good good okay all right I would like to call this meeting to order will the secretary please call the role Mrs Becker Mr Cummings here Mr goswami yes Miss gu Mrs harck here m Mr hung Dr James I was here no here say here here uh Mrs Reese here president LAX here we have a quum please rise to salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the rights of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the East Brunswick board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted at the East Brunswick Board of Education offices written notice was also provided to The Sentinel the Newark Star Ledger the home News Tribune the alternative press of East Brunswick and the municipal clerk of East Brunswick all Board of Education meetings with the exception of executive session discussions are videotaped for later broadcast it is the policy of the Board of Education that videotape meetings are not edited for any purpose individuals who speak at the board's public meeting should be aware of these videotaping rules good evening um to our early birds um whereas the Board of Education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and these subjects are within the exception to the open public meetings act and are pered to be discussed in Clos session the Board of Education intends to discuss matters as follows those items listed on tonight's agenda the length of close session is estimated to be 1 hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will be taken now therefore be it resolved that the East Bron Board of Education will resist to close session for only the afret subjects and be it further resolved that the East brunck Board of Education hereby declares that discussion of the affers said subjects will be made public at a time when the Public's interest in disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental Interest being protected from disclosure in accordance with the open public meetings act I'll make a motion thank you Lori uh motion by Mrs herck second by Mrs Reese is there any discussion all those in favor I opposed extensions motion carries thank you so much we will see you in an hour okay welcome back Dr veski would you like to start us off please with the superintendent report thank you president LAX good evening everyone Memorial elementaries reading Specialists Katherine La hocki Christina Thomas as well as third grade teacher Nicole Casal organized and hosted Memorial's very first book swap event on Wednesday June 12th students donated over 1,800 gently used or new books for this event ranging from Young children's board books to chapter books graphic novels and picture books all 461 students were able to choose three books to keep and read over the summer the day was so exciting and students recognized their favorite titles characters and authors the celebration ended with all students designing their own bookmark mapping out their summer reading plan and how they would enjoy these new books it was such a special day for Memorial readers and they are looking forward to doing it again next year congratulations to our May high school athletes of the month students were selected for this Honor by the coaching staff based on performance demonstration of leadership effort and practice and of course for modeling exceptional character by now everyone is aware of the the East Brunswick High School yearbook investigative findings reported yesterday the full redacted report and Associated exhibits are available on the homepage of our website many of our ebhs students Muslim Jewish in fact the entire student body were impacted by hateful rhetoric and baseless accusations directed at them following the senior yearbook distribution the facts are detailed in the yearbook investigative report and I want to reinforce to the east bronz community that no students and I repeat no students were responsible for any of the findings contained within and I want to take this opportunity tonight to offer an apology to the East Brunswick Community for what this situation has caused and especially offer an apology to all the students at East Brunswick High School for what this situation has caused them and how it impacted the end of their school year we must all be part of the solution to repair the Deep Hur and division that has created that has been created in our school district and community and as adults we all accept responsibility to build a better tomorrow for our children I just hope that we can all pledge to do that for them thanks thank you Dr biski moving on to people that actually do a lot for our children we have a resolution this evening of appreciation for our parent teacher Association whereas our PTA spent countless hours supporting our 11 schools and more than 8,300 students contributing greatly to their school communities and helping promote a positive School culture whereas our PTA fundrais extensively so that they may gift technology and playground equipment fund many grants to teachers provide scholarship and so much more and whereas the PTA is generously arrange for and fund special programs authors and illustrators music and dance history and science assemblies and workshops that enhance and enrich the learning environment for our students and whereas all those involved in our ptas are wonderful examples for our students modeling good citizenship and the importance of doing one share to make the world a better place now therefore be it resolved that the East brons Board of Education gratefully acknowledges the incredible support of the ptas and their dedicated service and devot to students and staff thank you to Bal Monroe PTA and president Cheryl kazen I apologize Cheryl con thank you Central PTA and president Courtney blumig chick PTA and president gjab Nal Churchill PTA and president Jamie waserman East Brunswick High School PTSA and president Rachel van Wagner Frost PTA and president Kim gr grad gradski I'm butching every I'm so sorry Hammer shold Upper Elementary School PTA and co-presidents Maran tanos and Christine grman Irwin PTA and president NADA soda Lawrenceburg PTA president SAR Sarah Brandon grael Memorial PTA and president Caitlyn Mendes and War sterer PTA and president Melissa feirstein being be it further resolved that the East brunic Board of Education would like to extend a very special thank you to the president of PTA president's Council Jamie werman who was supported and encouraged the PT a in all of their efforts may I get may I please have a motion so move by Mrs gu second by Mrs herck um as I said earlier the PT really are um our biggest supporters you have a lot of PTA moms up here um present and past and um we can never thank you enough I know my time on the PTA and I see one of my cohorts there who I had a lot of fun at Memorial with um is really special to us and really special to the kids um so I'm going to ask if any other board members of my PTA moms want to make some comments tonight Mrs ree just a quick extra thank you I definitely Echo what Miss LAX has said and you know without you without the PTA moms dads grandparents all the the PTA families we wouldn't be able to have the schools that we do so thank you so very much for what you do and it's very much appreciated appri it thank you Mrs Dr James yes I thank thank you so much uh I just wanted to say thank you so much to all the PTA leadership that we have here I really know how much work it is to be part of the PTA and it's you know it's it's truly a thankless job and you do so much and you you really deserve this recognition um and I wanted to say also that fellow board member and I um glori herck are really excited to be um bringing back uh the board p uh Liaisons and we'll be getting to uh go to your meetings and listen to you and and take notes and and bring things back and so uh we're just looking forward to seeing you and and thank you so much and I hope you have a a well-deserved restful summer break before you get into those August planning meetings I just wanted to say um as being back in an elementary school as a PTA mom and looking at the yearbook that my daughter just came home with it is amazing the amount that the PTA does over the year and does so seamlessly you know going back through the ice cream socials and the trunk Retreats and the parties and the amount of Joy the kids take and even you know the clap out that happened in the number of PTA Representatives that were there um and even the assemblies just the amount that the PTA brings to the school is amazing and the parents that are taking care of doing it not just PTA moms but the parents that are taking care of doing this which just greatly appreciated what's done with volunteer time so thank you this is I'll just Echo what everybody up here has already said um as a a PTA parent and a parent right we all just work to do um the best that we can at our schools um tirelessly make it look effortlessly um we go off like sometimes without a hitch covering all of the little things that happen that we didn't uh inquir such as our DJ not coming to our Church Hill um event this year um and we just had amazing staff and parents that jumped in and and did the job instead so um you know this recognition is for every parent every PTA parent um that works hard and and just gives back so much to the community so thank you thank you sure and just an extra special shout out to Jamie was yes she got I mean she's amazing she's probably gonna kill me for saying this because she doesn't like attention um but she's fabulous She's So Dedicated she is everywhere at all times and she gets things done and she's such an impressive and kind person so I just uh we go back to Frost together so I just want to thank her for all the years of dedication and that she's still involved so thank you Jamie yes and actually Heather I am going to take exception to something you said the thankless job I will tell you and for some of you younger parents one of the coolest things is when you get to graduation and you see kids that you had in elementary school and I got to shake hands yesterday with kids I haven't seen since they were in fifth grade and that that was a that was a beautiful thing so there is something beautiful we get out of it but um we can't thank you enough honestly um and I'm going to ask the board members who was in favor of this resolution this evening is there anyone opposed didn't think so I okay motion carries if I could ask the PTA Representatives that are here this evening to meet me um at the bottom of the stage I would love to give you your resolutions [Applause] sorry feel I would never [Music] [Music] [Applause] get exra steps okay some of the hardest working people in the district year after year okay we are at the good of the cause for the public the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest to protect the privacy of all students and staff concerns regarding individual students and staff members should generally be addressed by first meeting with the appropriate administrative staff and order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board shall provide a period for public comment in every meeting we are limited to a 3 minute duration the board secretary will keep the timing and I apologized last time I tried to be a little bit um loose with that but In fairness to everyone that would like to speak I am going to ask this evening please if you could keep your remarks to three minutes and remember always it is the time to speak to the board anything that needs followup we can find my ladies in the back we'll make sure your information is left with them will'll get back to you so that being said if you'd like to come and state your name and address for the record please good evening my name is Dominic spani to Morgan place after hearing about the countless stories and times the board clearly did not adequately address and combat islamophobia and anti-Semitism I thought I'd share how you've done the same thing regarding ableism in 8th grade I was put in a special ed writing class and the teacher was so mean that I cried multiple times and begged my counselor to remove me from that class and I wasn't removed until November of that year once I asked to clarify question and she went well if you were listening you wouldn't have to ask the question in nth grade we read of M and men and the teacher made it clear the n-word must not be used when reading in class yet the r word is also in the book and when I asked the special ed teacher if we could also refrain from using that word she said well it was appropriate for the times she also had me read as Lenny the disabled character in the book for no one for those who don't know uh the chapter he died and when asked why she had me read she said I thought you'd be good for the part in 10th Grade A kid threatened to beat the out of me for being autistic on Autism Awareness Day nonetheless and the only reason it was handled correctly was because Mr Hannis and miss and Dr Figaroa handled it at 11th grade the blood drive at the high school did not let me donate blood because I'm autistic since they didn't think I was fully aware of what I was getting myself into and the administration was siding with the blood drive people it only got solved when my parents threatened a lawsuit in 12th grade I went to the administration saying supplemental instruction was hurting the mental health of special ed students and I was told I had to Advocate more to the teachers and that it wasn't going anywhere I C I cried the last week of school because teachers were still overworking us the week I graduated I can't even count the numerous other times people have made fun of my ticks or have said off offensive slurs towards me and yet nothing was done to educate students on students with disabilities because it just wasn't in the curriculum I was so depressed and the only reason I'm still alive today is because of that man right there Dr Lou Figaroa many of you know me personally so the next time you say you're happy to have me around I want you to remember that the man who saved my life is getting fired without cause by you now you have Mr Juliana who has thrown special education under the bus and even used an outdated an offensive word to describe the disabled community and he gets a raise while the only assistant superintendent who gave a damn about the disabled Community is getting the axe it would seem you are unable to combat hate thank you thank you Don state your name and address for the record please Jack levit president of the East bronic Education Foundation for Springfield Road for those of you who are unfamiliar with ebf and I hope it's not too many of you we're a community-based organization a 501c3 nonprofit that issues grants uh to administrators and teachers for things that aren't included in the school budget that will enance and enrich the curriculum for students in the district our Charter is very clear we don't fund things that should be handled within the School District budget but I'm here to share that our grants committee strongly recommended that we make an exception to the rule knowing that there's a significant budget shortfall and that the yearbook oversight has caused tensions in the district and this town to hit crisis levels they suggested to our membership who wholeheartedly agreed that we make some grants available to help fund some of the training that Dr veski promised the community thank you however the board has called for tolerance training we don't believe that this should be the goal we're willing to consider grants for diversity equity and inclusion with the goals of empathy and building acceptance tolerating each other just isn't going to achieve that it's just going to be pretending it's not there so we're hoping to see a lot of these Grand applications over the summer and I hope you find a way to take advantage of these one time this onetime exception to our rules for the right reasons thank you thank you Mr levit hi if you could state your name and address for the record please my name is Donald Simons I live at Two River Road in East Brunswick I'm here to question you your transportation as of Tuesday of this week the 18th you have a school bus that the bus driver refuses to put the Amber lights on for 200 ft he didn't even put on when he's making his turn on from Main Street onto River Road back in October a dump truck ran into the back of a school bus I was picking up students on River Road I called your transportation department at least six times nothing was done I called the bus company up nothing was done about the bus driver I mean I called Dr lees's office I know they called they called the transportation what's being done about it you're not doing anything I mean you got students whose lives are at stake on a school bus and the bus driver not even going by the state rules thank you Mr Simons if you could leave your information and also the name of the bus company I would really appreciate well it's First Student Bus company that's what it is I'm sorry it's first student okay and I I called their office I talked to the dispatcher and they they put pass me under the supervisor and the supervisor told me that your Transportation uh the wom charge Transportation need Pro was going to be at the bus stop and Friday I look Wednesday Thursday and Friday she didn't show up either one of those days so I don't know what kind of people you got working for you but I I think that you got students you said 8,000 some OD students in the schools how many of them take school bus rides how many of them are how many bus drivers aren't paying to attention and and jeopardizing their lives that's what I want to know I don't have any any more grandchildren in school here but my neighbor has two kids one of them was almost getting on the school that was hit by a dump truck I turned around and I got a hold of the county and the County's going to put up a school bus sign for River Road on Main Street coming in off Bard and Town Avenue so they because you got two tow houses and one of them's blocking the so they can't see when they're making a right-hand turn and I don't know if anybody knows it but technically by law a any vehicle is supposed to stop 35 ft either in front of the school bus when first or 35 ft in back of the school bus us that's the state law thank you thank you Mr Simons if you could state your name and address for the record please good evening Jennifer Figaroa 101 Rus Lane um in regard to the yearbook incident I question the authenticity of an independent Council that has had such an extensive previous relationship with the board also it is my understanding that there was no money given to equity diversity and inclusion trading for the past 2 years and no money was allocated for next year yet you now claim that tolerance programs will be implemented why is it that something so detrimental needs to happen before you realize the value of such programs and who will be leading your diversity equity belongingness and inclusion programs now that Dr Figaroa is gone Lou as this is your last meeting as an East Brunswick employee I want to thank you as a teacher and a mom I want to thank you for your never wavering decision for what's right and your passion and dedication to the students you are an unbelievable role model and your absence will be missed thank you thank you Mrs [Applause] figeroa hi if you could state your name and address for the record please hi my name is Tom scani I live at two Morgan place in East Brunswick um I wasn't at the last meeting but I kind of watched it on YouTube and uh I guess I have a question for the for you is uh you mentioned that you were going to look into something for my son in the last meeting on an apology I just wanted to know if you came up with anything did you look into it answer sure yes oh okay sorry I'm just trying to make sure I the um my apologies um yes so I I have asked for the review of the tapes because it's concerning and I understand your son's um question about whether or not um labels that were used which are detrimental labels um my recollection was that it was used in the name of a school and I am trying to find out whether or not that is the case I have not gotten that information I apologize it's been a little busy here so I do not have the answer to the question um I can tell you and I still I promise you I have not forgotten um if it was used in the wrong context and in a way that would be offensive to any students adults anyone in the community then you will absolutely have an apology from me but I my apology right now is unfortunately I do not have the answer based on the last um two weeks but I i' give you my Assurance and if you would like afterwards I will even give you my cell phone number and you can text me and I will give you the answer as the moment I have it I'll give you mine right now and you can text me okay all right 732 don't give it over it's recorded don't don't do oh okay all right I'll give it to prot Sir see okay in the back if you could see one of them and give but Mr scani I I did take it very seriously when your son said it um and other members of the community asked the question um so please don't mistake my not having the answer yet for the fact that I am not um truly invested in what the answer is fair enough and I just want to um I guess one other thing is just listening it sounds like through the independent Council that nothing was really found am I correct on on the yearbook am I correct back and forth oh okay yeah I apologize it was confusing because they told me I was allowed to answer if it came out and I don't I might have missed it um who did do it the report is available it is okay online thank you and actually um as I say if you'd like to talk to the women in the back there because if you'd like to leave your cell phone with them and also they can help to get you to where the report is um available so that you can get the answers thank you sure hi Mark SAR Hunter fresh puns Road let me help you out real quick Bernie Giuliani at the budget hearing April 25th 2024 at the 36 minute mark quote unquote the private schools for the handicapped set rates took me about two minutes to find it now I'll do my speech from tonight I had to put that in there some concern president LAX in the entire board we know it's not your job to run the district but it is your job to ensure that the district is run well news flash here it's not being run well large venues like this used to be for the staff recog nition student awards not because of the poor leadership from Dr veski and the entire board it's caused these meetings to grow larger and larger the worst inflammatory statement I've heard here is the board allowing Dr vesy to use intimidating Language by saying if you want to run with the big dogs you need to come off the porch to me that sounds like a drunk in a bar challenging somebody to a fight not language that should come from a superintendent and let's list some of the things the board has allowed the superintendent The Outsider to to do let's say the budget cuts are going to have minimal student impact but let's cut the head of Student Activities and Serv as doct Lou Figaroa I'm sorry Dr veski you won't be able to come close to doing the job he did allowing an outsider to tell a female resident go find the audit yourself how about just tell her how your team made a $3 million mistake allowing the superintended to M an atmosphere of low morale for staff creating fear for staff to speak out doe potential potential retaliation allowing an outsider to delay and totally screw up the referendum That was supposed to be done by March of 2024 all while wasting tax dollars probably hundreds of thousands on outdated plans students and trailers for two years in counting no redistricting and Reckless spending over the 2% cap the board allows an outsider to create chaos not calm putting our students in hard Harm's Way by refusing to tell the truth about the yearbook two weeks ago when you had it president LAX you said no matter what we say no one's going to believe us Dr veski has said in the past whatever I say tonight no one will believe me what right do you guys have to hide the truth even tonight Dr vesi you apologize for the high school situation not for the screw up this transparent board loves to hide stuff in Clos session February 1st and February 15th Clos session if this is a transparent board when are you going to release the minutes to the public because I wish I could say what they were hiding in those two meetings yeah You' approved them you haven't released the minutes so president LAX Dr veski you've stated in your own words that you've kept the truth from the residents it's time for The Outsider Dr veski to resign it's time for the board to remove president LAX and appoint someone else and November 5th is the time to begin replacing the entire board thank you thank you Mr [Applause] sisar would you like to speak if you could state your name and address please for the record doie uh Alex Alex Felman six Douglas Road um first of all good evening um it's been a while since I've been to a school board meeting and I see a lot of people I know I was seeing when I ran in 22 um and it's unfortunate that I've had to come here as I've heard about all the fiascos that have happened within the last few months and hearing what the displeasure of this public is whether it's the issues with the budget whether whether it um the issues within the schools themselves or the yearbook Etc and the response from this board and Executives have in my in my opinion have been unsatisfactory I believe we need a more prompt and at the same time a much more final response for the situation I think in this situation a recall is necessary for board members who allow these things to happen because let's be honest waiting till November is not going to change anything at the end of the day because some board members are here for more than just November they may be here for 25 26 and that means you're Le letting them there for another two one two extra school years so I'm I'm fortunate that I have to mention that but I'm sick and tired of hearing the public going nuclear because their voices are unheard their fears are being realized and at the same time nothing is actually being done empty promises and at the same time have truth in whole lives and I'm sorry once again but this is the truth it's the honest truth the truth will set you free and unless we have closure in this situation it's going to go on for the foreseeable suit future thank you and good evening thank you Mr [Applause] Spielman if you could please state your name and address for the record Jeff Winston 44 fresh pounds R spric Miss gani I've read the report I'm going to ruin the ending uh it's not surprising that this was a better than the original the sequel if it's not my fault the yearbook days uh nice job Dr veski uh your friend did well for you who inserted the part in that that superintendent acted appropriately while the Board of Ed uh refuses to establish any expectations for Outsider ves's role the public has clear expectations public servant ves's inability to manage crisis and only increase chaos is extensive let's discuss three opportunities where outside of veski is struck out strike one a couple of years ago a fight two female students a hijob came off the female students head uh do uh Dr veski knew that day that it was not a bias attack he knows that because there was video evidence 4 hours of angry residents demanding explanation at the board of ed meeting explanation two weeks later so he let that steam later when an officer reported the findings public accepts public accepts the outcome and the issue calms down strike two November 30th 2023 Boe meeting during the superintendent report displays a picture of the Beijing National Day School in China visiting our school 15 individuals in that picture do not have stickers on them all tour East bronic schools during the regular school day he said proudly our methods and practices were disclosed in Clos session I asked dreski who were the unvetted people and he yelled at me so loudly that the public heard him through the door I don't know who they are what do you want me to do Mr Winston head of school security wasn't aware of the visit no discipline to the administrator who held the door open to uh circumvent security public servant fesi called that a teaching moment strike three Community aware of a year yearbook issue board meeting on the 6th voices of concerned students heard in a public session they're frightened and feeling threatened uh the report did let us know that Dr veski and his and his wife they were scared uh I guess they got some phone calls Victor veski says he will retain independent investigator hire friend of the board attorney uh who sat uh in this in this chamber as legal counsel at board meetings June 6 fesi unwilling and unable to say what happened in the public to 18 hours later published in People magazine exactly the findings of this report in people before the public with uh withheld knowledge for 18 hours veski runs out the clock on the investigation results and answers that finally a report no different than the one he had prior Bernie allegedly tells his staff don't worry it'll blow over tells the board the same thing conveniently included in the incident summmer report that the superintendent acted properly instead of bringing calm he has escalated chaos independent I'm going to go on Independent Council Paints the most unlikely scenario that would that would rival any conspiracy theorist we are East Brunswick uh and we we demand answers from this board in accountability take back EV schools on Facebook we will replace the forcb we will replace the for I'm going to finish replace the the upcoming election beware e take back e School Mr Winston thank you if you could please state your name and address for the record my whole address I'm sorry Beth Hoffman my whole address can you come at least the street Beth Hoffman East Brunswick New Jersey I am out okay I am outraged and has been since the last board meeting when Jewish students got up one after the other and discussed what the atmosphere have been like has been like at East Brunswick High School uh especially since October 7th there has been so much bullying and harassment and anti-Semitism going on and although these students reported the hateful acts to staff nothing was done I would like to know if there have been any consequences to the staff that did nothing with these complaints or to the principle that allowed this environment to to Fester now you expect us to believe that this whole yearbook fiasco was an accident I question whether this independent uh Law Firm is truly independent obviously we don't want to make East Brunswick look bad and I just have to wonder about these results there's so many steps to finalizing a page as was in explained in the investigator's report so many eyes get to see it it is unbelievable to me that it could possibly be an accident especially since there has been so many incidences throughout our country of similar occurrences in yearbooks as unbelievable as your report was the other incident in New Jersey this week where the picture of Anne Frank was placed in a yearbook with an expression saying you found me was also explained by the district as a non-malicious event no maliciousness intended that is also beyond belief just seems like these things are getting swept under the carpet yes I just okay let me see so I am wondering um if the students that spoke up last week that had all this harassment and felt uncomfortable and at the high school if they if they were um sought out and if if they asked who did all this bullying and this hateful acts to them and if there's been any consequences to them I'd also like to know if there's any consequences to the staff that allowed this hateful environment to Fester including the principal of the high school and I understand there was a speaker last week that had a I think a son in Churchill that also had some horrible incidents H happened so I I I hope that you could address that and um I just hope that there uh you will you know a classes getting spending money on classes you know kids might not listen and everything but it would be much more meaningful if people directly that are involved in teaching our children take a stand on what's right there's so many people in this 15 seconds okay I just hope that our district could start doing what's right and be a a role model because we have so much diversity it would be really nice to be a role model of how people can get along and it's not going to just happen with the class it's got to happen with the staff thank you thank you very much Mr [Applause] hi if you could state your name and address for the record please hi Dr Jamie Falco 11 Taft good evening friends neighbors and board of aded members you can relax I'm not here tonight to talk numbers or Flex my math skills hey Tom guy I got you don't worry actually want to thank the board for your work this year despite recent disappointments I acknowledge and appreciate that you have given your time and attention to our most important resource our children the future that being said this community and our children are in pain the yearbook debacle exposed a lot of trauma that was previously ignored the external report released yesterday does nothing to fix the underlying culture issues if anything this report highlights the lack of resources and the top- down lack of accountability that exists in this District the yearbook adviser is accountable yes but she was failed by the system the report cost costs very little culpability on anyone except her it's interesting to note the inconsistencies between the year the yearbook advisor statement and the interim principal statement they may or M may not have reviewed the yearbook together it's also astonishing that the report reads a proclamation of absolution for some involved my heart's beating hard guys I'm a little shook point 4 page 14 reads I find that redacted name conducted himself appropriately during the process I disagree appropriate would have been thoughtful responses addressing both the Jewish and Muslim Community simultaneously not kneejerk reactions Additionally the report States page 13 that redacted names spoke with national media Outlets ABC NBC and CBS following the meeting with the yearbook advisor June 7th however Rebecca aen of public mag of People Magazine online published quotes from redacted name and stated that he spoke with her people is owned by dmer at the subsidiary of IAC has no affiliation with NBC ABC or CBS there is a discrepancy in this report what other discrepancies may exist I don't know but now I'm concerned the members of this community are concerned the release of this report allows you to wash your hands now but it doesn't change the culture and come September these kids deserve better call upon you to do better for this community please and thank you thank you Dr f is there anyone else that wishes to speak to the board this evening okay then I'm going to close the public portion move on to the agenda items um there will be followup you know it's not an easy job to sit up here in any of these seats but I have to clear up a couple of things I I see Mr Winston you're stopping to hear this so this is for you so yes um it's very easy it's very easy to take pot shots at people and the way that they do things the reality for the board you're going to need you're going to need security personally from up there I didn't threaten you sir you're out of order I'm out of order you're you're out of order I'm the public you're out of order sir stop in this case I am sir this has been a very hard time for this community and instead of people coming together you've had people Predators out there that have used people's pain to try and throw stones and to make issues out of things it didn't need to be Dr Falco and I'm using your name and I apologize to your point you're right we had a lot of press that went on in this town surrounding this issue but the unfortunate truth is nobody up here called The Press we did not invite the Press during our budget crisis during the yearb crisis during during any crisis other people called The Press for attention and we had no choice but to answer questions Dr veski had no choice but to answer so you can come here and I'm not speaking to you again my apologies people can come here and you can criticize you can criticize the board you can criticize Dr veski but the reality is we have worked whether you disagree with what we are doing or how we are doing it I assure you that we are up here and we are in meetings for a very long time trying to figure out how to get through these situations and people that chose not to be part of the solution but instead to try and use people's pain to make things better for themselves to come up here you're all in a really great position because when you're at that microphone you can say whatever you want for 3 minutes the board we can't answer back we can't defend ourselves Dr veski can't defend himself there's a lot that's gone on in this community but I can tell you that this man is working his behind off I'm sorry I'm trying not to use bad language he is not an outsider this is a man for over a decade that people loved his snow messages and people talked about how great he was and the kids my own kids I remember in elementary school loved when he came he was a celebrity and you know what yes I've heard from some of the people that have spoke at the these meetings that you're unhappy with certain things but I don't know if you realize that I've had a lot more positive feedback hey hang in there it's really tough Dr veski you're doing a good job you are appreciated in this district and people that have access to grind and personal issues and that's what a lot of it is and when you're not on the board you can say whatever you want and then walk out the door mic drop that's wonderful after you've stirred a lot up people don't believe it and I made the comment that you wouldn't believe me but you know the reality is you're already predestined not to believe anything we say we bring in an outside investigator and instead of saying you brought in an outside investigator we're told he's a friend of the attorney well I don't know how many of you were in businesses where generally you use and give referrals to people that you know the quality of their work so most of the board members up here do not remember because they weren't here with Mr brisman I was I don't know him that well he did substitute for Mr jacobe and I found him to be a credible attorney he was competent good at his job and if Mr giobi as our Bo attorney said that this is the man to do the outside investigation because I trust his work ethic I trust the work product then we're supposed to say no I'm sorry because you had a prior relationship with him most people hire people that they know you want somebody you ask for referrals when you go to hire someone to work on your house when you go to get a doctor you want referrals so I apologize because at this point no matter what is said up here there's going to be someone that's going to attack it no matter what good we try to do somebody is going to attack it and there are real issues and and and for D and for your dad I do truly apologize that I don't have the answer that I had every intention of having by now I really did and the last couple of weeks I didn't get the answer and I don't know we always say this and No One Believes us I have a full-time job I have a family we all work this is a volunteer position so we do the best that we can with what we are given we truly care about these kids I've given over a decade of my life for these kids so when I hear pain from our students and it doesn't matter if it's one or if it's 8,000 I take it seriously and I go out of my way to make sure that I can do everything in my power to make it better but if you come here and you make us the enemy we're never ever going to make things better because we can talk about you know acceptance and and and and the Beautiful diversity and how we can get the kids to work together and not bully each other in the school halls but how do we do it when we as adults try to throw stones and Bully each other I I I don't know the answer to that but at some point if you stop fighting and we try and work together there's a lot of ways for people to work together in this Community with the board with Dr veski but I I'm I'm I'm tired of hearing accusations about this man being an outsider or that this man is bad for this District go talk to the kids go ask the kids that walk those Halls because most of those kids love it when he shows up in their schools he's there for every activity every EB day all these things and you know what they all come over and I've been at a lot of events with him and they're running to take pictures with him so I don't think that he is failing our kids I think that the people that are coming and trying to take somebody else's pain and make it their 15 minutes and pull the press in those are the ones that are hurting our kids so that's that's all I I just I'm sorry um but I just it had to be said and so I will move on to our agenda for this evening one yes please sorry on the agenda I just want to call attention to the HR addendum number one it's on the um in the agenda that's on the day for you okay okay thank you Mr keld then I am going to ask for we do not have the board of education so curriculum instruction there are two items this evening on tonight's agenda may I have a motion please may I have a motion second moved by Mrs G second second by Mrs herck um and here is a perfect example our dual enrollment program this is the second year Dr veski that we had graduates second year second year we had graduates from our high school that graduated with not just a high school diploma but an associates degree um this was a program that you brought very soon after you took on the superintendency correct we expanded it yes yeah okay and we still have we have students in the queue um that will graduate in the next couple of years with associat thanks to your vision so thank you for that um is there any discussion any other discussion on curriculum and instruction yes I actually have a question for Dr Baldi if you could just clarify um the cost of the uh classes the three uh three credit course is 135 is that per credit or total that's for the class for the entire wow that's really an amazing uh savings because I actually once we had gone through this I looked it up and for uh per credit for Middle sex County College it's currently $198 going into the fall semester so being able to save our students and our fam's money by H allowing them to take college credits in high school and a three credit course is $135 I I think that's very substantial so okay thank you excellent point Mrs GL Mr H I just wanted to reiterate or Echo what my fellow board members are saying my son graduated last spring and very much enjoyed his first semester of college because he knew going into college he went in as a second semester freshman um not that he planned I mean he wasn't trying to do a full Associates not that he planned he took courses that he was interested in but between the AP classes and dual arment he was already a full semester ahead when he got there um which is actually going to help him work on uh Master's degree earlier so this program is really fantastic for all of our students even unintentionally MH and and if I could I I want to give uh acknowledgement to all the teachers too that this program wouldn't be possible without all of our high school teachers who have the uh dual enrollment certification they're reviewed by middle sex College uh and so we have a lot of talented smart people and our students are having the advantage of that experience in high school and we're we're very thankful for all of them absolutely Mr hung so I just uh urge parents our high school students take advantage of this dual enrollment program so now in college the tuation is is way too high for average income families so if you take this take advantage of this program you actually save yourself a lot of student long save your parents hundreds of thousands of dollars so please take advantage of this program is it help us help you I'm thinking my children I have three children so that will save me T of money and second question is Dr bully so would you please explain some about this language instruction education program three years plan to the public the first one [Music] the three years plan so would I'm sorry Mr Hong can you clarify number one that's number one oh oh can you provide some details about this this threee plan is um required for us to submit uh for the district on behalf of the ESL program to ensure compliance with State and um Federal guide guidelines so we have submitted this plan for your approval this evening so in this plan so what will the East bronic School District do to come uh to satisfy this required plan so what are you going to do something or what kind of special you are going to do for this plan we are continuing in our um manner that we have all these years with uh providing our ESL Services um to the students who are eligible and qualify um in compliance with class size the length and duration of the services provided Etc so we're we're just certifying with the state that we are doing everything that is required okay thank you thank you Mrs ree um and not you know just to add to what we said about the dual enrollment there also are some new courses if I'm correct on the list because um I we did not have Elementary Chinese 1 Elementary Chinese 2 is dual enrollment correct am I or am I say I just want to confirm that yeah so that's an amazing addition I to my my son is has graduated he got something like 19 I don't even know it was like over a semester and a half of credit through the dual enrollment program so I thank you for the district for this and now they're expanding I didn't I don't think we had Computer Applications and systems at that time either we had mainly you know the main type of English comp and you know those kind of classes but now it's expanded into other areas and uh languages as well so there there you know that would be something for uh you know families to look into but I think that not everybody takes AP it is rigorous and we do have a lot of students who take AP and they do very well but for students who may not be able to do AP for V variety of reasons dual enrollment is a very cost effective and I can tell you as a parent uh similar to what Gua said you this is 135 a credit you're talking about even at Ruckers uh and it's again a state school so it's a you know a a decent price but it's way many time many fold uh more expensive than the $135 a credit here so and actually it's not even a credit I don't want to say the wrong thing the three credit course is $135 so I I I urge you to take advantage of it like Mr um H said as well it's it's definitely important thank you and I I just wanted Dr B I don't know if if there's a lab included that's included in $135 as well right up to four credits if there's a lab I believe it is so I think that's that's even better deal yeah that's a great deal okay all those in favor opposed extensions motion carries uh we have one evening one item this evening facilities if I can have a motion please motion thank you Mrs herck second second by Mrs gach is there is there any discussion all those in favor I opposed extensions motion carries um we have 16 items this evening on Financial Services may I please have a motion motion moveed by Mrs herck second second by Mrs glass is there any um discussion on any of the 16 items this evening on F Financial Services is that your hand Mr C yeah sorry go ahead start as off yeah I was just going to say um sorry about that um for the effective School Solutions it's a heavy contract and certainly one that we should you know be investing in I'm glad to see that there uh the language in here I don't think gives a full uh perspective as to the additional services that are offered um so I'm really glad to hear that you know there's there's supplemental services to the the care that's being put towards our our students and our you know our school Community as a whole so um you know we we know that mental health and and wellness are huge topics that will continue to encircle us and and you know collectively it's it's on all of us to do better there so um I'm just you know want to continue to reiterate that message and concern at the same time thank you thank you Mr Cummings okay this is a roll call vote so will the secretary please call the role Mr Cummings yes Mr goswami yes Miss guas yes Mrs hark yes Mr hung yes Dr James yes Mrs Reese yes president LAX yes motion carries we have three items this evening under Human Resources may I please have a motion move by Mrs gu second by Mrs herck is there any discussion okay this Al is a roll call will the secretary please call the RO Mr Cummings yes Mr goswami yes Miss guas yes Mrs herck yes Mr hung yes Dr James yes Mrs ree yes president lack yes motion carries we have one item this evening under staff development may I please have a motion for that show oh God move on this is Eric second by Mrs G my dynamic duo this evening is there any discussion on staff development okay all those in favor opposed abstentions motion carries please we have five items this evening may I please have a motion for student services 1 through 5 so moved move by Mrs gu second by Mrs her make they take turns good friends okay um is there any discussion on student services this evening okay this is also a roll call so will the secretary please call the rooll Mr Cummings yes Mr go Swami yes Mr gu yes Mrs herck yes Mr hung yes Dr James yes Mrs reee yes president LAX yes motion carries and last but not least we have one item under transportation services this evening looking at my girls oh so move okay moved by Mrs quaz second by Mrs heric is there any discussion all those in favor I opposed exstension motion carries uh bringing us to committee reports information items and for the good of the cause for the board okay Mrs gu uh well for the good of the cause um I would really like to give my congratulations to Memorial School for planning the book swap um my six-year-old was so excited and the comments the of the kids coming out of the school I mean if you've been in an elementary school you know the big deal that the Scholastic Book Fair is it's a big deal and the comment that I kept hearing was this was better than the book fair which is amazing because the book fair is Big Stuff um but we are now the proud owners of three new dog man books which we are really excited about and we were able to send in a book that truthfully Madison did not want because the girl was not polite in the book she said that one could go but it was just such a great use of we all have overflowing shelves if we're lucky and it was such a great way to get the kids excited about reading and the staff put a huge amount of work into organizing the books it wasn't random they were divided grade level genre it was just a really cool event and I also wanted to thank um on I guess a personal note the number of parents first congratulations to the graduates graduation was beautiful it is one of our favorite times of year um and I wanted to thank the parents that reached out to say how beautiful graduation was for them it's nice when people take the time to say that these things were meaningful or what it meant to their children or just how they felt about it uh people spoke very specifically about your speech Miss LAX and um I just wanted to say we appreciate the positive calls it is an honor to sit up there and award diplomas but it is a Greater Joy to talk to people about how they feel about their students graduating so thank you yes we do love graduation although it's bittersweet you'll notice that Chris's chair is empty we'll have uh rishy in the fall um Chris is leaving us for Princeton I know I say it but you can't say it enough when you have a kid that just does that well right so um yes I love graduation as well and speaking of graduation we do have a parent of one the graduates look at the beaming see I love it that's the smile and that's what Heather is talking about all the parents that look like that the other day when they watched their graduates I just wanted to say thank you to to the district to the high school I mean with a lot of series of beautiful events uh we had a lot of Stu senior award ceremonies both for athletics for academics the prom was beautiful uh the graduation ceremony was well-run and it was very memorable the speeches were very memorable the the actual ceremony went very smoothly it's a large operation to run something like that and I I am a proud a parent of one of the graduates so um as a Yiddish trade shepping Nas I'm shepping a little Nas today for her and um I just want to say that um you know I'm very proud of of our students it was it has been a difficult time for them and they've overcome a lot of obstacles and that is our job as a board and as a district to make things better for them and that's our goal and if there can be any Silver Lining out of everything that has happened is that we will continue to strive to make sure that there is an educational component from this is going forward to help the students to help the teachers and the parents navigate through these type of experiences but I just want to wish good luck to the 2024 graduates and it was a very proud moment it was an honor for me always to hand out diplomas to the students uh but it was a special honor to hand it to my daughter and I I just thank you for you know giving me this opportunity to do that and to say thank you and to give lots of luck to all we have wonderful graduates going to many fine institutions and looking to very Bright Futures thank you thank you we do and for the students that are going to be coming back in the fall I'm going to give a plug for your student life committee um we do hear from a lot of people in the community and some of the people that have spoke here you might want to consider um reaching out and being a part of the Student Life committee absolutely so you know with with everything that has happened uh it's been a little slower to start but over the of Summer we're going to make effort to do that we're trying to put together a committee basically it was born out of the concept of trying to improve the quality of life of the students throughout the district issues come that that are outside of the usual realm uh may not fit in any particular category and then you know obviously with what has been going on uh in the last couple of months uh that's going to be handled as well through the district but there are quality of life issues that having been a parent of two students who went through the school system that we were noticing so we're going to try to include and if you know maybe you could talk to can I say mention to Karen if absolutely I Karen and Janet thank you so much for everything you do so if you're here tonight and you have an interest uh we're we're trying to put together a committee that will include members of the community from different areas so whether it be parents whether it be clergy Council whether it be um all different areas and we're still forming that so we were in the process of doing that this spring so I'm hopeful to give you more details over the summer when we have more time to flesh it out more but our purpose is to make student life better for the kids to listen to the kids obviously we have students on the committee from different age groups depending upon the issue so that we can hear from them firsthand what they what their concerns are how can we address them there's some issues just in their daily School lives that we may not be aware of if you don't have a kid currently in the system so it's important to hear from them as well and from the teachers and so forth we do this systematically in different areas but to have one one place to do that so did I make sense you did thank you Mrs re okay thank you much appreciated okay well yes Mr Cummings at the buzzer yeah sneaking in always make time for you yeah uh I have a lot of thoughts going on in my head you know and certainly these past several months have been uh really complicated for the community as a whole um this has been a really wild experience being a part of this group and a real privilege that I certainly recognize uh if you had told me however you know 10 months ago hey this is coming I don't know if I would have run for this seat um in some ways it with that being said um I have witnessed some incredible acts of heroism and compassion and intelligence and inspirational uh behavior on the part of so many people throughout this community um that isn't just entirely moving and makes me grateful to have the opportunity to be here for those of you who know my whole life I've dedicated to Social Services and to trying to strengthen communities um which has been difficult at times and it and has allowed me the privilege of traveling to various parts of the world and and being with very marginalized populations and dealing with very complicated human behavior um so I'm kind of used to it in some ways my wife and I have three kids in the district one will be in third grade one will be in seventh and uh excuse me Sixth and one will be in eighth next year and they all have their own sort of unique uh you know personalities as they should on Tuesday I went and picked up my daughter the one who will be going up to third grade next year and watched her hold her teacher uh because she didn't want to say goodbye and I watched other students playing and parents laughing and you know witnessed an abundance of goodness that is happening here routinely my boys of course are older and wanted to get into summer break I don't blame them I would have done the same thing at that age but we've had issues with them in the past as students and we have received a response when trying to deal with those uh that has been appropriate and professional there is always room for improvement and there is room for improvement here as a human institution and I know that we can do better but I am grateful to be a part of this community and honored to to try to help shape that over the course of the next two years or the the rest of my term so I just wanted to share those thoughts and uh you know thank every member who has helped to support the well-being and the richness of our kids uh throughout the district very well said thank you okay well I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn move by Mrs G second by Mrs herck is there any discussion okay all those in favor opposed extensions motion carries thank you everyone have a good night