good evening and happy 2024 to everyone welcome to the West Orange Board of Education January 4th 2024 reorganization meeting please stand for the pledge allegiance of the United States of America and to the rep for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all welcome the New Jersey open public meetings act law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have at advanced notice and to attend the meetings of the board of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provision of the ACT a written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board on September 6 2023 that said notice was sent by regular mail to the West Orange Township Clerk and the editors of the West Orange Chronicle and the Star Ledger that said notice was posted in the lobby of the administrative building of the Board of Education and posted on the district's website at www woboe.org please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcast on local TV and the district's website at a future date I will now announce the official results of the annual school election held on November 8th 2023 two candidates ran for two three-year terms Maria Vera received 3,735 total votes Melinda era received 1911 total vote let's congratulate and welcome our newly elected official Maria Vera Miss Vera I'd like you now to go to the podium in order to go through the oath of office Miss Vera please raise your right hand and you could read allow the oath of office that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the can you hold up one second I don't think the mic is on L do it again I have to do okay I Maria Vera do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I I will bear true faith and Al allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help God I Maria Vera do solemnly swear and I possess the qualifications prescribed by the by law for the office of member of a board of education and I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations would anybody from her family like to come up and take a picture with Miss be yeah come e good evening West Orange I uh I find that I would be remiss if I did not um take a little minute or two to thank Maria for being part of this board and to let you know how grateful I am to have her as part of our team Maria for the short time that we spent in the office right away I wanted to hug her she's very huggable but it was because of the strong intellect that just emanated from her and the care and compassion for students plus there's a story with Maria that our students can relate to I know I did her struggle her work her perseverance make no mistake this is an incredibly strong and intelligent woman that's going to help lead the way but I want you to know as a superintendent I couldn't tell you how much I appreciate it that I get to be on the team with her so congratulations to you Maria Miss Mr ifer am I thank you Mr Moore I just wanted to take a moment uh to say that in the short time that I've known Miss Maria Vera I mean she is just the perfect person the right person at the right time she's got a lifetime of experience and dedication to her students to her community obviously to her family and it's going to be an honor and fun working with you this year so welcome okay at this time ID like to take the official roll call of the board members Mr ier here Mr Rock here Mr Stevenson here miss tun tunic Cliffe here and Miss Vieira yes we have a quorum next on our agenda is the election of the president following which the president will assume the chair the floor were now open for the nominations for president of the Board of Education any member May place any member's name for nomination I will be asking for a second even though one is not required are there any nominations at this time for president of the Board of Education yes oh I'm sorry okay um it's my pleasure to nominate Miss Jen ton Cliffe to be president of the Board of Education of West Orange New Jersey uh Jen is the only one who's certified as a board member she was president of the PTA of Kelly and of Liberty uh she was instrumental in the prek uh movement and I can say firsthand that I've seen her work well with the superintendent um so I think she would be an excellent president and I put her name into nominations thank you Mr ier any other nominations for president yes uh thank you uh M the it's my honor to put into nomination this evening The Honorable Brian Rock the current president of the Board of Education Brian is a committed educator a committed board president who managed a very important transition with respect to the appointment of Mr Moore as superintendent uh by the board Mr Rock uh should be given the opportunity to continue his leadership the leadership he's demonstrated for the Board of Education and for our community so again is my honor to put forth Brian rock as president of the Board of Education under his leadership the board will ensure its responsibility of governance of accountability and more importantly a consensus of purpose uh will be a primary tenant of our responsibility as board members thank you I will need a second for Miss um for both candidates do I have a second for Miss um Miss Tony Tony Cliffe second thank you and do I have a second from Miss Mr Rock second thank you at this time I will take a full um vote for first Miss honey um honey Cliff if she receives three votes then we would then she'd become the president okay Mr I ier yes Mr Rock no Mr Stevenson no Miss ton Cliffe yes Miss Vera no okay so at this time Miss Tony Cliff the motion was not carried at this time I'll take a motion I'll take the Roll Call for Mr rock as the president M Mr ier no Mr Rock yes Mr Stevenson yes Miss Tony Cliff yes Miss Fiera yes congratulation Mr rock as president for the West Orange Board of Education and at this time we like to please come and take your seat as president do you want me to sorry about that Lauren all right we are now going to open the floor for nominations for vice president uh for vice president of the Board of Education are there any nominations Mr President I Rise B your di to nominate uh The Honorable Maria vera for vice president of the West stor Board of Education um I Echo and second the sentiments shared by my colleagues about Miss Vera's capacity her experience and by evidence of her election Victory last November the community's confidence in her to serve in this capacity as vice president it goes without saying given from the last uh campaign and from the literature she shared as a committed educator uh with I think approaching 30 years of education as a Spanish teacher and as a high school guidance counselor that uh she knows education and how it impacts children and as we are in a transition uh from Excellence to Excellence in West Orange Public Schools I can think of No Greater person uh to serve in leadership for our board as we continue on this path uh to ensure that every child in our district receives a high quality education and so with that Mr President I nominate Again The Honorable Maria Vera to serve as vice president of the West Orange Board of Education thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second I'll second thank you Miss T are there any other nominations for vice president seeing none Dr Simmons will you please take a roll call for Maria vera for vice president of the Board of Education Mr yes Mr Rock yes Mr Stevenson yes Miss ton Cliff yes Miss Vieira yes congratulations congratulations Maria Vera vice president of the Board of Education and before before we move on to our resolutions I could just take a point of personal privilege to thank my colleagues thank you Mr Stevenson for that nomination speech I appreciate it uh thank you for your support and it's been an honor and a privilege to work with Mr Moore in this first year as superintendent I look forward to another year and all the great things that we can accomplish for the students of West Orange Mar is there anything you'd like to say before we move on first of all I want to thank God for put me this place it's a wonderful experience I'm happy that I received the support from my family from my friend Romy era and from all the people who support me from the community I know that I will work hard I will put my time to learn and dedicate the time because we have to keep the name of West Orange Public School hi it's a pleasure I didn't even expect to be nominated for vice president and you know I'm really nervous but uh I know that I'm going to do it I will help you Mr Moore we will be working together thank you Mr Stevenson thank you Mr ier thank you Jennifer I really appreciate every time every support that I receive from all of you I really appreciate it and you will see me working my phone is up to open until 11 o'clock you can call me anything I will be there answering any phone call and thank you to my family who's here supporting me as always you know this lady is always to something my daughters are here my grandkids they are here and the whole entire family and friends are here my colleague from Orange High School she's here supporting me thank you miss m thank you to everyone who is here today and the ones who are here home or working thank you thank you and congratulations again miss far all right I would like to call attention to item K the code of ethics for the school board members uh all members of the board of of Education have read and received a copy of the code of ethics and will provide a signed copy to the board secretary to be kept on file next may I have a motion to approve the reorganization resolutions D through R so thank you is that Mr Stevenson okay second by Mr ifer thank you uh is there any discussion seeing none Dr Simmons please take the roll call Mr ier yes Mr Rock yes Mr Stevenson yes Miss tville tuny Cliff sorry yes Miss far yes motion carried thank you next may I have a motion to approve the curriculum and instruction item A1 so moved thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Miss Tony Cliff uh is there any discussion seeing none uh Dr Simmons please take the roll call Mr ier yes Mr Rock yes Mr Stevenson yes Miss T Cliff yes Miss via yes motion carried all right thank you very much to all of my board colleagues there was a short and brief agenda tonight uh next up we have petitions and hearings of citizens at agenda or non-agenda items that you wish to discuss you will have 3 minutes to speak please approach the podium at this time state your name and address for the record is there anyone wishing to speak at public comment this evening seeing none uh thank you very much then our next regular board meeting is on January 22nd 2024 at 6:30 pm probably will not be this short this meeting will be held in the West Orange High School Li Media Center we will not be going into executive session after the close of this meeting there will be no further business discussed and no additional action taken may I have a motion to adjourn so move thank you Mr Stevenson is there a second second thank you Mr ifer uh all in favor I all right thank you for joining us tonight our meeting is adjourned we wish you a good night