good evening and welcome to the pasak Valley Regional School District Board of Education uh reorganization meeting and regular meeting um we shall do a call to order and then we'll do a flag salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible Li and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing copies of said notice to the record filing copies of said notice with the municipal Clerks of Hillsdale montale River Vale and woodcliffe lake and Publishing said notice in the record on July 21st 2023 so now we will call in the um the votes the certification of the election results for the annual School Board uh on November 7th 20 uh 2023 uh these were threeyear terms there were four of them uh first is Stephanie hang of woodcliffe Lake 988 votes Kristen Martin of Hillsdale 1,714 votes Jenny vgis of Hillsdale 1,63 votes and Michael Weaver of Montvale 1,5 519 votes now I will administer the oath of office so first up is Stephanie hang I have no hand on a Bible I don't have to put a hand on the Bible I read this hi Stephanie Hong do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and this state the authority of the people and to the governments established in the United States and this state and under the authority of the people Help so help me godie I Stephanie Hong do solemnly affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and I am not disqualified as a voter R and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a colon 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so so help me God thank [Applause] you thank you for my CH I Kristen Martin swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of newy and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Al to the and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same the government EST in the United States under the authority of people and to the governments established in the United States and to the state under the authority of the people so help so help me God iist Martin I Christen Martin doomar do solom me swear that I Poss qualifications prescribed by law office of member ofeducation that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and I not disqualified as a Vo RS and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs9 4-1 nor disqualify due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 201 12-1 and that I will Faithfully partially andly per all the duties that off according to the best of and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations thank you so [Applause] much thank you very much you're so prepared okay oh okay I Jenny vares do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and sorry and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Jenny varges do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 nor disqualify due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in the njs 18a colon 12-1 and that I will Faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God thank [Applause] you sign this one too okay thank you I will now take roll call Mr blundo Miss Calderone here Mrs Wong here Mr louisi Mrs Martin here Mr Stanis here miss stefin here Mrs varis here Mr Weaver I will now request nominations for the office of president of the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education according to board policy code number 0152 may I have a motion so moved um a nomination oh nomination I would like to nominate uh Jenny varges is there any other nomination as I see none I will ask for a motion to close nomination ations second second got it now thank you so I will take so this is the vote for closing nominations Miss KY Deron yes Mrs hang yes Mrs Martin yes yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stefins yes Mrs Baris yes okay nominations are closed I will call for a vote for juny bares to be president of the Board of Education may I get a motion please so moved second Miss Calderon yes Mrs hang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes M stefins yes Mrs vares yes congratulations M VES you are now president and now you may sit in this seat and I'll move over this feels like a pretty serious seat over here everybody oh thank you oh gosh okay so I just go from here right nominations okay um I'd like to request nominations for Vice President Joseph blundo any other nominations for anyone else for vice president good uh if there are no further nominations can I have a motion to close the nominations please so moved second oh sorry me oh miss Calderon yes Mrs Wang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr stankis yes Miss stefins yes Mrs varges yes nominations have been closed I will call call for a vote all in favor of Joseph Blondo for vice president haven't moved oh say again okay motion to uh vote for right Joseph Blondo for vice president so moved second a roll call roll call Miss Calderon yes Mrs hang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stefin yes Mrs varges yes Mr blundo is now Vice President of the board [Applause] y uh yes you can have what we typically done is have each board member okay perfect around perfect start off okay perfect okay so the next thing that we are going to do we're going to read the code of ethics for the school board members and we'll I'll start and then we'll sort of each take a a little segment school board members shall abide by the following code of ethics for school board members I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing this morning I will conf my board action to policym planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them I will carry out my responsibility to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board go ahead I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the school for personal gain or for the gain of friends I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members MERS interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution okay next we have consent agenda items 7 through 22 can I get a motion please so move second roll call oh sorry dis any discussion roll call Miss Kyle Deron yes Mrs hang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stephin yes Mrs varges yes now on to our regular meeting agenda for to uh this is now to uh for the minutes for the meeting from December 18th 2023 and the executive session from November 20th 2023 can I get a motion so moved second any discussion okay roll call please Mr usami Miss Calderon yes Mrs hang abstain Mrs Martin yes Mr stankis yes Miss stepin yes for November 20th and abstain from December 18th Mrs bargis yes for November 20th and abstain for December 18th also next we have comments from the public uh at this time we invite citizens to make comments regarding agenda items um and the comments section is limited to 3 minutes according to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education policy number 0167 persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise sign in state their name town of residents and which agenda item they are referencing it doesn't any okay doesn't look like we have any citizens who'd like to speak about agenda items uh so next we have uh policy and we have two right now yeah two uh can I get a motion second any discussion roll call Mr usami Miss Calderone yes Mrs Wang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr stankis yes Miss stefin yes Mrs Vargis yes next we have one consent agenda item for Education can I get a motion so moved second discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Mrs hang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stepin yes Mrs Vargis yes next we have for human resources uh eight consent agenda items can I get a motion so move second uh any discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Mrs hang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr stankis yes Miss stepin yes Mrs vares yes next we have finance and we have 12 consent agenda items can I get a motion please so second any discussion Boll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderon yes Mrs Swang yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stefins yes Miss Vargis yes uh old business we have the monthly suspension reports any it should be in the attachment mhm not here though I no no not on here yeah uh any new business so um I just wanted to give an update maybe that should have been on Old business but um you may have remembered me talking about the teen dating program that the county of Bergen um offers it's a free workshop and they come into schools for middle school and for high schoolers so I got an update this week uh Jennifer Zimmerman from hills has scheduled um some workshops for the freshmen um and the seniors the freshman's will be February 6th and February 8th and the seniors will be February 27th 28th and 29th and then we're working with Christy rossig um hoping to get um the county of Bergen to come in on January 25th for the freshmen and Jen is also working um with the county to put together a parent Workshop which I think would be really good for us all um uh especially you know the days that we you know that we live in now now are totally different to when we grew up so um especially with technology and Tik Tok and all these kind of um social media platforms plays a big part into um our kids um life these days so I'm really happy that this is moving along and um if I get any other information I'll pass it along thank you for making us aware of that you're welcome and did you say they're coming to Hills on for the freshmen and the seniors yep freshman and seniors are they coming for the seniors at Valley as well I heard freshman just freshman for now as far as I know from christe unless unless she schedules something but I think it's a great thing before these kids go off to college to have that kind of refresher so if they're available for the seniors I think that's a great idea as well yep uh any other new business I I just was approached by a police officer who resides in Hillsdale um I believe he'll be coming in the near future um to talk about and he doesn't have a student anymore in District but um some concerns he has with the lack of the wi-fi at Valley uh he has two students who have gone through the district um so I think he's going to come present some things because he's on a committee for his Police Department I guess so just that keep that in mind that might be coming up in the near future okay thank you uh I have a quick question for you actually about Martin Luther King Day the day of um service do you want to give us a little blur on it this is completely un um um on scheduled so I yeah I know well it's actually it's it's such a wonderful um event that has really grown so um last year let me move this closer last year was the first year um that we really did this schoolwide uh districtwide I should say um and this year we're looking to expand it we've offered um opportunities to participate in service to our K5 and K8 families um we are uh looking at this point at having Almost 100% participation in the community from all staff and we also have additional student groups participating so basically I'll back that up um what we've done is we've uh taken the Martin Luther King day um tenants of Beloved Community and have tried to expand that throughout the school year looking at ways to form connections between staff members staff and students staff and parents and school and community and uh the the the culminating event really is the January 5th 15th Day of Service so um students uh uh are not required to attend school on January 15th it's uh it is a a day that the staff comes in and we've actually planned I think they have over 80 um various sites throughout the county that our students are coming in on this day that would be off to work with staff members to work with teams to work with various clubs and organizations um to really look at how can we give back to our community while at the same time making connections with each other I think it's wonderful um and uh super excited to see how it continues to uh just expand and grow um from year to year we're also looking at doing a couple of other um in October we focused our um October inservice day around this idea of connection we're looking at focusing another inservice day in the spring around this idea of connection so also looking at not just doing this on Martin Luther King Day but also how do we kind of continue this and expand this throughout the school year throughout the summer and then into next year as well and uh you know the way that it's grown from last year to this year I see it continuing to um expand as we move forward year to year so thank you for the opportunity to give that update appreciate that I have some questions yeah so for students of uh pasak Hills and pasak Valley is it too late to sign up to participate in this I I don't uh you know there is a deadline because we had to give numbers to people let me look really quickly and see if I can pull up the form if I can pull up the form I'll let you know I don't think it's too late and my my my recommendation would be and if anybody in the audience is listening um if you have a student that's interested go to your guidance counselor so go to your school counselor and say hey I didn't sign up but I am interested they should be able to help you figure out what's available because I believe that there's a blanket making activity that's um being held in the building that might still be open to students um and I just I I just don't remember where close to it at this point so I just don't remember when the cut off date was but I would say um absolutely ask your school counselor and uh they can help you sign up if you've not yet signed up okay so to the legions of students listening to the board meeting today you still have time to sign up for the schol so yeah and if there's any issues um just let your school counselor know and they should be able to help you and actually Olivia may do you have any uh insight into this are you participating in any way not to put you on the sweat but I'm thinking you might actually know a little bit more detail um I actually don't know much sorry that's not not a problem I know some groups are are are involved in and uh you know actually coordinating things so I didn't want to miss an opportunity uh for you to to add in okay so basically if there's any students that are interested uh reach out to your guidance counselor because uh you there still May the may be the opportunity for you to be able to uh volunteer which is a great thing yeah absolutely and that started with you correct it started actually uh I definitely cannot take credit for this um it started with Dr Russo's idea um to come together on this uh but last year I believe was the first year that we did it um I'm looking for confirmation but yeah thank you Dr Russo yes absolutely oh yes awesome thank you Mr Zeller so Mr Zeller confirmed that if if you go into the Sign Up Genius link there are still slots available you can openly sign up thank you okay great any other new business okay uh I would like a motion to oh oh sorry I forgot about the second comment uh okay so we have our next comments from the public citizens are invited to make comments and are limited to three minutes according to the pasak valley uh Board of Ed policy 0167 uh again please rise uh please be Rec recogniz rise sign in and state the name and town your name and town of residence okay so I think then we can move on to a motion for adjournment please second okay we're adjourned