e e e e e e [Music] I forget Park Jo where could you find the breakdown you get of all of going back to it is not but I could get it somewhere online or something yes yeah since 19 that's right was was open finish then he had to run again I ran for that one Russ and and was also running lell yes yes lell we were all in this [Music] room and then they sent the numbers to business office they came with official no he was not the business minist yet we hired him a couple months later by Don Fusco Don Fusco was famous suing the town they the and that's Don inord members passed away Russell I talked on Facebook and talked a few times um would you be the bo president elction next year no no I I've had enough viice president no I like my little corner over there would like to talk to3 are nice to meet you finally do you have any idea what passw don't worry about it I'll just get paper [Music] heard the tering right I'm gonna call this meeting to order the regular monthly meeting of March 14th 2024 is being reconvened and called to order at 7:48 p.m. at Thomas Edison school room 19 3701 Falon Avenue faon New Jersey there are currently 17 people in attendance of the public um Miss manuso can I have a roll call please Mr baldowski here here Mr Banta here Dr berini here Miss Brown president miss bovich pres Mr Rosenberg here again Mr spendel present Miss yman present Mrs Mayhan present we have a form the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with provisions of this act the Fair Lawn board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof distributed to the persons on the approved list posted in the Board of Education administrative office and sent to the Bergen Record and the Star Ledger the announcement or posting for the regular monthly meeting along with the date Place time thereof was distributed on January 5th 2024 please join me in the flag salute I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands Nation God indivisible liy and justice for all so we are going to start with our student rep reports with us tonight we have Rebecca gotlib and aidah Malone our Memorial Middle School Representatives I only have I have two of your names so whomever I don't have please share it with me uh Sonia isar es waren um harini gisan and Gabrielle birnhack and Gabrielle birnhack um Prima marang gandi is not with us this evening as she is participating in our High School Musical Dr ganio will be reading her report I am just going to ask that for all of our student when you do speak there is a circular button right here you're going to press it once it'll stay on and you can speak into the microphone so everyone here in the room as well as on our YouTube channel can hear you okay good evening my name is aidah Maloney and I'm here with an important update on Memorial's aluminum tap collection for the raw McDonald House as you know Memorial had partnered with the r McDonald House to support families whose children are hospitalized the r McDonald House provides a home near the hospital to allow families to be close to their child while they receive treatment so we are asking for your help please think of us when you are enjoying a camp and beverage and hold on to that aluminum tab I have brought a container to leave here for you to drop your tabin thank you for your taptastic support in addition to our visit to the Rockland Holocaust Museum our thanks to the TJ PTO for sponsoring an assembly on Wednesday March 6th with the Anne Frank Center USA the performance letters from an and Martin is a unique production that combines the iic voices of Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr both of whom were born in 1929 yet seemingly represent drastically different times and cultures developed from excerpts from Anne Frank the Diary of a young girl and Dr King's letter from a Birmingham Jail this piece evokes the important messages from these legendary figures as they write of their hopes and plans for a peaceful and unified World good evening congratulations to Memorial's cast and crew of into the woods Jr we're so proud of all of the students for their and hard work also a huge shout out to the drama club advisers Miss VI Miss Deo and Miss kikuyama for the outstanding work they did with the students they truly turned our Memorial Middle School students into Stars also thank you to Mr Glock and Memorial's production Club who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure everything ran smoothly without them there would have been no lights or sound and we would have had to change the title to lost in the woods but thank goodness they were on our side only 63 days and count until the carnival returns to TJ for the first time ever the carnival will open on Thursday night May 16th our PTO is working to plan what will be a fantastic event including providing all students with a 1-hour preview and any board members wishing to volunteer may contact the school Super Bowl update congratulations to the fifth grade on beating out every other grade during our Super Bowl challenge it is because of their efforts that the Fairline food pantry is bursting the food items and ready to support those in need they've earned a spirit day of their choice for fifth grade only we went and surveyed to all fifth grade students and allowed them to choose from 10 different theme days including Pajama Day Dr like your teacher day wacky hair day career day and others the votes are in with 36.3% of the votes the clear winner is desk Pet Day students may bring a favorite desk pet to visit for the school day tomorrow allergies not a problem these pets are all fluff and no sneeze on March 20th during the 1245 dismissal TJ will mix green and gold to light it up blue for Autism Awareness with a capture of the leprechaun tournament as part of the district's Wellness initiative students will compete with home rooms against a grade level peers and an elimination Capture the Flag tournament with other choice Wellness activities planned throughout the day proceeds from our peer rep piece snack sale for the day will be dedicated to purchase of recess items for the stepping classes at West Morland school to celebrate read Across America day earlier this month memorials n JHS took a short bus ride to the elementary schools middle school students visited at least three classrooms and read a book of their choosing one special part of this amazing tradition is having middle school students go back to the elementary school they used to call home as someone who participated in this trip I can say firsthand that not only were the little ones excited to see us in their classrooms but we were even more excited to see our former teachers as always thank you for allowing us time to tell you about all the amazing programs happening at the middle schools we appreciate your ongoing support without you we would be lost Dr dionio on behalf of Fairland high school thank you very much Miss Mayan uh thank you very much to our students that's uh the best part of our board meeting presentation so we thank you all for coming tonight and uh I have the honor tonight of reading um our high school representative Prima maran's uh update so she says to all of us good evening all I apologize for my absence today but as we speak I'm currently on stage which brings me to my first thing to report Fon high schools theater Department opens Legally Blonde tonight and it runs through Sunday at 7 p.m. every evening and 2 p.m. on Sunday in other news the interact Club hosted their annual blood drive last Tuesday March 5th and it was great to see so many kids and staff donate in the bjym to a greater cause tomorrow is senior class pajama day which some may argue is every day but as but as seniors We Do It Best you could almost hear Prima through this can't you even though um reading it she is the best some events this month include our annual unplugged for autism event which will take place on March 26th at 7 p.m. featuring The Bop tones rock band and the Muslim student association's Ramadan ifar dinner next Wednesday March 20th additionally on March 27th our student Equity Summit will meet from periods 1- 4 comprised ing of our cultural clubs and elected representatives the goal of this Summit is to discuss ways to combat Prejudice and Foster positivity within our schools while offering a safe fun space for open discussion our honor societies are preparing for their inductions next week and the rest of the clubs are preparing to wind down the year as we rapidly approach April as always thank you all for your time and I look forward to seeing you next month we could give her a round of applause even though she's not here I just have uh as part of the superintendent report I'm just going to roll right into that fantastic that's okay uh just a few quick updates first uh as we presented last week with our preliminary budget presentation uh I would just like to once again um thank uh Miss manuso for her efforts in spearheading uh the budget preparation that got us to this point in addition I would also like to thank Miss Bey uh the entire business office our entire support staff and all of the administrators and supervisors who made it all possible uh we have a resolution on this evening for the tentative preliminary budget approval for 2024 2025 and the slide deck presentation uh was posted last week on Friday uh that we presented on Thursday evening so thank you to everyone uh for making this possible and to keeping the focus on our students shifting gears thought exchange has been up for the past several months uh most recently over the last several weeks we've shared the thought exchange uh with our parent Community I'm very happy to share that so far to date we have had 9912 participants within the Falon Community 905 thoughts 18,1 38 ratings uh and a ratings ratio of 20 which means that for every person that got on thought exchange not only did they add their comments but they also ated 20 other thoughts to give us feedback right so it's been really a wonderful opportunity there will be another email that goes out just to kind of put it in people's the top of people's inboxes to get more traction uh we've had 333 of those participants are parents identified within our community that's shared that their parents uh we're going to keep it open uh through April possibly even into May and in the coming weeks we are actually going to be sharing the thought exchange with starting with our high school students and then we are probably going to introduce it as well to our eighth grade students in both middle schools to really capture our student voice so um we are going to be doing as I've mentioned before a presentation in May around a number of different initiatives uh and we'll be able to share that feedback at that may presentation as well and that concludes my superintendent report for this evening thank you so much Dr denisio thank you so much to both our Memorial Middle School and TJ Middle School student reps you are absolutely welcome to stay but I also do understand it a schoool night and if you'd like to excuse yourselves you are absolutely welcome thank you all again for coming and being with [Applause] us you guys don't have to feel awkward you guys can go most people do not stay great job everyone thank you for coming tonight this is now the public portion of on the agenda items only please limit your questions at this time to resolutions on the current agenda please provide your name and municipality in which you reside and sign in with that information legibly you do not have to provide us your whole address comments are limited to three minutes and spec and please specify the resolution you're referring to in your question or comment this is not a dialogue between the speaker and the board all comments will be taken at once and when public comments are complete the board president or District administration will respond as best they can during the public portion of the meeting for other business the same will apply the floor is open good evening um Craig Miller R po teris fa um I'm not sure if it's I guess the budget's on the agenda for tonight but the one question I have and I drove by the school today is there any plans of redoing the parking railing along Howard Avenue by radman school because looks like some pieces are missing there's uh orange and white what I call barriers or I call construction are it just makes look to me the school looks like hell when I see that so I wouldn't sure if there's a plan to overhaul it or that's it any other comments on public agenda items got another one Craig oh is there anything on the Google Doc there nothing on the Google Doc going once twice the floor is closed so in regards to the the comment the question in regards to the radburn school um specifically we have money that's allocated within our operating budget and our Reserve account so those are areas that we always take a look at and coincidentally I was actually over at radburn school with Mrs Lindsley uh Lindsay earlier this week so those are issues that have been brought up to our attention and we do have plans holistically across the district to address those thank you Dr D um board comments on agenda items Mich okay okay so I have a couple of questions the first one is the board secretary and treasury report and the transfers why aren't they why don't we have them this year this month are you write is anybody writing down or I answer okay great I also have a problem with our district goals in August of 2023 we made uh a district goals which was tier academic system of support maintaining students and and staff wellness and now March we're not increasing to our goals but we're changing the goals in the middle of the Year almost the end of the year 60 days left of school and I have a problem with that if it was adding I'm happy with it but not taking away and those two goals are not included in I also in 2022 our district goals had a draft action plan a timeline and evidence that it was going to be done we did that in 2023 but somehow it was never never attached to the agenda I was looking at it because I remember we had it's like a red Power presentation that the administration does but I don't know why it's not attached but now we're approving District goals and we're not having any evidence timeline or like actions because for number for number one it's self-explanatory the entry plan but number two and three I would kind of like to see what are the action plans and what is the timeline for you action plan and that's what I asked in my write up and then I was sent a superintendent evaluation which made no sense to me but that's how maybe it was misunderstood so I'm kind of going to vote no for that because I believe that if it was provided before so that everybody's on the same page I think we should be provided again for example CTE if you ask nine of us what is CTE nine of us will have a different definition so nine of us might have different understanding what the goals are and what we interpreting by having a concrete action plan we know exactly what is it what what's going to happen what's the timeline so that's the reason why I'm voting no for the district goals for the board uh for the board goals I again we did board goals two years ago because I was very insistent that we did them unfortunately we never went back to them we never explain what is the action how do we know that we achiev this goal what did we do do we have to have every board member goes to two events a week a month or a year 30 seconds so I think it's important that we have time limits we have an explanation what is expected what are our goals and have a concrete date when we're going to go look at them back and say Hey by June we should have the following done otherwise goals are meaningless without any explanation what we're going to be doing with them am I I'm done with my okay I'll come back for my second time Dr bertolini thank you board president uh two points one you're all said I'm going my time's up already no I was going with my computer now to make sure it was quick uh we did spend a lot of time at the retreat going over the new goals because of the fact that we had a transition from one superintendent to another uh so we did spend a lot of time on that and we did discuss how we're going to follow through on those um so that's one point second point I know we talked about it last week at the uh the work session however I want to thank our business office and everyone involved in the administration and the schools and and the central office uh for their work on the budget uh it's a tireless job and the fact that our taxes are going up a few dollars for the entire year is is a wonderful thing for our taxpayers but it's also a wonderful thing for our students and our our teachers because we're able to fund a lot of new projects so not only do we keep the taxpayers uh at a very low rate but we also provide a quality education for our students so I do want to thank our business office and our superintendent uh for coming up with a quality budget so I'll certainly be voting yes on it tonight thank you uh Mr Rosenberg yeah I I want to um talk about the budget too I'm pretty impressed with and thank you to Dr Denio uh Miss manuso Miss batty and everyone else involved in making this budget do I agree with every single line item on the budget nope and I don't think anyone could say that they agree with everything but it's a very sound budget I'm impressed with that um the very small increase in our taxes because we all pay taxes too um and um I'm voting yes definitely tonight on it thank you I'm sorry Mr Bowski thank you um I simply wanted to highlight and thank flee and especially Troy um for the negotiations and the conversations we've had since negotiation started uh seeing that we are approving the collective bargain and agreement um I believe it it's something that will help our our staff our teachers in the classroom helped provide for our students um and so thank you for those conversations since negotiation started Miss yman so I had a question on um just the position of 8 D7 and 8 d8 that they 8 D7 and 8 d8 and the dates don't seem to to mesh and I was just wondering why there's like an overlap and that's for the positions not is that your only question Miss yman that's it that's the only question anyone else okay miss you have another four minutes can I ask you a question what's the policy number I was looking for for the time limit that we have I was looking for it but I couldn't find if you could kindly provide it I would really appreciate it okay so the following thing is I am also going to abstain on the Union contract I'm a teacher myself and I was always told to abstain so I'm just I'm not against unions I'm for unions but I'm just letting you know why I'm abstaining the next thing is we we have summer school and it used to be part of the eser funds but now it becomes the general fund and I was wondering if the administration can say what we believe in equity what Equitable programs do we have for uh for high school students that are not in music class that will provide summer programs for them as well since we're providing summer school and half of it is paid by the um taxpayer and another thing I want to ask is what is the name of the company that is the only one in the state that can install benches and my last thing I want to talk about is the budget I am not concerned about the increase even though taxes are a big concern in my opinion I am concerned more about what's in the budget and if I and therefore I am going to vote no on the budget because the administration did not provide me enough evidence why the district needs to spend an additional 250,00 yes $250,000 per year for two new central office position I believe that money could be used more for extracurricular activities for their for their students and that's it thank you I just wanted to thank our central office administration particular Miss Bey and Miss manuso along with all of our other central office our supervisors our principals um all of our negotiating um staff members who worked on contracts um I am very grateful for what you have done for this budget I'm really looking forward to seeing all of the new programs and supports that are being put in place for our students and um although no one ever wants to see their taxes go up um I think mine is $24 this year so I will take that $24 when it comes to improving our athletic programs our music programs our art programs improving our buildings and grounds providing us with additional staff improving our um academic programs I'm really looking forward to some of these new CTE sequences um I keep talking about about the forensic science outdoor lab and how excited I am for my kids to get to participate in that or the Ruckers business programming that we're getting our new strength and conditioning coach that is going to help keep our student athletes in our district I have two little student athletes and they are really looking forward to being Fair Lawn Cutters so thank you so much for thinking of all students all Learners athletes musicians artists kids who just want to be students we are the district that is looking at every Global child and I am so eternally grateful Mr sendell to the bud tries to cut the budget I'm sorry I forgot I'm usually the individual who uh objectively looks at the budget and then tries to cut it as much as possible but in all my time that I've been here this is one of the best and cheapest uh smallest raises I shouldn't say cheapest smallest raises that we've ever gotten but I do want the parents to understand something for the Board of Ed it is only on an average home I believe $16 and change but there's three things that go into the budget the school board has approximately 66% where they make up 66% of that budget the other two are the municipality and the county so if your taxes go up a little more than $16 for the average home just realize we've kept to what we're saying it's going to go up but there are those other two components that do raise the taxes a little more but as was said before we've included everything that we've had in previous years and we've even gone and extended ourselves as Julie said to improve our uh education here so I I'm definitely voting for this budget thank you okay the floor is closed thank you board members so uh just a few no no particular order just a few um responses maybe some color to provide some clarity and context so in regards to the district goals so I see that prior to my arrival of superintendent the board approved District goals in August of 20123 those goals are focused on Career and Technical education what we call CTE uh maintaining student and staff wellbeing and tiered acade academic systems of support so those goals run through June of 24 those goals are still in existence and will there will be an update that will be provided later this year the District goals and objectives that were added that we discussed at our board retreat that we discussed last week um those are in addition to um as outlined there in the resolution this evening um so one of them is the implementation of the superintendent plan this is on the agenda the next one is the superintendent coordinating District initiatives a review of The District initiatives including but not limited to keywords there CTE World Language course offerings gifted and talented programming an analysis of student enrollment and capacity study providing a summary presentation by May of 2024 the including but not limited to component goes back and connects to the other other District goals of August of 2023 uh so all that will all be encompassing for a presentation uh to be able to provide some update to the board and to the public at a later time and then the last goal around community and Leadership Council uh that we've been discussing around uh bringing different diverse perspectives of the community together and to Charter path forward uh in a constructive manner uh all that being said uh the metrics by which it's assessed for the board under the the chief School administrator evaluation we also discussed this during our board retreat uh those components there are all part of the metric system in the New Jersey school board's evaluation um that is the common evaluation that's utilized across the state of New Jersey uh in regards to [Music] um summer there was a question or a comment about summer school our summer school program is primarily focused on remediation uh the reason for that is to be able to provide the level of support for our students who uh really need the support in order to keep up with their graduation requirements um that in alignment with the work that our amazing Educators do each and every day and the commitment of our students and our families that ties to our High graduation rate and we want to continue to be able to support that that uh so that's why we have that for remediation I think the question was around music or art uh we don't offer that in that component in that aspect we have other opportunities for enrichment throughout the course of the year um we'll have to get back in regards to uh the company regarding uh playgrounds and as far as the increases we've discussed and provided the information related to all staff and Personnel we've done that through our small budget meetings we've done that through uh communication and supporting documents to the Board of Education um through our Google Drive accounts and we've also done it through our Public Presentation so uh I feel that that justification has been there and we've had some very uh constructive conversation and and had an opportunity to ask some really wonderful questions around that um I just uh Echo everything that the board has said in response to a fiscally responsible budget but one that's committed to supporting the needs of our students and the needs of our staff in order to continue to build upon the wonderful Foundation that we have here in a district and to continue to enhance public education for fairlong students so thank you for all of your support M manusa you want to add something just to answer your question about the board secretary uh treasury report and the transfers so we do have 60 days to close out a month but we really try to stay only one month behind because our agenda was released on M on March 7th and February didn't close until the 29th this year uh we just didn't have enough time to get all of our financials closed out by the time the agenda was released so next month you'll see um you'll see March February and March on the April agenda I have one other item that I realized that I did not answer in regards to a resolution this evening and that was the question around 8 D7 and 8 d8 um those are uh the two Personnel items and their change of data of assignments um those individual uh employees are filling in different capacities so they were serving in those roles uh in response to a leave replacement position uh there have been adjustments so then there had to be adjustments to the dates so that's what reflects the dates of those individuals in those specific positions so that's part of a transition for our community school program so one individual employee has been in the program all year long um and they're building up to handing off the Baton back to the employee who typically has been in that role so this is a little overlap to make sure nothing falls through the cracks can I get a motion for three a some moved roll call abstain yes no Mr Rosenberg yes yes Mr Spindel yes Miss yman Mrs Mayhem yes motion passes can I get a motion for five a so moved roll call Mr Bowski yes Mr Banta Dr berini yes m brown yes M fich no Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes M Yurman no Mrs Mayan yes motion passes can I get a motion for six C through e some moved roll call Mr balowski yes Mr B Dr berini yes m brown yes M fich no on 6 e and 6 d e and D correct e and D thank you Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes M Yurman no on 6 e and D Mrs Mayan yes motion passes can I get a motion for seven a b d through F someone moved second roll call Mr baldowski yes Mr B Dr berini yes m brown yes Mich yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes Miss yman yes Mrs Mayan yes motion passes Mark has made a motion on nine A and B second whoops my apologies I'll take Mark has made a motion on 8 a through F second roll call Mr baldowski yes Mr B Dr berini yes m brown yes Miss fich yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes Miss yman yes Mrs Mayhem yes motion passes can I get a mo motion for nine A and B so moved second roll call please Mr Bal yes Mr bant Dr berini yes Miss Brown yes Miss bich yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes M Yurman yes Mrs Mayhan yes motion passes can I get a motion for 10 a through C so moved roll call Mr balowski yes Mr B Dr berini yes m brown yes movich yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr spendel yes Miss Yurman yes Mrs May yes motion pass can I get a motion for 11a c f through K second roll call please Mr baldowski yes Mr bza yes Dr berini yes m brown yes M fich abstain on 11 I and abstain on no yes on letter C but abstain my on my name okay um Mr r i I'm sorry I'd like I need to abstain from 11 I and J as well because I'm an educator but I love teachers oh yes and J as well for me 11 I and J right yeah okay and same for your I you obain C on your name and J thank you Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes Miss Yurman yes Mrs May yes abstain on IJ motion passes this concludes the agenda items and we will be moving into public comment on other business this is the public comments on other business please limit your questions at this time to other business items please provide your name and municipality in which you resign and please sign in legibly you do not need to provide us with your exact address comments are limited to 3 minutes this is not a dialogue between the speaker and the board all comments will be taken at once and when comments are complete the board president or the District administration will respond as best they can the floor is open I uh please note that there will be a maximum time limit of 30 minutes as per our board policy just before I excuse me just before I speak I would just like to give my petition signatures spreadsheets to the president of the Board of Education and Dr dionio and my packet on implementations on and proposals good evening everyone I would like to thank SE superintendent Dr diio dionio and Fon Board of Education president Mrs Julie Mahan for and all the other board members for this opportunity to speak it is a very much valued honor I come to you tonight after you all have made a major change I believe last month on giving juneth as a fed pursuant to the June National Independence Day act as a Federal holiday on the school calendar I thank you all for that change as respect for the black and African-American culture but I come to you tonight with the motion that we are not finished the curriculum in my opinion demands reform I have a petition that demands the following that all assemblies with that there be assemblies with lectures from prominent black black politicians Community leaders and civil rights activists to give presentations on numerous parts of black history to all students in all grades that there be incorporated into the curriculum a community service project having all students in grades 4 to 12 to organize and host a black history celebration for a specific or import an important black history event or time that there be a course of study incorporated into the curriculum teaching the parts of black history as provide in the packet as Pro provided that there be that there be assemblies on racism and discrimination and how to be anti-racist including white supremacy institutional racism interpersonal racism water are hate crimes and police brutality that that all Fon public schools go on a one-day field trip with students in all grades to their proposed museums as specified in the provided packet in the packet as provided to you it also details how to implement these reforms such as in class reading books for each grade level and along with a great a grade specific Field Trip locations and a Museum location for students in specific clubs and groups for grades 5 to 12 if you are one to ask why do these things so early because in my petition it's starts from grades 12 then goes on to grades grade kindergarten sorry then goes on to grade 12 well I shall tell you if I am old enough to experience racism in my school I feel that the students in this District are old enough to learn about it John F Kennedy the 36th president of the United States said in his speech to the world remarked we preach Freedom around the world and we meet it and we cherish our freedom at home but we are here to say to the the world and much more importantly to each other each other that this is a land of for of the free except for black people this that quote means something here in Fon also if we want to say that we are stigma free to all of our residents we have to be stigma free in all aspects unless we are lying to our residents we must be stigma free on the playground and in the curriculum and that does not mean a lack of meaningful black history teaching this is a stigma that we shall overcome I have 243 petition signatures and their names and addresses are as specified in the p in the packet presented to you I ask that these reform I'm just going to ask that you wrap up your three minutes are up sweetheart yes I ask that these reforms do get approved as for the whole Community knows it is the right thing to do thank you [Applause] all Garrett you're put your full information on there okay without reviewing it I cannot present it to the um Trust at this point however I will have our uh board attorney review it um okay then I need to take one back can you also just state your name for us okay um my name is Shanny wolson I'm a mother of two pel who graduated ferland high school last year and GE and a sophomore in the high school I'm here because I'm concerned about the recent political artwork presented in the library as part of a school exhibition uh it is not easy for me to stand here and address a sensitive issue every time I speak about matters close to my heart like this one I'm getting too emotional I wish I didn't have to be here today and I know that perhaps some of you also don't want to see us here today but I'm compelled to speak up as part of my professional role I'm visiting many school district in the Midwest and I've seen is much more problematic than the artwork in question however what sets Fon apart from those areas is our community the Jewish community and our ability to have a voice engage in a dialogue and advocate for what we believe in the artwork in question presents one side one-sided narrative the art the artwork in question presented one-sided narrative during a very sensitive time of conflict while I appreciate the artistics expression I'm deeply troubled by the decision to Showcase such a divisive piece especially in school environment according to my understanding the school guidelines prohibit discussion of politics therefore selecting an artwork overt political messaging seems to be contradictory to these guidelines furthermore presenting this artwork in a public space like the library can potentially add tension among students I want to pose an hypothetical scenario to all of you imagine an artwork and I hope you will all see it imagine an artwork with an Israeli child marking a sign of victory over Jewish holy sites that are in the Palestinian territory accompanied Maybe by an soldier that has flowers I'm saying flowers okay and the same map exactly same map that you will see here that it's all over imagine this and would you agree to present this piece of artwor not this one the one that I just described would you think of any teacher who would say yes let's present this let's show it I believe we all know the answer so I wish I didn't have to be here today but I am I wish I didn't have a to be here today but I am I am and I'm asking you first to be more sensitive to bias and anti-Semitism and second to either remove artwork or allow maybe a second artwork presenting what we believe in if it's okay to present this artwork then it's okay to present our artwork and we know that there thums up man thank you very much thank you so much thank you and I hope you [Applause] will um just one point of information you did provide some materials the board has seen the particular piece of student artwork that you're referencing so they are aware all right hello everybody my name is Ethan vman mced and I am currently in sixth grade at TJ I'm here to address a large problem that affects our entire District first I'd like to address the rampant increase in blatant anti-semitism this has reached such a level that incidents of myself being targeted for being Israeli and Jewish happen every week sometimes multiple times in one week this is an incredible lack of the inclusivity and comfort that the fairon school district claims to have I despise the constant tension of the in the atmosphere of the school district sorry after the first incident and Hib form I expected these incidents and comments toward me to decline I was very wrong recently more people than ever have been making anti-semitic comments towards me than ever after the fifth Hib I expected it to come to a full stop or maybe decline at least a little it didn't it happened even more and my hope in the schools was completely shattered this makes me feel incredibly pessimistic about the future of the district these comments are always targeted towards me specifically and other Israelis and Jews in our district and at this point it has clearly crossed the crossed over the point of being ignorant to the point of being malicious that's why I'm here to stand up against this anti-Semitism and to plead once again that it comes to a full stop this district has barely lifted a finger to put a stop to this harassment targeted targeted against this town's increasingly large Jewish Community it's enough that there is a war in Israel and I have to worry about the safety of my family school is supposed to be the home of Education not harassment recently after filing an HIV I was retaliated against by another Hib that was filled with false accusations I don't need this stress of having to watch my back along with the schoolwork and anxiety about and anxiety about the safety of my family please just put a stop to [Applause] this hi my name is Emily avidon and I'm a fairon resident I have two children in the public school um one in high school one in the Middle School TJ and um I'm a parent but I'm also an educator in another District um public school teacher and um on what the Gent young gentleman was asking for and also Ethan I think what would be really helpful would be to have a teacher training program something provided by possibly an outside organization like the ADL or another group that could come in and give the teachers um and I know you have in the public schools in general a push towards Equity I know that Falon uh makes this a priority and um I'm just hoping that you can put a priority on making sure that this is implemented immediately um seeing that there's all these things happening in the world and in our community um and I think would benefit all all of our students not just our Jewish students um but our African-American students our Hispanic students and uh Fon is a wonderful diverse Community I've been living here for 17 years I moved here from Monclair which I thought was the most diverse place ever and first when I moved to Falone I thought well it's not very diverse but it's become so diverse and it's wonderful and we need to have teachers that understand that I know where I work it's very different um than here and I have to be sensitive to that there are no other Jewish people in my school so I have to make it a priority to learn about their culture I also have to educate them about mine so I think that's what we need to do to make it more inclusive and not just kicking the can down the road saying oh we're going to do this we're going to do this but actually making it a priority that's all I wanted to say and thank you for providing a wonderful education for my children thank [Applause] you hello everyone I did not plan to speak but when I heard the young man over there speaking you just sorry sorry my name is aelia Thomas sorry I'm the mother of Garett Thomas he goes to Memorial Middle School he started in grade five and he took too has experienced a whole lot I know for a fact that the teachers try their best all right he has also had four HIV forms filled out based on what he has been going through and I hope there isn't a fifth like the young man but what I just want to say is I think there needs to be a little more that needs to be done because we can't just fill out HIV after HIV it is affecting the students it is and Fon is really getting diverse and I I cannot say anything about the education I am proud to have my son going to school in faon they do a very good job at the schools but the behavior of the students need to be addressed a little more so that we wouldn't have the little ones suffering we as big people can handle ourselves sometimes but the little ones it can make a mark impact on them because they have their whole lives ahead thank you very [Applause] much I forgot good evening everybody my name is Dr ad vaxman I wanted to First commend G Gareth on his uh really good uh Speech here and good work in raising awareness to this really painful issue that were a lot of us are here to talk about today I've been a resident of fairon since 2002 I'm here again tonight to address the Urgent issue of rampant anti-Semitism that is plaguing our schools an alarming increase in incidents that span the past three years and have intensified dramatically since October 7th underscores a persistent and systemic problem that continues unchecked the response of the failon school staff ranging from ignorance to dismissal of verbal but not violent harassment remains grossly inadequate the trivializing of such Behavior as mere political discourse of or freedom of expression belittles the severity of these acts and often serves as an excuse to avoid taking necessary action as a result it is concerning to witness the numerous HIV reports that are being dismissed as unfounded this negligence sets a precedent that such behavior is tolerated acceptable and inconsequential if left unchecked this hatred will inevitably lead to violence it has already escalated into violence on college campuses around the country and will absolutely escalate to violence with tragic consequences if we continue to ignore it if we fail to act as we have been for years the people sitting around this table and all members of administration who had the opportunity to intervene will be personally held accountable each of you Bears individual and Collective responsibility to take action yet none has been taken I wish to remind you of my persistent please for Action over the past three years yet we witness staff members who not only fail to counter but actively contribute to the atmosphere filled with hate and bullying the is is disturbing spread of racist hateful and malicious anti-Semitism targeting our children in failon schools school students are exposed to and get their information from toxic dangerous and untruthful social media propaganda a lack of corrective educational response from our schools is legitimizing their behavior to the point that we are at today if we continue to ignore it the damage will be irreversible just to remind you of some of the events I personally have reported to this District in September of 2021 an honors history class teacher taught T the students in a class that the tragic events of 9/11 were Justified as a form of resistance and that it was Israel's fault the teacher faced no consequences and is still teaching in faon school there were four incidents of swastikas in faon high school between September 2022 and January 2023 including one etched into the school door concrete that the administration was attempting to silence on February 1st this year there was a large drawing of swas swastika the Israeli flag and a trash can an additional horrific anti-semitic symbolism on the wall of the high school bathroom this week there is a school sponsored art exhibition in the Fon Public Library proudly displaying a horrific anti-semitic and offensive collage of Palestinian anti-jewish and anti-israeli symbols that is deeply troubling HIV complaints are being misused and weaponized against kids who report aning incidents I'm sorry if you could please wrap up your comment com out our schools have become a Battleground where anti-Semitism is dismissed as difference of opinions and verbal not violent and HIV processes are exploited to silence the voices of victims the reported Rising anti-semitic incident since October 7th compared to the prior records speak volumes of our failing measures the community Leadership Council your time is up please I understand I just would like to finish because this is really important leadership couny and it's it has to be uh distributed equally to everyone so I would like to urge for immediate implementation of the following steps redefine zero tolerance and act immediately with severe punitive action against anyone perpetrating anti-semitism whether they be student or staff implement the ic's staff education program to all staff in all schools in faon to ensure they know how to identif would like to provide your written comments to the board we I have numerous times over three years and You' been opportunity to argue the floor we're going to have to close public comment for everyone thank you [Applause] ma'am um I did not plan to speak but you know what we should not be silenced my name is Katherine slel we immigrated here from Soviet Union in 1991 in the middle of horrific cudar there and we were very distressed and we came here to find you know refuge and we did and it was a wonderful community and wonderful town especially the library was a sanctuary for us because we didn't speak the language very well we didn't have jobs jobs at that time and coming to the library was an wonderful opportunity to communicate with people and to see you know to see the books that we loved translated into English and it's just horrible what's going on right now in the library that I considered My Sanctuary I con I brought my all my three kids came through fairon education system and um uh went on to Burg anies afterwards and uh it's just right now the kids that are facing such horrible anti-Semitism is absolutely unacceptable and uh since Addie provided the items I just want to read the items that she provided because it's really important for us to know what can we do in order to you know alleviate the problem so redefine zero tolerance and act immediately with severe conative action against anyone penetrating perpetrating anti-Semitism whenever they be students or staff second implement the AIC staff education program to all staff in all schools in Fon to ensure they know how to identify and treat modern and sometimes subtle anti-Semitism next create an extensive plan to educate students on the facts of the conflict and on the difference between political differences of opinion and blatant anti-Semitism actions speak louder than words and we all stand here today asking that you take action because we've heard all the words we could hear and again taking down that poster in the library would be the first uh I think the most important item right now that we could do in order to alleviate the problem of escalating anti-Semitism and divisiveness in our community thank you [Applause] is there anything on the Google Doc there are no comments the floor is closed we'll move into board comments on other business Miss yman I would like to talk about um policies um as a board member for the last year uh we've had about two and a half to three hours worth of readings for policies and as a board member writing policies or changing policies and reviewing uh annual review of the superintendent of schools are the only two things that a board member can do to make a change and um usually the board is a board of the whole that changes policies and I would um ask that we have at least one policy meeting in the board of a hall uh each month to go over um policies that are some to be very very outdated thank you Miss Brown and that's Miss f vich um I just wanted to um highlight a couple of things that are going on in the district um we have a high school student um who's off fencer uh Liam bass was the individual foil champion in this past month I'll always highlight fencing um so that's a pretty big deal um he W he faced a lot of um some of the best fencers in the country who happened to reside in New Jersey and he beat them all so he I just wanted to congratulate him I was there to witness it he's a phenomenal fencer and I'm excited to see how he does at Notre Dame University in the fall um Liam bass I never want to fence him so I don't think I could ever beat him um the other thing that I wanted to another thing that I wanted to highlight too um as a parent um today was Pi Day and my seventh grader is at Memorial Middle School and the math department um created a whole pie Day celebration um I brought in several pies and juice uh to celebrate the Day um my seventh grader was very excited about that so I just wanted to you know just highlight and recognize the math department at Memorial um they really do an outstanding job there um at really getting the kids excited about math um because it was never a topic that I was ever really excited about so I just wanted to um highlight you know the great teaching there um and I also wanted to highlight my time in Mrs Cohen second grade class this year this last week uh we got to go there for read Across America so I got to read in her class and um it was really special her class is amazing Miss Cohen is an amazing teacher um and it was really nice to see the book that I read they ended up turning into a bulletin board um all of the students were inspired to turn it into a bulon board that's up in mils which was really exciting to see so I just that was very special and it's something that I really looked forward to do as a board member so I just wanted to say hi to miss Cohen's class and thank you for letting me come and read and that's it Mich I think as board members the only way that we can address um the only way we can do any changes is through policy I would like to ask the board the chair uh of the policy committee when will we have a meeting can we please have a particular date I also would like to uh state that the minutes starting April 27 2023 till now none of the minutes are posted on on board docs so we have the agenda and none of the minutes are posted and I was wondering why I also try to look through some of the executive uh minutes for the agenda and unfortunately all of them are locked even when I log in so I not sure how that H I would like to I would like that uh for the board attorney to um the board attorney to make his legal opinion regarding cell phones during board meetings last last turn the board meetings uh our board President says we shouldn't use cell phones during because it's a convers it's a it's a in a public meeting you're having a public another meeting with your cell phone because I don't know who's talking to who so I would like to know if it is proper to have cell phones during a meeting especially if you're running the meeting and the next thing I want to ask is the read Across America where board members read is it read only in one school or multiple schools and if it's read in one school how's that equitable and that's it for now thank you Mr Spindel yes two two uh questions I wanted to know if the HIV booklet that the district has been working on for parents and students if that particular booklet has been finalized so that the parents and students can see it or when it will be finalized for distribution and the other uh comment is I know that we discussed whether or not we were going to have work sessions I wanted to know if we are going to continue with work sessions in the future thank you Mr Rosenberg thank you um first of all I forgot to mention during uh the agenda items to thank uh radburn West Morland Forest um PTA and the friends of music for all their U incredible donations to the uh to the district um I also want to say like Jean uh did what a nice time it was down at um mils mils has been having this inviting certain people all the schools seem to invite different people to to the schools and I was invited to two I was invited to mils which which has had which has done this for years um besides besides during covid um and um I was invited to Edison here to my grandson's class and I had such a good time reading to the kids um I think the uh young lady that was here from Memorial as a student rep said that they that those three schools that Memorial serves um has the kids come back from Memorial and read to the read to the kids during read Across America week so I think every school kind of does it a little differently because I saw also in uh some of the things that was sent out on the website so um it it's it's great anytime kids get excited about reading is important in my in my book um and and um that's it and know that everyone that's here tonight know that we we do hear you um we do hear you we hear the we read the um we read the emails and we're working on it and Dr Denio is working on it and um hopefully hopefully we we could uh make Falon as inclusive as as it as we say it is uh Mr bosski can you please take the timer I would just like to address the board and let you know that I am on my cell phone tonight it is my birthday and so when family members and friends are calling it's not always appropriate for me to look at my phone but I am turning my phone off I am silencing it and texting them back letting them that I'm not available to pick up because I am here serving my community um that being said we do also use your cell our cell phones as Mr balowski is forh our timer so I do apologize if it does appear that tonight in particular with everybody here that I am not um the most focused I can be I am constantly taking notes but I turned 42 today and when my parents are calling me I am going to I'm not going to ignore them they birthed me it is their day to Ando turned 26 yesterday 227 yesterday I know Mr Bowski so you beat me to it I simply wanted to put it on the record a happy birthday to our president so if that could be reflected in our minutes happy birthday to you as well thank you so for second are we good for second round Miss Brown and then miss felich um happy birthday Mr baldowski and Miss Mayhan um I also forgot uh to mention during the agenda time um that I'm very excited to see my alma mater Temple University is going to be doing um a project through with the Earth and environmental Sciences at the high school so I'm really excited to see um um Temple here representing um go owls and um the other thing that I wanted to mention too was um West Morland hosted a camp out uh read aloud and they filled their gym with um tents and camping gear uh because Lord knows I'll never go camping and the kids were so excited they got to read to each other I know teachers read to them I know that there were people who went into that school as well well for read Across America activities um so I just love the diversity of the different activities that go along that go along with read Across America throughout the district um I think each school has really special and tradition special Traditions um we got to hear all about the traditions of uh surprise readers coming into Mills when we got to go there um and it was I know West Morland has Traditions I know memorials had traditions of their students going to read to younger Generations so I'm excited that our um that our district not only um asks adults from the community to come in and read to them but it asks their their students the older students to come down and read to them too I think it's really special thank you so when my original during the previous uh Comon period I asked for the company for the benches not for the playgrounds if because the playgrounds in Forest haven't been not the playgrounds I'm sorry the benches haven't been replaced for the past two years and they're arrested so I would like to know if are we waiting for the installer for the benches and if it's only one company what's the name of the company the next thing is uh during the finance committee the committee decided that it there thumbs up for the mental health resolution where um if 25% of our staff uh does the Wellness um they will get well the district will get a 1% savings on uh on the health care premium and I was wondering if the board can make a resolution how the money will be spent if we actually get it because most districts that did implement this be to motivate the teachers and the staff they say we will if we get this money which is going to be I think over $100,000 we will be doing the following with the money and and this gives a motivation for staff to actually do it otherwise yes we're going to do it great what are you going to do with the money I don't know I think that's no as a teacher I'm not motivated if you tell me we're going to do a b and c and I like the plan I'll be motivated to fill out the question year which takes about 10 minutes uh and that and the last thing is I asked during my other time what is the policy regarding uh the time for board uh member Commons I never got a response for that thank you the floor is closed so in re response to questions regarding the policy committee we discussed during the board retreat um I believe I put in my update to the to the board in regards to the process around establishing weekly committee meetings with the different board members so we're waiting to be able to collect all of that feedback from the board to then be able to see the availability then we're going to establish a Cadence with schedule of all the Committees so the goal would be for each committee to meet once a month in response to policy um that would be through that process as well but policies would be run through the respective committee so for example the administration would facilitate the coordination of new draft policies that are either mandatory or recommended let's say a policy in particular deals with the transportation department then we would run that through uh M manuso through the uh b& Department uh and then that would be run through that committee with the board members for discussion and review um once we've had that discussion then that will go to the full board um for full board discussion here as Board of the whole so uh once we get the feedback from the entire board then we'll coordinate a schedule and then our goal is to coordinate that as quickly as we can uh to convene those meetings um just like to thank all of the schools who uh coordinated uh the read Across America it was a wonderful event um and something that certainly put smiles not only on the faces of the children um but I know from looking around the room it put a lot of smiles on the faces of the adults so that was great um in regards to the HIV uh I think Mr Spindel you called it a booklet it's kind of like what we discussed of updating our website around process and communication that is still in process we're communicating with the administrative team uh we have a draft template flow chart we have a FAQ sheet we're working through revising those so we anticipate that that will be up within the next few weeks and that will be emailed out to the community as well um and I think that covers everything from my point of view excuse me I asked a question about the work sessions uh the the work sessions whether we're going to continue having work sessions that's a really conversation for the board so that um was put out in this week's housekeeping I am going to review the timing of tonight's meeting and then I will defer back to the board regarding whether last week's work session appeared to be um successful Based on data additionally Miss felich just for your reference all of our minutes with what we believe is the exception of 2022 is posted on our um School District website under documents uh the minutes are not on board dos you can go to bardocks and then it stat to the right you'll see board dos in the bottom and to the right are our minutes I apologize it actually seems that there are two places that the minutes are located so if you click on the agenda in board dos and then click view minutes the 2022 minutes are in board dos there are some other minutes that are saved to the right hand side under archive so I will work to make sure that they are all in one place I think some were being saved in a different place prior to my arrival so we'll clean that up correct Joe just showed me where they are so maybe can you can miss fich as well but they are saved in a different place which is confusing so we'll work to get them all in one spot the executive minutes are not made public okay I'll look into your concern certainly additionally as stated our policies will begin um feeding through all of our small group our small committees as discussed at our board retreat by um a quorum we did discuss that we would be um moving to monthly committee meetings um there was a straw poll that they would take place on Thursday evenings however we are developing a schedule at which point we will see more consistent small committee meetings as well as committee of the whole to answer another of your questions just like all of our Community is diverse as are our schools they all have their own identity for example radburn does a variety of incredible cultural events mils in particular does a VIP reader for read Across America and they utilize access to our um VIPs of Fair Lawn whether that is board trustees or central office administration or specialists in District Our Town Council Members so that is specific to mils um I will defer to you on the cell phones so relative to the cell phones if that's something that the board wants to discuss in executive session I certainly can I can provide AAL op public that question and then yes we can discuss um further as a board regarding staff participation of the state wellness program but um we will not be discussing it tonight can you provide timeline when we can not at this time thank you so we are now going to close board comments um and we will be motion we will be moving into closed session um can I get a motion to move into close so moved um we will be moving into closed um at 9:12 p.m. I really do appreciate our community for coming out um for all variety of reasons thank you so much for being here with us um all in favor can I bring up the I'm just going to quickly share with all of you in case you'd love to return to see us April 18th is our regular monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. here at Edison school May 2nd public hearing our budget adoption is 7:30 p.m. Edison school room 19 our May regular monthly meeting is going to be at 7:30 Edison school room 19 thank you all so much for being here we are heading into closed session have a good night for