##VIDEO ID:E4NPikqzu3I## 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 United States of America at this time if we could just take a brief moment of silence uh for the victims of the tragedy in New Orleans over the uh past weekend good evening everybody the New Jersey open Public's meetings law has been acted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of this board except where specifically Exempted by law at which time any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having same advertised in the Belleville times also notice that this meeting has been mailed to the members of the Board of Education the burough clerk all elementary schools the middle school the high school hornblow Early Childhood Center and posted on the district website also this meeting is being televised via the district's YouTube and uh Facebook pages before we call the candidates up to be sworn in I'll read off the uh results from the annual school election from this past November uh Mr Leon at 5,42 votes uh it was 31.6% of the vote Mrs Gillis had 5,094 votes 29.8% of the vote Mrs d uh dtis had 4,677 votes 27.36% of the votes and Mrs AR Arabi excuse me 1,921 votes 11. two four% of the votes want people see front I forg how you I don't that's better I state your name I estan Leon do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true fa true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear true faith I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I state your name I EST the own do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law that I that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of the board of education for the office of member of Board of Education and that I will not that I am not disqualified as a voter and I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 pursu pursuant to rs19 col 4-1 nor nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime nor disqualified due coni to due to conviction of a crime or offense or offense listed in njs listed in njs 18 A1 12-1 18a colon 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of the office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help help me God so help me God congratulations trust it [Applause] now that's right congratulations Mr Leon at this time could uh Miss Jean Gillis uh come to the podium with uh former Hudson County assistant prosecutor Mr Thomas zua to swear her in Bible left hand on the Bible all right I state your name I Jee Rodriguez Gillis do salomi swear do solami swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I would support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me so help me God I say your name I Jee Rodriguez Gillis do Solly swear do solam me swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law that I possess the qualifications possessed by law for the office of member of a board of education for the office of member of Board of Education and I am not disqualified as a voter and I'm not disqualified as a voter pursuing to rs19 colon pursue rs19 4-1 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime nor disqualified due to a conviction of crime or offense or offense listed in njs listed in njs 18a colon 18a colon 12-1 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will Faithfully impartially impartially justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations [Applause] congratulations to you both at this time I will turn the meeting over to our board attorney who will do the nominations for board president good evening everyone happy New Year I'd like to congratulate the uh trustees to the to the board welcome happy to have you here at this time I'm going to open the nominations for board president Mr Paladino are you going to pass out the ballots okay e can someone make a nomination for president I would like to nominate Gabby Bennett mey for president hi nomin Gabby for president second motion to open the nomination vote any other nominations okay no no other nominations nominations are closed nominations are closed board president Gabby thank you and good evening everyone to our January 2nd reorganization meeting I'd like to open up nominations for vice president nominate Michael darl for vice president any other nominations for vice president no we don't need a second okay okay nominations are closed yeah second we need a second second all right nominations are closed so congratulations congratulations to Michael darl for vice [Applause] president Mr Paladino would you please call the rooll with that congratulations trusty Gillis here trusty Leon here trusty munise here trusty Pacho here uh trusty Mia here sorry did that out of order uh vice president daro here and president benini here all right do we have any reports from our superintendent Mr Nick parata no think all right no reports and from our state monitor Mr Eagan no report at this time all right or from RBA Matthew Paladino no reports but congratulations to the new board uh to the board president the board vice president the new trustees look forward to working with everybody again in uh 2025 as we continue to progress the dist forward okay thank you moving on um nothing for uh curriculum and instruction uh so moving on to remarks from citizens I don't think there was anyone for the signin sheet so we're going to continue to move on uh personnel there is nothing there is a suggested board action board policy uh motion to approve so moved second second about that mat Mr Paladino please call the role trusty Gillis yes trusty Leon yes trusty munis yes trusty massia yes trusty Pacho yes vice president daro yes president benini yes and moving on to purchasing and Business Service there's nothing Finance there's nothing and remarks again from citizens and the signup sheet no none none okay very good um so we're going to move on to comments from all of our board members and wish everyone a Happy New Year uh so we're going to start with trustee Dr Liz misia I would just like to say congratulations to our two newly sworn in board members I look forward to working with both of you I'm sure we will have a very productive and fruitful term together and I wish everybody a happy healthy uh and blessed New Year as we move forward progress right trustee Brenda PCO congratulations for the new members of the board and welcome I said Happy New Year and enjoy the days all right trustee leis munz your mic good evening everyone um I Echo everyone I just want to congratulate you both uh welcome to the board and happy New Year to everyone here and uh have a great night okay and uh from our newest board members we'll start with trustee Jean Gillis okay good evening everyone and happy Happy New Year I'm here today with a heart full of gratitude and a great sense of reflection thinking back on the journey that brought me here I'm reminded of the challenges I had to face and the perseverance I took to reach this moment each step has been a testament to the power of resilience and belief in a better future I want to extend my deepest thanks to my family friends and also Liz Frank Tracy and Patrick your unwavering support court has been my anchor you've stood by me cheered me on and reminded me why this works matters why this work matters I also want to express my profound appreciation to all of those who believed in me and entrusted me with their votes I would also like to take a moment to congratulate Mr Leon and I look forward to advocating for our children for the next three years looking ahead I'm filled with excitement about the opportunity to serve I am committed to speaking up for all our students parents and families ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are met this role is not just an honor it's a responsibility I take to heart I must also take a moment to acknowledge the incredible Belleville beginners program it has been a remarkable experience and I've seen firsthand the joy and growth it has brought to my sunre knowing that our schools Foster such a positive environment strengthens my commitment to making a difference for every child and family in our district and I will work every day to build on the progress of this important program I would also like to highlight our Educators for their dedication to our community and profound impact on our students thank you all for being here tonight and for your support and together as a committed and dedicated Board of Education I'm confident we will achieve great things for our community thank you thank you and our newest trustee Steve Leon it's a hard followup wasn't anticipating G speech but uh here we are uh I just want to start off by wishing everyone a happy New Year um just want to thank uh congratulate Miss Gillis on on being seated here today uh I'm excited to work with everyone here who's up here on the de uh going forward for the next three years um I would like to thank everyone in in Belo who who who voted on Election Day and and made this a uh who put their faith and trust in me and in your children's future uh I would just like to also thank my wife uh Alexandra who's over there who was a huge supporter uh my rock uh she understands well if anyone's everever been around in in campaigning it's a lot of hours and and she was there uh helping raise our our little daughter at the very beginning stages and I'm truly grateful for that if it wasn't for you uh this wouldn't be possible so thank you babe I appreciate you I love you um with that being said again just excited to start the new year and and let's get to work thank [Applause] you well you sure you wanted to say that all right a warm welcome to our new board members um we are confident that your contributions will be invaluable together we're excited to collaborate with you and move our district forward and let's remember the lasting and valuable contributions from our previous board members and wish them the best and happy New Year on their Endeavors well welcome back to school everyone wishing all of our families and dedicated teachers a fantastic new year filled with excited learning opportunities growth and positive connections to our valued Community happy New Year and a warm welcome back to you we're excited to start fresh with you in 2025 and continue building this positive School Community environment and to everyone up here our superintendent our business administrator Monitor and the attorney who are dedicated hardworking 247 we appreciate and thank you too so with that said um I'm sorry vice president just thought I wasn't allowed to speak but now I'm vice president I'm not allowed to say anything truste thank you uh president benami appreciate that uh i' like to First congratulate our two newest trustees trusty Leon and and Trust Gillis over the course of the past couple of months I spent a little bit of time trying to get to know these two individuals a little bit and I'm sure they will both make great contributions to our entire team uh I am extremely humbled and honored to have been selected as your vice president this year I look forward to working alongside president benett Mei and helping wherever I can to support our great board to our newest trustees whatever I can do to provide any insight or any type of mentoring please do not ever hesitate to ask uh just because we have uh this this year we have very important decisions coming up we will need to make as a board so I encourage us to all roll up our sleeves be ready to tackle any challenges that come to us and that are ahead of us uh so that we can achieve great success and continue to move this District forward I thank everyone for coming out tonight uh may God bless us this new year coming up thank you and good [Applause] night great thank you and sorry again vice president Arrow all right uh motion to close so moved second Mr Paladino all in favor all in favor I all right good night everyone and we'll see you January 27th