site and make policy to the district the superintendent manages the district this is a meeting of the board in public not a meeting of the public this meeting is being recorded and will be become part of our 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 also ask that you silent the sounds of your electronic devices since is legally mandated that these proceedings be accordingly or accurately recorded we may ask we may have to ask the for order periodically should noise begin to interfere with our recording there will be a public portion for citizens to address the board participants for this public participant participants for this public portion must personally sign up prior to the start of the meeting so that they may have the opportunity to speak the sign and Sheet States the name address a telephone number and reasons for that person and the reasons that they want to speak whether it's an agenda item or an item regular general education comment we are pleased that you have taken the time this evening to join us from our Board of Education meeting thank you for your interest in Elizabeth public schools roll call Barbosa here carvalo here Cheves here Jacobs here Marin Ortega naron and Calis Pana Rivera dor here thank you before we begin I would like everyone to please rise for a moment of silence for Anastasia CUA retired custodian from school number 21 Virginia Tanto teacher from uh Edison's career and Technology Academy um Angela deio retired general worker from school number four Teresa and palano wife of Pat talano Elizabeth School Elizabeth Public School spokesperson Tera Rita Marcel alila sister of Al Al excuse me Alber Alberto Marcel our Chief Information officer and Leonardo Roger kenzano father of Leonardo caral which is the vice president of the EA and at school number 15 thank you please stand for the presentation of colors from Admiral William F Hy Junior health and Public Safety Academy Junior [Applause] [Applause] RC at this time I'll have board member Jerry Jacobs lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please Al to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you at this time I will remain will remain standing for the star spangle Banner oh say can you see by the dawn early light what so proudly we ha at the Twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the perous fight or the ramp parts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in gave prove through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled B our head wave for the land of the three and the home of the [Music] bra [Music] [Applause] for thank you to our students at um Hing Academy at this time if board member Maria carvalo can lead us in the pledge of Ethics please as a member of the Elizabeth public school professional Learning Community I 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 inspiring the best in myself and others by celebrating success and learning from mistakes care about others by demonstrating acts of kindness be a lifelong learner by taking every opportunity to learn from others thank you so much you may be seated I will now like to have our superintendent of schools introduce our student representative for this month thank you madam president it is my pleasure to introduce Maria Zavala principal John marwitz shared that Maria Zavala is a non voting board of education student representative for Thomas a Edison Career and Technical Academy as a topr ranked senior and member of the National Honor Society she also serves on the student government and the senior advisory committee Maria is currently enrolled in the cosmetology program at Thomas Edison Career and Technical Academy and her favorite class happens to be art Maria is described by her teachers as someone who is patient friendly ambitious her positive attitude is her most admirable asset after graduating Maria's goal is to pursue a nursing track she has applied to Montclair State University Union College St Peters University and Sienna College at this time we would like to invite Maria zala to please join [Applause] us yes Mr Kennedy can you please add our student representative to the roll call please yes duly noted thank you thank you at this time the microphones are open for public comment to those who have signed in prior to this session I will call individuals to the microphone based on the order of the sign and Sheet each statement made by the participant shall be limited to 3 minutes in duration the total time for public comment shall be limited to 60 Minutes no individual shall be able to yield their time to another individual all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no participants May address the or question board members individually each speaker shall comply with the ask the respects with board policy 9 9322 copies were provided next to the signing sheet earlier any person in violation of the policy will be warned by myself and their comments terminated if such violations continue this indiv individual will be exhorted out of the meeting time limits will be strictly enforced no personal attacks on individuals no V Vogal or indecent language a person may address the board no more than once during a single meeting and comments will not be debated any person of in violation of this policy will be warned as a reminder this is a meeting of the board and public not a meeting of the public at this time I call up Maria Mandos I apologize if I said your last name incorrectly good evening I just want to know why is the meeting being pushed up to 5:30 you know a lot of people that want to come parents want to speak advocators you know they want to come but you start pushing it earlier and earlier these people work but that's not why I'm here two months ago okay there was an allegation made against my niece JC she's not a Thief what was said about her and the individual that's talked about her she should be investigating on what she does and as for Mr petite okay the principal I don't get along with him we don't like each other but as a principal he's doing a terrific job I'm sorry I'm sorry when I was speaking I did say I do not want you to name any individuals I'm I'm going to ask that you don't do that all right I already did so it doesn't matter but I'm asking that you refrain from continue all right whatever so turn around as a principal I have to say my grandkids go to that school he has bought order into that school he's cleaned up a lot that was going on parents feel welcome he greets people even though I have my problems with him but I'm not going to take way the wonderful job that he does at that school my personal problems with him is my personal attacks with him but that somebody that had put him down that's not correct in the past my g Grand children were bullied they wasn't getting the right education I could say that he's doing a wonderful amazing job at that school and what they said about him and what they said about my niece I would like that person to come and show me the proof of the allegations because I don't take that likely we're not no thieves we don't do things Dishon well I may do it but not her we may do things dishonest but she doesn't do it so that's why I'm clarifying JC's name as of now thank you for your comments at this time I close a public comment portion of the meeting our superintendent of schools will Pres present the community updates at this time I'm going ask all my board members if we can go to the front row or be seated in the front row please thank you [Music] start off our presentations for this evening we would like to take the opportunity to show the appreciation to a special group of people who are vital to the success of our schools and most importantly to our students the nine members of the Elizabeth Board of educations are selfless volunteers who spend very long hours working to ensure that all of our students have the opportunity to learn and grow in honor of Schoolboard recognition month we would like to present the Elizabeth Board of Education with a video to show them our appreciation for their leadership their dedication and the sacrifices that they make I could ask please Our IT department please showcase the video for this month honoring our board where say New Jersey locally elected and appointed Boards of Education play a vital role in ensuring that their local school districts meet state standards and adhere to state and federal education statute and regulations with the goal of preparing all students for college and the workplace thereby enabling them to compete in a global economy and whereas New Jersey's 5,000 nonpartisan local board Board of Education members and Charter School trustees are public servants who dedicate their time without pay or benefit to the oversight of School District Operations through sound financial practices and comprehensive policies on curriculum Staffing and other areas to ensure the well-being and academic achievement of all students in the district and whereas the New Jersey school boards Association has declared January 2024 to be school board recognition month we thank you members of the Elizabeth Public Schools Board of [Music] Education [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so I would like to take a moment now to be able to present to our Board of Education members a small token of our appreciation for the amazing work that you do ask Mr Kennedy to join us if we're going to start with our board president Charlene basilis dorar [Applause] Lee Madame President if you wouldn't mind taking stand right over here next going to continue it with uh Mr neon we're GNA set it aside Diane Barbosa Mr near ah perfect timing perfect timing perfect [Applause] [Laughter] timing right next to Madame President congratulations Diane Barbosa [Applause] Maria [Applause] carvalo helana [Applause] chevis Stephanie pastana Rosa Moren Orga congratulations work Jerry [Applause] Jacobs much appreciated Isaiah's [Applause] Rivera we'd like to ask our student representative to please join us please [Applause] wonderful and I would like to take this moment to turn the microphone over to our board president all right oh wonderful so take this moment to take a picture wonderful wonderful absolutely um I apologize I need a 5 minute break recess break please thank you do I need a motion to go back no okay we're back on thank you thank you for indulging me in that time I do want to say a few words to my fellow colleagues at this moment I want to take a moment to express my profound GR at itude to the exem members of Eliz Board of Education whose unwavering dedication has played a pivotal role in shaping the education landscape in our community it has been a privilege to serve alongside each and every one of you and you guys have left a incredible mark on our on my journey first and foremost I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to board member and vice president Stan neron a true friend and former campaign manager stand as my current vice president your Exemplar leadership and mentorship has not only guided our youth in Elizabeth but has been a source of inspiration for all of us your wisdom and love for our mission is truly commendable moving forward board member Maria cavalo my right-hand lady since assuming the presidency in 2016 has consistently demonstrated a heart for the elizeth community that knows no bounds her tireless efforts to go above and beyond for those in need set a standard for compassion and Leadership that we all deeply value a Trailblazer in her own right board member Stephanie conalz now pastana made her history as the youngest member elected to the Elizabeth Board of Education Stephanie your un waving support and dedication has been a source of strength to our entire team with gratitude we appreciate and acknowledge the presence of our board member Diane bbosa our personal doctor on the team Diane your gentle and caring heart coupled with admirable love for our students go beyond what words can express Your Grace is a guiding life for all of us a resounding voice of advocacy board member Jerry Jacobs stands firm for the course he believes in or the causes that he believes in Jerry your commitment to being a voice for the people is both commendable and inspiring your present adds IMM meable strength to our Collective effort when questions arise concerning curriculum or assessments we always turn to expertise of board member Rosa marinaa a fellow District teacher Rosa your willingness to step in and assist coupled with your genuine kindness makes you an invaluable asset to our team over the past year I've been I've had the privilege to serving as vice president alongside board member Ilana Cheves Ilana your unwavering advocacy and fearless truth speaking for those in need are inspiring thank you for your Relentless pursuit of justice and equality finally a warm welcome to our newest team member board member isaas Rivera Isaias Your Enthusiasm and eagerness to learn inject to learn and inject a fresh perspective into our discussions has been invaluable your presence even in those early stages have already proven to be a valuable asset to our Collective goals in conclusion to my entire team I extend my deepest gratitude to each board member here regardless of the unique roles we play our shared dreams unites us in one cohesive team together we Forge ahead with a singular vision committed to the betterment of our community and the education of our future generation thank you and happy board member recognition month thank you before I move on would any board member like to say anything uh Madam president I think it's uh you left yourself out so we need to honor you and uh let's give her a big round of applause for her leadership in being not only a Trailblazer but a true role model to a lot of young women throughout our district and um you know standing for what you believe in always so we thank you for your dedication and we thank you for this honor and recognition um in celebrating us so thank you so much absolutely you're welcome anyone else Madam president yes as one of the senior members of this team I I want to thank you for taking the time out today to acknowledge all of us and I hope that you know how much we truly appreciate you and all of the hard work that you have put into this and that you will continue to for the children of the city of Elizabeth um this is not an easy thing to do every day day in and day out um we don't get paid for this um and nine times out of 10 we don't get a call to say thank you or great job it's usually I have a problem and um how can you fix it so uh it is a weight on all of us and we all carry it really really well so I am proud to sit here with each and every one of you and uh thank you for your service to our community and to our children thank you thank you anyone else all right saying none thank you at this time I would like to ask Mr John swisser partner of swiftly cool no okay no problem at this time we are going to review the oh oh someone else is coming okay Mr swier oh you are the Mr swisser okay what oh okay got it he's going to come and do the present the auditor's report for the year end did from June 30 2023 Mr swi loud hear hi I am John swisser I'm with the ordering firm of supp cloone and company and we were selected to do the audit of the district for the year ended June 30th 2023 I'm here this evening to present the results of that audit uh I had the opportunity to meet with the finance committee the other day and went over all the stuff that I'm going to go over with all you folks right now so each district in the state of New Jersey is required to have an audit independent auditor has to come out and look at the records it's a financial statement and compliance audit not an operational audit which is a little bit different and the results of those audit are contained in the two reports that you would have received you have the the large report which is the Acer the annual comprehensive financial report and then the small report which is the Auditors management report I'm going to start with the larger report that's got all the numbers in it okay a lot of numbers it's a big big report I'm sure you guys are all going to memorize it but the most important thing to me in that report is the opinion that's in the front that's what you really hire me to do is to render an opinion on your financial statements as to whether they're free from material misstatement and that means you can rely upon them the board can reply rely upon them the public can rep rely upon them the state the federal government Etc and what you're looking for is an unmodified opinion that means that the business offic is able to turn out financial statements that you can rely upon and I'm happy to say that the district did get an unmodified opinion so that's good news uh there's another uh opinion in the report that talks about internal controls and compliance and here we do have one issue that I'm going to bring up it's in the report it's a comment and it's a recommendation and it regards the Food Service fund of the district there are rules and regulations put together by the Department of Agriculture that talks about the amount of money you can have in Food Service as Surplus at the end of the year and basically it's 3 months of average expenditures if you exceed that amount we're required to put a comment in the report and the district did exceed that amount so they have too much Surplus in the federal government's eyes in food service and it's interesting to note that this is kind of out of the district's hands our our firm does 38 school districts across the state and a lot of folks have ended up in this situation due to the fact that a lot of federal money has been passed on to the districts as a result of covid so we have this bubble of money that's flowing through our system but by the rules they're saying that we have to spend that down now Administration even coming into the year already knew that they had this issue and they were already very proactive in dealing with it so what will happen is you guys will do a corrective action plan to spend that money down generally speaking by equipment for the Food Service fund so although this is a common and recommendation it's important to note it was out of the district's hands and it's it's quite easy to deal with you'll have your corrective action plan and that should be settled uh there is one last opinion in the report it regards the single audit which is an opinion on your federal and state grants uh when you expend over a certain amount of money we have to go and actually do a deeper dive into the grants and as you can imagine the Esser funds that we got as a result of the the covid uh pandemic is on our list of things to look at and so we have to look at the compliance that's dictated by the federal government and I'm happy to say that we looked at older compliance steps and the district is in compliance so three letters good news in all of them as far as I'm concerned with the exception of the one comment and recommendation that's going to get taken care of um and that comment I should note is in the small report that's the auditor manager report that's a report that's required by the state of New Jersey Department of Education where they ask us to report on certain are compliance that they deem to be important payroll purchasing food service and you'll find that comment and recommendation in that report um lastly i' like to touch on the financial condition of the district and it's it's good to say that the Surplus is up at the end of the year and that's good news uh more importantly I always touch on the fact that you put money into your restricted reserves your capital reserve and your maintenance reserve and that's really important in a district of this size you have so many buildings we know the age of those buildings so you're being very responsible by funding up the capital reserve and the maintenance Reserve so you can take care of these issues on an ongoing basis so to me it's a very good report okay you guys are clean in terms of the compliance the financial statement presentation and the Surplus is in good shape so I will pause here and see if there's any questions from the board okay hearing none I always like to take a moment at the end uh to thank uh the administration superintendent's office and the business office we've got Mr Ken Mr mahra here they do a great job they've got a great team uh they've done a very good job over the last couple years in assembling that team and I had pointed out at the finance committee meeting that you replace your payroll clerk here okay which is a very important thing to do payroll is very important to the district you had a very good payroll clerk she's retired and the Mr mhat in particular has done a good job in terms of building in like you know good people to follow up you guys are a big Corporation here it's a big budget and there's planning that goes on on an ongoing basis to make sure that we have people that can fill in and so that was a really good thing doesn't end up in the report okay but that's a very important thing that we see so it's just indicative of good management so you have these two big reports uh if you have any questions on them over the course of the Year reach out to Mr Kennedy Mr mahh hatra we can come back and I should actually say my my cohort Mr Zimmerman is in the audience he's the manager and actually does all the work I take all the credit um but I did bring him along as well so if you have any questions just reach out for us and we'll be there have a good evening thank you so much as board president my vision is to promote Community engagement and unite us as a team with each board member contributing to specific initiative throughout the year this month the month of January marks the first initiative the launch of a youth and mentoring program sponsored by vice president Stanley Nera that involves a partnership between Elizabeth public schools and Elizabeth Police Department throughout the school year officers will engage with our students by helping develop life skills including patience perseverance and other social emotional skills students will engage in educational and interactive sessions to Foster positive relationships and promote civic responsibility and improve in many key academic and social emotional development areas at this time we are going to showcase the Highlight Ro of the community or to our community the full video will be available on the district's website hey everybody my name is Stan niron and I'm honored to be your vice president of the Elizabeth board of education for the year of 2024 we're so excited to launch a number of initiatives this year but launching the year we want to start and honor National mentoring month which is in the month of January I want you to think about mentorship mentorship is basically getting guidance um having a role model and having somebody really be a great coach in your life the mentorship program is an initiative which we're starting this year and what we are hoping to do is to bridge the gap between police officers and the Comm that we serve and we are reaching out through the Board of Education to partner better with with the students that are here and what we are hoping to do is to pass along life skills so in your life you have many mentors and we believe with the Elizabeth Police Department and the school board coming together we can have our police officers and our youth get an opportunity to learn from each other grow together and create a better quality of life here in our [Music] [Applause] city [Music] thank you thank you thank you and stay tuned for the next initiative next month but we're looking forward to the mentorship program throughout the year as well any all right we going to get yes madame superintendent thank you madam president um at this time we would like to have our student representative uh present her monthly report good evening board commissioner supereme attendent Miss hoger and community members I am Maria Zavala student of Thomas a Edison Career and Technical Academy and one of the student representatives for the Elizabeth Public Schools board of education for the 2023 to 2024 school year the daily life of a Teka charger includes positive greeting and support from staff thanks to our focus on education and social mental learning we have seen positive growth in school culture We are continuing our mission to elevate all Career and Technical problem progress this year alone there have been improvements made to Collision Repair cosmetology and construction technology a full renovation of our teaching kitchen and t- room is in progress as well we have also added two more workshops our inight manufacturing program as well as welcoming back Mr andred who is spearheading the return and reopening of shoppr Jr banners have been put in front of the building displaying our school's name in each CTE Workshop we offer our Auditorium is being renovated and set to begin construction soon included in our mission is insurance our students leave our Academy with industry certifications students can earn certifications in cosmetology automotive technology Collis repairs shop pride junr and both calary Arts programs and just yesterday our cosmetology students got a work-based learning experience when they welcomed SE senior citizens to their shop and provided them with free services and earn hours towards their program completion while our Academy has a Career and Technical theme with a deep concentration on Career Readiness we are also preparing our students for college we have landed more opportunities for seniors such as more College Source bringing College representatives to meet with the seniors as well as the fastb workshop night we are we are thankful for our school administration and the EPS board of education for these opportunities we are looking forward to the Clash of classes which will be a great level competition in academics and physical challenges we have seasonal pep rallies fall winter and spring to promote school spirit we've also expanded the National Honor Society by actively recruiting more students there have also been more clubs offered this year for example stem art environmental literary multiculture yearbook currently we are promoting our black history mandor initiative in our class to highlight the accomplishment and achievement of black historical month black historical figures I am so grateful to be given this amazing opportunity I want to thank everybody who showed up especially a big thank you to my mom if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here representing my school I also want to thank Miss nunus Miss Glenn Miss Craven and our principal Mr marwitz for helping me and guiding me throughout this journey thank you for your time thank you so much and welcome to the board thank you we will now review the board agenda for tab 1 a and tab 1B official and private minutes are there any additions or deletions that need to be done to the minute meeting minutes that happen on December 13th and January 3rd excuse me December 133 2023 and January 3rd 2024 seeing no additions or deletions Mr Kennedy please add tab one and tab or tab one to the agenda are there any questions to the treasures and secretary report from November 30th 2023 seeing none Mr Kennedy can you please add tab 1 V to the agenda please Tab 2 a and 2 B superintendent thank you madam president I'd like to ask Mr qua to please provide highlights from this month's Personnel report thank you well thank you madam president madam superintendent so before um before you for your consideration this evening you have a a few items of importance uh from uh HR you have five retirements um you have six uh resignations five certified staff and one noncertified and and perhaps the most important item for you to consider is the appointment of 27 uh new employees including 17 uh certified staff uh we have a few transfers and those transfers are based um for example in the special a department um if a student moves from one building to another uh they're due to resignations they're due to Promotions Etc we also have uh three promotions and we have nine changes of salary um because these individuals either obtain a master's or 6 year level or in one case a doctorate thank you Mr quer are there any questions to tab a or tab B Madam president just one comment yes um I want to take this opportunity uh to say thank you to our teacher it is amazing to see this agenda with the Lisa Board of Education we will be able to provide different kind of program after school program launch tutoring uh different kind of program and to be honest it's not easy uh it's it's it's not easy to allow teacher say yes to different kind of program that mean I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to each one of you who signed your name to provide these great services to our great student thank you thank you Madame President thank you board member Marino TGA any other questions for Tab 2 a or 2B seeing none Mr Kennedy can you please add it to the agenda any questions for tab three tuition's report seeing none Mr Kennedy please add it to the agenda any excuse me tab four a tab 4 B Tab 4 C and Tab 4 d superintendent's report Madam superintendent thank you madam president I would like to um welcome our instructional directors that have joined us this evening and I'd like to um ask Dr uh Daphne marquetti our director of Elementary and secondary uh to please share with our board uh your recommendation good even evening can you hear me good evening uh in the agenda or in the board report I have consideration and request for our math instructional coaches along with the mathematics supervisor to attend a math Symposium during the school year it would be held in January at no cost to the board and the Symposium will include current topics or issues that are related to mathematics so there will be various tops topics where they would be content based i' also like to ask Mr milanes our director of plant property and equipment to be able to review the recommendations good evening uh I have two items for your consideration tonight um I have a uh an alarm Tech uh that is going to um attend some U some classes uh at a uh espo in Atlantic City in March um I also have another consideration for you uh for uh Mr areri and for myself to attend a um an expo in Atlanta City to for our uh certification for CFM thank you Mr milanes and I'd also like to uh review two of the considerations uh on this report uh from uh director Tracy Crosby our director of early childhood education who is celebrating this evening her mother's birthday so on her behalf um with regard to the two-day selfregulation uh certification course we be able to provide the background for that certification it's a two-day self-regulation certificate that focuses on the link between um underlying brain connections and challenging behaviors and teaches participants how to develop effective self-regulation um interventions so the course specifically focuses on working with children with autism sensory processing disorder as well as ADHD so our early childhood social worker and psychologists who are attending this Workshop are going to turn key this information to the uh Early Childhood uh staff including the master teachers and then of course social workers and lgc's and also the last item on this report uh recommended by Dr Sandra Nunes also celebrating her mother's birthday um this is the recommendation for staff to attend the NJ Tel spring conference and bilingual and ESL uh teachers will be attending the annual conference to enhance classroom practices um in being able to address those academic as well as those social emotional needs of our multilingual Learners uh while also being able to build upon the knowledge pertaining to the systems of support for our multilingual Learners so those are the two uh additional items that have been included on this report and that completes the considerations thank you so much Madam superintendent any questions for tab four seeing none Mr Kennedy can you please add Tab 4 a through Tab 4 d to the agenda please tab five authorization report Madam superintendent uh if I may I'd also like to ask our assistant superintendent of schools Mr Cortez to provide a summary of the uh field trips included so this month on our agenda we have 63 total field trips 29 of the field trips are scheduled to K to8 schools for K to8 schools and 34 are for high schools three trips are scheduled for colleges and universities 14 are for Performing Arts and four are for various forensics uh competition I also like to mention that um Liberty Hall Museum has been gracious enough to offer us 353 free uh tickets to our for fourth grade students to participate in their County Crown to count program and those field trips will be scheduled during the months of February March and April thank you Mr Cortez uh we now turn to our authorizations and I'd like to turn now to Dr OA our director of special services if you wouldn't mind from sharing your recommendations of course um thank everyone I have four sets of recommendations for you to consider they're on pages 9 and 10 of your award of contracts report uh they include first the recommendation for Home Care therapies for a student in District with a seizure disorder uh secondly they include a provision of home instruction for two of our medically fragile students thirdly the provision of Spanish Orton Gillingham Services Dr Ora do you mind going back one tab to the authorizations sure I don't think I have anything in authorizations just the Special Olympics if you wouldn't mind speaking to that which is a wonderful annual event oh sure please thank you so this weekend we um will uh participate in Special Olympics with three schools here in our school district uh they will depart from uh one of our schools on Sunday morning along with two of their advisers and then a handful of faculty and administrative support and participate in annual bowling competition uh that uh has always been kind of a very popular uh activity that they've done over the course of few years and the students really enjoy it thank you Dr OA we'd like to turn now to Dr McMullen if you would mind reviewing your items oh I'm so sorry my apologies students I know we always have a pretty good turnout it should be about 45 students thank you Dr McMullen back to you sorry about that that's okay thank you um I have a couple items on pages two and three I'm going to start with the first the first two items have to do with the percussion and it is um seeking authorization to participate in the Elizabeth High School percussion Ensemble with the US bands and WGI show competitions for the winter and spring spring season um in addition the percussion Ensemble will be participating in the five events listed within the on page two um at JFK High School along with um in Hamilton New Jersey Tom's River fairo New Jersey and then in um Bethlehem Pennsylvania this is the second year that we are we have this this competition happening um last year we actually were crowned with the 2023 us bands indoor championship in standstill marching percussion which is fantastic um this year we will be including a marching band show as well as competing in the National Circuit of WGI at the regional level for the first time ever so moving on we have a few authorizations for the winter guard to be authorized to compete in the WGI show competitions in in February in Philadelphia along with in March to be authorized to compete also in Bethlehem Pennsylvania moving on to page three we are also asking for authorization for the the Winter Guard to participate in a competition in April in Dayton Ohio and again to compete for the Elizabeth High School winter guard to be authorized to for the Mid-Atlantic indoor Network Show competition as a total um for the whole season moving on we are seeking a recommendation for the Elizabeth High School choir to participate in a free performance by the signature barbershop quartet where the choir students who were chosen part to participate um as an educational Outreach where this they will be um performing and then throughout the day the quartet will engage with the students and then and they will be sharing their musical journey and Demon demonstrating the unique element of The Barbershop Harmony and finally the Elizabeth High School winter Color Guard to host and participate in a one-day main competition at the Thomas Dunn sport center on March 24th where we would be hosting the competition here on site thank you thank you Dr McMullen and I'd like to now turn to uh Mr gado our director of student services um earlier this evening we talked about launching the mentoring initiative if you would please share with the board the authorization and the schools that are participating sure good evening everyone as we saw in the video with uh commissioner neon and uh Chief sacka we're going to be launching our new uh mentorship program at five of our Elizabeth schools School 1 School 9 School 13 School 25 and school 28 uh the community police officers will connect individually with students to help Foster uh patience and persistence and other social emotional skills so we're really excited to launch that at the very beginning of next month thank you Mr gonado and that completes the authorization reports but I'd like to turn to our assistant superintendent Dr Jennifer saniel to be able to uh review the authorization reports uh the donations for this month certainly good evening everyone this month for your review we have six donations that are on page nine of tab five I would like to highlight three donations for this month the first one is a $2,000 donation from the county uh for the drama club at Thomas Jefferson uh there is a donation from the 2003 Union County onstage School Grant I also would like to thank the acceleration plus from Edison New Jersey for a donation of 30 winter coats for school number four students and then also the Gonda Temple 24 Shriners for a donation of 25 bicycles for our students at school number nine so those are just a few highlights of the six donations that are on page nine we really do appreciate everyone that contributes to our students and our school district thank you Dr Sedano I'd like to now turn to Mrs fin Johnson assistant superintendent of schools to be able to provide a report on the fundraising activities thank you madam superintendent um so this evening we have 147 um fundraisers on the agenda for your approval this evening um the fundraisers we have a variety of fundraisers um there's um events for Valentine's Day we have a variety of dances we have a Build-A-Bear event uh football jerseys over the uniforms due to the uh the Super Bowl coming up gold Baltimore no um there's Zumba Nights movie Nights a variety of food sales um as well as a Flapjack breakfast at Applebees thank you thank you Mr SP Johnson and we were um commenting on the color of your uh Jack your Blazer there now we understand we see you not shy I thought she was just supporting Jefferson High School yes to the board members are there any any questions or comments on anything anything you've heard for tab five Madam Madam president yes yes uh board member mariao sorry to go back a little bit uh task force C is fil um consideration this is not the first time like I asked for a report about the field triats um I checked the board agenda for the last year and we have a great opportunities and different kind of fil triats I know as a teacher is teacher who need to support the principal to engage um the principal what is hard for the principal be able to provide a field tree without the teacher support but I want to know what we can do as a b members or ask to review you know what a school need more another field treat I can identify two three school like for the last couple year they don't have field Tre of I'm not talking about a grade I'm not talking about seniors I'm talking about third grade I'm talking about fourth grade fifth grade do mean Madame President if we can um reference to um any of the our committees to go deep and evaluate the situation about the field tree and make sure how we can engage uh and do our base to provide this kind of activities across the room thank you um board member Maria TGA uh we can bring that question and that information to Board of Ed management our chairperson pastana said that she will handle that is that okay yes thank you thank you thank you rosan I believe you said on that committee as well so we'll we'll report out that excellent uh board member carvalo it all works itself out up here doesn't it uh T tap five uh page two um very excited to see that our band is going to be traveling a lot this year um wanted an update on the truck that we were resting to help them move around anybody Mr Kennedy oh we're working on that one great answer all right moving on what committee does that need to go to I'm sorry what committee does that need to go to PL property okay we approved it okay we're just waiting for it I'm assuming that's the case that so if we could find out where it is what state if we could go pick it up before Janu February 24th it would be great great yeah Pat um my next question is uh I see that we're going to Dayton Ohio is that a one day trip the band they're staying over that's a $675 is going to pay for all of that no there so they would be flying oh great yes so um that that's the major competition uh accom competition in Dayton Ohio it's like a World's competition where they would place so as they compete throughout the season they would move up in in the in the ranks so by them Ho by us hosting the competition here um in I guess it's in March the competition that we host here we we it gives us points to move up further in the ranks in place um and they would be going and they would be flying and competing there and hopefully we do very well I'm very they fund wish them well I'm just wondering how much like it says 675 that um that's the fee to register but then they're they're um fundraising and the kids have been fundraising all year to go so it's we pay for any of that I mean we have a budget and we we have been so will that be brought to the board the budget the flying when Terminal A okay great so looking forward to seeing that next I promise just I think I only have one more question my next question is I'm really excited to see that we are going to be doing the soccer clinic for the special needs see you want I'm stealing your thunder well I circled it I was going to go there Madame President may I def absolutely go ahead board member okay I'll continue on so I'll start from the back okay so soccer Clinic page8 authorization is starting in March so that's very exciting so you know parents out there you know ask your teachers papers Flyers are coming out in the book bags keep you know keep your eye out so uh for soccer Clinic okay so I'll now move to the front I did have a question um back on field trips as I look through the field trips Transportation will be provided by school buses to be paid by The District transportation will be provided by school buses to be paid by The District transportation will be provided by the school buses which is paid by the district I'm sorry as you see I'm repeating because you know I I know we we watch and I know that our transportation department said that and a lot of parents were concerned um about when you're going out on field trips transportation is provided and paid for by the district so I know some parents say oh we we have to give some money but know that the transportation during the school hours correct Mr Kennedy uh that buses are provided for the field trips yes that's what we're doing this year okay so I just wanted to uh focus on that also continuing on this um super happy and I want to highlight um so I know special ed committee talks about CBI which is community- based instruction where our children go out into the outside world to learn different things and again we just got a prime example on this agenda wow wow wow community-based instruction is happening in our district we have children and I'm just going to read through it going to city Grocers we have our children again various um uh field trips to Aviation Plaza to Walmart they're shopping at vermella a community- based instruction we teach teach students how to price check um Newark Museum they're going to BJs they're going to Liberty Science Center they're going to Lowe's I'm sorry I'm going to keep going they're going to Costco they're going to Jersey Gardens Mall thank you thank you it's so important that our students not only are in our classrooms um but our our special students go out oh to stop and shop sorry I skipped that one and we're in Eco Park um learning how to purchase things uh super important to us and to our special ed committee and to our board so super happy um Special Olympics I know we talked about bowling is on its way and best of luck to our Winter Guard I know you mentioned it and they are all over our agenda they're going out best of luck to them and I think that was it thank you thank you I love the excitement I love the excitement uh any any other board members for any questions or comments of anything that was said under tab five authorizations report excuse me seeing none Mr kidy can you please place it on the the agenda please tab six Finance and Accounting report tab six and tab 6A excuse me are there any questions for tab six and tab 6A Madame President yes uh tap six just wanted to check in with um maybe our finance also can help Mr Kennedy our benac card insurance do they is this the month that we renew with our Ben card insurance because I see it that's on the agenda benac card is um July 1st July 1st through June 30th that's what I thought so it's just so the open the open enrollment for the next year is usually miday for for the employees okay thank you any other questions for tab six 6A Madam president yes Mr Jacob so in relation to commissioner Barbosa's question on the benac card are we still receiving a rebate on our vac car program we are okay good thank you I I have one other question uh also with tab 6A um the invo the payment of 14,600 to Eminem construction for envelope restoration at school for I think I had mentioned this in the past um why we keep receiving these invoices where school has been closed now if you could get back to us with an answer on that Mr Kenny I appreciate it do you do you have the answer for that one uh Mr Jacobs the only reason that we are still doing that is because we are keeping the fence around the perimeter of the building while the building is uh you know when they start the demolition the fence will come off so that's the only reason why we're paying um &em construction for the the fence no since you bring up the fence I noticed that they moved the fence originally it was um right next to the pavement and that was to prevent dumping and now they've moved the fence all the way back to school so I'm hoping that it doesn't the problem is not reoccurring where it becomes dumping before the school is demolished it has and you know we keep cleaning it up and everything else we you know why was the fence moved then anyway a couple of reasons uh remember we emptied the building out so the front of the building was used as the Stag in area so that that's why we did that moved the fence and I know that the state had had a a couple of different companies that were looking at the demolition so so they came over and they they moved the fence around because they had to look at different parts of the building on the the exterior of the building thank you sir thank you so much board members when you're asking questions if you can just speak closer to the microphone so that we can hear you and that the recording can also hear you as well Madam president yes I have a question on number 42 the installation of The Vape monitors in student bathrooms so my question is is this the first phase or is this only being done in this high school they payments to USA Architects for The Vape um monitor systems hi um the payments are for uh the design of the uh babing system they came up with the design for uh the babing system so this is just for the design for for one or is this for all the high schools no so all the high school buildings including the annex okay all the high schools including the annex they're designing it and they'll bring it so already design they working on it they have a they are about I said about 40% complete so that's not the fee obviously no that fee it's only for their uh you know for their they they have like different uh for you know for different Bill billing periods they they they built us okay thank you wel any other questions seeing n Mr Kennedy can please add tab at six and tab 6A to the agenda please Tab 7 tab 7A and tab 7B Award of contracts report Madam superintendent thank you madam president we're going to begin with Mr gonado director of student services who has several contracts um included on the award of contracts okay just bear with me we have and if all our board members can just wait until everything is done and then we can ask questions after please thank you I have a 13 contracts to review with you tonight um our first contract on page two for consideration is with uh Gaggle Inc um specifically their Gaggle therapy um to provide students with the opportunity for free teleah health therapy just so you know that all therapeutic sessions will be conducted by New Jersey licensed mental health professionals our second contract on page two is with hispa hpa's role modeling program provides students with the opportunity to visit some of New Jersey's biggest corporations and meet their and meet leaders within the business World in order to expand the knowledge and understanding of the world World our third contract on page three is with Dr Ruben Lambert and wisdom Springs Wellness Services Dr Lambert will provide up to 30 professional development Workshop opportunities to our staff at various schools these opportunities are designed to explore breathing techniques alongside positive thinking and affirmations to elicit positive respon responses with our students our next contract is an amendment of a contract with Atlas search Health Solutions this is to provide sub nursing coverage for leave of absences the same with our fifth contract with Home Care therapies this is also to provide sub nursing coverage our sixth contract on page three is with score Inc score will be Elizabeth public school's new College and Career platform score will streamline the college application process and Empower students to make informed decisions about their future a nice bonus about that is this service will be available to our middle school students as well ensuring that students think early and often about their post-secondary Futures our next contract is with minding your mind minding your mind will be a new program designed for all students grades K to 12 at all Elizabeth public schools minding your mind will promote greater awareness and comprehension of mental health challenges working towards ending stigma and negative behaviors eighth contract is with Mr Kea white and VIP Community Services Mr White will provide in-person professional development on the topics of serving and supporting our homeless students and families ninth contract on page 10 is another contract with hispa this contract is for a new program entitled ready set goals and it's geared towards our ninth grade students hispa is launching this pilot program at DWI Academy in hopes to expand to all ninth gradey in the fall our 10th contract is with Dwayne West pro-athlete Inc and this program is titled Bound for greatness it's designed to work with groups of students in helping them realize their great potential topics include anti-bullying leadership making good choices goal setting respect and integrity our 11th contract on page 11 is to extend our contract with Stepping Stones group Stepping Stones group will provide mental health support at schools 7 and 22 whose counselor is currently on the leave of absence and our next group contract is under tab 7B are we doing supplemental okay um the first contract on page one oh no wait on 7B okay 7 that's all for tab seven no you can do s 7 a or 7B oh okay 7B our first contract on page one is with Avid Center Avid will provide be providing excuse me professional development training um the training is entitled building capacity this training is geared towards site team members to support the Avid model at their schools and the last contract on page three is with the national Hispanic college fair this organization will provide professional development to our counselors and to provide an exclusive college fair event for our town in the fall and that concludes student services any questions any questions from the board members regarding student services or excuse me regarding anything that was stated yes madame president thank you yes Madam Mar yes thank you director Anon um I have a special for you thank you um for example top seven page number four is a great contract uh we will provide mental health education program to student from kindergarten through 12 uh as a board member for me it is important that you at least um provide some not schools because it's to provide Mental Health but the contract sometime you don't spec give me a specification about the schools so is this for the minding your mind program a space seven yes minding your mind minding your mind will be available at all of our schools this can you please when you make a recommendation can you please write that that way I can identify what kind of support we provide for each School based on the needs we'll do thank thank you are there any other questions yes Madam president yes uh tap seven uh first page um moving forward when we receive contracts for I understand that this is for the spring sports but can instead of telling us or is it possible to explain what we're purchasing as opposed to just telling us that we're purchasing items athletic equipment from from Mr candelino yes okay just moving forward uh then pass on to Mr calino a description with the backup contract please Mrs carvalo absolutely we would have to I'm sorry uh page three um um Mr Kennedy would like to say something spring Sports what we would have to do is provide you with the um the list of what was bid which is pages and Pages could you send that to the board and not put it in our packet for review before the meeting sure that's no problem perfect would everybody be okay with that whoever wants to read it reads it all right page three contract with wisdom spring Wellness M very whoever is in charge of that thank you thank you for thinking of our teachers and staff you know that nine times out of 10 we sit here and only talk about our children um wonderful who's going to be able it's only 30 so so um it it's up to 30 any school that wants to bring Dr Lambert in will have that opportunity that's a great opportunity I really hope that our teachers take advantage of it um will this be advertised to all of our teachers yes this information will be sent to our principls and our mental health professionals to to to set up the the meeting times that work best for their school I was calm and relaxed just by reading it so I'm very excited um one more question contract with mind your body mind minding your body minding your mind tongue twister minding your mind is that online or in person they are going to be all inperson trainings for and assemblies far wonderful very excited to hear about that that things are going back in person um thank you that's what that was my question and I'm excited that it's in person and not online one more question no problem I promise last one uh contract with Surf Pro for Central Union County we're cleaning the pool or around the pool what are we doing no we cleaned the duck work in the pool so we had a unit that was in there that was replaced and we had to clean the duck work very important thank you I'm satisfied Madam president thank you any other questions for tab uh 7 7 a or 7B have another to present oh I'm sorry they finish the directors or I have one no we still have Dr maretti Who's going to be presenting on the instructional contract thank you Dr maretti director of Elementary and secondary if you could present on your three contracts sure thank you for tabs 7 and 7B I have uh several contracts the first one is with the institute for multisensory Education this allows for teachers in pre kindergarten through fifth grade to attend a summer session it's made up of uh 5 days where they will receive training from and receive training on or Gillingham which will focus on reading spelling and morphology so this will be on a volunteer basis and it'll be available for our teachers to sign up the uh second contract is where we are requesting to partner with Ruckers Cooperative Extension 4H program of Union County to implement an enrichment program entitled 4H Master tree Stewarts in grade four the students will learn about a trees through interactive activities this is to be implemented in May 2024 and it would be at no cost to the board the third uh contract is to partner with the New York Academy of Sciences to implement a uh scientist in Residence program in grades 3 to five at schools 1 3 and 9 and the students will have the opportunity to interact and learn from scientists within their classrooms uh they will be experiencing authentic uh they will have authentic learning experiences and again this would be at no cost to the board we are actually uh starting our uh kickoff meeting next week so that'll be conducted next Tuesday I believe Tuesday or Wednesday the 30 so Tuesday I think that is uh the third um the fourth contract which is under tab 7B that one is with Lexia Learning System and this is for teachers in grades K to 1 to attend a virtual training entitled language Essentials for teachers of reading and spelling and the acronym is letters uh with a focus on reading spelling and language skills and this would be done throughout the remainder of the school year at a cost of 33,45 and we would be funding that uh through ARP our next contract within this uh 7B is with savis learning it's uh to obtain licenses to implement the program success maker for mathematics in grades 6 through 8 as an it's going to serve as a supplemental intervention that is personalized for our students and it would be uh implemented during the school year at a cost of $210,000 also funded through ARP our next contract is with ETA hand to mine it's uh for supplemental materials and virtual training for teachers in grades K to2 with a focus on pheic awareness and phonics during and it would be done during the school year at a cost of 47,800 and that is also ARP funded our next contract is with think AUM and they would be providing virtual training entitled self-regulated strategy development for curricul this would be for curriculum writers and instructional coaches that uh work with English language arts in grades K to8 and they would be focusing on writing at a cost of 4,389 which is also ARP funded and then the last contract uh under 7B is with uh Dr Deborah glacer and it's for supplemental materials and virtual training uh for the implementation of for me more excuse me morphe magic in grades four to 5 with a focus on Ward study which would include prefixes suffixes and Greek and Latin roots and it's to be implemented during the school year at a cost of 2,14 and it would also be through ARP funding thank you you Dr marquetti believe there was a similar number of contracts with Mr gonado as well I'm going to now turn to Dr McMullen okay so on page five I have a contract with fet content solutions to have a present a virtual workshop for the library media specialists at no cost to the board which will cover um an online collection development tool where Librarians can learn to develop and search book collections in real time in addition on 7B we have a few a few more contracts for a contract with Evan sebastio henriquez for the moving and specialist for the 2324 winter spring season of indoor percussion Ensemble for the 203 24 school year um in addition for a contract with DeQuan sesams as a director of the percussion Ensemble for the winter spring season another contract with a productions for Aaron R Aline for the arranger of the percussion Ensemble for the winter spring 2324 percussion ensemble in addition we have two contracts for the winter Color Guard um the first is with Manuel suero Jr for the winter Color Guard advisor and the second is for Daniela aasta for the color guard advisor also thank you Dr McMullen I'd like to now turn to Mr milanes our director of plant property equipment thank you uh I have quite a few items here so uh the first one I have is for CNM doors is to replace the uh doors in the second and third floor at Edison Academy the next contract is with uh mol Chevrolet to uh purchase uh three vehicles uh for our new uh supervisor team the next contract is with Manhattan welding this is uh to replace the uh uh the breaching for the boilers at school number 18 uh the following contract is for also for Manhattan welding this is to amend a contract that we have with them with the boilers because we decided to raise the floor of the boilers to a safer uh location so in case we have floods in the future the next contract is with uh Lich Corporation this is to uh Abate some asbest that we have in the cooling towers at the main complex or uh P SE dwire uh building following contract is with commercial Interiors this is to uh replace the uh stage currents at the Admiral Hy Academy Auditorium the next one is uh with USA Architects they are going to be designing uh four classrooms in for special needs students at the old reference library and uh and I think I believe do Hy Academy also um the next contract is with serpro uh Central Union this is to uh clean the um duck work at the pool at the high school following contract is with uh Northeastern Interiors this is to uh replace uh flooring at the warehouse uh we create uh we created some offices for our our new staff so we had to remodel the so spaces there there um the next contract is uh with uh Mary Paving this is to uh redo the facade at the uh Elizabeth old Elizabeth High School main complex um this is a very extensive work that we have to do there the next contract is with land Associates um they are actually replacing uh we're going to be replacing the heating system in the high school it's a very aging system that we need to replace uh and finally we have a contract with Peter chemicals this is for uh to buy calcium CRA the ice Pilots for uh the winter months and I believe I have uh one on top 78 which is a um change order for uh the baseball field my apologies we have one more director to present uh Dr Roa you wouldn't mind presenting your contracts thank you sure thank you Mr Milan also uh so we have um four contracts for your review uh first is a contract for nursing services with Home Care therapies for a student uh with a seizure order um secondly we actually have an amended contract because that is for two medically fragile students receiving daily home instruction uh in November the board had approved uh one student and we actually have two uh the third contract is for uh Spanish Orton killingham instruction for a student in our secondary program who's in need of specialized reading support and the final contract is with the Mountain Lakes Board of Education which provides specialized evaluations for students who are DEA in heart of hearing and that provides uh a number of different evaluations for three different students in our school system thank you Dr Roa thank you uh to our directors um and for all your reports that you gave to us at this time are there any board members who would like to speak uh board member chz yes um just want to thank you um plan and property director for putting agenda the contract for the four classroom I think that is something to special service is looking for that just for the clarification for everyone that project B uh is looking to be um during the summer time correct thank you any other questions any other questions to tab 77 a 7B yes I have a comment mam president um tonight I want to say thank you to our director of Elementary and secondary division Dr DNE um you only know director of Elementary also secondary and the way you present the contract is easy for me to navigate and I want to explain why because when I received the contract the top seven I I had my Excel CH do mean it's easy for me to identify the way you present like the company for example perfect sample page five top seven page five was easy for me to create my exit cheat the company why will we provide what grade and what a school that mean when I receive data about different kind of school I say oh I see the connection the way you present with the data we receive that mean I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to you to make me easy my job to analyze this part of the top seven I really appreciate thank you Madame President thank you any other questions for tab um 77a or 7B I have one question just to help me understand perhaps Mr Kennedy or the superintendent when Dr merete mentioned ARP funding that's the American Rescue plan is that that is correct and that's Grant funds the eser grant fund eser um and and then the stage in which we're at at this moment is expending the American Rescue plan funding which expires in September of 2024 okay yes thank you absolutely Madam president yes board member Jacobs yes I have a question for Mr milanas in reference to the change order in Tab 7 for the baseball turill which is actually looking very nice looking very nice $726 to change it from 185 ft to 190 what was that for the change order mhm the change order is actually to I'm sorry the change order is actually to move the uh the lines for the uh circuit field because we originally um the sucker field was supposed to be 190 ft by 330 but because we added lighting into the field the some of the lightings were encroaching onto the field but so we needed to create a safer zone for the field for the uh for the sidelines of the you for the soccer field uh the lights have to remain 25 ft away from the uh the power lines outside so that's what dictated that we had to do that so we we had to we had no choice but to shrink the field by 5T so what's the border now between the end of the field and the fence what is that red rock you have about 5 ft of you know space it's actually almost 6 ft of space and between that's Red Rock that's where Red so what's the material used between the end of the field the artificial turf into the fence it's actually the artificial turf that's whole part it's all the way through all the way through yeah the if you go that's the uh the what do they that the warning track of the field that's all AR official tur um are we planning to put bunting back on the fence by oh yes yes we we're in the process of doing that right now we have to put uh something very Hefty there because you know those columns are right in the field no no no no no no I'm sorry are we putting windscreen back on the gate by McDonald's oh yes we actually getting a new nting in in the buting for there that is is that going to be personalized or just regular windscreen just regular I almost think that we don't need windscreen because then you don't get to see the beauty of that field thank you Mr meanz thank you thank you are there any other questions for this tab seeing none I just want to thank our directors of Special Projects plant and property equipment special services Elementary and secondary education and student services for being here this evening thank you for taking your time out of your busy schedule to be here and answer our questions we truly appreciate you all Mr candy if you can just add Tab 7 Tab 7 a 7B to the agenda please tab eight miscellaneous Communications at this time I'm going to have our chairperson of finance committee Mr Jacobs give his report please thank you Madame President uh the finance committee met uh January 24th uh in attendance was Madame President Charlene B Georgy myself uh commissioner Stephanie gonalves mistana commissioner Stan Aran um councelor kogi Judge Malone Mr Kennedy Mr maholtra and Madame superintendent um we basically reviewed the audit results which were presented here earlier this evening I want to take this opportunity to thank Mr swisser and Supply including his staff for working with our business office to once again produce outstanding results and I have to say under the D under the leadership of Madam superintended and the stewardship of Mr Kennedy and Mr maholtra we can once say that we are rest assured that our district is being run in a physically responsible manner um which has allowed us to avoid other issues that other districts have to go through such as referendums for Bonds in relation to to having to build new facilities and maintenance and things of that nature so I I know that also is a team effort of course with Mr milanas and the other departments as well uh but I have to say again um it's it was another year of outstanding results and it also this was the first time in the last s years that we did have one audit finding but I think that that audit finding was not uh warranted because the fact that we that was due to the extra funds during um the co scenario which produced that Surplus but you know that was also a good thing um I think that I think I thanked everyone oh thank you to everyone also in the business office um that works with Mr mahro Mr Kennedy to ensure that these results came through thank you so much we appreciate you thank you any other oh no that's it thank you any questions for Mr Jacobs seeing none Mr K if you can add that to the agenda please tab nine claims list are there any questions or comments to the claims list on Tab n seeing n Mr cedy we can add that to the agenda Tab 10 to 10 P before I accept any questions or comments to this to the resolutions I just want to acknowledge the four resolutions that are going to be honoring next month uh the Career and Technical Education Month in February Children's Dental Health month honoring Harriet Tubman African-American heritage month and National School counseling week just wanted to recognize those since we're going to be honoring them next month but they come a month before are there any questions for Tab 10 to Tab 10 P under resolutions if my board members could just bring it down a little bit there thank you so much cuz I can hear you over here any questions or comments Madam president when you say question of comment is about just the Tab 10 no the whole Tab 10 to 10 10 P resolutions no no okay any questions or comments seeing none if Mr Kennedy if you can put um the resolutions for Tab 10 to 10 p on the agenda please board member Marina tle do you have another question regarding the entire agenda I have a comment or a comment yes um first I want to say thank you to every Our member tonight um this mon is the mon New Jersey recognize B members but I want to say something to the community Elisa P school is ring number 12 and Elisa has school raking number one you can check the news the data from 2023 2024 and the student around New Jersey is 1.4 million children 1.4 million children and I want to explain the community when we have 1.4 million childrens in New Jersey and we ring number one and number two in New Jersey no matter what they say some member of the community we doing great thank you every more member thank you to our director thank you to our teachers parents and Guardians we doing a great job no matter what say some member in our community thank you thank you Madame President you're welcome thank you any other comments from our board members okay thank you thank you at this time we have a motion in second to approve the entire agenda in its entirety I move to motion to approve the agenda and his enti I second the motion think you has been moved and probably second to approve the agenda and entire entire excuse me in its entirety any comments or questions seeing none roll call Mr Kennedy Barbosa yes with the exemp exemption of Tab 7 page one carvalo yes Cheves yes with extension in t 4 a page one t 4 um D page one and yeah the same pH for the page one Jacobs yes Marina Ortega yes naron yes with ex AB extension from tab for B page 1 kavas bana yes with an exstension of tab five page n Rivera yes dorley yes thank you to our board members and to our directors before I read the statement for private session I just want to thank the entire it Department um for yes that's right thank you I want to take a moment to just thank you guys for all that you guys do throughout the year I know we don't normally recognize you but I wanted to just honor take a moment to honor you for always streaming always making sure our microphones are on point um the videos that you guys do and just doing the setup people don't know that you guys are also the ones behind doing the setup so I I just wanted to thank you um for all the work that you guys do and I really appreciate you and I know that our board members do as well I want to thank our superintendent our business administrator our super excuse me assistant superintendent and all the members of the administration team for assisting with putting together the board Rec sorry board recognition month I truly appreciate you all that you have done today to recognize all of the board members here and our hard work so thank you for doing that we truly appreciate that yeah thank you again to our directors I've mentioned that before I just want to thank our super student representative Maria zado for being here as well and if I forgot anybody please don't charge it to my head um charge it to my heart just charge it to my head but I just thank everyone for being here the president requests a motion to go into private session to consider matters exempt under the open public meetings act specifically for discussion of personnel interview legal matters settlement agreement for DV and Department of Labor matters the board will reconvene in public and make a formal motion may I have a motion in a second to approve this or to go into private please I motion to go into private session a second it's been moved in probably a second to go into private session any questions or comments seeing none roll call please Barbosa yes carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs yes Moren Ortega yes naron yes inala pastana yes Rivera yes dorley yes and before we go into private I just want to also thank our security guards and our police offic officers for being here as well thank you we are now in private session add the additional items to the agenda please and state yes we have a we have a resolution for a settlement agreement DV and um a resolution for appointment of vice principal of Johnny DWI technical Technology Academy thank you U our superintendent has to do the HIV report okay very much is would anyone like to tell the community anything while we wait for our superintendent to do the report anything else we could skip pass and come back do okay well I just want to wish everyone a Happy New [Music] Year we could we could vote on the agenda if you but don't we have to add the HIV report to the agenda to be to be voted on um we already voted on it she's just got to um do her her report she's here thank you Miss Fitz Johnson at this time we're going to have our superintendent present the HIV [Music] report my apologies for the uh tardiness and returning from executive session so our Hib presentation for this evening pursuant to board policy 51311 harassment intimidation and bullying and New Jersey statute 18a col 37 the results of each 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 December 13 2023 and through January 23rd 202 4 our school counselor school-based social workers and supervisor of anti-bullying have completed 56 HIV investigations of these investigations 15 cases were founded for HIV as per New Jersey Law there were 29 males 31 females 50 regular education students and 10 special education students that were the alleged victims there were 50 males 35 females 74 regular education students 10 special education students and one non-student student that were the alleged offenders of the 15 cases founded for HIV one case was founded based on race national origin one case was founded based on religion one case was founded based on gender identity and expression three cases were founded based on mental physical or sensory disability and 15 cases were founded based on other identifying characteristics of the services provided and actions taken for those investigations there were 17 skilled development lessons and trainings 53 counseling sessions three targeted Behavior interventions nine referrals for outpatient mental health treatment six classroom changes three changes of school placement four administrative counseling sessions 15 in school detentions 32 parent conferences two referrals to outside agencies 23 out of school suspensions and 13 cases are continuing to be monitored the HIV statute further requires that 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 32 cases that were reported to you at the last board meeting on December 13 2023 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 that completes this month's HIV presentation thank you thank you madam superintendent in addition I know our superintendent has the um Community updates just want to let everyone know the community updates will be uploaded online in English and Spanish in a video so please stay tuned for those updates at this time is there a motion and a second to approve the additional items that were stated prior and added to our agenda I make a motion to approve the additional items added to agenda I second that motion thank you it's been moved and probably second to add those additional items to the agenda any comments or questions seeing none roll call please Barbosa yes carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs yes Marina Ortega yes naron yes congratulations gavas pastana yes congratulations Rivera yes congratulations dley yes congratulations to our new vice principal [Applause] [Music] [Applause] at this time before we conclude the meeting is there any questions comments from our board members seeing none may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting I'll make a motion to adjourn the meeting second that motion it's been moved and properly second to adjourn the meeting at 8:38 p.m. roll call please Barbosa yes good night carvalo at 8:38 yes Cheves yes good night everyone Jacobs yes good night Marine Ortega yes good night naron yes have a great night everyone kabas Pana yes good night everyone Rivera president dorley yes have a great night everyone thank you and God bless