class those kids are very very talented they do a lot of hard work so um Miss Hernandez while you're working on the yearbook would you see if you could get a picture of all the students that actually were involved in the yearbook we need to give them credit for the work that they are doing so when they my age you could sit down and tell the children I did this you know anyway the next thing is is um that that that is a scholarships Mrs Hernandez you are absolutely right we do have some awesome awesome people in our guidance department and they are talking about scholarships all right maybe we not talking enough you know I I was speaking to a board member and the board member was telling me he has a child that is getting ready to graduate and he still do not know how to how do you say it go about it to to maneuver and maneuver around getting scholarships and his he has a child in in graduate in in high school so I think there is a disconnect and we have to figure out what is the disconnect and fix it because all us students as everybody agree we have some amazing students with amazing achievements I cannot see why these students who have all these amazing achievement is not leaving school with more scholarships this is an area even if we are working hard and I am not discrediting or talking bad about anyone but I just think that we need to put it out more put it out more talk more about it and that's why I said our scholarship committee needs to start in elementary school we are really starting our scholarship programs too late if we start it in elementary school and we keep talking about it talking about it talking about it then parents will start asking more questions about it and I think we will um it will get it will become part scholarships is part of our curriculum it should become part of our curriculum this is why students go to school to go to college but we don't want to get them in debt when there's billions of dollars out there so I'm just urg I'm just you know I you know I I know I talk about it every meeting but I really think that everybody it should be the under the lips of the teachers asking the students did you apply for scholarships why not do you need help whatever you know I think we need to be you know I forgive me I'm I don't want to song because I know Mr mangel said our teachers were good and they're very very good so I don't want it to sound in no negative way right but together we could make our students get more scholarships excuse me Dr B how would you um go about as far as like circulating the information to the the younger students then what what would be your suggestion well I think if we start it in the elementary school we start scholarship committees in the elementary school and if we could start scholarship committees in the elementary school just like how we have it takes a village award it could be a councel person involved it could be couple parents involved it could be a couple teachers involved we could even get maybe people who who get scholarships involved it doesn't have to be just teachers and students it could be a committee of people from different areas that could could could partner to start talking about scholarships where we invite vendors in I totally agree with you on that part but first and foremost we need to get the parents involved which meaning that they need to have a class about scholarships this is what's available for our students this is what we're going to do for our students because first and foremost our students are very important and in order for the kids to get scholarships parents don't know what's out there parents don't know what's available for their students and like you said we're going to start an elementary let's push it up for a little bit further so the kids can know what's available for them to have and if we get it out to the parents and I think it will be 100% um involvement so we have to make sure the parents are involved first and foremost because we push too much on our teachers because the teachers have an overload so therefore we need to let the teachers know that parents is there give the parents the information and then we can have a class for the parents to attend a class with a scholarship what's available this is what's available for the student this is what's going on so why not we just take one step at a time and let them know that just because they're small they're not small not to have what's out there for them okay if you like how they do a family fun night they could do a scholarship uh information night maybe for the parents right let them let our parents be involved because a lot of parents got a lot of things to do absolutely but when it comes to their kids they stop everything and they come so we one night for we're going to talk about scholarships just have like she said somebody come and talk about scholarships and let them know what's available to for our students as well as what's available for the teachers because teachers is going to school so we could start from beginning and to end because it's like Each one teach one you got to pull them up to make them want it you got to pull them up to say okay they want me to do this so why not give me what I need so that's my point no just to Echo off that um I definitely think there's a disconnect not with necessarily with the teachers but maybe getting it to the Finish Line at home home so I think that's a great idea Miss Pino and then also um I don't know like how widely this is known about but they we have the NJ Stars program that I was actually a part of and it's for um seniors and juniors that are in the top 15% of their High School class you can go to Community College for free so I went to un and County College for free and I know that there's a sometimes there's a negative connotation about going away to Community College but I went away to Community College and then I transferred to Ruckers it's a really great program so just also making sure that not only are we telling our students about the scholarships that are out there but a lot of the state programs that are available and one thing that I really love about that program is that Ruckers had to accept all of my credits when I transferred over because a lot of times when students are transferring they have they run into a lot of problems I think it's a state law it's mandated that they have to uh New Jersey institutions have to take their credits because normally what they try to do is they try to stick you for your credits and then you end up transferring and losing a semester's year of work and that's a lot on the students and the parents financially so it's a great program and we should also be looking into you know things outside of the scholarships but what other what other things we have that are available that students can use to um help pay for their tuition I also believe that Union County and rs do have a program the program is but when you enroll in Union County you have to enroll in this program I think if you maintain if I am wrong forgive me but I know there is this program if you maintain a GPA of over I think was either 75 or 85 you could transfer to rers and get your Rodas degree for free well I don't know about that I know that I was there a program like that it's paid for but you have to enroll in it a lot different programs out there PR I was in two programs I was in NJ Stars which is where they transferred your credits and then you got um two years two fre years of tuition at Union County College and then I was in another program at Union County College where if you maintained a certain GPA you had automatic acceptance into certain schools um I don't know if that's the same program but there's a lot of programs out there I just think that sometimes students aren't aware of it I um Miss Crawley who is now the um principal at school number five she was my guidance counselor and she pulled me out of my classroom to make sure that I knew about NJ Stars so um we do have a lot of great staff and administrators and teachers that are getting the word out there but it's like also the disconnect between you know going home and actually doing the application so we really need you know we really need to look right now we have 465 students graduating in in on June the 25th and um I just want to make sure that we we we EV every student have an opportunity some don't want to go away to some don't want to go to the different colleges but they need to know that if they take the Union County path they could still graduate with a bachelor's degree and not incur a lot of student debt is that correct and you have two degrees so it's you know pre tuition two degrees but again it starts with us talking about it and talking about it and talking about it all right so this is what we doing we have to keep talking because if you keep talking eventually people would start listening all right another another area of topic I wanted to go over and I had a conversation with Rob Rob could you come up and explain to us the the peer program you remember on Tuesday we were talking about the disconnect from the 11 8 or n group grade and you said that there was a program that was offered years ago a what what was it called the what was it peer leadership the peer leadership is it still going on right now if it's not going on I think the peer leadership is a program where the high school seniors meet with the ninth and 10th grade yes they serve would you explain it yes yes um so I'll get more information from um Mr um about the implementation of it but uh peer leadership is exactly what it is it's the peers serving as Leaders within the school so we would um ask that our our Rising seniors and juniors serve as mentors to the underclassmen through all facets of um their educational Journey because I remember when we um when we had stopped the basketball the foot the the football game and we asked the the seniors to go into the middle school and talk to the students our football star he came to me and he said doc you know I want to go and talk to the students I says why he said because I was one of them he said when I was in Middle School I was so difficult I was such a difficult student and now in high school here I am I am I am being honored so he said I want to go to the high school to the middle school and I want to talk to the students because a lot of them in in the Middle School just like the way I used to be so maybe Mrs Perkins I think we need to find a way to reinstitute that peer-to-peer program so that the seniors could now work with the ninth and 10th graders so we could strengthen or weak link which is our 9th grade and our 10th grade Because by the time the students are in the 11th and 12th grade I I think that they are well adjusted and focused on where they want to take their next step in life the last thing I want to discuss today this the the next thing I want to discuss today Mr mangel regarding support for staff and teachers I want you to know that we this board is very very engaged with the teachers and the support staff we are doing everything we can as a board to make sure that the teachers the staff the students and the parent know that we see each and every one of them and if you look at the amount of professional development we are doing for teachers and all the different initiatives that we are putting in place to make make it s safer for teachers like the Y pouches like the this the the security system like all the different stuff within the last year we have put in just just in security alone we have put in an average of six different initiatives to help keep our schools safe is that correct and we continue to put initiatives in because we want to make sure that everyone that go into our schools are safe and you know a teacher can't teach it's not safe a student can't learn if they're not safe so we doing everything we can to support everyone that attends the Lyndon school district lastly my next my last concern is our graduation itself last year our graduation was kept in the um in the in the gym in in indoor we had in that room we we we had a lot of people in there now we know that we are experiencing climate change so with climate change we know we also went out and we searched for a venue and wasn't able to get a venue so my question is what are our plans just in case the 2050 is reain out what are our other options the graduation committee um is um building Level under the leadership of Mr Co and we are working on that we will be able to provide the board with a more clearer plan um by next month so it we will all um it requires our facilities requires security as well as um the graduation committee so they're working on that there's one of my one one of my suggestions again we have Tiger Stadium where Tiger Stadium is a big stadium is there any way John is there any way we could put tent that whole place and make it secure if we have to we don't need bleachers but we could have chairs like tent and chairs all around and we could I'm just asking okay it may sound weird but what the the the the gym is too small so as the gym is too small and we don't we can't find another place we have to look at all our options it may or may not be possible and I may be songing crazy but the thing is though what about that you know where you have a big big tent and it and shes all I do not I do not know if that is even possible you laughing at it it so funny but but we have to explore all options right are you I agree I think committee is a great place expore these options yeah but the thing rain we thinking about the rain what if we get rained out what do we do right anyway bottom line is you're right we're going to leave it for the committee but again that's one of my thoughts we have to start thinking about what is a backup plan all right so that's all I have to say about new business anybody have any other suggestions no suggestions but I need to go into close session very briefly with everyone so yes so now we have to go into close section to discuss some some matters so our last agenda item will be board comments right so if people would like to leave or or stay we would not be in in in session for too long right we're not going to be in there too long and we're not going to conduct any business when we come out so if anybody wants to go on the mar no new business or anything so if you want to leave you can leave if you want to stay we would love to see your pretty faces when we come back out comments now or after so motion to go into executive misson yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Miss juliz yes Miss Armstead yes and Dr bham yes you ready want brain knowbody motion to come back public yeah to go back to public second okay roll call please miss Inon yes Mr Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Miss uliss yes Miss Armstead yes Dr bam yes okay we will now continue with board member comments and we will begin with Miss Pino good evening everyone I know it's late I know everybody wants to leave but I want to say thank you for everybody for coming out we appreciate it and thank you for your concerns and it's been noted and Miss Perkins will get back to with anything that you guys have asked today and um I just to say to the kids that was up here congratulations you guys is fabulous and um we appreciate all of you as well as the teachers and administration thank you very much and I just have to shout out a couple of things um I went to school too for Special Olympics kickoff it was fabulous the kids was engaging with the parents with the staff I enjoyed myself as well as I went to school four for um breakfast and breakfast they have breakfast for us with the black history and I appreciate that so much they and they did a whole bunch of things with the poems they made poems with different names on it and I appreciate that so much as well as um I went to the high school and it was black history the young girls was um Black Culture Festival and it was the first performance that they did and it did a fabulous job it was educational and it was and all the young ladies participated and I appreciate the invitation and then the last one we went to was today we went to school school yes thank you very much we went to school five and um it was a readalong I went to different classes and I read stories to the children and it was very nice because that's my element I love the children no matter what and I had I went to prek as well as k um the kindergarteners and it was really nice and I want to shout out to all of them because it was really nice and everyone have a great evening thank you very much for coming out we appreciate it and like we said and piggy backing off um Dr be with the scholarships let's all get into it you know what I'm saying just give us the information what you want us to do and what we need to do as well as what we need from you guys to help us to help each other because we want our kids to be very functional out here in this world we want them to compete with everything that comes across the table with them we do not want them to be denied for anything because everybody say lendon first right we want our kids to be first as well okay thank you very much everyone have a great evening thank you thank you Miss Peno you're welcome Miss hi everyone I'm just going to pigy back on what um what Miss penino said I don't want to be repetitive but um it's pretty much the same thing and I just like to thank everyone for coming here tonight thank you thank you Sam okay I'm going to pick it back off both women and I'm I'm just going to say um another thing with one of our passings both passings my condolences to both families but miss pelli for some OD reason um my daughter was with her in fifth grade and Missi didn't know me much and the very first day I had an interaction with her I was vice president of the PTA but I don't think she knew I was the PTA vice president and she didn't know I was the PTA president the year after Tanya left and she gave me a little attitude and I was like wow this teacher is a little rough around the edges and she's been here for many years but when she knew I was PTA and we got we built a relationship and I must thank Miss pelli for pushing my daughter to where my daughter is today cuz Miss pelli saw something in her and I'm not knocking any of the teachers and said she has the ability to be an honors classes and to this day my daughter her lowest grade is in 89 and thanks to miss pelli she has pushed her from that point forward so miss belli wherever you are keep looking upon my daughter keep looking upon all your students cuz you did a difference thank you very much and condolences to her family that's it thank you Mr Dela Cruz Miss armston um good afternoon everyone um I'll try to be brief well good evening everyone I'll try to be brief just a couple of things that I wanted to mention my condolences to our faculty that lost and then also just wanted to give a special sh shout out to coach Drea because after his father pass he still went on to coach the boys basketball team at last night's game which I know must have been incredibly difficult so just wanted to give him a little shout out also want to give a shout out to the TV and media class I got to sit sitting on their class on Friday and I got to watch the students um create some short films with segments they had um Franklin High School also came in and they were very collaborative and it's really nice to see the fact that um Lyon school district is nourishing their minds I think journalism TV production skill sets are um overlooked a lot of times I know when I went to school for journalism my mom was like why are you going to school for journalism you're not going to make any money and then I ended up getting a really good job after the graduation she was like oh I see why you went to school for journalism so it's really good that we're nurturing and fostering um you know these students we have one um student that's sitting here actually Manning the camera and we have another one that's in the audience right now so it was nice to see them in their element they're very talented and I think a lot of people don't know what they do in those classrooms but they're putting together some quality content and they will be some of our future executive um producers one day so shout out to them um another shout out is to um with Miss penino I was also at the uh black cultural event I know Savon also founded that club so big shout out to her for putting that together looking forward to seeing the future Productions and another thing I wanted to mention I saw on the um girls softball page they have triy outs coming out I don't know if I'm wrong correct me if I'm wrong but I know they have Tri outs coming out so if you guys spread the word and if you guys know anybody that's interested just make sure you guys give that a little um push so that the students are aware and that is all from me yeah thank you Miss Armstead in honor of Black History Month several board members and I attended the black cultural Festival on February 22nd a sophomore student by the name of savan Johnson organized the first black cultural Festival which was held at Lynden High School Miss Johnson and members of the Black American Culture Club did a phenomenal job on celebrating the African-American culture there was a guest speaker by the name of Amiri Tula who informed us about a a shamb brog Center for research in Black Culture which is located in Harlem New York York the center is a focal point of Harlem's cultural life the Sham brog Center functions as the leading National research library in the field of africanamerican and African descent it was inspiring and admirable to see our youth collaborating together in order to celebrate and educate themselves about their culture I also look forward to March as it is celebrated as uh women's history month and last but not least thank you to my fellow board members because this is truly a selfless position thank you thank you everyone for coming tonight A lot happened tonight but we will continue moving our school district forward I want you guys to go home hug your children tell them you love them and make sure your kids do their homework thank you and have a good night motion to adjourn the meeting mtion a motion to adjourn the meeting yes motion please miss Centron yes Mr Del Cruz yes Miss P yes Miss ulise yes Miss Armstead yes and Dr ber yes meeting adjourned thank you all good [Music] night [Music]