e e e Mr Salado County pres M Smith here M Stafford here we have nine present here by be and known that the Piscataway Township Board of Education has complied with the notification requirements of the open public meeting acts for the announcement of this meeting date in place on April the 30th 2023 in the following manner posting a public notice on the posting board for the Board of Education in the administration building email notification to newspapers serving Piscataway the home News Tribune and The Courier News email notification file with the municipal Kirk at the municipal building on hose Lane this meeting is being videotaped this recording is not an official record in or supplement to the minutes is intended only as a source of information that the public might utilize at a later date to familiarize themselves with the board's activities executive session be it resolved that the board adjourned to Executive session for the purpose of review and discussion of the Personnel agenda litigation HIV monthly reports and other matters persu to to New Jersey Law n 10-4-2 b let me repeat that pursuant to law njsa 10 semicolon 4-12 B can I have a motion move can I have a second all in favor we are in executive session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e be by resolve that the board reconvenes a public session can I have a motion so move second second all in favor we are now in public session um we are going to stud go straight over okay we are going to change the agenda up and we're going to go directly to public comments from the floor the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comments on educational issues and school matters of the community interest in support of this position the law establish AIC of public comments at every board meeting individuals wishing to speak must State their name and address comments are limited to 3 minutes duration but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard the board may require that individuals register to speak prior to the beginning of the meeting participants May submit written material in support of their position all statements in or questions shall be directed to the presiding officer and no participant May address or question board members individually all speakers are required to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect respect for dignity and privacy rights of others who legal rights may be affected please note while it is not the board's intention to stifle comments or matters of legitimate concern to the school Community the public should be aware that if their statements violate the rights of others under the law governing defamation and invasion of privacy they may face personal liability to the injured party if speakers are uncertain of their legal ramifications of their comments the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal advisor can I have a motion to open public session have a second second we are officially in public comments from the floor the floor is now open for the public to come forward to make their statement to say what they have to say when you come forward please give us your name and your address we will need just Township your name and your Township we will need for you to spell your name for us good evening do I need to press the button no you're good it's already on Township Council I have to press the camera so I didn't know how it works here uh my name is khed zad my first name is k h a l e d last name z a ye e d I'm sorry could you give me the last name again I'm sorry z a ye e d thank you and this is my first time coming to the board of at pway oh yeah Piscataway of course yes uh no other town so this is my town um so yeah I'm here because um I've have been going to the city council meetings uh for the past 6 months to urge the city council of Piscataway to pass a resolution for calling for ceasefire in Gaza as you know there's a genocide going on in Gaza right now I'm Palestinian American my people have been slaughtered every single day they literally pick up babies headless babies out of refugee camps in in Gaza because Israel is just literally dropping bombs on them so it's been very emotional for me right now as a Palestinian my family half of my family lives in in occupied Palestine so I was speaking last week at the city council and I was somebody brought to my a student brought to my attention that uh something that happened at the Piscataway High School yearbook um that I wanted to uh to speak about um which is I was told that um uh MSA Muslim Student Association took a group picture for the yearbook and they had the Palestinian flag in the background um but for somehow the the picture was uh photoshopped or edited and the flag was removed um um this is to me it's unacceptable um this is a free country as we were told and uh my understanding is you can carry any flag you want there is no nobody has any right to photoshop a picture for the yearbook and remove that flag from the background uh Palestinian flag um I wish I was going to bring the flag with me to show you what it looks like but I do have pictures of the before and after was edited um so I know there are some students who are going to speak but the fact that this was this happened is is is really sad for to me because my son graduated from piscar high school last year my other son is going to piscar high school next year and I don't want him to experience this uh right after October 7 uh last year um the I I don't have the I I forgot to bring my the entire article that was sent out uh to the school uh to the parents about to the community about you know the October 7 attacks and the the attack the October 7 attacks were condemned but I have yet to see the board um or anybody write an article or write something a message condemning what's happening to the Palestinian people every single day this is not a political I'm not trying to make this political here but I'm saying if you're going to take one side then you have to take the other side so uh I'm I going go back to the issue of the flag I want to know first of all why the flag was removed and I want to know like um I want a promise that this would never happen again and I will also want to demand the reinstate um restatement of the bag of the original picture into the yearbook and and reprint the the yearbook because this is not acceptable when even my own son when he heard of the story he was like wow that was his response wow why would they do this and he's going into the high school next year and I don't understand why would someone take it upon themselves to remove the flag to to edit the picture and remove the flag from the picture and then and then put that picture without the flag what what problem do they have with the flag why is the flag bothering them I I need an answer I need to to know what's what's going on I know there some of the stud is going to give more details because I I mean I'm speaking from what I've heard and I'm repeating what I heard but I wasn't there I didn't experience this but as a parent I I'm also trying to educate the community about my people because if I'm not going to sit silent I'm not going to everywhere there's an opportunity for me to speak about what's happening because sometimes the leaders in our community they make decisions that are not the right decisions they they make uninformed and uneducated decisions and we have a lot of our children here our our our students the Muslim Community Palestinian Community they come they attend the public schools and when they see stories like this it makes them very sad so we don't want this to happen we want to be be able to have a guarantee that this will never happen again and we need an apology from whoever did this and we also need I need to make sure like a demand that the picture will re be reinstated the original picture and the Yearbook will be reprinted that's all I have to talk about that I don't have a prepared speech but I just wanted to give give you an idea that I've been going to different towns and speaking about ceasefire and calling for townships to pass ceasefire resolution even if the board of AD has the opportunity to do something like that say we call on uh all parties to to ceasefire people are getting killed every single day and I know we live thousands of miles away but even our children are really being affected by this uh my own family my own children my wife we all impacted by what's happening thousands of miles away we see our people getting get killed there's nothing we can do about it so we need a statement about that so if you have any question for me if you have any follow-up question I don't know what the process is like here I know the I've been attended a few meetings at the piscar township so I know how it works but I'm not sure how it works here so if you have any question for me please ask me those questions sure I could I could answer you okay with it okay so um I'll make a a little bit of a statement before hand and I know a lot of a lot first of all it's great to see so many young people out here I I know uh this situation and and the what's going on has really affected a lot of people personally across the globe um and and we're sorry for the family members and and everything that that is involved um so you asked how this process works right it's really not a question and answer period I will um offer the things that went behind the decision and the justifications that we thought were justifiable for the decision I think really think there was a breakdown in communication but we'll get to that um so uh when people come up it's really not a question and answer period come up you can make your statements but I'll give you the answers that that you know you're asking on on kind of how it happened why it happened and and what the the the reasoning behind it was okay right so so we'll get to that but when when people come up again um when you address the presiding officer just understand it may not be a question and answer period when you sit there and answer questions it's more public comment cool so um some students in this room right know know me well they know Dr grey well um they know Mr bald desano well um the MSA has legitimately right has some concerns uh throughout the year because of what happened on October 9th um and the passion I'm sorry I'm so s the passion that you all have for the cause of of your people and what's going on across the globe is is very trendable um I know Mr baldasano has had specific conversations with all of you the principal about what the flag means in certain cases and asked you questions about why the why the flag uh and a lot of his aners what I'm um was conveyed to me a lot of the answers that he received was we want to protest the genocide and we is that is that an accurate account uh that's has the MSA has to answer that question um so really it it's a situation where the flag in that picture was a protest of some sort right our yearbook publication is not a place for political protest and that's where we rested the decision right uh in other places for the MSA throughout the year right there were uh allowances for the flags there were allowances for uh many things right stand for Palestine information session an article in the chief newspaper right uh articles and things that we uh gave support for in this publication we didn't feel like it was a place for a protest and that's where the decision and the rationale L now I will say uh I will personally apologize to everybody in this room and all of the MSA for the communication I think that that was poor right so if anybody you asked one one question you asked is who made this decision well it was me maybe not directly for the yearbook but throughout the year when we talked about the flag and Publications and what it means and why right um the consultation that we had and the and the communication that we had was that it can happen in certain places because because of what we allow students to to have freedom of speech and things like that but other places where it might appear like the school is taking one side over another for anything not in this CA whatever it may be and you mention you don't want it to be political but you mentioned the word politics seven times when you were speaking right so it is right in in essence it is political so we in this in this publication we did not feel it was a place for a political protest and and that's as as simple as as it is now again I apologize for the communication the student should have known that the picture was going to be photoshopped right and I'll take theis I'll take the responsibility for that and I do apologize so I can do followup right I have real quick I mean yeah you can okay all right so I don't know if he was a protest or not but regardless uh that that's something that the MSA has to I don't want to speak on their behalf but um the Palestinian flag should be it could be uh either a protest or could be um stand with the people of Palestine it has been done with UK Ukraine and on all levels you know when Ukraine was attacked you know everybody did it for Ukraine so why are we not and I've seen this happen in many different places where when it comes to Palestine there's always push that push back you know there's always censorship and I and when the letter that when the email was sent out in October I believe I spoke with you uh on the phone uh correct y yes uh we spoke and um and I was really I really wasn't too happy with that email because it condemned the attacks on October 7 but then we have daily attacks on the Palestinian people and I have not seen any single email saying we sympathize with the people of Palestine right we we literally had like a refugee camp uh three days ago that was obliterated like 274 Palestinians killed and and uh rescue they call rescue operation and my own NE my cousin's son uh was killed in the West Bank by settlers so we have you know daily killing daily know this happens and we we can't I can sometimes I can't sleep I'm just thinking about it all the time and if we if you know if the flag was removed maybe if like you said there was no communication maybe if that that happened maybe if it was communicated to the students maybe they could have explained to you that it's not a protest maybe just sympathize with the people of Palestine there's nothing wrong with doing that so again I mean not going back and forth but was conveyed what was conveyed to me is they use the word that we wanted to protest at genocide and I understand but again that the decision was made not to have that be a place of protest okay I understand what you're saying I'm not going to I don't want to take advantage and and and start taking over the meeting so I'm going to sit down thank you but I'm going let the somebody else speak on thank you thank you thank [Applause] you is there anyone else wishing to speak if so please come forward please state your name and spell it so that we can have it on record please yeah of course um hi everybody my name is zohak Khan um z h a last name k h an that's it I got it than yeah pway that's 2022 um um yeah so good evening board uh as I said already my name is zoha KH I'm actually a current student at Princeton University um but most most importantly when I introduced myself to new people including you guys I don't say it from Princeton I say I'm from piscatway and I spent the entirety of my educational schooling in Piscataway PHS class of 2022 qual toown class of 2018 MLK class of 2015 randel class of 2013 if I did my math right um and my education in piscato was formative to how I view the world and conduct myself in the public sphere it was through piscato that I learned what it means what this concept of diversity means that I learned the importance of diversity and unconditional acceptance of each other's identities it was through piscatway that I felt comfortable walking into school wearing a symbol that represented my faith knowing that it was this community and this town that supported my entire being and my identity and so that's really formative to me it's what I'm very thankful for and so it appalls me that the very place that grounded my practice of love and acceptance of each other's identity is now erasing the identity of Palestinian students that has taken a flag a symbol of one's being and has removed its existence from the yearbook this seems antithetical to the core values of what pescato stands for in diversity in equity and its values of care and compassion that even if you are not a part of a group in this case that Palestinian community that doesn't necessarily mean you must not be representing that group these are the values that I learned from pasato but in seeing the actions regarding the yearbook it seems that has failed to uphold the values that I stand for and from what I understand and this is where I stopped writing because I was so invested to what I was going on one's identity and ability to feel safe within their identity is a basic right and if that means representing your identity with with the flag representing other people's identity that you feels equally as valid as yours then that's completely okay that's something that's given to you as a human being and so it feels almost that if erasing that flag that removing something that is a part of someone's identity means that they are not worth of existing at all and so that's all I wanted to say these are my thoughts that I wrote in the car after I took an orgo exam like 10 minutes ago um but are just some things that I want everybody to be thinking about how are we erasing or upholding the identities of our minority students but not specifically just our picture perfect minorities but those that may not have the same platform and the same voice that other students have those are some things that I think PCAT we continue needs to be thinking about and some things that I just want them to reflect on and what it means to remove someone's identity from a public space thank you is there anyone else wishing to come forward and speak please come forward one at a time please state your name and spell it for the record please good evening my name is Omar Khan uh first name Amar a m m a r last name KH k h a a n and you're from um I'm from piscato I'm a senior at piscato high school um so might I remind you all today that not long ago our very own Frank relli said and I quote as a parent and an educator I can't help but think about the children in the Middle East who are caught in the middle of this violence um let us all hold our children a little closer and help reassure them through the difficult feelings this brutality may be bringing up I applaud Dr anelli in not only speaking up for children regardless of race and religion but reminding us all that we must hold our loved ones a little bit closer I did not realize however that according to Piscataway High School some people are clearly not considered people and some flags are deemed not to not ethnic enough can I not ask why Spain France Italy and China were recognized with in the yearbook but Palestine removed are they stateless because piscatway decided so I did not realize that Palestine was not only not considered a state but also willfully removed by the school does piscatway not thrive on diversity if one day another Nation with people that look like like me has a conflict with people that look like you will I not be considered a person will my roots be will my roots too be deemed not worthy enough to be carried around am I part of the diversity and Equity board only because I am Brown and to fulfill your diversity quota I request piscato High School who has been home to me for the past four years to understand that conflict in general is bad for anyone and whether it be Israel or Palestine at the end of the day innocent people suffer standing up for Humanity is what you taught us for the past three years and you made me strong enough to be here today I'm standing up today for the innocent not the perpetrators but the innocent the fact that the Palestinian flag was removed from the yearbook and yet miss Prince a science teacher at piscato high school is allowed to parade around the school wearing the Israeli flag is not only double standards at its finest but it's just honestly so sad to see I want to leave Piscataway high school as a proud alumni and I ask Dr relli and all those here today to think about the children in the Middle East who are caught by this violence and let us be assured that we too are people and to understand that the Palestinian flag just like all the flags displayed within our yearbook hold so much value to the Palestinian and Muslim Students of PHS that removing it has thrown out a piece of their history a piece of their culture a piece of Decades of persecution and Injustice it has thrown all that out the window talk about diversity equity and inclusion [Applause] the floor is open for the next person to come speak please state your name spell it and your town um Muhammad Khan spell it please m o h a m m e d k h a n and I'm from pasc um today I stand before you not just as a representative of our student body but as a voice for fairness inclusivity and respect we are gathered here to discuss a matter that has touched the hearts and minds of many within our community the decision to edit out the Palestinian flag from the yearbook yearbook picture featuring members of the Muslim Student Association firstly I want to acknowledge the complexity of navigating political symbols in an educational environment the intention to maintain a non-political stance is commendable however consistency in the application of such policies is Paramount to ensure fairness and equality the yearbook reflects our diverse Community a tapestry woven from the many threats that represent the different cultures languages and beliefs that enrich our school when the Palestinian flag held proudly by the Muslim Student Association is added out for being a political yet the war language Honor Society photo remains unedited with European flags inadvertently said a message of selective censorship that contradicts the values we uphold the Palestinian flag in this context is not a political statement but a symbol of culture identity much like the flags represented by the world uh World Language Honor Society to edit one while allowing the other creates a disparity that we must address it is not the presence of these flags that is political but rather to the decision to treat them differently the decision to continuously attempt to remove Palestinian representation and disregard Palestinian identity we must ask ourselves what message are we sending to our students are we fostering an environment where all students feel seen and valued or are we setting um a a precedent that some cultural expressions are more acceptable than others we are tired of having to defend the Palestinian identity every single time a community representative decides to not represent us but we will continue to do so nevertheless we will continue to Advocate on their behalf and continue to showcase the Palestinian identity regardless of any attempts to erase it as we move forward I urge the school administration and the board to consider the amplifications of such decisions let us work together to create a yearbook that truly captures the spirit of our school one of unity diversity and mutual respect let us use this as an opportunity to set standards for inclusivity where every student's identity is celebrated and honored thank you for your time and [Applause] consideration pleas youe state your name spell it in your Township please my name is NAA d n i k a last name d eii t c and I'm a Jewish Piscataway resident and I shouldn't have to mention that but I feel like it offers some strange um Power in these conversations and I want to talk a little bit about why the nature of the Palestinian flag is political but not how you guys are describing it it is not the choice this is not the first time or the last time the Palestinian flag will be banned the Palestinian flag by its very nature is a protest because it has been banned in countries across the world it was it might it is illegal to fly it in many places that in case you're wondering is why the watermelon symbol is so popular with the Palestinian movement because it includes red white green and black in a symbol that is much more harder to uh censor from public than a flag all flags are political they are the symbols of a political state to if you want to to remove politics from education we have an American flag right there I don't think we should remove it but if we're taking out politics of flags that some people find questionable we have one in every classroom the Palestinian uh movement is one that is important and one that I guarantee in the ne coming decades your teachers will teach about along with the civil rights movement and the resistance to the um Hol cost and just like those opt those events the people in charge are against the change for the better I want to Echo what everyone is saying tonight about the hypocrisy and double standard and I want to Proclaim my support for the Muslim Student Association and their ability to have care for their culture in in such difficult times it is not easy being of a marginalized religion some might say our very existence is a protest in a Christian country and I think it is unfair to hold them to a standard of not being protesting of not being political while the government has decided that their very being is thank you anyone else wishing to speak please come forward please state your name spell in your Township please hi my name is rany haxon r a n y h a k s n piscat I'm from piscatway um so I'd like to start off by letting you all know that I am the daughter of parents who surviv the Cambodian genocide um I was born in a refugee camp because my parents um weren't able to return to their home um so and I always wondered how did the world allow the karus to kill two million people and you know allow them to commit genocide for nearly 5 years without anyone trying to stop it and now I know I'm watching it happen we've been witnessing a genocide happened in real time for the past 8 months we've been watching children be bombed day after day after day Gaza had to cancel this school year because kid too many kids had been killed and they were being bombed and killed in their sleep they had to cancel the school year what are we doing as adults if we're not protecting all children from this type of suffering every child is ours we're not acting like it um and I do want to address uh you know what drives me nuts is when people say oh you're so passionate about this cause this is not a matter of passion it's a matter of standing up for what is right and what is right is to stand up against a genocide because genocide is never right genocide is always wrong it is not politics it's politics because our government wants us to think it's politics because they we are seated in the the rotten core of the Imperial Empire who has been supporting Israel a settler Colonial entity since its existence and it is they're trying to get rid of Palestinians to take over land that is the reality this flag this Flag represents this is the Palestinian flag I brought a very small one this represents dignity honor resilience most importantly it represents 75 years of suffering 75 years of a struggle for liberation and and the right to self-determination that's what this Flag represents there's nothing political about it so when I heard that the students were directed to remove the flag from their photo I thought well why why is this flag so threatening this Flag represents all that is good in this world okay when palestin is free we're all free because they're fighting the colonial Empire that has been indoctrinating the all of us even the education system we've seen from these encampments at the universities that cops are not meant to Serve and Protect US they're meant to Serve and Protect the ruling class because you see how these they they've been treating those students those students are not being protected as Educators I always expected that the teachers were the ones that would be on the side of what is right I'm starting to question that now what are we teaching our children if it's not to stand up for what is right what are we teaching them that for me I don't care if you have a degree but if you have honor and dignity and the courage to stand up for what's right you're my type of people why is it that why is it that we're not teaching about a live genocide and allowing our students to to engage in the cause we we teach about other past genocides and what is the point of that the point of it is so that students can learn what how to spot when a genocide is happening so they can help stop it and that's not what when has paltin been mentioned in the classroom I probably never why is it not being taught we have the opportunity for these students to engage in a cause against a genocide why are they not being allowed to do that why are they not being given the opportunity to do that in their classrooms it appalls me like what is it so hard what's so hard to understand about about the fact that there's a genocide that more than 40,000 people have been killed more than half of them are women and children what about that is right why are we not being louder about defending them and and you know um again like I said as adults as Educators our our role is to protect you know the Safety and Security of children all children and I feel like it doesn't apply to Palestinian children for some reason why not is it because they're on the other side of world but listen it's our tax dollars that is funding that genocide my money your money going going to fund a genocide if you don't know all you got to do is little simple Google search it's our tax dollars that our government is sending to fund this genocide you're paying for it I'm paying for it and Over My Dead Body will I be silent thank you good evening state your name spell it in Township hi good evening my name is Sayad Hashmi s y d h a s hm I I'm the piscat resident sorry yes well thanks for giving the opportunity for us uh to stand here and talk about that I did not write anything or just have some talking points I remember a few months back I think last year earlier when they have a freshman uh what they call decoration for the doors when the Freshman comes in there's some decoration they set up and I've seen the pictures there's a Palestinian flag on one door there's another door was Israeli flag and the Pakistani other flags so if you talk about the flags are actually politics right the these are political so if you allow it in the school why not in the school book that doesn't make sense to me on one hand you allow kids to decorate their classroom because you have the kids coming in to to to their first year classes and at the other hand we are saying because this is a political uh flag or representing whatever it is the other thing is also I I really appreciate the piscar uh Board of Education uh have a diversity group we brought Dr Gray the he's doing a phenomenal job because because I attended few uh programs with him and then I see lot of kids really coming together but after seeing this event I think we probably failed in a big time because what we are trying to teach teach our kids the kids who are exiting the PHS or they are graduating or the kids who are coming my daughter she is in the middle school she will be in high school in couple of years what they trying to learn they know all what is happening right now they they they will remember that this year when my son Rahim is my son he's graduating so what will happen that that year this this event came right so what what what are we trying to teach our kids you need to educate the people who are administrator who are running the organization who are running the school because it's all about education as few people before me talk about that you need to understand what is what is the context behind it not just somebody said is a political situation is a is a is a protest representing the protest but at the same time we creating double standard so in my opinion this is not something which we are setting up for our kids because they are the one who are the torge bear they they represent piscar when they go and and uh graduate from here go to different colleges everybody asked where are you coming from piscar oh I know that place is a nice place they have diversity they have lot of different ethnic group and how they actually mingle together how they work together but these type of events this will be on social media I'm sure everybody knows we'll talk about that that's that's what happened if PC high school They removed the flag and and and to me is how you can Photoshop that those two kids holding a flag and you move those kids around in a picture without even having their consent that's that's to me doesn't make sense how you can touch my picture from the from the photo and move around because I look at the picture fur I said okay those two kids were holding the flag where did they go or they moved because the flag was removed so they photosho that's to me it's ridiculous honestly unfortunately I have to use that word but I think you probably have to educate first yourself because what is happening right now I'm not talking into okay we we already talk uh whatever the events happen after October 7 the genocide everything but I think at this point if we educate ourselves more we will not get into this situation today is Palestine tomorrow will be something else Next Day next year will be something else so any event comes in you probably have to educate yourself that's the important part in my opinion because because it's not just one event it can happen but if you don't educate ourself it can happen again and we probably will be sitting with a different audience I think that's the most important because zcat board of education education that's most important to me thank you very much please stage your name spell it in Township please uh I'm Jenna Abu Salam J Ann a h a b o u s a l e m I'm a junior at pcad high school I'm a Muslim Palestinian and Egyptian student who is part of day of dialogue Group which works with div diversity and Equity this is a story of microaggressions that have happened in the classroom it was the end of October about 2 to 3 weeks after October 7th a teacher of mine didn't show up to school one day so when I saw her in class after the weekend I asked her why she wasn't in school she told me that she needed a mental health day after everything that was happening in the world and seeing all the anti-Semitism was affecting her in my mind I knew she was talking about what was happening in Israel and Palestine she started naming events that were legit examples of anti-Semitism she know I was Egyptian but she don't know I was also Palestinian so I wanted to point that out in hopes she'd be sensitive I said as a Palestinian it's so sad to see anti-Semitism and islamophobia Rise around the world because of something we can't control she agreed I then asked do you have any friends or family in Israel are they safe she responded only millions of non-blood related family after that the conversation died down a bit before she sat at her desk and called me over when I got there she said I forgot to ask you do you have any friends or family in Palestine I knew she met Gaza where I don't have any family so I answered I have family friends and family of friends there she then asks are they safe are they okay earlier that day I got a call from a friend telling me how his aunt and uncle were killed in Gaza the weekend before my parents were telling me how they were talking with people who lost up to 45 family members I answered no they were killed with a straight face sounds aggressive but that's what happened they didn't die or pass away they were killed by Israel I was tearing up just thinking about it she looks at me with a sympathetic face then says oh were they used as human Shields my tears dried up and my jaw dropped I couldn't believe someone had just asked me that question let alone a teacher I made a face and said no I think she realized from my tone and face that I was extremely offended by that question because she tries to justify by saying well you know because Isis and hasbalah use human Shields I then say I don't think Hamas is running into schools and hospitals just to kill themselves and a bunch of kids and even if they were hiding in there is really bright to bomb a hospital and kill a 100 people just to kill one or two Hamas soldiers she quickly say she quickly says no I never said that after that I don't remember too much of the rest of the conversation I was too in my head thinking about that all I remember was us talking for maybe a minute and hugging at the end I spoken to Dei about the incident and chosen not to report it because I believe she's uneducated about the issues and really truly believes what Israel is saying to try and justify the massacres they're committing but nothing can justify killing one child let alone thousands I still get emotional talking about this moment and it really has affected me I still feel it's important to speak about to raise awareness and give an example of the microaggressions that can happen in the classroom I was recently asked how I felt that I as a student had to have that conversation with a teacher and my answer was that it doesn't feel good why should I as a student have to be put in such an uncomfortable situation that it shouldn't be in in the first place a teacher's job us to create a safe and comfortable environment and after that comment she failed to create a comfortable environment for me as a Muslim and Palestinian student school is not a place for teachers to State their political beliefs let alone try and justify the slaughter of my friend's family as Palestinians we're always being silenced this yearbook Photoshop is also another way of us being silenced about where we're from genetic wise I'm one of the few Palestinian students at school but in reality we're all Palestinian my friends are Palestinian everyone at this meeting right now is Palestinian casc high school as Palestinian please stop silencing our voices and let us represent where we're [Applause] from is there anyone else wishing to come forward and speak if so please do so please state your name spell in your Township please hello my name is Ahmed sa uh first name ah m a d last name name s a q e and I live incado symbolic speech is a form of free speech that is a civil liberty reserved to All American citizens this right is what enables all people to express and speak their minds this important right has been violated In This Very School District a Flag represents a people their culture their history to censor a flag a symbol or any form of representation occurs not in a free Society but in a dictatorship a few moments ago Dr anelli said the flag in that picture was not a protest uh was a protest of some sort and the Yearbook the yearbook is not a place for political protest on whose authority does a flag become a form of political protest on whose authority does our right to Free Speech become a problem I need not remind everyone here of the hypocrisy of this decision but to remind you of a landmark decision of the Supreme Court case Tinker versus de Mo in this case a white American students were black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War in school these students were suspended from school and were not allowed to utilize their free speech this form of censorship resulted in the incorporation of symbolic speech to the states and invertedly to the American people this this case is what enables all of us to walk around with a flag or a kufa or anything that represents symbolic speech and that is all of our rights this decision was made 55 years ago long before I was even thought of and yet it seemed seems that such a precedent cannot be realized in such a small Township such as piscatway is there anyone else wishing to come forward and speak oh hello my name is Maz khon m a a z KH H an I'm not from scataway I'm from Edison I'm I did hear about this incident over social media PCAT is becoming famous um I hope this won't cause you to disregard my comments But please understand they they come from a very sincere place um from a neighbor um we're living in a very uh we're living in a historical moment we're living in a moment the equivalent of the Civil Rights era uh the Vietnam War protests the struggle against apartheid in South Africa that is how history will remember these days and these years maybe some of you feel that it's unfair that you are caught up in something that is outside of your control that is how how many of us are feeling we have we're very powerless in the face of of billions in in special interests and um governmental Affairs and foreign interests but it's coming home to piscat away it's coming home to things that are that are within our power to control and an act there's no country in the world that you that has more protection an undue protection than the state of Israel and it's coming home to Piscataway in New Jersey I can boycott any country in the world I can choose to boycott any country in the world including the country that we're living in including our own the United States of America but it is actually illegal in the state of New Jersey and 36 other states to boycott the state of Israel that is extraordinarily outrageous that we cannot boycott express our First Amendment right to boycott a foreign country without P without penalty from from the state it's it's frankly against the First Amendment I'm sure there's going to be State uh challenges in the courts and and I need you to uh but I need you to understand that you know this is something that's completely wrong that's happening here but it's coming home our first amendment uh uh First Amendment freedoms are being affected by what's happening overseas and by these special interests that are that are acting in many different ways and in certain ways to remove things like the Palestinian flag we talk about ethnicity we talk about uh flags as political symbols and that that is justification for removing them from from a yearbook but I ask you why is it that only certain ethnicity cities and certain flags are considered too political to be given valid uh protections of expression it's it's outrageous I mean uh a few decades ago the Irish were fighting a struggle against their occupiers the Irish in in in Ireland and in in Northern Ireland in particular they were fighting a a struggle against uh the British occupation we never considered the Irish to be a political identity we never said the Irish fly cannot be displayed because it is too political because the Irish were interested to be human they were interested to have a complete identity they had a culture they had they still do you know you know there are many Irish in in in the United States today but they're considered to be whole people so too the Palestinian flag it does not just represent their struggle for Liberation it represents a complete people food and and clothing and music and you know a religious expression a history of many thousands of years these are a people they are not just political entity they are people and by criminalizing their flag and that is what this flag this sort of censorship is doing we are erasing we are helping the forces that oppose them we are helping erase their identity that is that is what is within our power to do that is within or what is within your power to do do that is the choice that you choose to make by by allowing this to go forward by not by not uh disciplining whatever faculty member uh caused this to happen or by by by speaking to the yearbook uh company that that actually enacted this that is within that is what is within our power to do or or to not do I ask you how you will choose to be remembered by the generations to come we remember the inaction of those in power during the struggle for civil rights and against aparte South Africa those were not the heroes of History the heroes of History will be those who stood up against those in power you have the power to be remembered in a positive manner to remember to be standing on the right side of History those who who enact censorship are never on the right side of History let's be let's be honest and yet this is being justified and I'm I'm finding it out just I'm finding it disgusting to to see people justifying this sort of censorship of a valid political identity um I ask you to to take steps to to remediate this this is not something that should be allowed to to be rushed under the rug there should be consequences for this there should be remediation my younger siblings go to your schools I I don't I I I don't want them to go you know forward and graduate from the school knowing that their Board of of education did not protect them did not protect their expression it's you you were entrusted with with these children these young adults and I I I urge you to not you know not to not not shatter their sense of uh confidence in who they are by allowing this to pass please take action thank you [Applause] please state your name spell it and Township your FR please my name is BB isak and I'll spell it BBI uh last name Esa h c k and I am a resident of Piscataway um I'd like to start first by really commending all the students here tonight um who are brave enough to come forward this might be the most populated uh board meeting you've ever had um and that shows you um the passion in which this topic has reached every single home um of every person here and more uh I'm a former educator and uh I had the privilege of teaching history and political science and I also had the privilege of teaching about the Holocaust and I proudly taught Muslim and non-muslim children about the Holocaust and how horrible it was and the repercussions of it and what I see here today and what I'm hearing here today and what I've been hearing since October 7th from my own children who attend Piscataway schools is that they don't feel safe in their schools and I'm going to give you a really a live example of not feeling safe my children were praying at the Muslim Student Association in Piscataway High School when a teacher entered their Friday prayer walked in front of them multiple times times A student got out of the line of prayer if you know how Muslims pray they pray in straight lines um and asked her is everything okay is there a reason that you're kind of parading in front of us or walking in front of us that teacher was nothing happened to her absolutely nothing happened to her then after absolutely after October 7th that teacher approached students in her classroom and said to them do you know that Hamas uh Burns babies in ovens and that's okay for teachers at a school to say and no repercussions to happen that's not okay I'm an educator if it was me and it was [Applause] reversed if it was me and if it was reversed I would have been doxed my entire career would have been over in a moment and everybody in this room knows that after that the that teacher was put on quote unquote leave and then reinstated back into the school and you all know who I'm talking about parading in the hallways with an Israeli flag although a Palestinian flag cannot go inside the yearbook and I'll be honest with you this is absolutely ridiculous to for an entire community of people here and yes all of us are Palestinian I'm not Palestinian but I'm Palestinian all of us are Palestinians why is it that we have to come here and we have to say with what should be common sense that these children find this issue so important to them as children often do as youth often do as we did when we were young I was that student in front of the United Nations 20 years ago protesting because there was genocide happening in Palestine and I'm proud that my children do the same and actually I'm the one that drives them to those protests and I'm I'll tell you this when we look look at what that teacher did and nothing happened to her and I've been told that she is going to quote unquote retire quietly this year should we open investigation about that why is she quietly going to be pushed away when she should be up here and she should be and we should be asking her what in the world were you thinking intimidating students on their Friday prayer what were you thinking asking them or telling them that babies are being burned in ovens by Mass what in the world is going on in a small town like Piscataway that a teacher is allowed to do something like that that is a shame yes we're here today many of us talking about the Palestinian flag in a in a in a yearbook but the problem is deeper because if my children have to hear that in the in a school in piscatway high school I'm afraid of what's being said in the elementary schools and in the junior high schools and children not reporting it that brave young girl that came and said you know what I didn't report it and she should have reported it and her parents should have reported and every single person that has an issue should be reporting it and how many reports will the Board of Education here need to get before something is done we are at a moment as many of you have heard in history where history is being written and they're asking what side of History you going to stand on are you going to stand on the right side of History are you going to be on the history that Nelson Mandela stood up against when he fought for the end of a partite in South Africa I don't teach in piscatway I've never taught in Pascal way I taught in New York City where maybe you can hear from my accent but I'll tell you this if this happened in New York City that teacher would have been out completely out if it was reversed and it was a brown or black teacher that teacher would have been out how dare pcad Board of Education not take action against Abby Prince and I said her [Applause] name there anyone else wishing to come forward please state your name spell it in your Township please hello my name is has Rahman I'm in alumni I'm I'm a resident p PCAT and I'm an alumni pcad High School class of 2022 can you your name please h a s e e b I would like to reiterate the call of my classmates and fellow alumni and fellow piscato residents against the Eraser of Palestinian identity and I invite all you board members all your board members present here right now to stand against the Eraser that happened against the character against the Palestinian people and to stand against the characterization of Palestinian identity of Palestinian existence as quote unquote political cuz the same wasn't done by all for Ukraine you characterize Mr relli you characterize the protest against genocide as something political political earlier in the meeting I don't know what you specifically believe on Ukraine but you represent the public institution so I'll tell you what the public Institution said regarding Ukraine what they did regarding Ukraine when ukrainians took up arms no not peacefully protesting they took up arms against the Russian occupiers the public institutions rallied for them in fact our own local YMCA flew the Ukrainian flag and in solidarity with them that's right when Palestinians are slaughtered silently by their occupiers they are erased like they were in the yearbook such acts are not merely symbolic they indicate implications about views on Palestinian life on human life and the worthlessness assigned to them by the American public institution the duty to stand up for Palestinian life is incumbent on every public official on every American public official and every American citizen because the slaughter is happening with our tax dollars it's happening on our dime less the public Institution fail the Palestinians the same way they fail black people and Native Americans and the people of Iraq I iterate to the board of education to not fall into the same steps as many of our local Democratic po politicians like our very own local genocide supporter Frank palone the Democrats not all of them maybe not even our piscat Democrats but too many of them they smile at us they do photo ops for diversity with us they come to our mosques then sign off billions of dollars of weapons to a fascist government that has bombed to death 40,000 Palestinians I'm compelled to bring up the Democratic party which I know most of yall are part of the party of progressivism and diversity quotequote because the bombs that Palestinian people are being killed under are signed off almost unanimously by Democratic politicians and and by genocide Joe and kiving Kamala we must stand we must stand up for Palestinian rights we must stand up for Palestinian rights stand up for what is right over fleeing and temporary political alliances and we must acknowledge and reach out to our Palestinian neighbors and stents almost all of them who have lost family members whether they from the West Bank whether they from razza and because of my concern against Injustice because I I'm ashamed to see an injustice that is being funded by our tax dollars because I stand for never again the way we did for the Holocaust I say from The River To The Sea Palestine will be [Applause] free is there anyone else wishing to come forward and be heard please St your name spell it in your Township please good afternoon my name is Amin sa uh am i n S A QE I'm a resident of pasato I myself am not Palestinian but the closest people in my life are Palestinian my best friends are Palestinian my mother's best friend who I admire and look up to is Palestinian so when I see the Palestinian flag I see freedom and I see home it is a place that I would like to call home I myself have been to Palestine once I thankfully like to say that so when I when I went there I was at a checkpoint trying to get into a mosque a place of prayer a place of Peace getting into that mosque you see a checkpoint where soldiers 10 10 soldiers have AK-47s fully armed ready to be aimed and fired at anybody who resists I've seen friends who look the Poli the officers in the eyes and the officers were grabbing the trigger of their gun ready to shoot I personally have Trauma from this and I hate to admit it but every time I see the Israeli flag I feel as if I'm coming to tears so when I see a teacher in a place where I'm supposed to be felt safe and a place where I'm supposed to learn parading around the school with an Israeli flag on her back my trauma comes back I feel I feel sad I remember the people who are getting killed in Palestine currently right now I reliving this trauma is the hardest thing in my life it's so hard because seeing my friends and family being aimed at with guns with AK-47s fully loaded ready to kill somebody just to get into a place of Peace this lowly matter is of our flag the Palestinian flag getting cropped out of the school like school book it's not about just the school photo it's about our people our Palestinian people people our family in Palestine getting not recognized in our schools in a place we're meant to feel safe people people here today I are Palestinian there are some Palestinian students Among Us who don't feel safe coming to school after seeing a teacher parading with the Israeli flag I just think when I see this it's horrible it's shameful a teacher shouldn't be able to parade around with a flag and I can't parade right with my flag I see I see as home I see as safe thank you [Applause] there anyone else wishing to speak please step forward please State your names SP it in your Township please yeah good evening uh my name is jaria j a w r y a last name Muhammad m o h a m m ad and I'm from Piscataway good evening I'm here today as a a piscatway resident and former public school teacher for a district that Prides itself on diversity and inclusion it's abhorent that the piscatway admin censored the Palestinian flag from the Muslim student association's group photo in the school yearbook going to Great length to photoshop the flag out this is a clear discriminatory Behavior against the school's very own Muslim and Palestinian student population the censorship infringes upon the students right to freedom of speech and act ly erases their identities it sends a dangerous message to the entire Community deeming Palestinians to be irrelevant or what's more chilling non-existent and fuels the current environment of anti-muslim anti-muslim hate and anti-palestinian hate that is already rampant within our country what is more shameful is that this is H this happened during a time when Palestinian lives culture and Educational Systems are deliberately being wiped out during what UNF experts and Scholars of genocide have confirmed an act of genocide and scolastici I should not have to remind the board that there are Palestinian families in piscatway who have lost loved ones in Gazza it is then appalling for piscatway admin to silence Palestinian and Muslim Students from expressing their very identities during this time instead of taking pride in your students courage you are alienating them and teaching them that their voice doesn't matter and that their lives and the lives of those who they love don't matter thank [Applause] you evening state your name spell it in your Township please yes this is the speaker here yes that's the speaker um hello my name is Jacob Pender j a k o b uh Pender p n d r uh resident of a resident of PCAT Rucker New Brunswick student substantial disruption this is a term that means that is based on the Tinker test a test that was brought up earlier a test that the Supreme Court ruled that when a student walks to the door of their Public School their first amendment rights do not get lost that includes not just their freedom of speech but the whole First Amendment including their freedom of press whether the superintendent beli believes that this flag was political or not does not matter and is irrelevant if these students wanted to put something very political if they wanted to put free Palestine in their yearbook they had the First Amendment right to do so that is [Applause] what that is what is protected in the US Constitution for these students to do in their yearbook so whether whether or not you believe the the flag is political that's irrelevant what matters is that this is their yearbook this is a public school and these are laws that are put into place to protect the students and that is something you have all failed to do you have the chance to make this right to adhere to the law that protects the students whether or not you agree with this flag I personally do I think that having a flag of a country in a yearbook I think that's great that is diversity I think that's amazing but what it is why it was removed is not because it was believed it was political but because we believe that having a having a Palestinian flag is an attack is anti-Semitic is an attack on the Jewish people I am Jewish having this flag and having it removed from the yearbook does not in any way help any Jewish person at all because when we start taking away the rights of people with marginalized identities that will not just affect Palestinians that will affect Jews that will affect all people of marginalized identities what next are we going to blur out a star of David on a student is wearing around their neck because we think it's political are we going to blur out their yamaka because we think it's political this is the students's First Amendment right to have this in the yearbook board president Cherry I campaign for you and your team based on inclusive leadership based on human rights was a different issue back in November it was lgbtq rights but they're all one in the same when we are seeing lgbtq plus when we're seeing queer Palestinians being killed when we are seeing human rights being taken away at every corner at every school board at every school across this country it's unacceptable human rights being taken away at Public Schools is not acceptable I'm going to read the exact Tinker opinion here Mater did the speech or expression of the student and this is where the quote starts materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school or might it and this where the quote restarts reason have led School authorities to forecast substantial disruption of or material interference with school activities according to the nonprofit student press Law Center this Tinker test applies to all School Publications including school um uh newspapers and yearbooks that applies there are you going to sit there and try to say that this interferes substantially and disrupts school activities and operations is that is that the hill you're going to die on thank [Applause] you anyone else wishing to come forward and be heard please state your name spill it in your Township please hi my name is Dary Patel it's d h r m i last name Patel p a t e l um Township peace Gathering thank you um I'm here today um I've been reaching out to District various uh team members regarding the information and struggle I'm going through with my son this has been 6 years and I finally realize I am not looking at the root cause of the issue and I'm just trying to treat something superficially so my son's been having behavior issue which the school calls it Behavior issue um since first grade we thought because it's his age it's normal and um so first uh it happened in first grade in kindergarten where teacher was uh reporting to me and then I was doing all I can on my own then I couldn't do anything else it was a whole year and trying to do what I can then I reached out to Mr basketball he was the principal at the time at Grand View uh Elementary School and we met and he mentioned teacher never reported so we could have sent him to a different class to see something else and we did we started that and it worked for a little bit but then the school year ended and then second and third grade fourth and fifth grade it got worse as he's getting into pre-teenage years so I started blaming his pre-teenage age and saying you know what you need to start behaving you need to do this and that but then he's a straight A student he gets 9700 in all subjects okay um then U I requested [Music] when it happened two three times and then he was like there was some um action taken but one of them was he was dismiss uh he was suspended and that's when I took it seriously it was something that okay they said it was against code of conduct and fine when I looked into more why he was doing what was going on I asked for help from school from the counselor of what we can do okay he's going home I want to know what I need to do week and a half I did not hear anything from this from the counselor uh I stopped at my public library I asked them for counseling information I got something I reached out to Heaven I sub I requested school to fill out the form because heaven told me that um if teacher fills it out you can get a in a uh it has more weight on it and there are 20 students in a week list so the the the school told me there are 20 20 St students ahead of him so he might not get a call uh so we were going to fill it out I did not wait I fill it out on my own whatever I could I sent it in I got a call next day I got him on on a appointment by the time School gave me information and that to I reached out third time and we started counseling and we had a meeting with Mr brasal um school psychologist and the heaven psychologist and she she's the one who introduced me to something and said it's not a behavior issue he's a talented kid right then when I started looking into school system uh in our district to see what kind of gifted and talented program we have so I asked the district for information I was directed to school website when I go on a school district website the district website direct me to njac website which says this is what you're supposed to do one of the the legislation requirement is strengthening gifted and talented Education Act 338 chapter 338 which says gifted and talented continuous service policies and procedures implemented at school district the total number of students receiving gifted and talented service in each grade level this is the reporting that that District supposed to report to the state I asked for information because I wanted to know how many students are there are there any parents who I can reach out to and get information to help myself now we there's supposed to be multiple measures what we are calling multiple measures is njsla one of the assessment we're using the our district is using I even sent other districts information their coet testing policies and what they do and how it's helpful okay the district worked with me and they they tried to give me something which was a test for Math and literacy which my son had no idea I had no idea so they before I called and I asked what kind of tested oh we just going to test him in math and Ela uh he was tested the ELA supervisor called but math supervisor never called me to explain what was going on again I waited for Matt he's been placed in seventh grade he's going into six he's been placed in seventh which is great but for ELA his 1 hour test he finished in 15 minutes but he's still going to be in honors which all of his other owners classmates going what I am concerned is I don't want him to miss his school year uh like his age skip middle school or whatever I don't want him to skip that what I am afraid is he's going to have too much time and he's going to have very issues and what am I going to do so latest response I got from the district is they're looking into improving our gifted gifted and talented program I think there was some training last Monday about gifted and talented program but I really uh I'm really here today to express my experience with child I have one on on a spectrum my one son is on a spectrum which is whole lot of work for me but then in another hand I have talented kid who also I'm who is ignoring and I thought it was my isso I was ignoring him and that's why he's having veryy issue but we really need to look into to see what other districts are doing and what else we can do because I looked at South planfield School District it is impressive the amount of information they provide to to to parents on what is a coet test what does an example look like um owners is academic level The Talented kids need more than that otherwise they're going to have Behavior issue so now on if if something happen am I going to start counseling for him because after six session the counselor says I'm dismissing him because he doesn't have be he doesn't need it so at first place I also have to think about his mental health I'm taking him for counseling when he really doesn't need counseling and and what is he think so my request is I would like to see a report that that is the state required report uh that should have information as per chapter 338 if I could see the report uh I've been kep directed to the district website it does not have anything District website direct me to njsc website and it has a whole lot of pages of information of njac this is what the njac website has so if any parents who's looking for information and it has a requirement what district should have on the district website about the assessment procedure policies and that's not available on the website I even wanted to file a complaint but I want to give a fair chance to this District to look at it and see if there is anything give me information or or provide information to other parents that can help um and that is it that's all I have uh one more thing about hearing all of this going on in the world I wasn't I was not aware of any of this is going on I have a child on a spectrum and I thought of it differently when I hear all this if something like this happen he anything you say to him will take heat he will take seriously so if any diversity issue or anything is being said to him he will he will process it differently than than other kids for an example if my husband gets mad and if he tells him okay if you don't want to do your homework throw it out he will go throw it out he will throw it in the trash that's how serious he is so think about I am now walking away here with different worry in my mind of if the district has this kind of stuff going on on top of what he's dealing with and what he's going through and if I'm going to have to worry about his safety and his what else he's going to see it it's concerning thank you very [Applause] much can you do me a favor ma'am can you do me a favor could you spell your first name again Dary it's DH a r Mi I and what school does your son go to um my older one is in in Arbor he's going to shore sure next year that's the one you were speaking about yes so he's he'll be in Arbor going to shore I we going to Shore and my younger one is in Grandville thank you anyone else wishing to speak please come forward please state your name spell it in your Township please U my name is r r i d a last name Hashi h a h m i I'm a piscat High School alum class of 2023 and I just want to bring it back to the point that the flag issue and all this Palestine Israel issue I believe Dr relli said about 30 minutes ago that the Palestine flag was removed because the flag was seen as a form of protest I just wanted to point out something very quickly the Civil Rights flag was political was that was fine that flag also wrong the women's rights flag was political is that flag also wrong like he said not that long ago was the Tinker Mo case would piscatway act as Deo if the case did not exist and honestly when has America in history not political political is how we bring about change if Piscataway deems change wrong I think I understand the stance that Piscataway take in [Applause] history state your name spell in Township please hi my name is Isabella Lopez i z a b l l a um I grew up in piscatway and I graduated in 2020 some of you might remember my mother Alexander Lopez who served on this board for about 10 years so thanks to her I'm pretty familiar with the ins and outs of administrative policy and the sort of issues you deal with on a daily basis I of the belief that Zionism is an extension of white supremacy and any sort of Tolerance of Zionism is condoning the genocide of Palestinians I of the belief that one day Zionism will be widely condemned as inherent ently oppressive fascist ideology and that all those who did not speak up during this time will carry a deep sense of regret and shame that is my personal political opinion as a current Rucker student and future educator in social and political sciences I'm here to Echo the concerns of this community and to say that the board's reasoning for removing the flag is simply void by erasing a flag you are sending a clear political message it is a message that it is controversial to acknowledge Palestinian existence it's a message that Palestinian national identity does not exist or is inherently threatening to a particular group the same message being echoed by our president and all people supporting the Zionist agenda would you have made the same decision if it was an Israeli flag or if the flag didn't represent a people who were predominantly brown or Muslim if you take offense to that suggestion or find it absurd you're not doing the work of an ally to understand how implicit bias informs our decisions to go beyond performative diversity politics is to understand the difference between equality and equity to understand the context in which our students are learning and living in I'm not sure if you guys are aware but Google recently removed Palestine off the map something that's happened on and off in the last few years we're entering the final stages of the genocide and have the rare ability to Bear witness to it in real time thanks to imagery shared by those on the ground in Palestine nobody should have to live stream the violent and brutal murders of their loved ones to prove that they deserve to live but unfortunately this is the reality for Palestinians students have to go to school and maintain some semblance of normaly after waking up to the most traumatic imagery you could possibly conceptualize imagery that I would have to assume y'all are not forcing yourself to view because if you were this decision would not have been made are you aware that the devices our students are using to access educational resources are minded using child labor in countries like the Congo that the multi-billion dollar corporations behind the technology used in our schools are contributing to not only the genocide of Palestinians but of the congales people as well as far as I'm concerned neither the Palestinian nor congales genocides are included in our curriculum but the Holocaust is mayhaps you can apply your knowledge of privilege and intersectionality to understand why that is regardless of whether or not you were personally responsible for that decision this is just one small example which proves that every decision you make in regards to these children's education and in your personal lives is political you are sending messages every day without realizing it I would hope that in a district which claims to prioritize student safety and belonging taking a stance against colonialism imperialism and the eradication of a marginalized people would not be controversial but unfortunately that's not the world we live in while I would like to think it's due to propaganda and misinformation the reality is that every single one of you regardless of your status as a minority or an oppressed person has grown up in the context of the American Empire and therefore your thoughts views and policies that you uphold have been shaped by systemic racism and violence when I saw the edited yearbook photo circulating on social media I was disappointed and embarrassed but not surprised in the slightest in my time as a student in this just District I dealt with my fair share of bigotry and Injustice and fought enough battles that I rarely choose to return to District of events other than to support current students I applore all of you to look deeply and introspectively to understand how this decision has impacted the marginalized students you claim to care so much about and profit from and to take accountability for the harm that has already been caused while doing everything possible to rectify this mistake and stand on the right side of History thank [Applause] you is there anyone else wishing to speak okay with that being said go good evening my name is Rahim Hashi r a a m h a hm I um I want to begin by expressing gratitude for all the support you have provided me at in my tenure as student representative um it has been an honor to serve in this capacity and to work alongside all of you who are clearly dedicated um to the betterment of our School Community however I do want to address a matter that has deeply impacted me and many of my fellow students on May 30th our yearbooks were distributed and I soon heard conversations about a troubling admission the Palestine flag was absent from the Muslim Student Association picture as a proud member of the association since my freshman year I found it hard to believe that this had happened I refused to believe that this could come from the very Administration I had the honor of working with but after speaking to others I conf confirmed that this was unfortunately the case this incident is difficult to reconcile with our school's commitment to diversity equity and inclusion since my time at the high school I have participated in day of dialogue meetings dedicating hours to discussions about cultural sensitivities and belonging I've worked with Dr Gray and I've seen the significant efforts we make to ensure every student feels valued the very existence of a director of diversity equity and inclusion in our district underscores our commitment to these principles yet those aren't being upheld with this decision just a few days ago Toni Jenna Amar and I who are all here today along with our day of dialogue team presented to the math department about identity awareness we emphasized the importance of connecting with students and respecting their diverse identities quite frankly we learned about Dei from piscatway yet right now oddly enough it feels like we are having to teach the administration I want to note our district has invested significant resources from my understanding awarding a $60,000 contract to an ongoing Equity audit I don't need a PhD or money to tell you that this decision was wrong on all levels this decision to emit the Palestine flag from the yearbook starkly contradicts these efforts it is shocking and frustrating that an entire country's Heritage can be excluded due to perceived political implications I want to emphasize that a country's flag represents cultural heritage not politics European flags such as those of France Spain and Italy all of which have political histories were included without issue yet when it comes to a middle eastern flag it is exuded I also want to mention that there seemingly were no structured conversations to find out the actual intention behind the specific exclusion of the flag funnily enough when we meant to ensure sedexo food quality was on par for students we had longer conversations with more students and stakeholders to ensure the decision impacted everyone equally it's sad that this was not the case here when're making a decision that impacts so many more if we were if we truly valued all identities I don't think this decision would have been made the way it was I have been told that this decision may have been made with the intention of protecting students but I ask what are we protecting them from their own culture and Heritage this incident highlights the need for involving relevant stakeholders especially students in decisions that affect them we must ensure that no student feels their culture is deemed less significant than others I sincerely hope that the board and administration can work together to provide answers and develop clear policies to prevent such issues in the future students should never feel that their cultural heritage is lesser because their flag was removed from a yearbook this is not the message we want to send as a district but unfortunately it is the message being received I might be graduating next week but I want to be proud to say that I'm a PHS alone so please make the right decision moving forward please stand on the right side of History thank you is there anyone else wishing to speak and I see no one else standing or raising their hand at this point in time I'm going to ask for a motion to close public session motion can I have a second oh we not going to have any discussion more from the board on what we may or may not want to do can close public comments I can close the public comments and still have a discussion information going forward okay so uh who was the second second okay um all in favor okay so public comment is closed no one else will be speaking on this one public session right now is there anything else you wanted to say yeah so first of all thank you very much um you youve all made your viewpoints very clear I've learned quite a bit tonight and I hope that was what your goal was uh to educate um and and you've done that successfully with me as well um so one of the very first speaker is is he still here yes yes he the front you know he he talked about a republication or some rectification things like that so uh we will uh take that first of all I need to see what that means right and and what that looks like um we won't be reprinting an entire book I just don't want any you know there there to be a A system that might think that but we'll look at some possible remedies and we'll talk to the MSA and and see um you know how we can make it right with them I just did uh can I clarify something no so so that's uh unless the board has anything else sarra wants to say something all right asum I want to thank everybody for coming um you know we talk about Dei and we talk about Piscataway being proud of our diversity and this is so important we need to have the conversations and sometimes the conversations are uncomfortable but that's the most important conversation so thank you so much for all of you for coming today can through the chair um you know months ago November their first board meeting after uh October 7th hard to hear you um after October 7th happened our first board meeting was November 2nd 2023 I felt compelled to say something as Tom Conor's my own opinion and not the opinion of the board and I just thought that was happening in Palestine was absolutely horrible and you know beyond devastating people women and children um civilians experiencing this devastating suffering and I wanted to focus for a minute on the children and I read this this is what I read it's recorded back in November of 2023 is that just that children we must think about them separately from any individual government or cause and we are volunteered elected public school officials and who's putting the children of of the of the Middle East first um where we claim to put the children of Piscataway first so I just felt compelled because as a world commit uh Community you know we should be doing everything possible protect innocent children and must condemn hate in any form the number of children that were killed at that time there was a quote more than any world crisis people have mentioned it here you know tens of thousands so we can't be blinded by hate and the rage that is occurring because hate just breeds more hate and this is aarian humanitarian crisis and we must have a humanarian pause until there's an international effort to put together something for the sake of the children and and I said that because it just hit so home with me we we all Run for the board we all put all the children first so this is what happened is after that and I just wanted to read that because that that was Tom Conor's opinionin thank you Dr Connors any other board member wish to say anything yeah um I'm Nancy Salgado Cowen um um sorry I have a Muslim brother um so the issue is definitely strong for me um yes he's Puerto Rican and he's muslim okay um soam alikum to you all and I do understand the genocide it doesn't matter if it's Palestine Congo I mean there were many different countries that people spoke of um so on behalf of myself on behalf of my family I understand and although an apology does not put the flag back in right it's it's an apology that we can offer and like Dr anelli said he will work with the MSA to to do what we can within the confines of the regulations of the school the state and the country that we live in thank [Applause] you everyone I want to thank you for coming out tonight coming out shows your solidarity but it also shows your passion your heart and what your true feelings are you're not sitting home and just complaining about it you bought it to the meeting to be about it that's saying a lot in itself we had a discussion in the back with you're not privileged to we had very open discussions good dialogue and as Dr relli stated he would take full responsibility for the actions that were taken it's not to silence anyone it's not to anyone but most importantly is not to tell you that it does not matter it does matter but give us the opportunity for Dr anelli and EMS group to work together with Dr Gray to see where we can meet at in the middle to help fix this it doesn't undo what was done but moving forward you will know we take action we stand on what we believe and we listen to what our public has to say because your voice matters and your voice matters at all times but if you don't utilize your voice guess what nobody knows it's affected you it is now on record the decision that was made affected individuals it affected students it affected families but most importantly it affected the diversity in Piscataway and that's not who we are that's not what we represent so we're going to work on it and we'll do what we have to do but with that being said public comments it's closed I thank you all for coming out tonight now if you want to hang around and stay for the rest of the meeting you're more than welcome we'll take it um just trying to lighten it up a little not trying to make a choke of it but thank you for coming out and get home safely thank you yeah let's take a couple minute recess um Kim [Music] [Music] [Music] de um you want come back in July we appreciate it because the program as you know I yes because it's important that that student's voice be heard e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay we're back from break uh student Representatives report hi good evening everybody um I hope you're all doing well um so a lot happening at the high school since it is our last month um it's crazy how fast the year went and we're already at our last meeting um the class of 2027 with the war weather warming up they've been holding ice cream Stills for the past few weeks to raise money for themselves as well as like support the boys volleyball games and they've been selling there as well um the National Honor Society held a blood drive their spring blood drive on May 20th and they collected 109 PS of blood which holds the potential to save 327 lives um which was amazing to see um and the next blood drive they will actually be having a summer one um on July 23rd from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and this one's open to the public so anyone is um able to come usually the ones in school is just for students and teachers but this one um all members um to to the public can come in um so that's amazing um on May 15th our counseling department as well as our student council celebrated decision day where students um finally decided where we're going off to next year and I finally made a decision um on June 5th we had our senior Awards night as well as a celebration during the day um the awards night at night we were a there was over $100,000 worth of scholarships distributed which was amazing to see and it was from piscato Alum people from the community all across EST state so I love that we had that as well as the recognition during the day for anything from recognizing students in engineering to the safety ambassadors program to whatever contribution students have made in the community which is amazing on June 6th we had our senior class trip to Six Flags um which was very cool um I know we haven't had senior trip in recent history and so the fact that we were able to have this day trip to Six Flags was really enjoyable for not only students but also the teachers um and so we it was good to like be able to hang out with your friends um before we graduate um with graduation coming up next week we have cap and gown pickup going on this week um last days tomorrow um as well as picking up graduation tickets because of Rucker's requirement this year and I know the 12 ticket limit has has been um difficult for some families but um there's some students that aren't using all 12 so it's just um we've been figuring it out um so we have graduation practice on Monday and then graduation on Tuesday of course um which is crazy to believe um and then finals have been going on and I know last year um ver was rubbing in my face that I that he didn't have to take finals but this year I don't have to take finals um write a passage y um so yeah but with this being my last meeting I just wanted to thank all of you for everything that you've ever done for me and the school Community um I know it's a volunteer job and it's clearly not always easy but your dedication and commitment is truly commendable um and I really appreciate all of your support so thank you so [Applause] much as you mentioned this is our last meeting oh I'm sorry did you mention where you committed to oh I'm going to Duke in the fall [Applause] oh we're going to make sure you have a connection cuz I heard go that's your alumni there be down there for opening weekend of basketball season in no I'll see you see you there um so yeah like ran mentioned this is our last meeting which is crazy to think about and as well this is finals week so unfortunately I do have a final tomorrow but that's okay uh next year I will be looking forward to rubbing in the next person today um so we finally have wrapped up AP exams and we're moving on to AP summer institutes um personally for me my entire summer is full of institutes so that is something I guess to look forward forward to but not really we'll see um the class of 2025 sold graduation G grams to celebrate all the seniors graduating which is something the junior class always does to celebrate the senior class um once again I can't believe R's leaving but it's come um as well HOSA um just held their annual um volleyball match which was the volleyball M million doll match um it was on May 23rd and they raised $4k doll for the national Mar Maro donor program which was really cool um I actually was the MC there and it was so amazing to see all the people come out from the community not just students but also parents were there which was really exciting um the Chiefs dance team is hosting additions at the end of this month as well as all the interest meeting and summer sports are starting soon so cross country um field hockey boy soccer many other sports um the just hosted their um heat show um which they haven't had in a hot minute so that was really exciting to see um it was a great night of cultural performances and dancing and singing um and also musical instruments which was on May 17th um so thank you so much for an amazing year um again I'm such I'm so honored to be here and I can't wait to take rahim's chair next year going to be on the side so see okay I have a few words to say Tom V one I want to thank you for being our Junior representative you have done an incredible job sitting in that seat and it's not an easy seat to sit in because you're coming here but you're a voice of all the students throughout the whole High School not just the junior class but more importantly you're doing it along with all the other activities that you have involved and you're doing this y'all for free too so we're going to M your vot here but you enjoy what you're doing but most importantly I enjoy watching you come here do what you do give us the information and then going out the door and go back home to the other part of your life but next year you have that seat and I know you're going to put your own personal spend on it you're going to become the Unicorn that I'm seeing develop cuz I see the makeup in case you don't think I spotted it all I had seen your pictures before that okay you know see I don't miss anything I keep keep it I catch it all but like I say I'm looking forward to you being a senior representative next year your class will not be able to thank you enough for the job that you will do but most important importantly what you're going to learn and what you're going to take from it going forward after that will be with you forever now my boy yes I'm calling you my boy my friend my buddy it has been an incredible two years with you it has been two years of the junior who came in who came in with that Pizzaz that spark and was like I'm here to take over this meeting and guess what y'all going to remember me every time I speak well guess what we do but most importantly the growth that has I have seen in you from Junior to senior and now soon to be graduate is incredible your decision to go to Duke did not come easy you had a lot of top choices to choose from so I don't even know how you and your family narrowed it down and decided there but looking forward to you coming back and reporting to us how things are going your stance on everything you participate in and you decide to speak on it's all from the heart that's the heart that separates you from a lot of a lot of young people but most importantly if you don't believe it you won't say it cuz I've seen you change up like nope nope that's not what it is but here's one thing to learn keep that passion keep that drive you're not here to please people you're here to be the voice and you have one powerful voice a voice that the world needs to hear but a voice that people want to listen to because the information that you're presenting it's going to Enlighten them and give them some growth but keep them informed go to Duke do pway proud go let them know I may be a chief now but I'm coming to you and you better watch out because I'm about to open doors there too with that being said on the behalf of the school board and the administrations we have I we have some gifts no it's not a million dollars in here there's no money trade but it is a little gift of a thank you for being the Representatives that you are coming here every meeting giving us your reports giving us your time but most importantly showing us that the students care having a student representative gives us that bridge into that high school that we would not ordinarily have because you're our ears you're our eyes but you have a voice and we bring it back so you feed it to us therefore we're able to get a clue and idea of things that we need to address and fix because you come back you tell the good you tell the bad you don't just say everything's great no you'll come in and say uhuh here's what's wrong this needs to be addressed and I can appreciate so do the other board members we appreciate it because that's where the difference comes in if everybody puts on the front and says everything is great there's never nothing to fix because everything is great but you make sure to stay true and you are honest for that I thank you and until Tuesday night you go home cuz you got a final tomorrow and wait a minute and you finished they want a picture thank you and Raheem you are the only reason I have the kah phone anybody else wish to give words of encouragement to our two Representatives it's a long night I love you bye well I tried to open the floor come on again thank you guys get home safe see you Tuesday night see you hey next I'm up what do you know presidential court for June 13 2024 I'm very proud to be able to join several I was very proud to be able to join several of my fellow board members as well as our Administration and welcoming Dr opal ple during her visit to Arbor intermediate school this week Dr Lee is known as the grandmother of juneth for her role in making juneth the national holiday and was recently awarded the presidential medal of freedom to Mark her place in History Dr Lee Read to our students from her children's book and students in turn greeted her with artwork poetry essays music and a juneth flag ad doored with their faces thank you to Dr Lee for sharing your time with us it was a great honor for Piscataway to have such an important figure stand up as a role model for our students congratulations to our Piscataway High School seniors who were honored last week at senior award ceremony these students worked extremely hard this year and throughout their four years of high school and were rewarded with a wide range of well-deserved Awards in all subject areas from science math English Roc World Language and the Arts students also collected a total of over $105,000 in scholarship money to start themselves off on the right foot as they lead PHS we are so proud of these shining stars and all of their names are listed on our district website to help celebrate their accomplishment as this is our last meeting of the year I want to congratulate all of our students for your dedication and hard work throughout these 10 months I'm continually impressed by your academic achievements creativity in the Arts and Athletics and successfulness and service to our community congratulations to the class of 20 24 as you begin your journey Beyond PHS and to all our students who are moving on to the new set of challenges and celebrations in 2024 2025 School Year enjoy your summer because we had a long Mee and I won't go into my little thing I was going to do about Dr opal Lee wrong you're gonna have to stick it out a couple extra minutes um that was a weekend with meeting her being able to talk to her Loretta and I attended her gala Friday night uh with the Zeta Divine n she is such a humble young lady of 97 but her words her encouragement and her spirit touched your heart even if you didn't want it to it is a memory I will keep with me forever but it was a moment that I will cherish like no other I officially adopted her as my grandmother and can't nobody stop it um but it it just touched my heart and it just made me feel so good to be able to be in her presence to talk to her and just to hear her accomplishments but yet still be going at 97 saying and there's still work to be done so for anyone else who was able to meet her which there was a couple other board members there I can't say what you felt I can only go by what I say myself it was an incredible touching moment for me and like I say I'll chish it for life with that that's the end of my president's report Dr Manelli thank you uh as always uh please check out our superintendent report online this month there various end of the year activities for all grade levels our older students uh giving back and teaching our younger students in different in different areas uh various student awards it talks about the senior Awards and other awards at the end of the year and much more so please when you get a chance pleas uh check that out uh June is uh pride month and the board members you all received uh some activities that are going on at the middle school and high school so please check that out uh really proud of those activities um every uh six months uh since the pandemic happened we have to uh give an update on our American and rescue safe return plan and um since the last six months this will be our last one that we're required to do since our last six months not much has changed thank goodness uh we're in the same situation as we were so our plan is updated uh it'll be on our website and this will be the last one that we have to do is that this one Dr yes yes the American Rescue plan yeah so um and that's required for us to do that at at a at a board meeting so all right um all right so we are also required to give a semiannual school safety and HIV report so I will turn the floor over first to Mr Rubin then to Dr lman for their portions in doing such good evening everyone as Dr nelli said twice a year we're required to update you on our hi campaign if you will you have a written report in front of you it's late so I will be very brief um During the period of time from September to December and this is the period that we're reporting on tonight there were a total of 18 reports of HIV that were fully 18 that were fully investig ated um five were substantiated between two schools Shore and MLK we look for patterns um to see where we should be devoting resources I didn't see any particular patterns in these these seem to be oneoff incidents which I guess is good news uh as you'll see also during the month of October we as we do every year observe the annual week of respect um I don't we call the other 51 weeks a year but at least one week a year we have a week of respect where um age appropriate HIV activities are conducted in each school to raise awareness um so with that you you have a written report prepared to answer any questions nothing else I you report to my colleague Dr lotman was ssds okay thank you good evening Dr Nelly board president Miss Cherry board vice president Dr Connors and the rest of the pisc Board of Education members this evening I'd like to present our District's uh semiannual student safety data system for the time of report uh a time period covering July 2023 to December 2023 the report in front of you also has our District's incidents from the year before July uh 2022 to December uh 2022 from this point forward with this report I'm going to call the uh not the student safety data system but the ssds report so SS ssds stands for student safety data system thank you eliminating the uh five HIV cases that Mr Rubin just um discussed our district reports 52 occurrences for the time period I said with uh five infractions of vandalism six weapons violations uh 18 occurrences of violence and 23 substance abuse accounts uh Drilling in a little further in under each category uh starting with violence of the 18 incidents we report right down the middle nine fights and nine threats with 2third of these incidents involving students who are already receiving additional assistance for uh regulating Behavior Uh moving on to uh vandalism vandalism is a is an interesting uh category under the ssds report where there's so many different incidents that fall under uh vandalism so for us we had five during this time period one was vandalism of a of a bathroom which not going too much into each um um incident but it was very minimal meaning uh custodian was able to uh fix the bathroom make it as good as new uh by thems within a minimal amount of time uh also under vandalism which you know you find it hard to believe this but it falls under this category we had one incident of a student taking a picture of another student without permission the picture was was appropriate it wasn't anything like that but it was against the other person's uh it was taken without permission so it falls under the V vandalism category and we had three incidents of theft which were all caught on video which were able to substantiate the fact that someone did um uh steal from either a peer or from the cafeteria so I would like i' like to take this opportunity to thank the Board of Education members for allowing us to buy so many cameras because they definitely help uh assist our schools and keeping them safe so thank you very much next category weapons we had six incidents uh three small knives one taser a pair of scissors and one screwdriver were found on on students uh thankfully all six of them were possession only and the only reason we found out that these items were in our schools was because student or students in each building told The Trusted adult that someone had something they should have had so we're very proud of these students for assisting and US keeping you know everybody safe our last account our last category I'm sorry substance abuse we had 23 occurrences 13 of those occurrences were uh possession only uh 10 were confirmed use the only two substances to be reported during this time frame were marijuana and tobacco uh and although there are 23 incidents it was 23 students involved um there's a few incidents where like two kids were you know caught vaping in the bathroom that would we would count that as one incident but since there was two people involved it counts as two occurrences so the 23 if we look at it a different way could go down to 17 looking at our numbers compared to this time period as opposed to the same time period from a year ago our biggest increase in respect to the number of cases um happened in substance abuse uh we had five additional um cases 18 uh to 23 which and I believe I said this uh last time I did this report in December where where I I I see this as a positive situation because the 23 students that were involved in these incidents yes they served uh disciplinary um you know consequence in the school because it breaks the code of conduct but after that consequence is served these 23 students meet with their guidance counselor the student Andor the student assistant counselor on a regular basis it's not a one or two time meeting and you know be on your way it's a situation where these students um have somebody to support them they know uh has their best interest in mind and always sees this person uh for guidance or for assistance if needed you know what I do um all the time when we go over these ssds reports I can't help but you know throw numbers at you because that's that's in my DNA I was a math teacher so I just uh I really like to work with numbers during the time frame of July 2023 to December 2023 our total enrollment during that seven month period six- Monon period I'm sorry was 7,000 331 the amount of school days we had during those uh 6 months was 72 so if you multiply those two numbers to find out the total um school days we had in our in our in our total population you get 527,000 985 per of our school days require an ssds report uh to put in more perspective to get get that number to 1% we'd have to multiply our 52 incidents by more than 101 so just speaking of like purely by the numbers um as a math person um I believe our district is doing an exemplary job in keeping our building safe but even with that being said we're always looking for ways to improve so some of the uh activities that our district has done and will continue to do uh next year and years to come uh to assist us in addressing the number of incidents include our week of respect our school violence awareness week every school has several safety and climate uh committee meetings every school has HIV trainings for their anti-bullying specialist as well as turn King it to the staff we have Dei monthly celebrations we have character education programs and we also have u a lot of number of assemblies on Mental Health Awareness social emotional learning as well as violence prevention we're also in constant communication with our community outreach team which is formerly our Municipal Alliance this school year through that communication uh we were able to have retired DEA agent and current Mammoth University um teacher through the criminal justice department Mr Doug ker present all of our middle and high school students a presentation about the dangers of vaping and use of marijuana right now we are currently planning again with the uh community outreach team uh possibilities to facilitate uh more presentations to all K2 students for the 202 24 2025 school year thank you for your time and attention and I'd love to answer any questions you might have just a quick one yes' um are most of the substances vaping yes most of them high a high percentage is vaping and you know uh not to keep head this stand yes we 23 occurrences you know we we want to make sure that we address every single student that is vaping again not to be I caught you I got you but to get them assistance as needed and are we uh being vigilant with monitoring things like the bathroom I know there's a lot of conversation with students regarding um the bathrooms and the um the smell and the things that are permeating from the bathrooms in the high school so um I guess my question is are we are we being vigilant with um checking like making sure that um yeah so we have we have safety officers in in areas where hallways are and as much as we possibly can I mean like check you know I know sometimes I think the it's like it's the bathroom you don't want to invade people's privacy sort of thing but just to be vigant yeah and they're visible in the hallways um we don't we want that number to be zero of course that's that's the goal thanks Dr all right thank you very much everybody and on our agenda we had an update from our Ruckers F future Scholars Program but our presenter had to had to step out so we're going to have that report for for you in July that rep thank you Dr personnel and Labor Relations Miss Nancy Sado poen I don't even know where I am okay be it resolved that the following motions identified as items a through P be approved as presented Mrs secretary can you please take the Mrs cordino you okay all right sorry I'm have a against to PE that's all um I was going to say um abstain from F and yes to um everything else f is in Frank f is in Frank Mr King yes M rashed yes M Rivers yes Mrs Sado Owen yes Miss Smith yes Miss staffer yes Dr Connors yes Miss Cherry yes motions carry committee report there are a couple so get comfortable the curriculum committee met on June 3rd 2024 and we discuss grades kwe science financial literacy domestic violence and more kwe science year and review Dr Jeff celibat gave us an overview of the year for grades K through 8 science including the final year of the Middle School Integrated Science transition his presentation at the NJ science convention in October a spotlight on a district created by mosa Mark s Science middle school and service topics including culturally representative teaching and small group instructions mystery science kits students trips to the PHS planetarium Hydroponics Gardens started at MLK and kakac middle schools financial literacy the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation presented on a financial literacy program developed in a partnership with money vehicle the program includes integ interactive techbooks and educational resources professional development and ongoing support a Capstone character project by students there are assessments to measure students progress the program meets state standards and can be added to a school's learning management system the committee discussed possible integration of the program into the curriculum What winners won't tell you Janine albanes discussed the integration of the book What winners won't tell you by Malcolm Drinkin into the 12th grade English classes there has been excellent feedback and the district is looking into how it can can be centered in the curriculum bilingual waiver glenisha gerado Moran discuss bilingual programs when a district has 20 or more speakers of a language it is required to give instructions in that language a bilingual waiver is given to districts where there are logical con constr constraints that cannot be met in grades K through 5 students receive sheltered instruction one period of ESL and in 6 through eight student students receive high intense instructions two periods of ESL in grades 9 through 12 students have two in-class supports the plans received conditional approvement from the state in May domestic violence Dr Kim yansy James a career social worker with the state of New Jersey discussed domestic violence as a part of the health and PE standards the district is making the community aware of some resources that are available Dr yansy James shared the standards and expectations for delivering domestic violent lessons at every grade level uh we had a packed house we had a very fulfilling meeting um domestic violence is a silent killer that is not discussed in the public and brought up in many conversations however we did bring it up and we did discuss it uh we know violence takes place everywhere but we have to take the veil off of our eyes and realize that students are being exposed to domestic violence at younger and younger ages but they're also Al living it through some of their own experiences being in domestic violence relationships um they do have situations where kids are in bad situations in the high school and really don't have anywhere to turn or don't know that they're in a bad situation because it's the norm because they may have watched it in the home that they grew up in so with that being said in the curriculum committee we are trying to address not only their education but them as a well-rounded individual and addressing domestic violence is one of our ways of doing so and that concludes my report U Madam chair and M president under F financial literacy the committee discussed possible integration of the program into the curriculum what does that mean uh did you want Dr Bas to speak on that we're looking at uh the state has standards at what we're supposed to do starting in grade eight and going to high school so we're looking at how we can take some of the possibilities of what's in their curriculum into what we're doing uh so they're going as a matter of fact they're going to make the whole thing available to us on next week okay and then we're going to sit down and is the biggest key is for us to get students to understand money the earlier you learn and understand money the better off you will be because as long as you think money has no value and it just magically appears the harm is being done and trying to reverse that thought processing takes even longer so once they realize you have to earn it in order to have it but you need to save it and not just spend it all the time so the sooner we introduce them to working with money and understanding money the better off the community will be and the better off they will be as functioning adults yeah because I mean I was I was in this meeting and and how engaging this particular program that was developed through the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation was to get the kids to actually be interested in their own finances that that that's the key did and our biggest push was to make sure especially at the high school level that with his name being attached to it that it withdraw more students into it and wanting to take a class that involves something that Malcolm Jen is is a part of right um but it wasn't just a textbook you read right no they have slides they have games they have things that come at them a different way that they can better relate to versus your standard learning process because not everyone learns in that standard classroom setting times you have to switch things up and come at students a different way in order to get them engaged and to participate so that's the mission of this financial literacy program here next uh Dr conis fiscal and planning uh the fiscal plannings and operations committee met on June 4th 2024 to discuss Award of bids uh building upgrades and more uh the award of contracts food service equipment one bid was received from Denver equipment company of Charlotte this the same company that completed Serv lines last year painting four bids were received that were within the budget um ana painting and contracting company is the low bidder uh Paving projects five bids were received uh with the low bid coming from Topline construction Court Topline has completed several Paving projects in The District in recent years facility capital projects Roofing upgrades work will begin at Randol immediately after the school year ends followed by no in early mid July uh BHS Media Center swel Architectural Group reviewed updated design plans and budget estimates with District administration spe will provide a proposal of pair bid specifications and oversee construction within anticipated bid period in fall uh 2024 acoustical upgrades speo provided a proposal for architectural services that is included on the June board meeting agenda preschool facility expansion the district submitted a Grant application for State funding of administration building Renovations uh [Music] primarily I'm I'm starting to get TI uh why uh project that 116 preschool students could be accommodated in that's grade Energy savings Improvement program uh Seamans conducted two training meetings to review the updated building management system with District staff honey well is reviewing punch lists and completing closeout packages for the completed portions of the uh EIP seamons expect to complete their work over the summer Honeywell visited with four business uh CT Career Technical E class education classes at BC high school on May 22nd and 23rd the visits consisted of a presentation question and answer period and a tour of boiler room and other facilities and I believe believe this was with the engineering Student Academy students in the engineering Academy use of facilities policy 7510 Mr Ola reviewed proposed rate adjustments for facility rentals and discuss adjustments to the facilities application such as an insurance requirements and other recommendations for the policy Mr Ola will finalize the recommendations and refer them to the policy committee uh well and in this too it's not like we he did the rates on David compared the rates like with a lot of the schools in here Food Services Mr Ola has had two transition meetings with uh maso's Food Service maschio's held two onboarding meetings with existing sedex employees to expedite the transition a summer schedule is being established to ensure a smooth start from I just want to say real quick on this one usually the employees that are with like sedexo right they'll be it's good because they'll come on with like Ma so it's people are not losing what no they're not losing they just transition I understand okay which is a good thing Wellness committee uh breakfast was provided for Shore Middle School winners of the district Step Challenge on May uh 24th priz are being distributed to the three individual winners from each school department two uh meditation sessions one in person and the other virtual were offered to all staff through the district partnership with the ERS Health uh UBC employee assistance program New Jersey school business uh legislative uh I discussed with um you know the supplemental State and Bill that was signed into law by Governor Murphy and other legis and remember when you asked them we had the budget presentation you asked about what the state could possibly do this is their what they're doing is that those districts that um you know are are getting cut in their funding this bill provides like a way in which they can get some of those funds but the the news here because everybody keeps talking about the 2% cap this includes um legislation that you can go above your 2% cap which you have to pass it to the taxers yeah uh no because no that's no that's the good thing about it is that so where does the money come from if you're not passing it to the tax I mean it do it doesn't affect us but in other towns you won't have to have a vote on no but so you you would pass it to the taxpayers just they wouldn't have a vote and pass I understand you're passing it they're just not voting on yeah understood okay I know it doesn't affect us because we're at the 1% yeah right we okay but it's such a state issue and I'll get off at you know how much I like Finance get off of it that there are some districts like Tom rivers and everything even if they had like a 20% property left in they couldn't make up the money that they're doing so it's it's really it's really bad in other districts so with those districts talk to the legislators this is a good bill that New Jersey school boards uh um also went along with and it passed the governor signed it so those school districts that are in a rough situation have a have a way out now of trying to catch up a you know a little bit before hopefully the legislature uh rewrites the um the um the funding law Mr Ola uh will be participating in legislative Panner and monitoring the association School business official International U presentation at the NJ asbo conference where's the conference this year David it's always in Atlantic City for the state okay yeah it was last week uh business office the committee reviewed the current balance on the May 2024 NJ arm statement and the current interest rates um and a candidate has accepted the offer for the accounts payable vacancy um business office will employ student intern during the summer of 24 and I believe it's the same student right the same as last year yes which is she's fantastic we love we love having her for the summer and that is my report matter thank you Dr conis culture and climate Mrs elado Cohen um culture climate and Community Relations Committee met in person on Tuesday May the 21st we were the first committee to do so in person um postco um to discuss positive messaging Community Partnerships and wellness service we also had a potluck um cultural potluck where people brought in uh foods from their different cultures it was very nice and we exchanged many ideas positive messaging was reviewed um monthly themes quotes and the mares for the month's um um were're included for April were um Jewish Heritage Month Autism Awareness um uh an acceptance month eat Al far um Passover Earth Day Etc um there was uh so many things displayed in the positive messaging you can all read them um Gary Miller displayed the photos of several of them I'm sure many of you have seen them uh all over the quotes um in the mares over the few months um posting of inspirational quotes and information on the Marques will continue throughout the summer um Community Partnerships were discussed Partnerships with Ruckers continues to run smoothly um information on the newest partnership project Health links was shared um several PHS financial literacy classes travel to um the Junior Achievement headquarters in Edison where they participated in the finance Park program with Hands-On learning activities um the Junior Achievement um High School Heroes day was planned for Arbor school on my May the 24th um we're um we're close to 50 PHS future Business Leaders of America members um were there to visit the arbor school and to teach them age appropriate lessons related to financial literacy a group of young women from the PHS um were um were able to visit the Verizon headquarters on June the 7th and spend the day interacting with women leaders throughout the company on Wellness Services The Haven is wrapping up services for the year and they do not hold summer sessions um the committee discussed seeking agencies for referral of students and families need Services over the summer thank you Mr and that concludes all our committee reports approv of minutes Miss Loretta Rivers that's U be it resolved that the following minutes be approved that's submitted business meeting May 9th 2024 and executive session May 9th 2024 motion can I a second all in favor and it's approved fiscal planning and operations Dr Connors your result following motions identified as items a through AC be approved as presented second and if I just I want to dra draw your attention to um a couple of items here well first of all like three things in June that's why it's so long is when we do a lot of the um authorizations and the awards and the uh designations so that's why it's so long um uh but uh items I want to draw your attention to were G and H and what happens every year is that we there's a if you look in page seven G and H we uh always say whereas has detered the amount not to exceed so for capital reserve it's not to exceed 10 million and for maintenance Reserve it's um $3 million and that's what gives us the funds for those particular things and so we have to we do that every um June okay sorry I appreciate with the uh The Substitute Staffing how you how you break down what the what the actual pay rate is versus what the company is getting um I will say where I work this is conversation we have wondering like how you know how much are the subs actually getting versus how much the company is getting so I think that's very transparent and um I think that's helpful we spent a lot of time um the cabinet reviewing and um you know have made some further uh adjustments this year um and we've had better fill rates and we're trying toh continue that and then just one final thing on the um the um does cost a lot it was q but it's a good thing that includes the paving and then we do that every you know now so for the fall and we're going to get a lot of Paving done but it's a million million 320,000 it's a lot of money a need so it's being achieved um Mr secretary can you take the V Mr King yes M Rasheed yes M Rivers here yes oh thought you said take the tendance tired it's it's yes yes not here this time I'm the one that flew in from California didn't get home 2 in the morning okay Miss reverse yes yes yes yes all right Mrs Salado yes M SMI Miss Stafford yes Mrs cordino yes Dr Connors yes M Cherry yes motion car curriculum Mr King nothing oh wake up Courtney wake up just make it sure be resolved the following motions identified as items a through D be approved as presented second Mrs secretary can you take the role M Rivers yes Mrs algado Cowen yes Miss Smith yes Miss Stafford yes Mrs Cino yes Mr King yes Mr rashed yes Dr Connor yes M Cherry yes M car Services Mrs cordino be resolved that the following motion identified as items a through e be approved as presented Mr secretary can you take your Mrs haato Cowan yes Miss Smith yes M Stafford yes M cordino yes Mr King yes M red yes M Rivers yes Dr Connors yes M Cherry yes m s administrative and auxillary Miss St be it resolve that the following motions identified as items a through e be approved as presented second Mr secretary can you take the RO Miss Smith yes M Stafford yes Mrs cordino yes Mr King yes Mr yes Rivers yes Mrs Sal C yes Dr Connors yes M Cherry yes motions Carri okay all business going leave it all we're going to go right on to new business hold on hold on I got old bus I'm messing with you hold on you I'm keep it short listen I'm I'm going to keep this short because it's been a long day and we still have more business in the back um yes last board meeting I asked some questions about Athletics um about the department um I do thank you for the response um and the information that was collected um I did review the data uh which brought me more questions um as I was looking at the data I was wondering is it possible to desegregate the high school data um to include Varsity junior varsity and freshmen I know there are some teams that have freshmen and other teams don't so if we could just desegregate that data in that Excel sheet that would be great um also I noticed some information I requested was missing from my initial inquiry um I did send you the initial uh questions um you can see what's that what I missed um so I'm going to tell you so the the response sheet that I got from the athletic Department I was missing questions about um how they did the funding formula for sports is there a formula um the criteria for how we hire coaches and um questions about the booster club money parameters and checks and balances so I can resend you uh the Highlight stuff okay and um that's it Madam chair real quick I get this some advertisements you guys got a uh a board certification special meeting the next one June 25th we're going to cover uh Communications and um something else uh at board governance and uh that puts us very close so in the fall we do is a few things and then we'll get bir certification um the other thing is that we formed an N house committee on the meal debt services and we are going to so we find the committee will get something for me we're going to try and meet in July so it'll set us so that we can Implement whatever we come up with for the start of this school year yep and uh that's it okay thank you new business I know Dr relli has something so yeah I emailed you um I think it was yesterday graduation details if you didn't check your email I also included in the packet tonight um I'll ask that if you are coming here your G your graduation gowns are back here and they will still be hanging I gave you your sashes to take home I want them to get lost in here um I will ask that you I know we all have to go in the back again except Chantel I will ask that you try on your gwn we the the company sent some gowns and they were different sizes just want to make sure that we have a few days to adjust that if needed so when you go back there just try it on if you are uh not planning on coming and take in the bus take that with you and if you are you could leave it here it'll be it'll be pressed and and ready for you you all to go but you're going to need to bring this with you um you come okay uh if you have any questions on the directions please let me know give me a call and um it's a the bus ride here and the dinner here um makes it really easy uh but it's also easy to park there and with the uh with the map and things like that so whatever you choose to do just give me let me know do we need any idea to get in or ID to go where like do we need like this ID to go no no you'll be with me and like a little ducks last year all right and if you drive yourself they'll see you in that gown they let you right in yes yeah they know you're there for a reason okay and that's all okay thank you Dr Manelli executive session be it resolved that the board adjourned to Executive session for the purpose of discussion the superintendent evaluation though further action will be taken everyone that includes you uh will no I will just Jour in time yep okay can I have a second second all in favor and we are going to Executive session part two and three and four I'll try my name was