e e for terrible good evening everyone on behalf of the entire Board of Education I would like to apologize for beginning our meeting late this evening uh we want to thank you for being here um this is not our Norm but we apologize um for the lateness again welcome everyone to the Board of Education meeting of the Elize Board of Education this is a combined regular agenda and business meeting of the Board of Education pursuant to New Jersey statutes and the rules adopted by the board of of Education notice of this meeting was sent to the Star Ledger and cable vision of Elizabeth on March 22nd 2024 in addition this notice is posted on a bulletin board in the lobby of 500 North Broad Street and pursuant to this act a copy has been filed with the city clerk of Elizabeth we want to welcome everyone present here at school 51 to our television in our television viewers to this March 28th meeting of the Board of Education we are here to govern provide management oversight and make policy for the district the superintendent manages the district this is the meeting of the board and the public not a meeting of the public this meeting is being recorded and will become part of Elizabeth Board of Education permanent record in order for that recording to adequately reflect the proceedings please refrain from talking while others are speaking we ask that you silent the sound of the electronic devices since it is legally mandated that these proceedings be accurately recorded we may have to ask for periodical periodically should noise begin to interfere with recording capability there will be a public portion for the citizens to address the board participants for the public P portion must personally sign in prior to the start of this meeting so that they may have the opportunity to speak the sign and Sheet States the name address telephone number and reason for that person for the the reason for the person reason that the person wants to comment whether it be an agenda item or a general education comment we are pleased that you have taken the time this evening to join us for our Board of Education meeting thank you for your interest in Elizabeth public schools Mr Kennedy roll call please Barbosa carvalo president Cheves Jacobs Marina Ortega naron kavas Pana presid Rivera here dorsy here thank you before we begin I would like to do a moment of silence for Lona Walker retired 2hour food service worker at school 23 Ronald Ron Kelly a retired guidance counselor from Hy Academy and Elizabeth basketball head coach Irene santz former food service worker at school number 18 and sylan SVA castra mother of James Monas principal of school number six if everyone can rise please thank you at this time please remain standing we will have the presentation of Colors by our Admiral William F Hy Junior health and Public Safety Academy Junior [Music] RC C [Music] [Music] [Music] played what sooud at the Twilight last Stripes bright star through theous fight or the ramp parts we watch were so ging and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting inir prove through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star sple [Music] for the land of the free and the home of [Music] [Music] the [Music] [Music] for for let's give a round of applause for our students from Junior ROTC thank you and we can remain standing as board member Isaiah Rivera leads us to the pledge of Ethics please as a member of the Elizabeth public schools professional Learning Community I will will treat people as I wish to be treated to do that I pledge to understand that the school Community is a special place listen respectfully when someone else is speaking by paying close attention and not interrupting speak in a calm voice and use proper language dress appropriately for teaching and learning Inspire the best in myself and others by celebrating successes and learning from mistakes care about others by demonstrating acts of kindness be a lifelong learner by taking every opport opportunity to learn from others thank you we may be seated I will now have our superintendent of schools introduce our student representative for this month good evening it is my pleasure to share a few details with regard to our student representative Alondra Galva Hong is the student representative for Johnny DWI Technology Academy she is currently the valedictorian for her senior class and hopes to help students achieve their goals at the moment she is the president of the student government recently she had the honor to receive the Princeton prize award in race relations for helping Advance race equity in Elizabeth she is a Student Success Center fellow for the Student Success Center from make the Road New Jersey in which she assists fellow peers in completing college and financial aid applications after school she is a youth power project leader for the Youth power project a group of high school students who fight for equity in their community in the future she intends to attend John Hopkins University to pursue a career in education with her support systems at dwire she accomplished these goals it is my pleasure now to invite Alandra calva to please approach the DI thank you tough s yes Mr Kennedy please add our student representative in the roll call please thank you duly noted thank you at this time the microphones are open for public comments for those who have signed in prior to this session I shall call individuals to the microphone based on the order of the signin sheet each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes in duration the total time of public comments shall be limited to 60 Minutes no individual is able to yeld their time to another individual all statements shall be directed to the presiding office officer no participants May address or question board members individually each speaker shall comply in all respects with board policy 9322 the following rules shall apply times limits will be strictly enforced no personal attacks on individuals or naming individuals no vulgar or indecent language a person may address the board no more than once during a single meeting comments will not be debated all persons in violation of this policy will be warned as a reminder this is a meeting of the public of the board in public not a meeting of the public at this time I call up Miss Maria Loren good evening on March 7th my son was injured at school 29 the injury led him to the nurse's office where your policies states that he should be examined for bleeding and broken bones that was violated he was to receive Aid that was violated your process and policy for bone injuries especially fractures are that he should be kept warm immobilized seek medical attention call me and fill out an incident report and insurance forms I will inform you that my son fell at school playing recess and fractured his wrist in two places I was the only one that was called um my husband as well I couldn't pick up and instead of seeking immediate attention we were called to take him out of school there was nothing else given besides allegedly ointment and a Band-Aid is this how you treat students in the school district furthermore had I not asked for the insurance forms I would have never been given the insurance form so not to parents you can ask for the district's insurance form to cover your medical bills because it clearly if you don't ask for it they're not going to offer it to you either so that was another fail I'm not very happy with the way this situation was handled it was a fracture and if your nurses are trained to recognize fractures and broken bones then they should have told us to seek immediate attention or asked us if we would like for him to be transported so now that you're doing your budget you can save your money on nurses and give it to the vice principles and the principles who can give and apply ointment Band-Aids and ice pxs because most of the nurses in the school district don't do the job they're hired to do in addition to that I have to say I'm very very pleased the state finally answered my complaint and found this District non-compliance when it comes to IEPs I've been talking about children's IEPs being violated for quite some time now you're found non-compliant and having to do corrective action plans and that could have make me more happier you know why because I filed the same complaint a few years ago and you were found non-compliant then and you're still not found compliant today that is a big problem in this District specifically when there's no CPAC so I'm happy that parents here have an opportunity to to have their rights spoken out for because I'm the one that took that step to make it happen two times in a row guys to not follow an i that's just disgusting you should be ashamed of yourselves that's a federal legal document that you willfully chose to violate despite the fact I came here several times to talk about it thank you Mr muren the next person to speak is Alex P hello hello hello I'm Alex prao and I go to school 22 good afternoon esteemed members of the Board of Education I'm here to address the absence of Miss singing Fang Orchestra teacher at both School 22 and school 7 Miss Fang is an exp Exemplar educator demonstrating exceptional patience dedication and professional in her role she Fosters a positive learning environment by incorporating challenges humor and creativity into her teaching methods while consistently maintaining high standards of professionalism allow me to illustrate Miss F's contri contributions to the growth of Orchestra program and its impact on the community under her guidance students have participated in meaningful activities such as a visit to a special need school where they shared Joy the where they shared the joy of music by allowing students to experience playing instruments like the cello and violin Additionally the orchestra has served the community by performing for esteemed individuals such as the mayor and senior citizens Miss Fang's commitment extends Beyond regular school hours as she's willingly invested her personal time on weekends to assist students in refining their musical skills for school events she also conducts pull out lessons to ensure students are adequately per prepared for competitions and special performances however Miss 's absence has been keenly felt particularly in the orchestra's preparation for competitions her return is eagerly awaited as her expertise and guidance are inal to the orchestra's success school 22 School 22's Orchestra respectfully request and strongly advocates for her reinstatement to ensure the continued growth and success for the Orchestra program thank you thank you Alex and our next speaker is Caesar Martinez good afternoon my name is Cesar Martinez and I also go to school 22 I'm also here to talk about the unfortunate absence of my my Orchestra teacher Miss Fang I'm also I'm a student at William Falin I play in the community Orchestra and I'm in all four groups I've heard the news that you decided to transfer Miss Fang to another school due to some complications with the other teacher I mean this will all with the least disrespect but I feel like the decision that you guys made was wrong I feel like um she made no um I feel like that she was like a great teacher to everybody and I feel like that she shouldn't have been transferred just because of such little things even after she got transferred I would also like to complain that the new teacher doesn't even let us do anything um the room the room is a complete mess and um me and other students also try to help clean it but it just gets dirty the day after I've seen multiple broken instruments right after and this isn't good because in also a few months me um me and a ton of other people that are also here have to perform at uh at like many major events and this isn't really a good situation because we need to get them a right amount of practice so that we don't mess up on stage please reconsider your recent actions and hopefully you could realize that the mistake that you guys made thank you thank you Caesar at this time I close the public portion or public comment portion thank you um at this time I'm going to have our superintendent um make some remarks thank you madam president um I'd like to actually ask Dr sedo to please speak to the parent of school number 22 that is here and the students thank you I I just also want to commend the two students who came to speak as well I know it took a lot of Courage for you to come and speak thank you for the presentation portion of our opening calendar this evening we have created a video highlighting the initiative sponsored by our board member Maria Calo for women's History Month as I mentioned in January um I'm going to be having all of the board members um sponsor a month throughout the year and Maria cavalo sponsered this month and it has focused on women's history throughout the month of March the stores of many prominent local women leaders who have had a profound impact on our community and Beyond were shared in our schools we also hosted a speaker series of women's leaders in law enforcement fire crisis Emergency Management and engage with our high school students we concluded by welcoming local and state dignitaries to share their wisdom with our elementary schools and we also did our girls and Pearls program throughout the month as well at this time if we can have the video play hi I'm Maria carvalo and it has been a tremendous honor to serve this community as a member of the Elizabeth Board of Education over the past decade as board members under the leadership of President Charlene balis Georg Ley we are excited to sponsor several initiatives during the year that enhance the students learning experience I am proud to be sponsoring the women's History Month initiative during the month of March this year we hosted a speaker series of women leaders in law enforcement fire and crisis Emergency Management led by detective Jennifer Perez to engage with our high school students we also welcomed local and state dignitaries My Hope Is that the lessons that our students learn the personal stories that they hear Inspire them to believe that they are capable of anything to which they set their minds to and apply themselves please visit our website for the full video that will be available at the end of the [Music] month I just want to take a moment to um thank uh board member Mar cavalo for sponsoring this month's event um and all that you do throughout the community as well um at our was it February March 14th our March 14th uh board meeting we were doing doing our recognitions and we had recognized um various women in the community including the board members up here and some of our staff um but we were not able to acknowledge um our legal council heal Heather Ford and I wanted to do that and in addition to that um wanted to definitely recognize the women who are here today Kathy falis Amy Gil Jamie levit Dorothy MC melon and Sandra Nunes to everyone here um just wanted to say happy women's History Month on behalf of our [Applause] board spe okay okay okay so everyone has gotten celebrated um thank you I see our a female woman officer in the back too thank you for your service thank you to our security guard who's here and Men we appreciate you for supporting us and we'll celebrate you soon okay all right all right all right at this time our superintendent will present the community updates thank you Madame President uh first we would like to be able to uh share a video honoring our social workers um as we know last month we celebrated our guidance counselors this month we are celebrating our social workers our social workers provide a safe environment in our schools uh they provide this unique ability to support our children so that they are able to focus on their academics they are responsible for the development uh they truly serve our mental health staff serves as a pillar uh in our community in our schools and I'd like to be able to share a video of thanks to Our IT department and just a note of thanks my name is Peter vosler and I am the supervisor of anti-bullying and our school-based social workers here for our school district school social workers play a vital role in and the educational system providing essential Support Services to students families and School staff their impact can be observed and felt in many several key areas they provide counseling Crisis Intervention and support to students dealing with emotional or behavioral challenges by addressing these issues early they can help prevent more severe problems from developing and support students in achieving academic success School social workers work closely with families to address various issues that may impact a child's education they provide resources counseling and advocacy to ensure that families have the support they need to create a stable environment for their childrens by implementing preventative programs and services such as social emotional learning curriculum anti-bullying initiatives and support groups School social workers help create a positive School climate that Fosters academic achievement and overall well-being the impact of school social workers extends far beyond the individual students they serve contributing to the overall health and success of the school Community we thank them for all they do each and every [Music] [Music] day [Music] [Music] and I'd like to recognize the efforts of our director of student services Mr Anthony tonado for leading the charge of mental Health in our district thank you to all of our social workers very grateful and now we're turning to our uh our announcements for this month so I'm going to ask Our IT department fantastic great timing wonderful so we'd like to turn to the next slide please as we begin with our recognitions this month next slide we'd like to begin by acknowledging Elora School number 12 who revalidated their Avid National demonstration School status and hosted an avid showcase at their school excuse me one moment one second please my apologies so at school number 12 hosted an avid showcase um on March 21st Elizabeth public school team members and at a district Educators from White Plains Delaware Trenton Highlands and Christina School District visited prek to a classrooms to observe writing inquiry collaboration organization and reading as known as the Wicker strategy Southeast associate Avid director and validator Shonda Martin applauded the school 12 Community for their vibrant College culture along with students bravery to participate in philosophical chairs Socratic seminars and share their binders with guests during the college Cafe question and answer session students explained how they took daily notes in all their classes as well as how Avid has helped them improve both academically and socially as per validator Shonda Martin Elora school 12 exudes College and Career Readiness and it is evident that the entire staff to believe that all of our students will leave elur University as it is commonly referred to within the school 12 Community with a clear goal to graduate high school move on to college and be ready for their careers so congratulations once again to school number 12 we now turn to our next slide please Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy school counselor Valerie henden was awarded counselor of the county by the New Jersey school counselor Association at the 38th annual njsca professional recognition Awards program on March 15th at the College of New Jersey in Ying the njsca honored school counselors from each of New Jersey's 21 counties who are nominated by their colleagues and are selected by their own County school counselor Association for this award the award honors the professionals who devote their careers to serving as advocates often as Lifesavers for the nation's students candidates are selected for the Council of the county award at their county level school counselor Association they're selected because of their ability to deliver an effective School counseling program which focuses on academic development on Career counseling and personal and social support they further distinguish themselves by proving to be leaders of systemic change advocates for students and collaborative professionals who seek the success of the whole whole student in both school and in life Valerie henden has served the Elizabeth public schools for over 28 years beginning her career in the district as a teacher in the adult education learning center and in sixth through eth grade before making the transition to school counselor in 2003 during her years as a school counselor she has been an asset to countless students through her assistance with college and on-site admissions scholarships community service projects and of course course selection so a special congratulations to our guidance counselor Valerie henden as we continue on ah Our Night of Champions the Elizabeth Board of Education and the Eliz Public Schools hosted a Night of Champions on March 2st at the Thomas G dun Sports Center to honor the championship winning 2023 2024 Elizabeth minman and Elizabeth lady minent basketball teams the minent earned their third state sectional title in 5 years with a thrilling 69-67 victory over planfield in the north 2 group four final at the dun sports center before a dominating performance in defeating lenpy 57-41 at ruter University's Jersey Mike Mike's arena in New Brunswick to claim the group four title the lady Minuteman won their first Union County tournament in over 25 years with a 59 to 57 overtime victory over Cranford at k University's hardwood Arena to end an inspiring run that included two wins in the first two rounds by a combined seven points before knocking off two-time defending U ucct champion and then number 12 ranked New Providence in the semi-final they would carry that momentum into the state tournament knocking off the number one seed plan field on the road in the semi-final to reach the north 2 group four championship before falling to Hillsboro board president Charlene Bist vir presented the lady mineman coaches Crystal reinold and Donald Johnson commemorative frames and the lady minman team a banner and board vice president Stan neron presented Minuteman coach Phil Kiku a commemorative frame and the minemen team a banner honoring their respective Championship Seasons Elizabeth City Council president Carlos Torres on behalf of the city council greeted the audience and congratulated both teams for their outstanding season and a resolution was also presented to coach kikio for the the minman group for Championship winning season while councilwoman at large Patricia Perkins augusty presented a resolution to coach Rin hold for the lady minutemen's Union County Championship so it's been quite a season to say the least next slide please and what an appropriate moment to honor our director of Athletics Ben candelino also honored at the Night of Champions was former Elizabeth boy basketball coach and current Elizabeth public school's athletic director Ben calino who was one of the seven Garden State Sports luminaries to be inducted in the New Jersey state inter Scholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame class of 2024 in a ceremony held at the West Princeton uh on March 24th this past Sunday the purpose of the njsia AA Hall of Fame is to identify and recognize deserving individuals with distinguished achievements who have attained excellence and made a positive and dynamic impact upon the njsiaa Mr candelino the longtime Elizabeth High School boys basketball coach as well as basketball and baseball coach of his Alma mod St Mary's of Elizabeth is joined in the class of 2024 by former Wayne Hills football star and current Fox Sports football analyst Greg former Ben cath uh Bergen Catholic baseball star Mark D roza former union Catholic track athlete and two-time Olympic gold medal winner uh cydney mclin Leon Mount Olive track athlete and US outdoor women's triple jump record holder coutura orgy former Hudson Catholic excuse me former Hudson Catholic North Carolina and New Jersey Nets basketball star Michael ' Corin and longtime Southern Regional athletic director and njsi AA assist assistant director Kim degra Cole coach celino's greatest success came as head coach of Elizabeth High School's Varsity Boys Basketball team where he finished with 348 wins and I repeat 348 wins and only 46 losses his teams won 12 wat young conference championships nine Union County tournament championships nine group four section two state championships five group four state championships and the 1990 Tournament of Champions over former perennial National Power St Anthony's of Jersey City a feat that was accomplished by only three other New Jersey public schools during the 34-year era Mr celino's teams or I should say excuse me coach candelino teams finished their season ranked number one in the state by The Star Ledger twice in 1985 and 1990 coach Calito was recognized as Union County coach the year six times as well as Eastman Kodak and Daily News coach of the year in 1990 and is among a select group of coaches who have won state championships in baseball basketball and football in a new 2019 new jersey.com piece ranking the top 99 New Jersey High School coaches of all time he ranked number 52 overall and sixth among boys basketball coaches so once again and Coach calino We Salute [Applause] You And as we move on we celebrate School number 28 Juan Pablo Duarte Jose julang Marti School number 28 was one of 38 New Jersey public schools and districts selected to receive a sustainable Jersey for schools Grant funded by the New Jersey education asso Association at a ceremony at the College of New Jersey on March 21st sustainable Jersey for schools distributed 13 $110,000 grants and $25 $2,000 grants to support a variety of projects including Hydroponics and aeroponics systems Outdoor School Gardens outdoor classrooms food waste recycling and waste reduction initiatives including disposable water bottle reduction programs composting and capturing um sustainable energy sources uh in addition to that there were U pollinator Gardens sustainability Steam and climate change curriculum bike racks maintenance stations and the list goes on school 28 was awarded a $2,000 Grant to fund the addition of an outdoor classroom as well as some science resources they're eager to begin the development of an outdoor classroom as it will be instrumental in extending learning beyond the traditional classroom PR principal Evelyn Rodriguez saledo said it will also be an excellent opportunity for teachers to regroup with their students after activities that take place in their school garden so we congratulate School number 28 on having written a very successful proposal and beginning this of incredible work of sustainability as we continue on WE recognize Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy sophomore Karma Beach Wilson and Senior Jen Mingo who earned second place and third place respectfully in the 22nd annual Young play rights competition sponsored by the theater group the goal of the competition is to encourage the next generation of theater practitioners and Audience by honoring their work and bringing it to life the theater project which was founded in 1994 has been developing and introducing New Jersey audiences to new plays supporting Rising playwrights theater artists providing programs for children and using theater as a forum to address the issues of our time for nearly three decades Beach Wilson earned second place for her play again tomorrow while Mingo earned third place for his play the death gamble second and third Prize winners received monetary Awards and also the Joseph kirka award for young play rights along with having their plays read aloud online during the performance on March 25th the theater project is committed to the concept that participation in the Arts builds fundamental skills in Reading Writing and critical thinking so again a sincere congratulation to our students from the Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy next slide uh we're going to be sharing with our community this evening some important upcoming events that will be taking place so uh next slide please we um are revising our calendar for this current school year as uh our parents and Guardians may be aware uh we were impacted by two u weather events this winter so as a result we need to change the last day of school and those events took place on January 19th and on February 13 so therefore therefore the last day of school will be June 24th which is a Monday the schools will close at 12:15 for students and team members and on June 25th our schools our schools will close at 12:15 for our 10mon administrators so parents we will be sending uh letters out to remind you with regard to the change in the calendar uh we are adding two additional days in order to comply with 180-day requirement as per the New Jersey Department of Education next slide please a reminder that our gifted and talented program application um is still open it is going to close on April 12th so please if you haven't uh submitted your application uh this is a friendly reminder next slide please also our high school information sessions and registrations uh are opening uh actually today March 28th through April 18th so for all of our eth graders it is important that you work with your families with your parents on selecting uh the high school school choice for your nth beginning your ninth uh grade career at the 9th through 12 high schools and our eighty and we're going to move to the next slide please next slide yeah State assessments updates we have our director of research evaluation assessment here State assessments update um reminder uh sat school day will be on April 23rd and a reminder at our last board meeting uh we shared information regarding the SAT which is now online uh our counselors have been working to ensure that our students are prepared for this new format so that they can be successful um as they take the SAT next slide please and just as a reminder all grade 11 students uh will be taking the SAT and of course the uh our seniors who have not taken the SAT will also be required in order to comply with our policy on graduation requirements next slide please and now we turn our attention to the New Jersey student learning assessments just as a reminder we can never start early enough reminding our families that our state assessments for our students um at the elementary and middle school level will begin on May 1st and run through May 23rd so practically the entire month of a of May our children will be taking uh State assessments next slide please and now with regard to the details as you can see on the schedule before you uh the grade levels are listed grades 3 to five uh the dates for the U English language arts and the math and science assessments are posted we will post this information on our website uh for for our families and also send letters out as reminders we want to ensure that our children are well rested that they have a good breakfast in the morning uh and that they do their very best so we have listed here grades 3 to 5 our Middle School 6 to8 as well as the dates for our high school administration next slide please and now we turn to uh the dates for our high school graduations so of course uh since we are extending the calendar due to the two snow days uh we wanted to make sure that our families were aware that uh the we are now planning for an extension as it relates to our graduation ceremony so on as you can see we have outlined the dates and theems that will be graduating we begin on June 24th um with three of our high schoolies our Admiral William F Hy health and Public Safety Academy our J Christian bch academy and our John E dwire Technology Academy we then move on to the 25th with three additional High schoolies Elizabeth High School um uh the uh jvj STEM Academy and Thomas Jefferson arts academy and we end on the 26th with Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy and Thomas Edison Career and Technical Academy again we will be sharing this information in a letter to all of our families ensure that our principles are uh communicating regularly and ensuring that we are preparing for the end of the school year and celebratory uh opportunity next slide please I would like to um acknowledge the efforts of our director of equity inclusion who has been coordinating uh parent uh workshops uh throughout the course of the Year together with our PTO presidents uh so once again a reminder that we have the calendar of workshops on our website uh simply have to go to our district homepage and um under multimedia Gallery easy access direct access to being able to see the monthly workshops and we will be sending additional reminders via social media and letters as well next slide please and we uh also wanted to share our celebrations and events that are coming up for the month of April so we have our national Vice principal's uh week uh this first week of April our national volunteer week Earth day administrative professional days Arbor Day National autism acceptance month our Jazz appreciation month and our national poetry month all coming up this month of April and also the many celebrations taking place at each of our schools that have been developed by our principals and teachers amazing opportunities and that concludes our March announcements thank you madam president thank you so much before we begin the agenda is there any questions um from the board members okay seeing none we'll begin reviewing our agenda are there any questions for uh tab 1 a and tab 1B Madam president I have a question uh hold on I can see the yes what resources is the school providing to help with the digital sat that's upcoming in April is that um is that pertaining to tab 1 a and one B it was a question about the updates the updates okay so we'll have to go back now so I'm going to ask M superintendent yes so with regard to resources it's the information provided by our guidance counselors to our students our 11th and 12th grade students with regard to familiarity with u understanding that we are going from a paper and pencil to an online format so it's really providing um those opportunities for students to learn about the change in the assessment thank you Madame President yes Mr Jacobs I'd like to make a comment if possible yes I'd like to um comment on my visit to school 13 and the career fair I I know other schools have had career Affairs as well but this was the first one that I was able to attend and I was quite impressed um with the job that Mrs Stewart and her staff were doing over there at school 13 and a chance to see people take time out of their day who were influencers firefighters all different walks of profession uh coming down and volunteering their time so that um our disadvantaged students can get the chance to see that they can grow up to be that type of person so it was a really powerful experience um being able to visit them that day um at school 13 um I also got a chance to go back to school 12 and we have been there I think a couple of years ago when they initially did their aid uh demonstration and to see them go back through the redemonstration and and the the jobs that Mrs Kulik is uh doing in that school along with the staff was just wonderful to see so many exciting things happening in our district thank you Madame President you're welcome thank you for sharing with us any other comments are we sure we're ready to begin the agenda all right so we're going to restart our agenda again any comments or questions regarding ing tab 1 a or tab 1B Mr Kennedy please add the official and private minutes and treasur secretary report to the agenda please tab 2A Personnel report a superintendent Madam president I'm going to ask Mr qua to please provide a summary of our Personnel report thank you uh Madam superintendent so ladies and gentlemen of the board for your consideration tonight you have uh a few items you have for example 15 changes of salary and this is due to individuals obtaining either a master's degree or the sixe level um you as a matter of fact I have a custodian who obtained um her boil license so that person is getting um a change in salary um you also have you have uh a handful of transfers and if you recall uh the transfers are a result of um requests from individuals uh legal issues um when it comes to special education uh if a student moves from a school to another um change your classification Etc uh you have seven resignations and uh extremely important you have 22 appointments and I'm really uh excited about those appointments for the next school year and for this school year as a matter of fact uh you also have a few resignations and you have 11 retirements um I want to take the opportunity the um Advantage the opportunity and congratulate all the individuals who are retiring uh whose names appear before you tonight and I want to take the liberty of highlighting three individuals whom I have known very very well uh for so many years I'm going to start with uh Doris Farrell principal of school 19 who has decided to retire at the end of the school year I've known uh Doris for quite some time and she's clearly a dedicated uh member of the school district uh someone who also cares deeply uh about our community uh and she has shown throughout the years a dedication to to our students uh the second person I would like to highlight is Mary Jane leano who uh works in the division of Staff Development throughout Mary Jane's tenure as an educator she has exemplified the true essence of dedication passion and unwavering commitment to the Elizabeth public schools she has not only been a teacher but also a mentor a guide and a support for so many in our district last but not least I would like to highlight the retirement of Mrs Josephine Rodriguez a teacher at school number six who is remarkable is a remarkable individual who has dedicated 38 years of incredible year to the education uh profession according to one of our vice principles Stephanie zek Marino this extraordinary teacher has touched the lives of countless students and and colleagues and community members and her kindness and truthfulness and her wavering commitment to to education has really exemplified her on a personal note I have known Josephine Rodriguez since she was a high school student she has been my neighbor and my friend for U 35 years and there's no doubt in my mind that the district will miss the extraordinary work that Mrs Rodriguez has performed uh for the past 38 years thank you madam president thank you um at this time are there any other questions or comments from our board members for tab 2A yes Madam president yes um Mr Quest I just have a question unless it's a typo on page eight the last person mentioned which is a staff for CDA is saying that effective November 1st 2022 if it's a typo or page eight is it a typo or is it just coming across to us now almost two years later the last person identified on page eight yv are the initials okay back to yeah yeah it just caught my attention because it says effective November 1st 2022 thank you Mr qua Madame President yes Mr Jacobs um I'd just like to make a comment on uh 2A I'm excited to see the many changes in the IT department um I think I you know I love the IT department they do ex what I'm sorry madam president it's okay it's okay we're going to scratch that um we'll discuss that in private thank you are there any other questions for tab 2A I also want to congratulate all of our kyes um including Miss Doris um I've worked with her for the last several years and I just wanted to say congratulations to her and everyone else yes Mr Kennedy if you can do me a favor if you can uh I would like like to table page 12 and Page 17 please uh to discuss in private and uh Madam superintendent my question um regarding the additional services on page 22 when PE when is when is the application open for this for these positions for people to apply certainly we had uh posted at the beginning of the year we posted once again in January and we're going to be posting again in June to ensure that we start the new year um because we have translations that begin as early as the first week in July thank you so June will be the next posting all right thank you any other uh questions or comments from the board members for tab 2A Personnel report so we're table yeah I'm asking to table those two pages into private to discuss something yes you have a question Mr R Pages again excuse me what were the pages again I would like to table page 12 and Page 17 should 15 be included let me see I don't have a problem with 15 if you would like to table 15 you can do that no I'm not tbling 16 it's 17 and 12 okay seeing no questions or comments Mr Kennedy please put the rest of the tab on the agenda please tab three tuition's report any questions or comments seeing that Mr Kennedy put it on on the agenda please Tab 4 a 4 B I'm going go uh do I do it per all right Tab 4 a I'm going have our superintendent thank you very much mad president um I would like to ask our director of Athletics Mr candelino to present his items good evening uh we have I have three items on uh page one the first item has already taken place that are we allow three of our wrestlers who qualified for the state championship in Atlantic City to attend um the reason why it's on the March agenda is because it could not make the February agenda because the tournament itself actually takes place after the February meeting so this state qualifications took place after the February meeting uh and our three wrestlers I will say did attend and uh had an excellent experience thank you the second one is I requested that our Cheerleading Coach Sandra Vista attend a conference at uh in New jerse in uh eing in New Jersey and the third one was I'm requesting that our seven of our coaches and 22 of our girls and boys track team attended pen relays uh the dates are from April 24th for April 26th for the U for the girls and uh and for the boys it's uh April 25th to April 27th this is a uh the pen relays is something that we've allowed our student athletes to attend over the years uh for many years now thank you thank you Mr candelino we're going to move over now to Mr G denado director of student services okay good evening um for your consideration tonight I have two contracts to present under tab 4A considerations first on page one number three for your consideration is a professional development conference for nine of our district social workers who will attend the 20 2024 nasw NJ annual conference the annual conference focuses on critical issues surrounding the social work profession and solving issues impacting our community the following schools are attending schools 5 school 6 schools 28 buwi Hy and hamiltonm the conference cost is $535 and is being paid at a title for and to funding lastly on page two number 12 for your consideration 36 school counselors will attend the 2024 njca conference at Kane University on April 19th the annual conference focuses on providing school counselors with essential skills in counseling Theory and action to better support our students all Elizabeth schools were invited to participate in this annual conference the conference cost is $1,340 and is being paid out of title two and for funding thank you thank you Mr denado I'm going to turn now to uh Dr Nunes our director of bilingual ESL and World Language good evening everyone uh for your consideration on page two number eight I'm requesting that the bilingual ESL supervisors Maria Triana and Rebecca Orana attend a professional development session uh titled biling lism and disabilities critical steps to differentiate the both um this will take place on May 2nd and it is in the amount of 390 and it's funded by title three thank you Dr Nunes I'm G to ask also Dr Sedano please our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning hello here we go for your presentation this evening we have um authorization for vice principal Miss Lana Diaz to attend the NJ Tel NJB conference also at the hant Regency for a total of $515 thank you Dr sedo and that completes our considerations thank you any questions for our board memb have 4 A any questions from our board members for tab 4B any questions from our board from Tab 4 BB any questions or comments from our board members for tab 4C yes madame president yes not a question I just want to make a quick comment I would like to just commend all of our staff um I was just asking to see last month's agenda for our field trip considerations last month came with 111 field trip considerations and this month we have 149 so that is a um very nice number to see as board members that our teachers are putting the effort in having field trips for our students so I do commend you and thank you thank you madam superintendent please I would like to ask Mrs fince Johnson or assistant super intendent to provide the report on behalf of Mr Cortez for field trips thank you um as the commissioner U mentioned there are 149 total field trips on the agenda for your approval this evening 87 are for uh grades K to8 62 for the high school 32 of the field trips are for college and university visits and four uh field trips are for competitions thank you are there any comments or questions for um anything from 4 a through 4 C seeing n Mr Kennedy if you can just put it on our agenda please we will have a 4D done later on by Superintendent at this time we have um tab 558 authorizations report our super superintendent could have our supervisor report I'd like to begin with our director of special services Dr Roa Thank You tab five correct tab five thank thank you so we have um two um requests for authorizations from the division of special services for your review tonight um the first is on page one it's the very first authorization to participate in the annual Special Olympics track and field event at Albridge high school we plan to send uh five schools to participate uh along with their student athletes who've been participating and uh getting ready for the last few weeks uh our second uh recommendation for authorization is uh detailed on the top of page six to request permission for our annual child study team recognition luncheon at the beginning of May thank you thank you Dr OA I'd like to ask now uh Dr McMullen our director of special projects to please present good evening I have four authorizations for your consider ation this evening the first one on Tab five is on page one the first authorization is for students in grade 6 to 12 to participate in the Union County teen Arts Festival held at the New Jersey Trailside Science Center located in the WatchOn reservation in Mountainside New Jersey this event will be held May 16th for grades 6 through 8 and May 17th for grades 9- 12 students can experience all disciplines of art and participate in workshops and Exhibits this is at no cost to the district and approximately 1500 Elizabeth students will participate in this event the second authorization on page one which is on the bottom of page one is for our kindergarten through 12th grade students to participate in the Citywide art show organized by the mayor's office to be held at City Hall from June 5th through the 14th our students would participate The Show by creating artwork representing each School in the district to create this Museum exhibition created 100% by students my third authorization is located on page four and it's approximately in the middle of the page and this is the authorization to continue to accept unlimited online audiobook access from learning ally in all of our K12 schools schs through December 2024 Learning Ally audiobook solution produces and maintains a library of educational accessible human red audio books which includes highlighted text speech control bookmarking and note taking learning ally has continued to receive funding through the New Jersey Department of Education Learning Ally Grant which affords them the opportunity to provide these services at no cost to the board and the final authorization is on page five for the band parent organization to host the second annual salsa night on May 4th at Frank J saral Academy a portion of proceeds will be donated to the Elizabeth High School Marching Band to offset the costs for future events thank you thank you Dr McMullen i' like to ask Mr aen our director of equity inclusion to please present thank you at this time um for your consideration authorization for approval of budget amendment for the car d uh Perkins Grant um we asked that the school business administration for the board authorization of payment on The Following on Tab five page six and then also in page nine to breakdown of the budget for the uh CI Perkins Grant which includes uh personal salaries purchase professionals uh instructional supplies personal services employee benefit purchase professional and Technical Services and instructional equipment for the sum of $313,000 one thank you thank you Mr atin we're moving on now to Dr balas our director of Staff Development good evening everyone tonight I have be presenting four items under tab five authorizations for for your consideration the first authorization is on page two it's an authorization to apply for the 2024 Union County kids dig in a school garden grant program it's a renewal Grant opportunity for schools with the intention to encourage creativity through Hands-On learning experiences this is at no cost to the board the second and third authorizations are on page three there are also authorizations to apply for the NJ dooe teach stem classes in non-public schools Grant this grant opportunity is on behalf of one of our non-public schools in the town the jec the Jewish Educational Center and it's for two of our high school teachers to teach stem classes after their school hours at the J during the 2425 school year and the final authorization to ex to this one is to accept it's also on page three it's to accept Title One SAA part A funds for school 28 in the amount of $71,400 for January through September and Sia this is a school Improvement award Grant thank you now I'd like to turn to uh Miss skill our director of research evaluation and assessment to prepare to present the cap plan good evening tonight I'm presenting a corrective action plan for your authorization to submit to the New Jersey Department of Education um also in tab five found on page seven during the administration this year of the access for El's in February a student had a cell phone leaning flat against her laptop screen while she was taking the assessment although the cell phone was not in use at the time and it was reviewed for use during the assessment and found not to have been in use at any point during the assessment we are required to provide a corrective action plan to prevent this from happening in the future our actions include informing parents that cell phones are not permitted in test sites for any state assessment continuing to advise students that cell phones are not permitted in test sites for any state assessment continuing to include cell phones as unauthorized electronic devices in test sites during State assessment trainings that are provided to staff members at our schools and continuing to provide provide an opportunity for students to put their cell phones in their backpacks or lockers if they forget and bring them to the test site or to hand them in to their teacher prior to beginning the assessment although these actions are in response to the unauthorized electronic device during the access assessment they will be implemented for All State assessments moving forward thank you Mrs Gil and Dr nun is our director of bilingual ESL and World Language on page five there's an authorization for the New Jersey Consortium for immigrant children to provide an information session on know your rights to multilingual Learners in the after school bilingual achievement strategies program on April 23rd at Admiral uh William F Hy Junior health and Public Safety Academy the uh presentation will focus on immigration rights affordable health care and opportunities for first generation students at Kee University thank you and Dr sedel if you would please report out on the donations for this month certainly I'd like to have your attention go to page number eight for donations this evening we have six donations uh that we would like to present for consideration for the board the first one being $1,000 for a handsome Energy System that will be donated to our Elizabeth High School Frank J sarel Odyssey of the Mind program we also have two donations coming in from St Math for both School 5 and for school number 12 for their family and math nights so we'd like to thank stmath in addition for school number nine from Isabella chali we have a donation of 35 backpacks and school supplies for our students in the Jerome Dunn Academy school number nine then I would like to also thank Empower Somerset partnership and for a $4,000 donation for the Frank J scker L Academy empowered team leader program this is a health and wellness initiative at the school and lastly we would like to thank the Union County Board of County Commissioners for Their donation of five books to school number 22 which really um are diverse books for our students body there so that concludes this portion of the agenda thank you Dr Seno and Mrs frch Johnson and would you like to report out on the uh fundraising requests for this month yes thank you so on page 10 of the authoriz ations this evening for your approval are 109 fundraisers they include t-shirt sales car washes family Flapjack breakfast event movie night snack sales Mother's Mother's Day flower and candy sales we have spring dances as well as a uh several Scholastic Book Club uh sales for your approval [Music] Force program that's helping track their students and making connections with students who are tardy and absent to see if we can get them to be in school on time or consistently and we have an alternative to suspension program running there also so in instead of you know obviously suspending students they can have this extra kind of detention with some remediation and some thought processes on their behaviors I like that alternate to suspension everybody heard that right we like that thank you you're welcome thank you any other questions yes madame president yes Dr Oita on page six the um luncheon for the CST is that the first time that we're holding that yes it is oh I'm very happy to see and to recognize they they do a lot of work and I'm very happy to um to see that they will be recognized thank you thank you thank you any other questions I do want to say I know board member Maria cavalo had mentioned uh school for participating in the teen arts program so you know they did a excellent job um two weeks ago displaying some artwork here for um women's history month so superintendent we could encourage them to apply to the teen arts festival or and or for the Citywide art show uh I do have a question on page three regarding the Jewish Education Center is this the first time we applied I feel like I've heard it before no it's not the first this would be our third year of this grant did you identify the two teachers already actually the way it works is the teachers apply to the state of New Jersey and the jec selects the the teachers but both teachers who applied to the state of New Jersey were selected by the JC only two people applied out of the district yes oh oh that's easy okay thank you that's all I have any other comments questions seeing none Mr Kennedy you can add tab five and tab 5A authorization reports to our um agenda please Thank You tab six or tab 6A Finance and Accounting reports any questions from our board members Madam president yes uh tab uh number 33 I I'm assuming Mr Kennedy can answer this um is this the new building that we will be moving into yes it is over at the Imperial um Plaza across the street from the Mitchell building is that is this company doing the fit out for us because it says March through June that's that's just the rent from March through June oh okay so we pay that company the rent okay I'm so this is not the fit out that's the rent yeah what what happened with that they asked for a deposit on on for the term of the lease and I negotiated with them instead of holding a deposit that we would prepay the rent for 6 months thank you Mr Kennedy any other questions for tab 6 and 6A seeing none Mr cedy we can add that to the agenda please tab seven Award of contract and reports I I have our superintendent thank you madam president uh we'd like to begin with Mr aen thank you we have uh have two contracts for your consideration under Tab 7 page one first is a contract with ruggers University uh for the Dual credit um program for at Hy Leadership Academy it will be a health dual credit program for high school student as mandated by the Perkins Grant and their agreement requires students must enroll in uh high school biology or algebra and be at Lisa sophomore and Elizabeth public school teachers who teaching the credential have been approved by Ruckers will instruct Ruckers college credit course which will be uh equivalent and rigor and those that are ruger's uh campuses also for your consideration under Tab 7 page five contract with International Institute for restorative practices this will be a contract for any amount of 41,800 $76 and the focus will be International Institute for restorative practice will provide professional development uh for training of Staff members um restorative practice for educators we will have almost 90 uh Educators that could be available to take part of this training and the focus will be process for creating positive learning environment building social capital and resolving relational issues we also will have a training that will be focused on restorative leadership development this will for our um principles or administrators this set of training will provide participant with opportunity to discuss restorative practice in relation to leadership and finally a training on training the trainers fundamental restorative to create a sustainability over time to with Selective group of Staff members so that they could provide this training over time that is it thank you thank you Mr atin next we turn to Dr balis believe you have several contracts to report out on hello again I have three contracts in Tab S on page two all of them are there for your consideration and approval the first two contracts are with Elevate Educators LLC the first contract is to conduct professional development training for teachers at Admiral William F Hy Junior health and safety the academy Annex for four full day professional development sessions April through June the topics will include classroom management procedures environment and culture and climate in the classroom this is funded through Title One SAA funds and it's not to exceed $8,800 The second contract with Elevate Educators is also for professional development training for teachers at one of our non-public schools Harmony Christian Academy for two halfday professional development sessions one is in April and one is in May and this is funded through the title 2 professional development nonpublic allocation of our title 2 Grant and it's not to exceed $2,764 and finally the last contract is with the Danielson group to provide professional development and support to all district and school leaders on the Charlotte day Danielson framework for teaching observation tools funded through American Rescue plan accelerated learning coach and educator support subgrant and it's not to exceed $83,200 thank you Dr balas we're going to turn over to uh Mr calino director of Athletics yes I'm on page two contract with Nick Hill balandi Foundation from West Orange to or Thomas Jeffers uh I'm sorry Thomas Edison Career and techn Technical Academy students to participate in Workshop assemblies entitled dri ed through the art program this uh program will have our driver's ed students work with our art Department to create murals and collages of those sorts regarding uh dealing with safety in driving uh we also had this program last year at Hamilton and our uh supervisor of fed and health felt it was a very a very good program very worthwhile I also have a second contract request uh on page 19 and that is with triaa and their program is called shifting gears and this program is uh guest speakers will come in and uh provide our our driver ed students with the new marijuana requirement law and just the different changes in the driver's headed and especially the marijuana law important topics thank you Mr candle thank you Mr dado good evening again under tab seven Award of contracts I have eight contracts to present our first contract on page three for your consideration is with bookalicious Inc and it is for school level student assemblies for grade 3 to 8 this will allow New York Times bestselling author John shu to share with our students what it means to be a reader a writer and discuss how stories can change us Inspire us and connect us additionally every student that participates in this assembly will receive books in order to build their own libraries at home the following schools will participate schools 2 schools 15 21 and 22 at the cost of 19,000 $ 78175 being paid out of ARP funding our second contract on page four for consideration is with Crisis Prevention Institute and will provide professional development to all our security Personnel this PD will take place on April 3rd and 4th the training will certify all EPS security guards in cpi's nonviolent Intervention Program program ensuring our schools are safe learning environments at the cost of 160,000 being paid out of ARP funds the third contract on page four for consideration is with seeds access changes everything seeds works with high achieving students in preparation for emissions into highly selective private schools and colleges across the country the seeds program is open to all seventh grade and High School students at no cost to the board the fourth contract on page four for consideration is with Stepping Stones group this is for the hiring of three additional registered Behavior technicians the rbts will support the following schools schools 1 schools 3 schools 26 the rbts will support the behavior needs of students being serviced through 504 plans at a cost not to exceed $57,000 and being paid out of ARP funds fifth contract on page 20 give it a second see them turning for consideration is with Avid Center Avid will be providing professional development for all EPS site team leaders on April 25th and 26th the Avid pathway training will reinforce the Avid mission of College and Career College and Career Readiness for all students at the cost of $22,000 being paid for out of ARP funds our sixth contract on page 21 for consideration is with preent prevention links to provide Naran training to all School nurses and security guards the nursing training was held previously on March 11th and the security guard training will be upcoming on April 2nd at no cost of the board seventh contract tonight is on page 21 is with Med serve Health Care Solutions to provide CPR and AED certific certification training to all EPS School principles as well as assistant superintendant at the cost of $2,000 being paid out of local funds and lastly our final contract on page 21 for consideration is with IDM medical gas company to provide the annual oxygen inspections on all district oxygen tanks at the cost of $2,225 being paid out of local funds thank you thank you Mr gonado I'd like to turn to our director of security Mr glacken good evening for your consideration tonight on Page Six item number two that we enter into a contract with Black River defensive solutions to train 20 of our guards in the stop the bleed stop the bleed teaches individuals how to provide initial actions to stop uncontrolled bleeding in emergency situations and if approved it'll bring the number of guards trained up to 100 thank you Mr thank you like to to our director of food service Jamie levit thank you good evening um tab seven pages 8 and N I have four recommendations to enter into contract for the 2024 2025 school year uh one is for Bak goods for r&p baking uh one is for fluid juice juices with Driscoll and cleaning supplies um with AC J&R supply company and uh contract with derly farms for dairy products also um one con another consideration on page eight is rejection of a bid for um pizzza products due to um modifications in bid specification and um the rejection bid for produce um because there were some Mis um calculation errors in the bid thank you thank you like to turn now to Dr McMullen please director special projects good evening again I have five contracts for your consideration and approval this evening the first contract on page 11 towards the bottom is with hoot Mifflin hardcore which will provide professional development to the learning and reading specialist in Amira Amir delivers personalized and in the- moment tutoring to students in grades k6 based on the science of reading in English and Spanish this professional development will explore the functionality airor provides with detailed data on student progress with a focus on reading skills for a total of $3,780 the second contract on the same page 11 all the way on the bottom is with the new new Grange School of Princeton with the an re B ranao Wiz Educational Center to provide training on the Wilson Reading system introductory course during the week of April 23rd to the 25th for the learning and reading Specialists this 3-day training will provide an overview of this comprehensive Orton Gillingham based program of how to teach phology phic awareness morphology and spelling in an integrated explicit systematic and multisensory way for students in grades two and above for a total of $88,000 my third contract is on page 12 at the top this contract is with the multi The Institute for multisensory education to provide an Orton Gillingham plus training for our teacher tutor interventionists reading and learning Specialists during the week of May 13th to 17th the Orton Gillingham methodology will focus on the philosophy of multisensory sequential and direct instruction in the foundational skills of reading spelling and morphology for a total of $443,500 my fourth contract is on page 15 at the bottom this contract is with the visual arts center of New Jersey for up to 450 students in the e8th grade Visual Arts to attend a museum experience and Hands-On workshops during the month of April through June at no cost to the board this program will expand students interests knowledge and learning experiences through ART and preparation for high school and the last contract is on page 16 is with Lewis helinger LH creative LLC as assistant Color Guard director for the winter spring SE season thank you thank you Dr Nunes okay so I have four contracts for your consideration um tonight so on page uh 16 there's Carnegie Learning uh will provide job embedded professional development services to support mathematics instruction within bilingual within the bilingual ESL summer programs in uh for K8 bilingual teachers and that's not to exceed $60,000 for our high school bilingual teachers it will not exceeded $30,000 and that is being paid out of uh ARP additionally on page 16 you have Vista Higher Learning will deliver professional development that is designed to correlate the world languages curricula to the content and usage of the Vista Higher Learning uh superp site which is an online platform um to support the World Language pacing guide and content sequence this professional development will support all four domains of language as well as performance indicators in the Act full standards uh the professional development occurred uh in the month of March on March 11th and it did not exceed 750 and we will continue this type of professional development in September 2024 during our district uh PD dat and that will be in the amount of $8,000 this is funded through the ARP accelerated learning coaching funds the third contract is with children's literacy initiative and they will provide job embedded professional development to support literacy instruction these services will be provided to ka8 bilingual and ESL teachers within the B lingual and ESL summer programs and that is not to exceed $ 95,5 12133 um and that is paid out of ARP and the final contract is with inspired instruction and they will provide professional development training sessions to grades 3 to8 bilingual self-contained teachers bilingual in-class support teachers as as well as our high school ESL teachers the topics will be mindfulness supporting positive behavior and academic performance and strategies for increasing student motivation um this professional development will take place also during the month of September during the district PD days in the amount of $115,000 and also paid out of ARP and that's it thank you Dr Nunes and I'd like to turn now to Dr OA thank you so we have a number of contracts for your review this evening starting uh second from the top on page 17 uh there was a contract with the Morris Union jointure commission for the provision of behavior analysis services for a student attending the developmental Learning Center in New Providence uh right underneath that there is a contract for us to begin a three-year partnership with can University for partnership uh around uh hosting externs in their school and Clinical Psychology program leading to the Sid uh degree uh following that there are three recisions of uh Home Care therapy home nursing contracts uh that we have for students uh these recisions are created by one student having left one student having uh nursing Services provided by another student and uh another student uh not needing nursing Services while driving uh finally there are two last uh contracts for uh for us on page 18 uh the top one is for the provision of nursing services for a different student uh who will be attending school 28 and finally the uh uh amending the contract with Progressive Therapy of New Jersey that will be to enhance and increase the amount of services we receive from board certified Behavior analysts to work with students in our autism program thank you thank you Dr Roa and this completes um tab seven under contracts thank you so much to everyone who um presented um I I heard a lot of interesting um items and things that are coming to our district so thank you for the unique um things that you're bringing to the district the unique contracts and things that's going to benefit not only our uh teachers our staff but also our students at this time do we have any board members who have a comment or question regarding Tab 7 s yes Madam president yes uh if I may Mr O I'm going to go backwards because uh the contract with cane is that in addition to or are we leaving another company Organization no uh that is in addition to that will be so that starting in September and then for the next three years um we can host um their um doctorate in Psychology uh student teachers to work with our school psychologists much needed so thank you thank you for finding that um I had a question about the contract with ruter University on the Dual credits I believe we're already in contract this year also right and if so did we have any students in the that enrolled or are taking advantage of the program I would have to just give back to you on a detail of that but this is just for this health uh dual occupation but we'll definitely get back to you on the detail of the numbers I don't want to quote okay if you could because I'm really very curious to know if we're you know foring our students that ability and uh if we are that's great and I'd like to know how many and what high schools yes thank you and one more uh just curious uh contracts with the elevated Educators I see that it's um the Harmony Christian Academy is that just because they're in our city yes all um schools who are non-public schools located in our boundary receive title funds so they did receive a title to allocation so this is coming right out of their title allocation as the um Public School District we manage all the nonpublic title funds but they work with us and we present their contracts and just again curious but um we only have one correct in the entire city we have two um we have the JC and we have Harmony Christian Academy thank you you're welcome I had one I'll find it you can move on no problem any other board members for tab five uh seven excuse me tab seven madam Madam president um I have yes is do you pronounce your name giron giron is your last name gon giron gon okay yes Miss gon so I have a question about the contract with seeds access changes everything I was wondering what schools this would be available to as you said it's for seventh grade to high school and what page are you referring to uh page four thank you so seeds is available for all of our um 7th graders moving up to 8th grade and our 10th 9th 10th and 11th grade students so counselors uh presented this information and then students and their families now have the opportunity to apply to seeds thank you you're welcome thank you any other questions I have a comment or a question actually uh page six for Mr Glens so you said that after we do the 20 security guards now we're going to go to 100 that'll be trained if we get this approved tonight um it'll make 100 guards that would be already trained okay we have 80 trained already okay how many more do we need to be trained 75 to 90 maybe okay thank you you're welcome and that was a question okay and another question now uh so do you think so you're going to come back in another few months when you get some funding to finish the rest okay so you want the whole entire all your security guards to have the same training that would be that's our goal yes I agree I I I like that goal thank you can I just pick it back off of your absolutely your question is it something that should get renewed every x amount of years or no once you once you're trained you be assigned each guard will be getting their own kit that they would carry with them and got God forbid something happens they're already trained okay as as would be the nursing staff very good so we should probably just see this every so often as you get new staff yes okay thank you for the clarification director you're welcome thank you madam yeah I have a question um regarding to the same iten uh the sub uh Securities are including in trainings or and this the subs yes if we can the fun we want to get our the full-time guards first then incorporate our subs okay but I would think it's it's more conducive to have the full-time guards first thank you thank you so I'm going to add another question to that so as as guards continue to become full-time is the initial thing their training will be part of this no okay we would get them certified down the road as well okay do you have like a timeline or you think I'm just asking potential questions like do you think like a year before they hit their one year mark you want to get them trained in this yes that that's our goal okay thank you you're welcome thank you you're welcome uh any other qu oh no I saw another one um I love the fact that we are doing CPR for all the principles I thought that was excellent so thank you for that got a little TS and I love the fact that tripa is coming to do um that shifting gears program thank you um but I see that it's oh it's from everybody yeah so that's great any other questions from our board members for tab seven I have one just one comment M president I just want to thank Anthony dantos and allar administration for being openminded and to hear the seeds aess changes everything they that is a great program I am a product of that program and so that I can give you my own testimony that's been very a great blessing for me and I'm sure this is going to bless a lot of the kids in our district with great opportunities thank you thank you for sharing that any questions for this tab seeing none Mr Kennedy if you can add tab seven to our agenda please all right all right we are in tab eight and in tab eight thank you uh okay no problem this is our misscellaneous Communications at this time I'm going to ask our student representative Miss giron from dwire Academy to give her report please good good evening honored members of the Elizabeth Board of Education superintendent Huga Meer principal Missy menes and the public I am Alandra Kiron and it is my pleasure to represent Johnny DWI Technology Academy on this night to highlight our students achievements Elizabeth public schools strives and accomplishes the epitome of a promising future filled with Education and Care Johnny D Technology Academy promotes a welcoming environment for newly arrived and current students to Excel and perform at their Highest Potential DWI paid tribute to Black History Month through their ceremony composed of dance performances celebrating the impact of African-Americans on dance and music the national English Honor Society kicked off the year with the school newspaper students can submit articles ranging from food reviews philosophical Reflections and current school events to engage in expressing their literary love the national English Honor Society hosted a book drive in the month of March throughout April the club Bel book stations around on the school so students will have the chance to explore all genres of literature dwire had the honor to be recertified as a 2024 NJ School of character in which they demonstrated the support behind the social emotional Wellness of students and ensured they have a sense of belonging students thrive in dwi's environment as their school pushes a culture of matriculation College culture is represented at dwire and no better proof of that than earning the accolate and distinction as an AP honor Ro School our school demonstrates a clear and effective commitment to promoting Equitable access to higher education read Across America showed case how inclusive dwire represents amongst the MC Poe and ESL program to ensure that no one read alone the no one re alone campaign has proven that DWI attest to that diversity and quota of facilitating the love of literature through Dr Su books women's History Month at DWI celebrated the accomplishments of women's in our lives and history jeda celebrates the progress equality and empowerment of our women's dreams the student government had the opportunity to hand out carnations to the women's staff to show love for all the hard work they provide to recap women's History Month the police department talked to the 10th graders of their experience in life as a woman and as a cop meanwhile the rest of the high schools have been busy with their accomplishments and opportunities for their students Edison continues to provide extensive opportunities within their cosmetology program as proven in their recent trip to the International Beauty School in New York to educate future Beauty professionals Jefferson presented their spring Play Once Upon a mattress to deliver an unforgettable comedic experience through humor and music Frank J sarell and Jefferson collaborate to tackle Relay for Life this opportunity to come together to celebrate cancer survivors loved ones lost and fight back against cancer truly exemplify The Compassion shared among students Hamilton highlights women's History Month through their International women's Symposium in which wom's from all walks of life such as alumni teachers and more empowered students to give them the courage and motivation to pursue their passions and further their education dwire had the chance to celebrate achievements throughout the academic school year thanks to the efforts of Missy Menace The Faculty were able to enjoy ack to Showcase kindness and community building on Unity day DWI had the honor and privilege to be revalidated as an avid National demonstration school with this Triumph students succeed both academically and socially to execute distinctive college readiness I have observed fir hand the exceptional academic potential that is within all of my classmates I have seen the heights we can sort to within the rigor of our current curricula and I feel as though we can sort even higher with the proper supports in place with this many colleges become mandatory to submit the SAT it is essential to ensure that students have the best chance to score at their highest academic potential the SAT is one of the most important exams for any high school student to strengthen their college application I understand that college board offers online SAT practice however students prefer in-person training a study from the National Institute of Health reports that over 60% of students prefer inperson instruction over online from my past experience Co show how the guidance of a teacher and person helped me understand the material better for Miss human menis and the school counselors for acting as a support system throughout my high school years moving forward I've had the honor to receive the princet and prize award in advancing racial equity in my community with this said I am excited to see what Elizabeth public schools has in store for the future to develop the heart and spirit of our town like Selena said if you have a dream don't let anyone take it away and always believe that the impossible is possible [Applause] thank you so much for sharing um what's going on in your school as well as the other schools and thank you for being here and for representing your um student body are there any questions or comments from our board members to our student representative and thank you Miss am menz also for being here and supporting her as well we appreciate that thank you at this time we're going to continue on in our Tab 8 in our Communications um as a means of us to um be transparent with the community for them to know what we are doing behind closed doors um all of the chairpersons have been asked to give a written report or a verbal report for you a verbal report um regarding their um committee meetings that happened over the last uh 30 days so at this time I'm going to ask the Ed management chairperson uh board member Stephanie kavas pastana give her report for um Ed management thank you madam president the educational management committee met on March 6 2024 from 400 P.M to 5:30 the attendees board members were stanan myself Maria carvalo and Rosa Moreno Ortega our general council members were Mr Ed kogi and Judge Malone aside with um Mr Harold Kennedy business school administrator and Olga hle Meer Superintendent at schools the educational management committee reviewed the data presented for the total number of field trips scheduled by school the committee reviewed the second marking period attendance data there were 28,38 students enrolled in the three Early Childhood centers 26 elementary schools and eight high schools students attending school at prek providers and in and out of District placements are excluded of of the total population 15,23 students have attended at least 95% of the possible days there are 6,068 students who are currently deemed as chronically absent which is identified as attending school 90% of the possible days or less the committee reviewed the academic performance during marking Period 2 including benchmarks final marking period grades and GPA for high school students the highlights included performance in the second marking period this year having showed improvements in both Ela and math as of the end of the school I'm sorry as of the end of the second marking period of 2023 2024 school year 52.2% of high school students have earned a GPA of 3.0 or better participation in the parara survey for students in grade levels 3 through 12 included a participation rate of 98.4% lastly as the end of the uh January 2024 our buses had a 93% ontime rate our district buses were on time for 94% of the time and our contractor buses were on time for 91% of the time so a big a big kudos to our bus Department our transportation department which director Rio is not here but thank you for the whole team to provide on time coverage for all of our students thank you thank you madam chair at this time I'm going to have the chairperson for special education committee board member Iana chevis give her report good evening thank you mam president special education committee had our monthly meeting on March 7 at the meeting was present estan n board vice president commissioner Dian Barbosa and commissioner Isa Riva e col General Cel Josh Malon General conso har Kennedy School business administrator hug ma superintendent of the school and Dr OA director of special service and myself as chairperson the committee discusses the security and safety messies in our schools a full report will be shared with the special education committee by Richard Shi supervisor of security the committee was intered in the professional developmental offering on the topic of manage was managing challenging a student Behavior handle we care training what discusses plan are on their way for atis on Awareness Month including a school days event and a collaboration with Union County Board of county commissioner and the Union County Department of Human Services through the office for people with disabilities and special need in organizing County atison asset aen celebration on Saturday April 20 at 10 a.m. at matano Park special service also discuss our last CAD meeting to happen on March 6 at the meeting the committee for sead um during the committee we discussed the committee sead to went over different uh pents presentation the draft for the new bylaw and add parent questions our student with disability has been participating in in various school-based extracurricular activities that's including Saturday bowling clinics Saturday soccer athletic cleaning Saturday Recreation program at George Washington Academy school number one Saturday special Olympic celebration the director of special service Shar that the eser ARP program are under review for incl inclusion in our 20 24 and 2025 District budget thank you so much director for um share all this H day with us during the meeting and always um answer answer all the question to the members have for you regarding to you Department thank you thank you madam chair at this time I'm going to have the chairperson of the finance committee board member Jerry Jacobs give a report or give his report thank you Madame President uh the finance committee met on March 11th on our first meeting concerning the budget meeting was attended by Madame President uh all the the finance committee members our Coke all our co-counsel as well as Mr Kennedy Madame superintendent Mr maholtra and uh Tracy Crosby director of Early Childhood the finance committee discussed the 2425 Early Childhood Budget on February 29th the district receiv received the projected 2425 preschool education aid for 43,9 31,630 for 270 general education students for that year this represents a reduction of 3,664 N5 uh for the the current school year it would serve 3,175 general education students this was inclusive of 2450 preschool students in District 540 preschool students that provided sites and 185 preschool students at Head Start the finance committee discussed advocating the fully funded fully funded budget based on the projection submitted to the NJ dooe our second meeting occurred on March 13th uh was again attended by Madame President all members of the finance committee uh our co-counsel along with Mr Kennedy Madam superintendent Mr maholtra and we were also joined by Mr daa Lurch and Julius consone as accounting Consultants the committee met to review the mission of the 2425 tentative budget the following items were reviewed comparative overview analysis of the 2425 budget prepared by our accounting consultant second item discussed was the budgeted expenditure comparative analysis of the 2425 budget to current budget year the third item discussed was the allocation of increase State eight uh the budget highlight highlights which were presented in abbreviate and and Brilliant fashion by Madame superintendent was no tax levy uh the acquisition of Immaculate Conception for jbj STEM Academy which is another new school so uh n9th grade Annex expansion of school number n Annex B also sustaining 5.2 million in ARP funds into our current budget so uh funds programs that were and services that were initially funded in the last three years by ARP funds we've been able to incorporate into our current our future budget for next year and in addition to that 146 new positions the board resolution for the adoption of the 2425 Ted budget and submission to exe executive County Superintendent will be presented at the special board meeting on March 18th the budget hearing is scheduled for March 2nd 2024 thank you Madam president thank you we are working on this board um at this time I'm going to have um a member of the legal committee give the report on behalf of the board vice president who is not here who's also the chairperson for legal committee so I'm going to have uh board member uh Isaiah Rivera give the report on behalf of the chairperson thank you thank you madam president the legal committee we met on March 13 2024 those in attendance was our board president Charlene bais dorg vice president Stan Nan who's also the chairperson board M Elana Cheves General council members Michael simmit Judge Malone Mr Harold Kennedy School business administrator a h Min superintendent of schools and myself the committee we reviewed the proposed revisions of the CPAC policy and the first reading of the CC policy will be today a request was made by the committee for a summary of the status of cases that was the report for our meeting thank you so much Madame President yes Mr Jacobs I have a question for Madam superintendent Madame superintendent the data that um and reports that were discussed on management committee will that information be uploaded to the board Cloud yes in fact uh the members of the Ed management committee have access to it I need to extend it to the entire board thank you I will do so yes thank you for your question all right moving on Tab nine any questions oh I apologize I apologize I just want to thank all of my um chairpersons and board members for your active participation on the Committees throughout the month I know it's a lot of work but I appreciate all that you guys are doing to make sure that we are moving the district forward and that we're staying um ahead of what's going on and we're staying in the no so I also want to thank our superintendent Mr Kennedy for always attending all the meetings and our superintendent and whoever comes to our meetings I appreciate your Insight and I just wanted to say thank you moving on now so tab nine claims list are there any questions seeing none Mr Cy if you can add that to the agenda Tab 10 through 10p are resolutions I just want to acknowledge that next month we have autism awareness month for the entire month of April and we have National Library month for um April 7th through the 13th and I know our superintendent mentioned some stuff I can't see all this but uh I want to acknowledge all of our vice principals uh for National vice principal week for April 1st through the 5th I also want to acknowledge everyone who has a volunteer heart for National volunteer week for April 21st to 27th and I want to acknowledge our Jazz appreciation month and our national poetry month and as well as our administrative Professional Day on April 24th are there any questions from any of the board members from anything from tab a to excuse me from Tab 10 a to 10 P any questions for anything from Tab 10 a to 10 p and Mr Kennedy do you need to read anything into the minutes or acquisition for taxes um no but I do need to do the first reading on the CPAC policy if I could I have that down too hold on um is it you have to do the CPAC reading as well as the uh School meals program that's the first reading too um no school meals is not on for first reading tonight where did I get this from it's in my binder yeah that was erroneously placed there we need to discuss that policy in committee okay thank you so um you can read the CPAC one thank you uh we have the first reading of policy 1221 special education parent advisory committee and regulation 1221 special education parent regulation for special education parent advisory committee this policy and regulation is available for review in the office of the school business administrator thank you thank you seeing no questions for Tab 10 a through 10 P Mr Kennedy if you can add that to the agenda please at this time I would like to put the agenda for a vote Yes um oh we could do it in private fine since I had tabled two of the pages we can do it in private and come back and exit the agenda okay awesome before I read the statement for a private session I just want to take some time to thank uh some people if I can find my notes I can't find my notes all right I'm sorry so I just want to thank everyone for being here this evening for our April excuse me for our March um board meeting I want to thank our police officers for being here and assisting us I want to thank our security guards for assisting us as well thank you to all of our directors thank you to our parents who are here thank you to our um administrators who are here I appreciate our photographer and all of our it people and everyone from the cabinet for being here um I know that your time is very precious that you could be with your families and I appreciate you all being here I just also want to thank our our our kitchen staff and our custodians as well cuz I know it's a lot for you to put the chairs out and put them back up so thank you to everyone um for attending and assisting in all ways possible at this time the president request a motion to go into private session to consider matters exempt under the open public meetings act specifically for discussions of personnel matters specifically principal meet and greet abandon of position BC administrative leave with pay AA suspension without pay PC and ji personal report EA contractual matter legal matters litigation specifically settlements of special education matter and workers compensation matter pH and LM consent for liquor license contractual matter specifically authorization Color Guard field trip and HIV appeal the board will reconvene in public and may take formal action at this time may I have a motion to go into private it's been moved in probably a second to go into private session are there any questions and comments seeing none roll call please Barbosa yes carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs yes vavas pastana Rivera yes dor yes at this time we are in private a session thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Mr Kennedy can you please add the additional items or state the additional items to be added to the agenda please and also um I had tabled uh tab 2A page 12 and tab 2A page 17 um I would like to add those back to the agenda okay thank you first thing we need to add is a resolution for abandonment of position AA resolution suspension without pay PC resolution suspension without pay ji suspension without with pay pending investigation AA our Personnel report tab 2B a resolution for consent for liquor license resolution for settlement agreement brnr on behalf of yr versus eoe authorization for color color guard to go to competition and a resolution for appointment of principal of school number 19 thank you at this time I'm going to have our superintendent present the HIV report thank you madam president pursuant to board policy 51 31.1 harassment intimidation and bullying and New Jersey statute 18a col 37 the results of which investigation shall be reported to the Board of Education no later than the date of the next board meeting following completion of the investigation and include any Services provided training established discipline imposed or other action taken or recommended by the chief School administrator since our last Board of Education meeting on February 22nd 2024 and through May March 20th 2024 our school counselors school-based social workers Deputy Council have completed 65 Hib investigations of these investigations 25 cases were founded for Hib as per New Jersey Law there were 23 males 48 females 63 regular education students eight special education students that were the alleged victims there were 58 males 44 females 89 regular education students 10 special education students two students from another school district and one non-student that were the alleged offenders of the 25 cases founded for HIV four cases were founded based on race national origin one case was founded based on religion two cases were founded based on sexual orientation three cases were founded based on gender and 24 cases were founded based on other identifying characteristics of the services provided and actions taken for these investigations there were 17 skill development lessons and trainings 59 counseling sessions four targeted Behavior interventions 11 referrals for outpatient mental health treatment four classroom changes one change of school placement seven administrative counseling sessions 19 in school detentions 42 parent conferences eight referrals to outside agencies 31 out of school suspensions and 14 cases are continuing to be monitored the Hib statute further requires at the next regularly scheduled meeting after board members received the initial report of Hib investigations that the board issue a decision in writing to affirm reject or modify the superintendent's decision pertaining to the 40 cases that were reported to you at the last board meeting on February 22nd in order for you to do so the investigation summaries from those investigations which were reported to you at the last board meeting have been provided for your review prior to voting and this completes the Hib report for the month of March thank you thank you madam Superintendent at this time uh may I have a motion in a second to approve the additional items added to the agenda and the entire agenda I make a motion to approve the additional items second thank you we mov and propably seconded any comments questions see n roll call please Barbosa yes congratulations some exceptions correct we're voting on the entire agenda because we didn't do that earlier today and we're voting on the items that Mr Kennedy added um in after the prior session indeed I abstain on t tap 7 page 4 and tap 7 page 18 thank you Cheves yes with exension in t seven page 21 congratulations Jacobs yes congratulations conas pastana yes with an exstension on Tab seven page five and tab seven page 10 congratul conations Rivera yes congratulations dor um yes with an exstension on Tab 7 page 5 uh extension on Tab 7 page 10 and an extension on Tab 4B number nine and I would like to abstain on the board resolution to suspend without pay for PC and I would like to say no for the settlement of the bus driver schedule that wasn't on an agenda item oh sorry all right well take that out all right but everything else you got recorded yes thank you okay congratulations our new uh [Applause] principal before we leave does any board members have anything quick and short that they would like to say [Music] [Music] motion it's been moved and probably seconded to adjourn this meeting uh roll call please Barbosa yes good night chz yes happy Easter and happy spring break Jacobs yes and Calis bana yes Happy Spring Break everyone Rivera yes happy Easter and president dley yes thank you have a good night and God bless