##VIDEO ID:cTr6-PvT4hg## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] good evening everyone welcome to the Board of Education meeting December 16th would you all rise with the flag salute thank you everyone and welcome um this meeting has been posted in accordance with the chapter 231 pl1 1975 Mr Paladino would you please call the role thank you president benam meing trusty Barrera here trusty daro here trusty msia here trusty Muniz here trusty Pacho here vice president dtis here president benini here the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted 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 avable times also a notice of 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 home rower Early Childhood Center and posted on the district website also this meeting is being televised via the district's YouTube and Facebook pages thank you Mr Paladino could we have a motion to approve our minutes from November 16th the closed and public session mtion so moved all those in favor I okay very good and this evening we have our student government representative from the high school candy dong who's going to let us know all of the wonderful things that they've been doing this month such a festive month and I know there's been a lot going on welcome candy thank you good evening everyone my name is Candy dong and I'm your student board representative first I would like to offer our congratulations to all the students being recognized for their their athletic and academic achievements tonight in old news congratulations to the BHS class of 2025 on their National Honor Society induction on November 21st celebrating excellence in scholarship leadership service and character bille Public Schools hosted a Weare bag project from November 25th to December 5th as a way of expressing our care and love bille Public Schools created We Care bags for clar Moss oncology patients these bags were filled with BPS items that have inspirational messages along with other items that will help patients pass their time as they're receiving their cancer treatment on November 10th the BHS Bandon Oak chra had a successful Winter concert at the Beville High School auditorium the sgo hosted the winter pep rally on Friday introducing the winter sports of members of the cheer concert choir Roc Boys and Girls bowling girls basketball boys basketball and girls and boys wrestling it was a wonderful pet Ry filled with outstanding performances and school spirit on Saturday December 14th the town of Belleville held its annual Christmas tree lighting with train rides a petting zoo food trucks Santa's workshop and More in new news the winter Coral concert will take place this Wednesday December 18th in the Belleville High School auditorium music starts at 700 p.m. and a mission is free the sgo will drop off givs to Kasa Deon Pedro on December 20th the giving Circle was a great success thank you to to those who helped us make this Christmas a little brighter for over 70 children on January 8th through 17th there will be the socket to me sock drive please help us bring Comfort to those who need it most by donating new socks for infant through adults these donations will be shared with our local shelters and food pantry thank you thank you um and our superintendent Mr parado you have some announcements for us sure thank you Madam president this evening we have several presentations that we like to make our first presentation will made by Dr deia Who director of our human resources in place of Mrs demov who presenting certificates to the gifted and talented students who competed in the outter District competition over in rosand on problem solving some Dr deia good evening everyone uh yes I'm standing in place tonight for Miss demov who unfortunately could not make it uh so this is actually her um her praise and and uh and congratulations to these students so hopefully I can do it justice but I will say that this is certainly a night of uh congratulations for our our students success and a celebration of their Excellence so in um a re just a small recap of what this award is about tonight we're on honoring four students that on November 20th uh we actually sent 10 of belleville's fifth and sixth graders to participate in a problem solving competition sponsored by the Essex County steering committee for gifted uh education uh as Mr perado had spoken this was a competition up at no worker School in Rosland and our students collaborated collaborated with peers neighboring districts engaging in time challenges that included math puzzles riddles scientific questions and anagrams uh collectively their teamwork uh with their teamwork critical thinking and dedication were exemplary and we are immensely proud of their achievement and I'd like to uh Now call up our students if they are here please come up we actually had four students place we had two third place students one second and we had a first place so I'm going to call the students up please hold your applause until they're all up here we'll give them one big Round of Applause and then uh I'd like to invite the board down for pictures uh with our student recipients so our third place winners can I please have uh Samuel Pacho School number three grade six come on [Applause] up you stand right all right next we have Emma Lacy School number seven grade five [Applause] our second place winner School number 10 Nika worka wakun grade six and from school number three grade six so Sofia Annabelle Peralta Castro first place Round of Applause for our winers come down if anyone would like to join them for pictures right congratulations to our recipients [Applause] so he going to present the fall Sports All Conference awards for 2024 [Applause] hello everyone I'm going to ask that coach ponor Eric here can you please help me out passing out the awards coach the boy soccer coach Joe Pont come down [Applause] buddy coach I have more all in Ord yeah you guys want saf pictures each to do unless you want to out you'll see how Okay first we're going to start with girls tennis for SEC First Team all conference in the colonial division we have Olivia Guadalupe honorable mention SEC Girls uh tennis Colonial division we have Annie yamak where is [Applause] she okay parents if you want to come and take a picture we'll do that at the end so if you want to come up you may you're more than welcome to go take a picture with them Madame President or if you want you got the order next we have boy soccer First Team all SEC Colonial division we have Nicholas busos Uriah Vergara and Nicholas Cooper second team SEC boys Colonial division we have Raul paneda and Michael Rivera honorable mention SEC boys Colonial division we have robberto Solano parents if you want to up take a picture Coach Pon getting the picture buddy hold I'll hold I'll leave him right here [Applause] next we have girl soccer I saw coach Al and coach goes you guys come up here first team SEC girl soccer Colonia division we have rosin almadovar Janina chowa second team SEC Colonial division chayla Murdoch and Emily bartra and iable mention SEC girl post Colonial division Tiffany [Applause] Silva parents if you want to come take pictures [Applause] next we have cross country I know coach Laman is here come on down coach for boys cross country we have H mention SEC boys Liberty division Alex Gonzalez for the girls we have H mention SEC Girls cross country Liberty division Kayla sir [Applause] chaki parents if you want to take pictures for cross country it's a good right next we have girls volleyball I saw coach SPAC there coach first team girls volleyball Colo division we have Caitlyn Cotto second team SEC Girls volb Colonial division we have Juliana Ramirez and honorable mention SEC girls volleyball colonal division we have Caitlyn OAS parents if you want to come up and take pictures for volleyball you may sure [Applause] smile next we have our super Football Conference Awards I saw coach anab and Coach Carfagno please come down so first team Ivy white division defense we have Samad Conway Dmitri Moya and Elijah Pickering second team sfc Ivy white division offense we have Keith gley and Jeremiah cook second team sfc Ivy white division defense Jaden McDaniel [Applause] and honorable mention sfc IV white division David Westfield parents if you want to come up and take pictures for football y take your time take your time you got you got it got good I'll take the extras [Applause] thank the next we have the fall Sports all academic team so all the SEC super sence Conference teams that play in the fall if you are first or second team and you have a 3.5 GPA during the season you are considered an all academic team members so I'm going to call up all the different people in it from each team first we have for girls tennis we have alydia Guadalupe for boy soccer we have UAH varara for girls soccer we have rosin almadovar and for volley all we have Caitlyn Cotto and Juliana Ramirez I can't tell you how hard that is not only to excel both on the field and off the field we're very proud of you guys congratulations and last but not least we have the happiest team in Belleville the cheerleading team so the cheerleaders the cheerleaders after a state championship last year they followed up this year with an SEC Colonial Division champion that's only this second time time in our history that we won a title for the league so we decided to make sure they all get certificates we're going to call them up one by one all right girls trying have to smile yeah it's hard first we have Juliana [Applause] aasta second we have Stephanie [Applause] aguer Eva aguer [Applause] Sabrina [Applause] Alejandro Gabrielle DB [Applause] what Isabella dama Melissa [Applause] Estes Grace Hotel [Applause] Destiny [Applause] manino Kiara Ortega joliana Pagan Gabriella rhas yamil Cerna Nina Torres Abriana Arana Leslie ordones and Coach Erin Lewis congratulations to 2024 cheer League SEC Colonial division Champions parents if you want to come up and take pictures M it never ends they're the happiest team ever can't get mad at them congratulations hold on I'll sh out to the [Applause] girl thank you everyone thank you Dr Mara at this time do we have any students of the month that are here for no November we have any okay well we like to honor them as well and for their acceptional behavior and academic achievement for the month of November we have from every school although no one is here but we want to recognize them on for their achievement as well this time i' like to wish everyone a happy holiday and a very healthy New Year that's it Miss Madam president thank you superintendent parapata um Mr Paladino do you have a report for us this evening yeah just a couple of points real quick um first of all congratulate everybody that was just recognized uh audit is ongoing uh just to give everybody a heads up hopefully we'll have a presentation uh by the end of January uh if all goes according to plan and they're able to finish on time and then just the other thing um you know being a board member and sitting up here is is not an easy an easy job it's a thankless job but um you know I'm I'm I don't want to seal anybody's Thunder because I know you guys are going to have a lot to say later but Mr Barrera coming back uh for a couple of months and uh helping us out as he did uh has always been uh an outstanding individual cares about the community cares about school district and then working with uh Mrs dtis over the last three years uh has always held us to the fire uh ask us questions to make sure uh we were held accountable and uh just thank you all you both uh over the past three months and over the past three years for uh everything you've helped us do um and uh best of luck and hopefully we'll see you either up here again or in the audience thank you Mr Paladino is there anything from Mr Egan okay no reports from Mr Egan all right so moving on um I wanted to thank all of our students tonight and congratulations again for all of your hard work families and students enjoy your holiday break if those coaches even give you one thank you Dr Mara and all the coaches for your hard work have a good night okay you guys we want to move on to remark by our publicist we ready okay how long is the minutes yeah e okay remarks are on agenda items only uh please come to the podium state your name remember comments are directed to the board president um three minutes Michael Sheldon motion to open so moved okay all those in favor uh good evening everyone Michael Sheldon 47 FL Street I thank you uh this month for letting the the crowd dissipate so I don't have to listen to Mr Paladino say how great I am at clearing a room that U but one of mystate of talents I suppose um I have a few questions uh dealing with agenda items in sections 9 and 12 as usual firstly uh 918 I see you're appointing a Athletic Facility singular facility coordinator is this a new position um and what facility or facilities will this person be overseeing and exactly what does this job entail is it scheduling usage or Etc you could clarify that uh one of the things that's uh kind of perplexed me over the years both as a audience member and as a board member I noticed that uh with uh agenda items in section N9 dealing with resignations some are referenced by employee number others by name and I just wanted to know you know what what is the qualification for making that differentiation is it is it the case that when it's uh referenced by employee number it's a forced resignation and when it's the name is given it's a voluntary one if you could just clarify that I would like to know procedurally why why the difference in certain cases uh 929 congratulate Dr deia for being appointed the acting assistant superintendent but I'm just curious does he retain his other titles such as Chief Talent officer or is this all now being assimilated into the assistant uh superintendent position uh moving on to section 12 12.6 I see you're appropriating nearly $7,700 for new furniture for the conference room in the high school is this the same conference room that we previously used to have the Clos session board meetings or is this a different conference room in the high school if you could clarify that uh 1217 this was a a little bit uh Curious it says you're um going to hire Ultra Pro Pest Control uh without specifying amount but then it says pest not covered by the regular service contract um could you maybe clarify what sort of pests are requiring a higher level of of pest control I hope it's nothing more significant than just the routine mice and and rat situation which the district has been dealing with over the years 1223 you're appropriating nearly $113,000 to Butler water correction this has got me particularly concerned because it says you're installing a new chemical treatment system at school number8 and the middle school now I'd like to know is this for treatment of portable or drinkable water or is this uh water elsewhere in the building such as for heating systems or uh washing Etc if you're um going to chemically treat portable drinkable water um you know that opens up some really serious concerns about what's uh uh happening with our kids what they're being exposed to I'm almost finished uh 1224 uh you're uh appointing or you're appropriating nearly $9,000 for hazardous chemical Management Services in the high school science department I assume that this just simply means that you're hiring an outside firm to remove chemicals from inside the building and properly dispose of them so those are my my immediate questions uh tonight if you could address those I would appreciate it thank you take employment numbers uh Mr Sheldon so it's there's no real Rhyme or Reason for it I think um you know it just depends on how the agenda is put together um as a matter of law you know employee number identification is is possible with an over request not that I'm necessarily encouraging you to file an opena request but that's your you know prerogative I know you know how to do that certainly um but uh you know I think it's just um it just depends maybe on what it is I don't know the the consistency or inconsistency that you're referring to specifically uh I could leave that to you know the superintendent's office since those would be his recommendations did you want to answer any more enough um Mr Paladino did you want to take some of those on pest control or any of the other uh yeah I'll just clarify I'm sorry I'm going to clarify one thing only because I was just talking about it and I you know some of some of the consistency to the inconsistency if you will the fact that sometimes specific names are used and not is because I think there's some issues uh particular privacy with respect to particular um employees maybe it's a health issue or something and so we're just trying to be respectful of the employees it's always about trying to be respectful of of personnel privacy that's something I know the the the staff matters to the staff and as a result it really matters to us Mr P do you want to Simply go through the other ones like the lab and the um test control simple to whatever you can answer anything else we can get him in writing it's up to you if you want me to answer them 126 is the conference room that's up here by Mr rhs's office 1217 uh there are some other services that ultrapro needs to do so to extend expand the contract that's what 1217 is for so we're covered 1223 uh this is for water treatment that has to do with the boilers it has nothing to do with uh drinking water uh 1224 and you're correct it's just to get rid of all the Hazardous uh chemicals okay thank you very much all right moving on to uh resolutions um mtion to close Mo motion to close sorry those all those in favor all right and moving on to resolutions and Personnel Suggestions by the superintendent items 9.1 to 929 motion I'll make a motion second all right and is there any discussion on any of these items hearing none Mr Paladino trusty Barrera yes trusty daro yes trusty msag yes trusty munis yes trusty PCO yes vice president datus yes president pamini yes and we have nothing for curriculum and instruction so moving on to resolutions for board action and board policy Suggestions by the superintendent items 11.1 to 11.23 do we have a motion moved second any discussion on any of these okay Mr Paladino trusty Barrera yes tressy daro yes tressy massagi yes tressy munise yes tressy Pacho yes uh vice president dtis yes president benini I'm going to abstain from 11.4 to everything else yes and moving on to resolutions for purchasing and business services items 12.1 to 12.35 have a motion and a second second and is there any discussion on any of these items I just have a question on 1222 uh the tablets needed for the prek 9600 is this new tablets in addition to what we had or just replacement tablets for the prek class 1222 12.22 tablets if it's additional tablets or okay okay okay thank you Mr Paladino right trusty barer yes trusty Dara yes to everything with the exception of 12.6 I am saying no to 12.6 uh trusty massagi yes trusty mise yes trusty PCO yes vice president dtis yes uh president benini yes all right and a motion for finance items 13.1 to 13.11 Mo so moved second and is there any discussion on any of the bills list or anything else on finance yeah uh if I could highlight 136 78 and nine just want to uh thank our grant writing team uh and and Mr Paladino on on on getting uh these for us uh so I just wanted to highlight that real quick very good anyone else Yes Lewis just stole the thunder on that one trusty munes but I have the same thing I'm I'm very happy to see all these uh grants that are out there our grant writing team was very busy and it's great to see this money coming in to just definitely help our our district so it's greatly appreciated what they've done so far and what they're continuing to apply for thank you roll call yeah yeah yeah all right trusty barer yes trusty Dara uh every yes to everything except 1 I'm abstaining from check number 92588421801 uh good evening again Michael Sheldon and still at 47 Floyd Street uh I thank you for answering most of my questions uh uh raised a few moments ago but two of them um were apparently skipped over and that was 918 the Athletic Facility coordinator I'd like to know again if this is a new position and um the nature of the job apparently the the person serving in this role is going to be paid I think it's it was listed at 52 or $55,000 a year so I would appreciate some clarification on the nature of this job and the other uh question that wasn't answered was with Dr deia now BEC becoming the assistant Acting Superintendent does this mean that his other titles are being assimilated into the assistant superintendent position if you could clarify that I would appreciate it um one of the questions uh I was going to ask uh during session two has already been answered by uh Jonathan Bush uh what happened is uh recently I was asked by a friend of mine uh who lives in a different Community here in Essex County she told me that her board has been meeting regularly without any attorneys present and she asked me if that was permissible under state law uh I couldn't answer I didn't know I just assumed that attorneys had to be present so I started to do some quick research under Title 18 and title six 18 is an educational law six is administrative law couldn't find anything so I I emailed Jonathan and Jonathan got back to me and said that actually under state law a board attorney is not required to be present during board meetings though it's kind of silly to function without an attorney present uh be considering the litigious World in which we live um I did want to also ask I don't know if Jonathan wants to ask that but is it also necessary for a board a Ed to hire an attorney at all or can you just you know do it on a a piece by piece basis as needed but that's something you you can address uh down the road uh the um I had a question through the chair to ask of Mr Paladino the uh the final payment for the 4.2 million State loan that was given to Belleville back in 2015 after Mr Egan was appointed in May of 2014 that last payment is supposed to be made during this Academic Year and I would like to know you know is does Mr Paladino have his calendar marked when that final payment of roughly $420,000 is going to be made I've heard through the grapevine that it's going to happen sometime late winter early spring but I'd like to know is there a specific date when that final payment uh will be made uh paying back the state in full uh let's see last thing I wanted to um how much time do I have left two minutes all I still have plenty of time uh uh I was hoping Mr Egan would be back again tonight I know last month he was present and I asked him to please explain what happened earlier this year regarding our U budget um uh Governor Murphy made good on his campaign promises from several years ago when he announced during his February budget address that uh districts like ours would be fully funded and uh to that end uh the state is providing us with our more than $75 million in state aid for the current Academic Year but yet just a few weeks later our previous superintendent introduced a budget that called for a 10.2% increase in the tax local tax levy um the board worked to try to reduce that apparently the board got it down to about 4% but the uh board at the time had only six voting members and they deadlock 33 um and what was really particularly concerning when you had the the final vote for the budget um the chair of the finance committee Dr massagi went on public record saying that she had made multiple efforts to reach out to Mr Egan to discuss the budget uh both through phone calls and emails and he never returned any of her inquiries which uh kind of uh counters The Narrative that our previous superintendent you regularly gave us that uh the budget was a collaborative effort everyone was working together but it's so I I um after uh the uh board could not adopt that 4% increase Mr Egan came in out of hiding and uh effectively and uh imposed a 6.4% increase now state law says there's a 2% cap and I know there are exceptions to that cap but nevertheless um there shouldn't have been any any increase in light of the uh increase in state aid I've made multiple efforts to reach out to Governor Murphy haven't heard back from him but interestingly enough this Thursday 4M news2 New Jersey their monthly ask the governor segment will be on live and I am asking everyone in Belleville who cares about local tax burdens to call in and try to ask Governor Murphy Point Blank about what happened with our budget and hopefully he will promise to have one of his senior AIDS look into the matter and get back to us because he's failed to respond to me through writing to date so with that said um I thank you for your time throughout uh this meeting and throughout the year uh wish everyone a Merry quanica whatever the case may be in your particular instance and uh look forward to uh speaking with you and working with you again in January thank you thank you Mr Sheldon I I'm trying to wonder if you're trying to put me out of business here with this uh legal questions um no and I was responsible primarily for bringing you well you you you were very supportive thank you very much um the qu just to answer the question um number one a board attorney is not required to be present for meetings but certain boards really it's important to them depends on a lot of factors I mean our firm represents almost a 100 school districts Statewide uh which is many more than we did when we first started with you and you know obviously you've all been a tremendous boost to my firm and me and I'm every once in a while I I don't know if I say it enough how grateful I am to the work I I'm able to do in this buau excuse me the in this this town um but the one thing I'm going to say in response to your other question is a is a is a district required to have a attorney at all no there's no there's no requirement that that a board have an attorney but there I'm I'm certain I mean I don't have it in front of me that every school board in New Jersey has an attorney of record at least we have some boards that call us twice a year you know with questions because they have maybe um you know 10 students that get sent to another District smaller towns and various parts of the state not certainly not Essex County for example but smaller places and we have some um some places that are just uh not particularly litigious you know they don't have very many people who are challenging them on different issues uh it's usually smaller districts but there can be small or even mediumsized districts that have a tremendous history history of acrimony um whether it's people suing them or whether they're challenged by the community or whether there's issues among board members or ethics issues I mean I know that we think that Belleville has a lot of drama but you should imagine the way that other districts operate in the things that we face in other districts and so to answer your question every District in New Jersey has a Schoolboard attorney but not every no one's required number one and number two it depends on the circumstances and you know I think the posture for example right here in Belleville is perfectly appropriate under the circumstances so that's that's how I would say that I appreciate you reaching out this week on that I'm sorry didn't get back to you sooner was I think you sent it to me on a Saturday I'm usually ready for that but uh I just wasn't ready or Sunday I wasn't ready yesterday thank you Mr Sheldon as far as Dr deia those duties will be absorbed by the Personnel that are working within his office and he will be overseeing them as well as still functioning to assist in any way he can aside from the other duties that he'll be uh assigned so we're not hiring anybody to replace we're looking to replace that position I would defer Mr Paladino I know that position was brought in Mr paldino you remember that position the athletic yeah so that position was formerly held by Mr Luna uh so miss guon was a part-time employee there uh you know did a posting and natural progression um she was the candidate and then the uh state aid payment is usually in the spring thank you Mr Michael Monon Mike Bon 387 Union Avenue Beville uh Education Association president uh good evening board trustees so uh this is going to be one of those very rare occasions that you'll find me up here talking about standardized testing um much because I have a strong understanding that that topic would be more of a collaborative Collective effort on educ professionals the Board of Education stakeholders the community um but I I I I had to come up here today for a comment that was made by Mr Sheldon a couple of um board meetings ago where he pretty much said that he was not happy with our low performance with standardized testing and he ended it with I think we need to go into classrooms and see what's going on in the classrooms okay so I mean that that implies that the education our kids are getting in the classroom isn't up to par which very well could be a factor right so we could actually take one of these factors as the educator in the front of the classroom that that could be actually a factor although the odds of um us Belleville as bille as a district Belleville uh educational District having you know some all most of our Ela and Mathematics Educators being very terrible at what they do is probably very low okay but yeah I I challenge that the board take a look at that but I also know that we're a datadriven um District right so we dig into that data all the time and Mr Sheldon was on the board at the time and I think Mr Sheldon's campaign Pro uh promis was that he was going to raise standardized uh test scores um I ask this board and Mr Sheldon have we did we dig into the data did we compare our district with similar proficient districts that have similar socioeconomic status as we do right do we do that data do we compare such other factors as class size right I mean District that I come from calwell where my kids are in my kids are in high school to 18 kids in a class Belleville middle school high school elementary closer to 30 big difference um how about continuity of Education meaning our students if we look at the scores of our students that aren't proficient um in standardized testing are they K through2 students or are they coming in in the third grade fourth grade fifth grade sixth grade okay again I'm assuming that if we're going to make these statements we have all these answers we have the data to back that let's talk about um other things like distractions in the classroom like cell phones do we look do we We compare ourselves our cell phone policies to those achieving districts that have those same similar socioeconomic status as we do um least restrictive environment right special education I know that let many of our classrooms have up to eight special needs students in a general led classroom okay again compared to those proficient districts are we on on par with them um discipline uh policy do we have similar discipline policies across the board in our district as those type of other districts that are achieving in their standardized test scores do we have those same discipline policies are we adhering to those discipline policies um our books are books aligned with the njsla and Mathematics and language arts okay so if we look at our books and again I'm in the field so I again I challenge the board to have these conversations because that's what it's about we don't come up here and we don't make statements and we don't throw people under the bus until we have all the facts and all the data uh let's see absence how about absences are our students coming to school on a regular basis as those other districts that are proficient that are similar to our district okay um and you know again the Align like I said the alignment of our textbooks so there's so many factors that that that go into um whether or not we're going to be successful in standardized testing or not and I and I think that we need absolutely to work on that I'm not up here saying that we should overlook it what I'm saying is let's not come up here and make statements because the probability or the odds of us having the worst teachers in the state of New Jersey are probably slim to none right so let's look more into it because there is more to it than that okay and if we if we're going to make those statements we have to get that data we should be getting that data we talked um sorry I'll end on this Mr parado I did come to you about cell phones I mean this is a big distraction in our classroom we have to have these conversations we have to talk about these kind of things that are going on in our district I thank you all I wish you all the best uh holiday ever safe healthy holiday and thank you for your time thank you Mr Man Okay do we have a motion to close so moved okay so I think we'll to um have comments this evening so that we can uh wish everyone uh a happy and healthy holiday and I think we'll begin with uh trustee Nelson Barrera Mr Barrera good evening everyone needless to say it's been an honor to uh have been able to serve again for the board uh I think there's nothing more important than the uh giving our best to our children let me take a step back and congratulate those uh students that were honored this evening aim high and be the best that you can be is what I can say be proud proud of yourselves and your accomplishment and as far as the school district goes let's keep on working hard and giving the best that we can to our children also I want to wish a very happy holiday Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year to each and all and Nikki it's been a pleasure working with you I met you when you were first campaigning on your first round and it was great so the best of luck to you and thank you for being on the board thank you than you everyone thank you trustee Barrera trustee Brenda Pacho good evening all I'm GNA say congratulation for all the students and all I going to say is Nikki thank you for everything thank you for be be here to to help all the community all the students and personally I'm going to say thank you so much because I learned a lot from you all this month thank you thank you and again happy New Year happy holidays enjoy the breaks to all the students staff and everybody else thank you thank you truste Pacho and trustee Michael Darrow hi uh I feel like I should apologize in advance but mine's a little more longer than those last two I apologize uh thank you for coming out tonight or watching us online this last Board of Education meeting of the year uh congratulations to all of our students who won awards tonight uh some highlights since our last meeting the quarterly Essex County Regional School boards Association was uh held last Thursday night at the Nork Vocational High School treated to a great meal as prepared by their culinary students wanted to suggest to Mr rhods in the future hey there's an idea for us to host them in the future with our own uh great culinary uh students that we have here show them what we really can do we also learned about the future of using AI is a teachers help resource in the schools an interesting and very timely topic but of course not by letting it take over in case any drones are listening right now uh on Saturday I participated with the Belleville Historical Society in support of re Across America held at St Peters and glendell cemeteries honoring our War veterans many of whom gave their lives in service to our country we are very blessed here to have one of our own freshman student Zoe sing the national anthem and did a tremendous job we also had our Junior r TC out that day as well and did us all very proudly uh our great Belleville District recently handed out checks for monies collected from each of the schools during their p pink out days this was given to various cancer Charities represented by claras Hospital amongst others uh the personal stories told that day by many of our own facil uh faculty and support staff were inspirational as they had a chance to speak about the impact of cancer in their own lives I don't think there was a dry eye from any of us that that were there that day uh last month many of our students also had a wonderful induction ceremony into the National Honor Society I'm very proud of all their accomplishments I want to thank our great home hsas PTO PTO for all the work they do especially during this time of the year when they are the busiest with all their events uh and last but certainly not least I want to publicly thank trusty Nikki dtis for her years of service to this board she was a great mentor to me when I was first elected and always kept me informed with a lot of what was happening in our district and with the nation in respect to our children and parental rights uh which is very important to me as well she would be greatly missed I know that she will continue to give back to the community in some way or another after her official term ends with that being said I do plan to continue with the pursuit to validate and to audit uh our it expenditures going into this new year as this budget line item was very concerned to both of us uh so I will continue with that hopefully into the 2025 I want to end this by saying I wish everybody out there and on our YouTube channel a very merry Christmas happy holidays and a very happy and prosperous New Year looking forward to all that we could accomplish together in 2025 thank you very good thank you Mr Darrow uh trustee Dr Liz msaga okay congratulations to all the students who earned academic and sports awards or participated in charitable and compassionate activities to bring joy and comfort to the cancer patients and all the other activities and events that they participated in Beville students always do us proud next I would like to thank um our board roury trustee Nelson Barrera for filling in with us it's always nice to have you with us and thank you for what you've done to to be with us and fill in and our board vice president Nikki dtis for her service to the children of our District your passion and dedication serve as an inspiration and I am proud to have served with you and to be able to call you my friend finally I would like to wish everyone a very happy healthy and blessed holiday season and a very happy New Year progress thank you Dr L misia trustee Lewis munes good evening everyone um I I Echo everything everyone has said here tonight I want to congratulate our students uh that received their Awards tonight um I want to take a minute and uh thank Nelson for always always being so quick to step up for anything that we need for our kids and for our district um you know you're you're here during our meetings you're here in the public you're here serving in every possible way that you can so you know as someone who's gotten to know you very closely you're a great friend and a great mentor and a great trustee to have up here with us thank you so much um Nikki we're not going to make a big deal about Nikki so we'll skip her no just kidding um I no we just want to I I want to thank you not just as a trustee but as a as a very close friend of mine uh you know we joke around a lot we we vent to each other about a lot of different things and uh and we we we kind of cheer each other on when we want to stir up a little trouble so so I hope that I have somebody up here that'll uh push me when I want to stir the pot a little bit um but I want to thank you for everything that you've done um there's nothing I could say here that I haven't said to you already publicly privately and in public um I hope to see you um step up and do this again you're very needed um very upset to see you go but um I know you're I I know you you're going to keep going and uh I'll be there cheering you on at that time as well um happy holiday Merry Christmas to everyone and happy New Year thank you truste munes and vice president Nicole dtis good evening everyone as I steep down from my role on the board of education I want to express my deepest gratitude to the dedicated teacher staff and administr administrators who work tirelessly to support our students your commitment to Excellence and unwavering support support for our district have made a lasting impact on our students speaking on that topic a very important agenda item from tonight was appointing Mr deia to the acting assistant superintendent I'm glad to see we are making moves in that department the district is in excellent hands I didn't want to let tonight go by without highlighting the importance of this agenda item to my fellow board members thank you all for your kind words tonight I wish you would have said it before the election just kidding thank you for your support collaboration and friendship during my time on the board together we have navigated challenges and celebrated successes always striving to put our children first however it is important to acknowledge that not everyone shares this dedication unfortunately some individuals have let personal agendas overshadow the needs of our students and the district this Behavior undermines our Collective efforts and hinders our progress I encourage those individuals to reflect on the true purpose of our roles and to prioritize the best interest of our students and the community I hope everyone has a merry Christmas happy holidays and happy New Year thank you vice president Nicole dtis all right good evening everyone um Nelson Barrera trustee Barrera thank you very much for your service for stepping in when we needed you uh and Nicole dtis it's not goodbye it's just a break I'm sure um I've made a good friend in you and I know I will continue to enjoy our company together uh I want to thank you for your hard work your dedication your compassion passion everything for everything that you've done everything that you do um your advocacy for the parents the children and the taxpayers does not go unnoticed so we do appreciate you um to all of our staff families and students as we approach the holiday season I want to extend my warmest wishes to each and every one of you may your days be filled with laughter Joy the company of your loved ones um everything that you to need you know in this break and towards the end of the year uh wishing you a season of happiness and a prosperous New Year hopefully um hope you get a little bit of a break and we can't wait to see everyone again in 2025 um Mr Monon I heard everything that you said I think we do need to have some conversations I know that superintendent parado is only here for a short time and we have been bombarding him with emails um we do wish to sit and talk about a lot of the things that you've touched on and we're looking forward to working together um it's just odd to start the conversations now when Mr power pedo is soon going to be gone again but maybe we can start to do that um so with that said do we have a motion to close tonight's meeting so moved have a good evening everyone