##VIDEO ID:KCfZ7_SXly8## AP Capstone scholar athlete and the member of the National Honor Society at Elizabeth High School Frank J sarel Academy Emily currently serves as the president of the student government and the captain of the district speech and debate team in addition to these rigorous extracurricular activities she plays varsity soccer and conducts Bible study with children at her church it is my pleasure to introduce Emily era please if you could come up president [Applause] Mr Kennedy can you please add our stup representative to the roll call please yes thank you thank you at this time the microphones are open to the public comments to those who have signed in prior to the session each statement made by a person shall be limited to 3 minutes in duration the total time of public comment shall be limited to 60 Minutes no individuals able to yield their time to another individual all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no participant May address or question board members individually each speaker thank you shall comply in all respects with board policy 9322 the policy or the following rules shall apply time limits will be strictly enforced no personal attack on individuals or naming of individuals no V vulgar and indecent language a person may address the board no more than once during a single meeting comments will not be debated any person in violation of this policy will be warned as a reminder this is meaning of the board in public not a meaning of the public at this time I call Miss Christina morera good evening everyone um recently this board and the superintendent posted about dyslexia awareness while it is commendable to raise awareness a social media post does does little when there is no real action to support it dyslexia affects 20% of the population and represents 80 to 90% of all individuals ual with learning disabilities it is the most common of all neurocognitive disorders yet in this District where the where is the accountability for the students impacted by it a post is hollow if it isn't backed by meaningful policy and practices if parents who request dyslexia screening and are denied or Worse lied to like I was then what is the point I was told that my child in second grade was too young to be screened for dyslexia despite him showing clear signs of reading difficulties only when I presented the law did I get action that's what you should have been posting the law that requires school districts to screen for dyslexia by the end of the first semester of the second grade if indicators are present if the screening shows the child may have dyslexia or another reading disability a comprehensive assessment must follow why aren't we informing parents of their rights and the district's obligations when we make Facebook posts why why are we hiding behind falsehoods and unnecessary barriers this lack of transparency does more harm than good additionally this is exactly why we need a functioning truly inclusive special education parent advisory committee I'm glad you're paying attention Madam superintendent if it cannot be an ex and it cannot be an exclusive Club of parents who receive a selected email it is not enough to say that we are empowering parents through a training on October 23rd if that opportunity is not accessible and communicated to all parents the Vital Information belongs in the hands of every parent not just the select few you have a responsibility to ensure that every parent every family every child in this District receives the education and the support that they are entitled to awareness is the first step but action is what truly makes the difference let's start by being honest open and accountable to All Families we serve thank you mror at this time I call Mr Quan little good evening yeah um I want to come again just before you to address uh the uniform issues again you know number one you have dozens of students still being turned away from the respective high schools on a Del basis a matter superintend you have failed uh to address that in a meaningful meaningful way again students should not be turned away from their respective schools because they do not color in their white souls and their shoes I mean I thought that we learned from seeing on the news and seeing in other districts where students who are denied injury and stuff happens to them I me they they're in your custody the minute that they touch or place their feet on school premises period and we're still turning them away and we're what six weeks in school already four weeks in five weeks in and and we still don't get it this is horrible and we all know long behold majority of the schools that's occurring to occurring at hay dwire the district label Dumping Ground Schools that's in your eyes why is that every year the same thing happens I don't know where you get your data from okay that students are able to you know uh uh proceed with entry like there's nothing in the way no what's in the way is their look being told that they have to color in their shoes in order for them to get uh uh being being able to be permissible in the building you need to really look at that either you know what's going on or you're being to lies or you truly just know what's going on and that's not a concern of yours and it needs to be because it's disgusting every day parents are calling their building principles and they're saying well it's District policy horrible and in that same token students are also being told and encouraged every year to drop out over and over again if you don't want to be here drop out and that's not an issue to you you're not still you're still not on the mandate to trying to remedy that that happens every single year and all our way of it that has been brought to your attention a number of times our black students are worthy you say that during black history month but we need it in action we need a remedy in place that's going to Value them and keep them safe thank you at this time I call Miss Michelle Santos good evening last year my daughter attended School 14 and her lld teacher Miss Ron did something extraordinary every morning she took it upon herself to incorporate yoga into the kids routine as a parent of a special needs child I was thrilled to see this my daughter absolutely loved doing yoga and made a noticeable difference in her well-being but this is just not about my daughter this is about the benefits yoga can bring to all students particularly those with special needs for those unfamiliar let me outline the benefits yoga can help children feel less stressed and anxious improve emotional regulation boost concentration and focus Aid in self-control in behavior and even enhance their academic performance these are these aren't just theories they are proven facts a study um on children with autism from ages 8 to 14 demonstrated that that the majority of kids involved showing improved symptoms such as better tolerance for sitting increased socialization and greater adaptability in adult PR activity so why are we not doing this across the district today I stand here before you to suggest something simple but impactful a districtwide Saturday yoga program specifically for our special needs students I see program after program designed for neurotypical children running from October to May yet for special needs kids we just have five weeks of basketball in the ball and 5 weeks of soccer in the spring does that seem fair to you are they not deserving of the same consistent opportunities we do have the special needs swim program which runs from October to May and I want to thank Mr candelino and Mr Marty for the dedication to that but why stop there our special childrens deserve more than a few weeks of sports scattered throughout the year they deserve yearr round opportuni just like every other student in this District this isn't just a matter of adding another activity this is about equality and about giving every child the chance to thrive to grow and to feel supported so I'm calling on the special services department to let's make this happen let's show that we value all our students and let's give them the opportunities they deserve thank you thank you so much and lastly I call Miss Maria laen good evening yesterday I went to a block watch meeting and I got the chance to talk to a sergeant that was there present and I asked him about the vaping policy for the school district and if it was mandatory that we have police officers waste their time and their resource coming to the school and what was the process and they said well we basically tag it and destroy it so I asked them that seems kind of counterproductive and redundant why wouldn't the school use their own security and staff to tag and Destroy vape pens instead of calling police officers that are called because either somebody's getting robbed or mugged or assaulted or stabbed and they said because you don't have enough resources well that leads me to my next point which is a point of contention with the propaganda going around about no increases on our properties I want to know who is paying for that free lunch because it's been over six years you keep saying there's no tax increase in reality we should call a spade a spade you should be transparent and be honest with the community and tell them that the reason you're not increasing the taxes is because you are not demanding that the city pay you the fair share that they should be giving you so for six years years the only people that have not benefited has been our kids because you're cutting services you're cutting after school programs and there's so many things that are being cut but you want to sit here and tout a nose zero property taxes it's a lie there is no free lunch you know that I know that if you went to college and you studied economics you will most definitely know this both macro and micro and if you don't then you should take a 101 class and learn how that works there is no free lunch in addition you say you you have more schools you don't have more schools you're tearing down schools that had as bestest that you failed to tell the public they had as bestest and you requiring more buildings stop with the fakes stop with the lies cuz that's what they are and more teachers do you know how many teachers we lost do you know what it takes to replace teachers what is your plan for that Newark is definitely benefiting from all the great teachers that have been here and left that is a district that's benefiting not us I highly suggest that in your propagandas going forward you honestly tell the public what it is that you're doing instead of thinking that we're stupid and uneducated and we can't figure it out because I actually hold a double Masters I can figure it out and so can the average person that's here that has gone to school thank you at this time I close the public comment portion of the meeting as board president my continued vision is to promote Community engagement and to unite board members as a team as I had mentioned in January opening remarks as board president each board member was asked to contribute and sponsor a specific initiative each month throughout the year during the month of October Isaiah Rivera chose to sponsor Hispanic Heritage Month to highlight the rich diversity of Elizabeth public schools and the outstanding work being done in our schools to ensure all students learn and Achieve at high levels regardless of race ethnicity culture neighborhood household income or home language in the highlight video we'll experience hispan and characteres month as a time for us to celebrate the rich contributions of Hispanic Americans to our country's health and culture it is also a time to learn learn more about diverse cultures and traditions of Hispanic communities in Elizabeth and again the full video will be available at the end of the month at this time I would like for us to play our video highlight bu and I am honored to Ser you start the video over please start it correctly thank you bua and I am honored to serve the Elizabeth Community as a born member of Elizabeth Board of Education as our board under Madame President Charlene balis we have launched a number of initiatives during 2024 that has enhanced learning for all of our students in the Elizabeth public school for the month of October I've chosen diversity and inclusion and what a better way to sponsor that than through Hispanic Heritage Month and highlight the rich diversity of Elizabeth public schools and the outstanding work being done in our schools to ensure that all students learn and Achieve at high levels regardless of race ethnicity culture neighborhood household income or home language our diversity and unique experiences are incredible assets that contribute to the growth and success of our community our bilingual and ESL department does a tremendous job of offering programs that help our multilingual Learners develop and Thrive as they look to pursue their life stream when my parents and I moved to the United States from Ecuador I was enrolled as an ESL student here in Elizabeth I know by personal experience how our programs provide rigorous education both native languages and English as a board member I will continue to seek ways to celebrate and share the unique cultures of all of our students all of our team members and all of our families with one another so that every Community member feels a sense of belonging and value thank you um I just want to thank um board member Isaias Rivera again for one the um exciting uh board meeting that we had last time with the dancers and also just going throughout the district and talking to the bilingual uh department so we just wanted to thank everyone in our district who celebrated Hispanic heritage mons and if the board member if you would like to speak you can say something sure I think it's very important that we understand diversity and inclusion so I really felt that that was a special topic for this month especially with Hispanic heritage and to really understand the cultures and the values that we have the diversity we have not only in the school district District but also in our town so thank you Charlene for allowing me absolutely at this time I'm going to have our superintendent of schools present the community updates thank you again Madam president we're going to begin with the community updates we're going to begin with the community updates please thank you uh next slide please so as a reminder we're in the season which flu and RSV are on the rise uh on our website we've provided resources to the community on our uh District web page specifically that offers information about identifying symptoms of the flu and RSV and the steps that you can take in order to protect yourself from these illnesses um and actions that you can take in order to more importantly prevent the spread of these um illnesses to others you can find these Resources by going onto our website and clicking on the flu and RSV resources icon on at the top of the page and visit the resources um page that it will take you to next slide please also important reminder for all of our families uh we'll be administering the PSAT for grades 10 and 11 and the SAT for grade 12 on Wednesday October 23rd um our guidance counselors will be sending information together with our principles to all of the students with reminders uh leading up to to October 23rd next slide please and next we'd like to um share with our community our after school and Saturday programs that we're offering uh this year beginning with our Elementary programs next slide please our academic English language arts and Mathematics after school program that'll be available at all of our K8 schools uh students this program will focus on English language arts and our mathematics standards and students uh will Lo learn through an adaptive personalized experience utilizing uh one of our software programs success maker uh we have the program that's going to begin on actually started this week on October 15 and it's going to run through uh May 1st and this includes a component where our teachers assist students with homework um and then the remainder of the program is to focus on those critical skills that we need to um help our children with the programs for one hour after school from 3: to 4 o'l and the next slide please our point of entry after school program this program is specifically uh designed for our new entrance at the um Elementary level available at all of our K8 schools and our students will be provided instruction in English language arts maths science and social studies uh through very engaging activities also we have a social emotional uh component and activities uh that are provided by our district bilingual psychologist this program also started uh this week and it runs through May first on Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays next slide please and as mentioned the social emotional learning uh component of the ESL point of entry program it um allows for social emotional learning activities and sessions with our our students that are already participating in the ESL point of entry program uh program started this past week as I stated previously and we'll run through June 6th and that's Monday Thursdays and Saturdays for one hour after school at all of our k 8 schools and next we have our social emotional learning after school program at all of our K8 um schools and that program is designed to address students essential life skills uh our counselors and our social workers U have reached out to the families and um this is an effort to be able to strengthen those critical skills correct such as developing empathy um strengthening students interpersonal skills um also there's an arts and crafts component team building exercises and mindful practices this program will start on October 22nd and run through May 22nd on Tuesday Wednesdays and Thursdays at the elementary level at all schools from 3 to 4 o'clock and at the high school from 2:30 to 3:30 and next we have our Arts enrichmond after school program that will uh provide our students that integration of the Arts and literature and Technology at the elementary and middle school levels in all of our K8 schools that program will begin October 21st and run through May 16th and that is on Mondays and Thursdays for 1 hour after school next slide please and next we have our fall Saturday uh Youth Athletic program uh our athletic uh program has been a success it's for our students in grades one through eight and opportunity to be able to engage in various um activities and learn the fundamentals of various sports that program starts October 19th through December 14th on on Saturday and as you can see on the slide before you we have the different uh time slots based on the grade levels that the children are in and the locations um are throughout our district next slide and now we go into our Elementary and high school programs uh beginning with our special education support after school program and that is for our students in kindergarten through high school that provides homework Support also has an important component of tutoring to assist uh our stud students in meeting uh expectations it's a voluntary program and uh we are ready to roll this program out on Tuesday October 22nd and will'll run through May 29th that will be on Mondays Wednesdays and Thursdays and as you can see on the slide the different time slots uh whether your child attends a K8 school or the high school uh one hour after school next is the Arts enrichment Saturday program and that program uh will begin on October 26th and run through May 17th on Saturday and it's um open um districtwide to our middle school and high school students and F fantastic uh program the the tremendous level of creativity that our students exhibit um the Fine Arts and Music are woven in um into our creative literature next slide please and then for our high school programs next slide we have our lunchtime and after school tutoring program that's available um at all of our high schoolies and that is to support our students in English language arts and math science and social study skills uh that program already started in SE on September 6th and it runs through June 19th and it's Monday through Friday one hour um after school and also available during a student's lunchtime next slide please and then we have our after school tutoring program through a Princeton Review and there's a variety of tutoring services for our high school students there is one-on-one tutoring in various sub subjects that includes math science English and test preparation and as you can see from the slide before you there's live tutoring there's on demand help uh with 247 access for homework support and study support there's subject specific resources as well and uh the test prep as previously mentioned in order to support students in the their uh the administration of the SAT and ACT this program started this week on October 15th and will run through June 1st and it's Monday through Friday at all of ourmes next slide please next we have our bilingual achievement after school program and this program is specifically designed to assist our multilingual Learners um specifically with language acquisition and this program already started this week on October 15th and is running through May 30th and it's Monday through Thursday from 2:30 to 4:30 at all of our high schoolies next slide please next we have our Best of Both Worlds um after school program and this program uh also assists our new entran multilingual students um in addressing their English language proficiency and it also assists with those critical literacy and math skills as well that program also launched this week on October 15th and is running through May 30th on Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday for one hour um after school and it this is a centralized high school program next slide please and then we have our CTE after school tutoring program and this provides academic support and enrichment to support all the various strands available in our CTE program and it also um assists with the necessary seat hours for industry valued credentialing requirements us program started in September and is going to run through May Monday through Friday and it's from 2:30 to 4:30 available at all of our high schoolies and Then followed by the next slide our CTE Saturday program and this also provides Provide support academically as well as career counseling and mentoring to our students um we have various sessions as you can see from the slide before you that run from the months of October through December and then the second session from February to April on Saturdays and the uh specific time slots whether your child is in middle school or in high school and this program takes place at our high schoolies and next slide please our Apex Saturday program and uh we utilize the apex program for our are Blended and virtual learning uh supports uh it's a digital curriculum that helps our students uh specifically in mathematics and science and English social studies World Language electives and as well as advanced placement and we um have that program that started on September 21st and it runs through May 24th on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1 pm at our high schoolies next of course we have our high school after school clubs with a variety of interest that are covered um all throughout all of our high schools and we have a master listing available for our uh families and our students who may not have yet selected a club to participate in and that completes the after school and Saturday programs as we move into inside EPS next slide please and the next one please and we're g to now start with our next slide I wanted to be able to announce that 14 our schools received the safe routes to school Gold Award uh this designation is from the New Jersey safe routes to schools um in 2024 as part of the organization's recognition program uh this is an opportunity to be able to encourage safer and more accessible walking and bicycling environments for our children there's an educational component there's a training component as well as research so have to be able to uh site the school school number four School six School seven school8 School 9 School 19 School 21 School 22 School 26 School 27 School 29 School 30 and our Early Childhood Center uh that we are in this evening School 51 along with our Edison Academy were the Gold Award recipients School numbers 1 and 13 received the Bronze award and school numbers five and 14 as well as Hamilton Academy received the first steps award it's so wonderful uh work that is taking place um and our schools and we congratulate them next slide I wonder how this soccer game is going Mr Kennedy don't have a score yet okay Elizabeth High School boys soccer coach Jack Gonzales earned his 100th career win with a 4 to1 Victory by number 18 Minutemen over Cranford at Williams Field in Elizabeth on September 30th um coach Gonzalez reached a 100th win mark in only six plus seasons including uh the shortened 2020 season during the pandemic and his teams have lost more um his teams have lost more than four games in a season only once um and it we we celebrate um coach Gonzalez he is an incredible vice principal at Hamilton Academy and a a tremendous coach leading our boys varsity soccer team and they are playing this evening so we hope to have an update soon as to their Victory next slide please Elizabeth High School Frank J sarel Academy Alexander hamilt Preparatory Academy and Johnny dwire Technology Academy once again were among the New Jersey schools to earn a place on the College Board 2024 AP School honor role and um schools are recognized at various levels at the bronze at the silver gold and platinum tiers for meeting or exceeding specific criteria it's College establishing the College culture college credit and college optimization EHS received the Platinum tier dwire and Hamilton received the bronze tier uh and both earned their gold status in College culture subcategory so amazing work taking place um in our high schoolies and next slide as we address the Arts our Elizabeth High School Marching Band competed this past weekend at MetLife Stadium and is part of the lwig Muer uh classic us bands competition the marching band scored an 89.5 in their performance and earned first place over Hillsboro High School school and South Brunswick High School who are both known to have great music programs Elizabeth also won the special award for best color guard best visual and best visual effects so congratulations to our Elizabeth um High School marching band and also to our um success in all of these recognitions and that completes our inside EPS our news from Central for this month I would like to now um turn our attention to Mr vosler ah Mr vosler please come come join us Mr vosler our supervisor of harassment intimidation and bullying will'll be presenting the TW the Hib self assessment for the 2324 school year and I provided the presentation in advance um to our board good evening uh board members superintendent Hugo Meer fellow staff and community members I'm here tonight to present our harassment intimidation and bullying self assessment as Mrs Huger just said from our 2324 school year so the state requires that we present this self assessment um in October of each year from the previous school year so assessing our performance under the anti-bullying Bill of Rights why is a no bully zone important to our school community first few slides are different activities that we've done last school year at different schools related to our uh different week of respect Unity walks and different activities each of our schools conducted during uh the week of respect from last school year building connections so how is EPS graded in the implementation of the anti-bullying Bill of Rights um the state developed a rubric that aided districts to assess how well we're implementing the law the rubric consists of eight core elements and 26 indicators each indicator receives a score of zero to three points and it's designed to be a growth model to enhance our programs and implementation from anal perspective year-over-year to word out bullying so our first element consists of five indicators a through e so basically each of our schools at the end of each year sit down with their school safety and climate teams and conduct this self assessment and grade themselves in each of these areas so element one in order to for the schools to meet requirements which is a score of two they have to establish Implement and assess HIV programs and have involved various group groups that include School staff students administrators volunteers parents law enforcement and community members and for each school to meet the requirement for these indicators under this element each school would have to show that their HIV programs approaches and initiatives were designed to create schoolwide conditions to prevent and address HIV and that each school safety team had identified patterns of Hib and reviewed School climate policies and practices the second core element elent consists of our training on our board HIV policy is consists of three indicators a through C each school has to have met the requirements and all employees and students needed to have been provided with training on our district HIV policy that included instruction on preventing bullying based on the protected categories and the distinguishing characteristics element three consists of five indicators a through e and for our schools to meet requirements for these indicators all teaching staff members and administrators had to have completed instruction in Hib prevention and suicide prevention that includes information on HIV during their 5-year professional development period And if all haven't been trained there is a plan to do so also for schools to meet requirements all the anti-bully Specialists had to have permitted release time to receive inservice training to act as the school's anti-bullying spe specialist here in Elizabeth we meet a minimum of four times per school year where all our counselors and social workers who are our anti-bully Specialists and alternates are thoroughly trained to act as the ABS and in addition to meet the requirements for this element the members of the school safety and climate team at each school would have received professional development in successful School climate programs and approaches the fourth element is on our curriculum and instruction on Hib and related information that consists of two indicators A and B for our schools to meet requirements here they have to show evidence of age appropriate instruction to all students on preventing HIV throughout the school year and this has to be aligned with our New Jersey learning standards also the schools have to show evidence that they observe the week of respect which is the first week of October each school year and they had to have featured activities recognizing the importance of character education by providing age appropriate instruction on HIV prevention here in Elizabeth all our schools Implement extensive instruction to our students during the week of respect and it includes various types of classroom lessons guest speakers that address the dangers of cyber bullying and the importance of Internet safety and many schools hold different contests to make the week educational and fun our fifth element consists of three indicators a through C it's on our Hib Personnel to meet the requirements here the law requires that the there is evidence that the principal appoints an anti-bully specialist that performs the D those duties that they perform the duties and that each school has the name School phone number School address and email address of the anti-bully specialist and the district antib coordinator on their school's website also to meet the requirement ments there needs to be evidence that shows that each school's ABS met at least twice during the school year with the anti-bully coordinator at least twice during the school year to discuss and strengthen procedures to prevent and address HIV also each school safety teams need to have met at least twice per school year in their schools here in Elizabeth our schools meet a minimum roughly four to five times per year and that the appropriate staff and a parent are included on that team and that all IB complaints and school climate issues were discussed the sixth core element has is consisting of two indicators A and B that's on our school level incident reporting procedures to meet requirements here each school has to demonstrate that all responsible School staff implemented all the requirements of the anti-bullying Bill of Rights including Anonymous reporting verbal reports and written reports the schools would need to have verbally reported any potential acts of Hib either witnessed or having a reliable information regarding a potential act to the building principle and the anti-bully specialist on that same day the staff would then have to submit a written report on the new required State 338 forms to the principal within two days of that verbal report of being notified of the allegation there also needs to be a means for parents to confidentially submit the Hib 338 forms for family and caregivers which is on our district website in in our no bully zone area also to meet requirements for this element if new information were to become available after an investigation has been completed that the district has a procedure that we can go back and add new information and update any investigation as necessary our seventh element and consists of four indicators a through D that's on our Hib investigation procedure in order for our schools to meet requirements here parents of all the alleged offenders and victims were to have been notified in all investigations and were informed of the availability of counseling or other intervention services when appropriate the schools must also affirm that all investigations were completed within 10 school days and that a written report was conducted for all of these investigations also after the completion of each investigation in order for our schools to meet the requirements of the law there needs to be evidence that the results of all the investigations were reported to the superintendent within two school days of completion of each of those investigations and our final core element number eight is two indicators a through b and that's on our Hib reporting the final element in order for our schools to meet requirements under the anti-bulling Bill of Rights they have to demonstrate evidence that the school has a procedure for ensuring that staff members report the required information for all incidences of violence vandalism and HIV and that there is a process in place to ensure that all these reports include all those that required information and finally for the schools to meet the requirements for these indicators all schools would need to have posted on their schools homepage and on our district homepage the official Hib grades once they are approved and received from the Department of Education the state approvals are generally received in June over these past few school years and then the official grades for the previous school years are posted within two weeks to our District's homepage and to each of our schools specific individual websites so once the self assessments are submitted to the state after this presentation they are generally approved not until about June of each school year and then they're updated onto our website so again the scoring um each of those indicators I just went over over the schools give themselves a zero for not meeting requirements one would partially meet the requirements three uh two would be meeting all the requirements so every you want to live in the two area and if you can exceed that's great that means you did well above and beyond what the law is requiring so the highest score any school can receive is a 78 so there's 26 indicators you can get a three is the highest so a 78 would be the highest so it's not based on 100 it's based on 78 so last year um again a score of 52 would be a two in each area which means we're meeting all the requirements um all of our 37 schools scored a 62 or higher last year and our schools range from a 62 to a 78 so this is the first year we had a perfect score at one of our schools um and the average across our 37 schools was a 70 this uh last school year and that's up from a 68 average from the 2223 school year here so again the process and the requirements um after the schools complete the assessment the in information is input into the State website which the schools all did at the beginning of this school year in September the results are presented to the public which I'm doing now the we obtain the official approval from the Board of Education and with the superintendent assurances the self assessments will then be submitted to the Department of Education within the next week so going over all of our schools from last school year their grades as we see for the first time School 25 had a perfect 78 which means they exceeded the requirement in every indicator that we just went over and you go from school 7even on down through um School 52 and school 22 with 73s continuing on Abraham Lincoln 14 had a 72 again exceeding requirements and many of the indicators down through John Marshall number 20 with a 70 Joseph baton School four also scored a 70 on down through Admiral William alaly health and Public Safety Academy with a 66 and rounding out School 27 with a 66 down through Robert Morse 18 with a 62 and again if you have a 52 you're doing what you need to do anything above that is you're exceeding the requirements so our schools range from a 62 to a 78 so we doing a very good job in that area and moving on again some more pictures this was from the opening days of school last school year welcoming back all of our students some highlights of our work to date as we discussed the week of respect is the first week of October every year that's really where we kick off our initiatives our Hib and character education programing that we have here in the district last year continuing into this year Panama education is our main platform for student and parent surveys and our students are all taking surveys this week and their seal Playbook platform where we get a lot of our character education to train our students and our staff in in character education character strong we had last year continuing with this year it's another platform in curriculum ulum where students are um given lessons um either via specific trainings or class onetime lessons versus curriculums on oural uh we have various schools that are pbsis schools positive behavior supports Harmony power Sensei John Marion we've been contracting with his Harmony power group for the last six to seven years I'll talk about that a little more in a minute uh therapeutic learning connections Contracting with Connie Palmer who does student staff and parent workshops at all of our schools throughout the whole year on various seal topics um we have relationship violence training she also does uh relationship violence training our bully busting curriculum is a state program that teaches our students the difference between bullying and teasing and the importance of respect and kindness and our Bound for greatness program which is an initiative our SEC we are on our second year on um and that's in 10 of our schools throughout the district um some more highlights we have state and County training for myself which I go to throughout the year with all the other anti-b coordinators in the county there's District Hib andal trainings for team members ongoing that we have guest speakers at schools and we're also contracted with the Union County prosecutor's office on our cyber bullying and Internet safety assemblies that we do for all of our schools throughout the year and for all of our Hib investigations um they're all documented in our hipster Electronic Reporting System and we're on our 11th year um documenting that in that system so a little bit more artwork from the week of respect that's School 7 and 23 kind of a lot of the activities our kids do either for week of respect or our Harmony power initiative this is um an example of some of our Harmony power presentations from last school year um it's a way uh the awards are given to students that Express themselves through their gifts and talents and those that gave back to the community and some positive way and that's an example of the certificate the students and staff can receive when they go above and beyond in this manner so that starts off in the week of respect and it goes through the whole month of of November and this was last year as well at one of our schools School nine uh set Sensei Marion there on the bottom with his top hat um he gave his presentation and school n did a great day of Harmony power for the students and staff and this was another Harmony power Day last year at school 21 all the kids were singing songs and it really literally brought Sensei Marion to tears some more activities and peace walks and coat drives and cultural uh Heritage um activities and and things we do at the schools some more pictures from last school year so the work ahead of us um we continually analyze our self assessments by each of our schools and we want to kind of raise those scores a little little bit each year um ensuring that there's ongoing parental involvement on our school safety and climate teams which is vital to improve our climate and safety within our buildings uh we focus on training our school safety and climate teams in improving School climate and this year we had Connie Palmer train all of our schools on effective climate approaches um and she trained all of our safety and climate teams already this year uh we want to focus on providing the most effective and appropriate interventions for all of our HIV investigations whether founded or unfounded that we're providing the appropriate interventions for all of our students to mitigate these situations implementing and proactively addressing seib character Ed in person and virtual programming throughout the year for all our schools and of course as we discussed our Panorama educational program initiative um was expanded and and we've been doing that in all 37 of our schools with our surveys andal platform Elizabeth public schools are here to make difference and that ends the presentation for this evening thank you very much and then I have one more presentation just the monthly uh HIV report so this is pursuant to board policy 51 31.1 on harassment intimidation and bullying and our New Jersey statute 18a 37 the law requires that each of our Hib investigations are to be reported to the Board of Education no later than the day date of the next board meeting following completion of the investigation and that report needs to include any Services provided trainings established discipline imposed or any other actions taken or recommended by the chief School administrator since our last Board of Education meeting on September 19th and through October 10th our school counselors and school-based social workers have completed 32 HIV investigations of these investigations 14 cases were founded for Hib as per NJ law there were 13 males 21 females 21 regular education students and five special education students that were the alleged victims there were 24 males 31 females 47 regular education students and eight special education students that were the alleged offenders of the 14 cases that were founded for HIV three cases were founded based on race or national origin one case was founded based on color two cases were founded based on gender one case was founded based on gender identity and expression one case was founded based on a mental physical or sensory disability and 12 cases were founded based on other identifying characteristics of the services provided and actions taken for these investigations there were 12 skill development lessons or trainings 23 counseling sessions five referrals for outpatient mental health treatment 10 changes of classroom setting three changes of school placement one administrative counseling session 10 in school detentions 22 parent conferences 14 out of school suspensions and 12 cases are continuing to be monitored the Hib statute further requires that at the next regly scheduled meeting after board members received this initial report of the investigations that the board issue a decision in writing to airm reject or modify the superintendent's decision since this is the beginning of the school year there were no cases reported to the board last month so there's no need to vote this month on any of the previous cases since they were none reported and that ends the Hib presentations for this evening thank you so much Mr vasor we appreciate it at this time I'm going to have our board representative um Emily Herrera give her report please good evening members of the Board of Education Dr Huger and ladies and gentlemen it is my pleasure pleasure to meet with you all today my name is Emily Herrera a senior at Elizabeth High School Frank J sarel Academy it is an honor to be OB service and becoming a representative for students in the Elizabeth public school Community as a Salvadorian American I'm proud to recognize the event our schools have hosted in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month as well as other events and accomplishments the J cushion BWI Finance Academy celebrated with various activities ranging from flag face painting to pinata making as well as their student ambassadors reading the piñata book to their autism program William F Hall Academy celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month through studying empowering Hispanic figures wearing sports jerseys representing their home countries and Performing energetic Ming and Zumba classes with vibrant choreography fjc recognized important Hispanic figures through Reading quotes during morning announcements painting Latin American flags on Windows that can be seen from City Hall and lastly putting on a showcase danting salsa and Mambo as well as a special performance featuring our autism program fjc showed their school spirit in hosting a fall pep rally where members of the football team and FSE Sports recognized making sure to include our marching band and traing team fjc has also introduced a math English social studies and science honor societies where our students will soon be inducted into these prestigious programs fjc student government has also introduced a student run School news production called First Take where students can inform their peers while creatively expressing themselves the jvj sem Academy hosted a breast cancer awareness walk today Dawning pink and raising funds to in support of the cause upcoming events include Jefferson's Halloween dance on October 18th fjc Spooktacular on October 25th haunted hallways from both fjc and Jefferson and lastly Jefferson's production of Peter Pan from October 24th through the 26th and Grease the musical on December 5th through the 7th that concludes my report on the significant events and activities in our community where our students have actively engaged in I'm looking forward to working with you all for the remainder of the school year thank you for this opportunity thank you so much at this time I'm going to go through the agenda are there any questions for tab 1A the official and private meeting minutes for September 19th 2024 and October 2nd 2024 are there any questions regarding the official and private meeting minutes saying n Mr CID can you please add it to the agenda are there any questions in regards to the tab 1B treasurers and secretary's report August 31st 2024 I have a comment if I could yes so every month we we present the uh results uh to date of our financial statements which includes the budgetary expenditures and the budget and if you recall back in may we had a budget presentation where um we talked about the ARP funding ending this coming September just ended and throughout the budget um process there was big concerns that we were going to lose programs because of ARP and in particular um Ed management chairman Mrs pastana and also um Mrs Marina Orga and also special ed chairman um Ilana chevis didn't want to lose those programs that were earmarked in the ARP so just a reminder in that budget presentation we moved over 8.4 million that were previously funded in ARP and they're sitting in our budget right now um so when I'm hearing things about cuts to the budget and we just watched our after school program presentation um just a couple things that were showed up on that flyer was the that we brought over was the point of entry after school program K8 to 12 there was a bilingual achievement strategies after school program for 9 to 12 there was social emotional learning after school program from K to 12 there was also Our Youth Athletic summer and um Saturday programs that were brought over from ARP to our budget and also art Arts enrichment were presented on that flyer two two days a week um so so I know I'm not um seeing I'm just not seeing the cuts that I I was hearing about this evening and just to summarize included in that budget for after school um beginning in 2122 we spent we budgeted $7.2 million for after school stiens 2223 it went up to $9.1 million in stiens 23 24 it went to $10.1 million and in the current budget that is in that financial statement um the Sens are have increased to $13.8 million so I thought it was just appropriate at this time since we're looking at the financial statements in this section of the agenda to highlight some of the things that were moved out of ARP and um not cut and and actually increased our budget this year thank you so much Mr Kennedy for enlightening us on that thank you are there any questions regarding that Madam uh Madame President yes yes do you I want to just make a comment uh based on Mr Kennedy statement uh everybody know we are huge Community right here we one of the big Urban district and from the all herban district Elisa public school is the school Public District who provide more after school programs does mean just to let the know the community thank you Madame President then thank you anyone else yes Madam president um just want to thank uh our Administration along with the um you know Mr Candi and his staff working diligently on that I remember um you know last year sometime we talked about the potential of this happening and the cuts taking place and um we said that we would Advocate to keep the programs going um from the summer programs to the after school program so and then some new programs have been created since then so just want to thank you for for hearing us and um understanding the needs of our students and putting them first I think I think the directors that are here and some that aren't here had a big part in identifying what we wanted to move forward there to be congratulated to for listening to the board and our committees and and doing what we think was right for our students thank you directors anyone else okay sorry at this time Mr Kennedy please add tab 1B to the agenda please any questions for Tab 2 a personal report I have a comment Madame President yes yes uh page nine of top 2 a yes is to be cleared with the community uh page N9 top 2 a is retirements we have have 13 people right here in this report and I just want to let you know everybody's working more than 25 years that mean when you heard from some members of the community like our teacher are going to new perception is different for the reality okay and I want to give a special thank you to Dr Willian a kimek 47.4 years years does mean Alexander uh Crystal teacher 26.4 years does mean this is detail that you didn't see but everybody who retired for alisai public school have been working for more than 25 years and as a teacher in another school district when you working more than 20 years is because you really like the place that mean My Dear Community perception is different for the reality this is the reality inside the agenda tonight thank you thank you any other questions or comments for Tab 2 a Personnel report seeing none Mr Kennedy please add it to the agenda at this time are there any questions for tab three tuition's report tab three tuition's report seeing n Mr Kennedy please add it to the agenda at this time are there any questions for Tab 4 a mam president I have a comment sure tonight I want to take this opportunity for congratulate each director because this is the time when you submit different kind of consideration for different kind of professional development and different kind activities from actual conventions uh from different uh also uh different kind of Prof professional development like you attend that mean I want to say thank you because I know it's not the you do you investigate you investigate these great opportunities it's not easy sometime to find and I want to take this opportunity tonight to say thank you to each one of you because I really pay attention to this stuff and this is how our district uh designed uh our professional development for teachers and at the end of the day our teacher serves our students thank you and I appreciate you hardw and a dedication thank you so much thank you Mr R I'm sorry uh Rosa she must be talking about me you know anyhow um any other questions for Tab 4 a I also want to thank all of our directors as well for all the work that you guys do throughout the year you know I always say thank you I do appreciate all of you guys ladies and gentlemen seeing none Mr Kennedy please add that to the agenda at this time are there any questions for tab 4B use of facilities any questions for tab 4B use of facilities seeing n Mr Kenedy added to the agenda at this time R any questions for tab four BB use of facilities considerations any questions for tab 4bb seeing n Mr candidate please add that to the agenda are there any questions for tab 4C field trip considerations are there any questions for Tab 4 C field trip considerations seeing them cidate please add that to the agenda tab five authorizations report I would like to add um one more item to tab five which is the Japan an 55th anniversary relationship with Elizabeth authorization to participate um there was a a letter that just went out to all the board members so if you can just include that and tab four excuse me tab five authorizations to to report so at this time are there any questions for authorizations report tab five Madame President yes just just a point of emphasis on Tab five on the first page the there's a partnership with un College of un County New Jersey I remember when I was young and my parents didn't speak any English it was very hard to do homework and they didn't understand it and I know that still lives today in our district take advantage of this let's encourage this is a grf funded program where parents can learn English ESL they can get a GED they can I know we have a not a lot of new families that have moved in this is a great opportunity for them to get the basic education that they need and to also help our students that can use help with with homework and things like that thank you thank you so much I think any other questions no comments for tab five authorization support seeing n Kennedy please add it to the agenda at this time are there any questions for tab six Finance and Accounting report are there any questions for tab six Finance and Accounting report saying Namaste candidate can you please add it to the agenda are there any questions for tab 6A transfer of funds are there any questions yes yeah I did have a question I just wanted to get a a status report on the um implementation of the U and this may be to the properties committee and Mr milanas the implementation of the air conditioners and the um the chillers where are we with that what is the status thus far which tab are you on Tab 6A six tab six we're going back to six so far uh out of the nine buildings that we are uh currently working on for added ventilation we have three of them that are uh completed uh they're going through some uh like uh what the c u they you know they you know they're turning systems on they're running their all their controls and everything so three of them School 18 School 87 and 87 Annex the other buildings uh we are at some point uh we have two buildings that we have to do a shutdown for power so we're waiting for the utility to allow us to do that they haven't they haven't scheduled a day yet um and then there the the other buildings uh one of them is uh School 5 that is the asbest building that we need to do abatements in the summer so it's too late to do those as best as when the kids are in the building or anybody else and then um we are waiting for a switch gear uh equipment which is the electrical part uh to be delivered to the contractor for two of the uh for school 19 and uh School number four so that basically uh is you know that the status right now we're hoping that by the spring of of 2025 we will have every one of those buildings up and running except for School 5 so now when you say School four you're talking about 5501 Union Avenue yes okay thank you any other questions for tab six Finance and Accounting report seeing none Mr Kennedy please add that to the agenda are there any questions for tab 6A transfer of funds saying n Mr cedy Please add that to the agenda at this time are there any questions for tab seven or Award of contract report yes Madam president I have one question yes uh paid for someone can explain the second contract contract with the S PID for the second contract is the I didn't understand what kind of contract is it's a courtis and career guidance management assistant thank you hi good evening um yes that's our contract with our score so that's our College and Career platform that we already have available at all of our high schools this is extending it to our middle schools so that they could start preparing for college start doing career interest inventories start building out their resumés and discovering more about their future and their potential sounds wonderful thank you so much you're welcome are there any questions for Tab 7 Award of contracts Madam president yes question tab seven tab seven uh page three for the contract with tpr education LLC uh which is the prinston review and I appreciate uh Madam superintendent uh supplying those answers but I'd like to have Mr D dado explain that in more Det detail sure thing so that is as a result of our title for carryover funds we were able to partner with the Princeton Review to offer over 13,000 hours of one-on-one tutoring for our high school students and in addition to those one-on-one hours every high school student has access to their self-paced modules for um any academic subject area I also want to point out that it extends far beyond just the academic course subjects they also have access to as Dr Huger said sat PSAT prep as well as uh College Planning tools such as helping them write their college essays and helping them build their resumés so that their packets look the best possible for entering into college or career and this is the first year that we're offering it for all 11th and 12th grade students correct correct so I'm I'm very happy with that because that was something that um I was very um passionate about us doing because in the past it was only offered to certain fjc students based on a donation a private donation from the outside and those sat and P PSAT classes are extremely important I can remember years and years ago um when my parents invested because these things cost money okay we also provide PSAT and sat for all of our students let's remember in many other districts you have you have to pay for these expenses okay we provide that for all of our students to make sure that every student has an opportunity to to get a higher education so I'm very happy to see that we've expanded this coursework to all of our students through throughout all of our schools so there's Equity amounts all classes so that they can all Advance thank you very much M oh I do have another question as well if you can uh give me more detail on the uh tab seven page page 14 contract for pro athletes certainly that is is that you or Mr B talk about yeah this is a uh program that we're going to have at 10 of our schools and it's the selected schools um select 10 to 12 students and they're mentored throughout five Monon period um and they go over uh various mentoring skills and activities such as SEO learning character education kind of you know getting them ready and on the right path to be successful academically and and uh behaviorally so it's uh for 10 of our schools each those schools select roughly 10 to 12 students and D West is the mentor that comes in through that company uh Bobby Jackson is are former New York Jet Hall of Famer and he uh and D West are providing this mentoring for our students throughout the F Monon period so again I'm very also impressed with that program because that also shows us giving opportunities and making sure that our children are getting the proper role models in the community and and other places outside of school where they can see positive influences that they may not see on a day-to-day basis in our community or or in their social environment so I'm very happy that we're also instituting that program as well thank you Madame President you're welcome Madame President just to follow up on that specific item how are the schools and the students selected the schools are selected based on different uh criteria such as you know HIV uh data um and and the students are selected at each individual School the school at the school level select the students they feel are in need of the mentoring program yeah thank you uh do you have a listing of the schools involved I don't see that here don't have it with me but I can get you that can you do that please yeah and next time I like to see that also in here before we approve it thank you any other questions for tab seven award and contracts seeing n Mr Kenedy please add that to the agenda at this time we're at our tab A8 board committee reports I'm going to ask our chairpersons to please skip the attendance so just start reading the um report at this time I'm going to ask for our chairperson from education management committee uh chairperson Stephanie pastana thank you madam president the educational management committee met on October 7th um the committee reviewed the current staffing needs of the district the superintendent shared an update regarding the vacancies and presented the supports identified for the schools following a discussion regarding the state assessment data the superintendent presented the focus for the year the school year defined as literacy across the curriculum and numeracy across the curriculum this ensures that all content areas have both a focus on literacy and Mathematics in addition the 90-day instructional review plan was presented the plan serves as a focus of the professional Learning Community scheduled for all principles and vice principles throughout the month of October the plan includes an initial assessment the implementation of instructional strategies and evaluation and adjustment of the plan based on the data for both literacy and Mathematics the committee discussed the current after school program offerings for the 2425 school year and the importance of publishing the programs for the school Community lastly the committee engaged in a discussion regarding the American Rescue plan programs that were funded in 24-25 District budget which Mr Kennedy already talked about thank you thank you so much at this time I have um the chairperson of Finance and Accounting committee give a report chairperson Jerry Jacobs thank you Madame President the finance committee met on October 9th the committee discussed possible incentives for retaining and attracting substitute bus drivers a request for the analysis of the multi-purpose bus attendance holding the CDL was requested for the next meeting a current inventory of small passenger buses was requested for further discussion the committee discussed the shortage of custodians holding a black seal boiler license and a request for an analysis by school of the custodians possessing the license was requested for the next meeting the committee reviewed usage reports with the district sponsoring employee assistance program in connection with the board's continuing initiative of the national self-care awareness a communication to all employees about the availability of the one- source employee assistance program was recommended various properties available for possible expansion needs were discussed thank you Madame President thank you at this time I have the chair of the legal committee give the report board vice president and chairman uh Stan neron thank you madam president um the legal committee met on uh October 10th 2024 the committee reviewed the summary of the 2023 2024 residency investigation by grade level uh a request was made for a three-year analysis of residency investigations to be presented at the next legal uh committee meeting uh the superintendent also briefed the committee on the 2023 2024 strategic plan indicator relating to the suspension data and the current code of student conduct policy the alternative to suspension and current protocols were discussed as well as well as future professional development sessions scheduled to take place at the end of October and this is basically reflecting data that we've analyzed and that we feel needs to be addressed the committee also discussed the uniform policy and current protocols which I heard mentioned tonight um those um situations have been addressed and the legal committee has been in the Forefront of that to make sure that um what we're hearing is not happening so thank you madam president thank you at this time I'm going to have uh the chairperson of the negotiations committee give the report board member Jared Jacobs thank you mad thank you Madame President the negotiations committee met October 11th uh consultant deer Lurch briefed the committee on a preliminary scattergram for the EA and discussed how it is used to determine the Bas share contract salaries for negotiations further analysis of percent and number of employees and salary dollars at different steps of the guide was requested for the next meeting a a calendar analysis for the 2024 25 school year consisting of urban and suburban school districts was presented and discussed with the committee Labor Day dates 2026 to 27 and 27 to 28 were noted thank you madam president thank you and lastly I'll have the chairperson for the school properties committee give the report Miss Maria carvalo thank you madam president the status of the E projects were discussed at our meeting for school 18 Edison main Edison Annex are also operational schools number four School Number 6 12 19 and Hamilton will be operational in the spring of 2025 the committee reviewed a summary of all capital projects including DWI Academy and Hy Academy window restoration security Lobby projects at six of our schools School School number five playground restoration currently under construction the replacement of cabinets at school number one and school number n Auditorium Renovations at Edison CTE Academy new multi-purpose scoreboard at the baseball field boiler and hot water system upgrades at various schools the committee requested an office feasibility study for the future office need needs in our district we also ask that uh pictures be submitted to the committee at our next meeting for the upgrades of all of our projects thank you thank you so much I just want to take a moment to thank all of the chairpersons um that serve so hard I know in the beginning of the year um I talked about us staying consistent with the meetings throughout the year and I appreciate you all staying consistent with um holding the meetings holding your your members accountable for what they do on the Committees and making sure as um board vice president mentioned that we're listening to the community and the things that are talked about here even in private with the directors that we do bring into our subcommittees and we talk about them and try to address them as best as possible so thank you for your leadership um on all the Committees and thank you for the board members who also participate as well I cannot thank you enough you make me look good thank you all right at this time tab nine are there any questions for tab nine summaries claim list any questions for tab nine the claims list seeing none Mr Kennedy please add it to the agenda for Tab 10 I just want to recognize a few of the resolutions I want to recognize the national parental involvement day which will be held on November 21st 2024 I want to recognize for Puerto Rican heritage month for the month of November I would like to recognize Veterans Day on November 11th thank you to all those who have served I want to recognize national French week which will be November 6th through November 12th I would like to recognize also anti- liter campaign I also want to take a moment to recognize World kindness day which will be on November 13th Thanksgiving which will be on November 28th American Education week which will be November 18th through the 22nd National family week which will be November 24th through the 30th Native American heritage month and as well as National family literacy month and also we have our Jefferson's Arts Academy students who will be doing Peter Pan um sometime next week I can't see the small writing the 24th 25th and I don't know last date can't see that but they will be um performing next week as well so are there any questions for Tab 10 through [Music] tab through tab 10m are there any questions for Tab 10 through tab 10m just W to um Madam president yes from me um just want to thank the administration and the schools um for constantly U um celebrating the anti-litter campaign um please take pride in your community and in your city um it's so important that we preserve public spaces open spaces and our our neighborhoods you know and it's something that we got to start really instilling in our young people at an early age so that that carries on and that's vital to really growing your community and making sure that you have an environmental friendly community so just want to say thank you to all that are adhering to this uh resolution and and implementing in your schools please create activities to really encourage the young people to um you know keep our communities clean thank you any other questions or comments Madam yes president um this month October 16 is the day we it is Rec re recognized BS day and to uh is our Madame superintendent with leading leading this District I want to say thank you because I know uh we recognize you on October 16 and I know some of the staff member recognize you I want to say thank you for your hardw and dedication and October 16 is when the National level uh we recognize our great leaders in our great Community uh mad superintendent uh thank you um I wish the best and God bless us thank [Applause] you are there any questions for Tab 10 no okay Mr uh may I have a motion to approve the entire agenda in its entirety I make a motion to approve the entire agenda second thank you it's been moved in probably second to approve the agenda in its entirety Mr Kennedy roll call please carvalo yes I think you have a couple of abstentions oh yes Mr Kennedy I have a few exensions uh here we go yes to everything with an exstension tab 4B tab five the authorization of partnership with the Elizabeth Police Department and also Obion to tab seven the contract with the Housing Authority thank you Chev yes weion for a A Jacobs yes Marina Ortega yes Daron yes yes with the extensions to tab uh 2A page 34 tab 4B page item 3 tab 4B item four tab 4B item five um tab five and tab seven kavas pastana yes Mr Rivera yes with an extension from tab five page one and president BOS um yes so the entire agenda has passed thank you are there any um comments from our board members I just want to thank all of directors who are here tonight thank you for all the work that you do throughout the year throughout the month um thank you to everyone who's here who has helped us get to where we are today um we are in October okay I don't have to thank do Thanksgiving yet but I hope that everyone has I know one mind um I hope that everyone has a blessed day we have no private sessions so we will be closing the meeting right after this uh so enjoy the rest of your evening everyone um and God bless may I have a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting please I make a motion to adjourn secondly glad do that too I think we set a record today Madam presid I don't think this has ever happened I asked the board members had anything to say don't said anything yeah I know okay so roll call please carala yes good night Chev it birthday Jacobs out Marina Ortega yes naron yes and thank you for these beautiful uh Hispanic heritage shirts they look fabulous for the beautiful shirts as we celebrate again thank you thank you Delila kav SP yes yes good night everyone Rivera yes good night ba yes thank you good night and God bless at 7:3 e e e e e e e