##VIDEO ID:azuX8AK5QaY## e e e e e e ch the regular monthly meeting of August 22nd was call to order at 750 p.m. at Memorial Middle School 1200 Street Media Center faon New Jersey there were 16 members of the public in attendance get a roll call please here pres Miss Brown pres Miss present here present present present the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend to the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the fair law 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 posting for the regular monthly meeting along with the date Place time thereof was distributed on June 14th 2024 please join me in the flag salute to flag un United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Dr dionio the floor is yours thank you Miss Mayhan good evening everyone um I have a number of updates being that we've been very very busy over the past few months with our team uh at all of our schools getting ready for the first day for our staff and and for our students on September 4th uh first I would just like to share that I'm immensely proud of our team um including the administration administrative assistance and secretaries Our IT department certainly our facilities Department um our teachers counselors child study team members everyone who has really been actively engaged over the course of the the last two months 8 to 10 weeks in order to be able to prepare uh for this upcoming school year to make sure it's a successful one uh throughout the summer they've dedicated themselves to improving programs updating the curriculum enhancing our facilities strengthening our school security um assisting faculty members with uh active Recruitment and training in order to be ready for the new school year um and in that Spirit we just had the last three days very successful new staff orientation uh so I would like to thank Miss Tai and our entire our human resources department and our Administration uh for all of their efforts in an effort to be able to not only recruit uh the best talent uh and also to be able to bring people on board but then to be able to support them in the transition so I can say uh with confidence that with meeting some of these new staff members that we've brought on board uh witnessing the trainings that have taken place over the last three days uh it's been very rich discuss discussions very supportive environment uh that's not only made up of our administrative team but our teaching staff as well who is integral and making sure that we're able to support the new teachers and employees coming into Falon to support our students as far as our facilities update have quite a bit to provide to to the community here uh and to the board so many of you who've been around to all of our schools have seen quite a bit of activity this summer um I from what I understand there's probably been more activity this summer than there's been in quite a long time barring a referendum with you know additions to buildings the number of facility updates that have been done is tremendous so in addition to the regular cleaning and housekeeping in order to make sure that the buildings are as presentable and clean as they are um there have been a number of different projects that I would like to share with everyone that are on track either completed uh or going to be completed in the coming days so we've had a a number of Renovations uh of six additional science labs as well as many health and safety initiatives that have been completed this summer projects included paving at the high school uh Memorial Middle School as you saw coming in mils um as well as the replacement of concrete stairs on the back end of mils and TJ Middle School uh those were all completed there was also the addition of a walking path uh at the front of the high school and f as as well as Landscaping beautiful landscaping that's been added uh and we've also had fencing that was installed at West Morland Thomas Jefferson and faon High School in addition to Landscaping throughout the school district the multi-purpose rooms in our schools were all painted at the elementary schools as well as large fans installed for cooling and ventilation several of our elementary schools have also replaced uh We've replace their worn cafeteria Furniture this summer so they have all brand new furniture for our students in the lunchroom we've added two new gym floors that have been installed at radburn elementary school and also at Thomas Edison uh the largest projects on the list this summer were certainly Sasso turf field that was up for renovation um it had certainly seen its life expectancy and we have a beautiful brand new field that's been installed uh and the track replacement is also being being completed and that will be completed within the next few weeks uh in time for the new season and uh another big project was shutting down Thomas Edison school this summer we had the roof entirely redone uh so they're finalizing the details there now um and we'll be back next month actually back to Edison for all of our board meetings um both projects are anticipated to be completed first week of September member uh and then currently the field project is in its over at saso is in its last phase the track being completed uh and the Edison roof will substantially be completed this Friday uh once again thank you to Mrs manuso uh for all of your leadership and spearheading the the work across the district i' would also like to thank uh Mr yabs our director of facilities and the assistant uh facilities director coordinator nef uh and the entire facility in custodial team they've just done an absolutely amazing job when you walk through the buildings uh and it's something that's incredible to do in such a short period of time uh I can't overstate enough just how impressive it's been as far as the district calendar goes uh for the 2425 school year that obviously was published and board approved a number of months ago last year we are starting to work on the new calendar we're going to get ahead of that for the 2526 calendar uh so we'll bring that to the board within the next few months uh and try to get that completed before December uh to communicate that to the parents as far as our school schedule goes the last three days have been the new staff orientation as I mentioned earlier next week our 10-month employees return back to school uh on August 28th officially we'll have convocation where we'll convene as a whole District staff we'll have faculty meetings uh and preparation in classrooms on August 29th that that's an inservice professional development day we have a full slated schedule uh for our our entire staff I'd like to thank our administrative team specifically Dr lactina and Mrs DeFranco for all of your efforts and coordinating all of that work um and all of our supervisors and administrators in in that facilitation uh our first day for our students is actually Wednesday September 4th after Labor Day um and looks like we're ready to go and it's right around the corner so enjoy your uh your last few weeks of of sun and summer um this evening we have a resolution uh 5f that's our annual District goals and objectives that we have up for board approval that's something that we do annually uh typically this time of year uh we have three goals uh that are the continuation goals over the past several years it's the Career and Technical education goal maintaining student and staff well-being and then the last goal is tiered academic systems of support um th those goals uh are similar uh in an effort to make sure that we're reflecting our commitment to sustained Improvement year-over-year and making sure that we're aligning our strategic Vision over time uh building upon our past success but making sure that we're ensuring deeper systemic change rather than abrupt shifts we keep those goals consistent year-over-year those are three really great goals at the district district has had um specifically I think what's most important to note is that the action items that fit within Under the Umbrella of each of those goals changes um sometimes slightly to suit the needs and the feedback we're receiving and to update the progress that the district has made in the previous year and sometimes more drastically but it's an action item rather than the entire goal and that really suits the needs of the district uh the way we in the past have conducted surveys has been through my understanding is like a Google form to the community uh we did not do that this year and the reason for that is last year we uh surveyed over 2,000 community members and students and staff we have great feedback through thought exchange that we end up taking all of that information and now have developed action items that will fit right within those three goals and if you recall from may we had the state of the schools president presentation we had a lot of that feedback that was embedded in that presentation and what we're taking is the most pressing prevalent matters and the feedback we've received from our community members and applying that right within our three overarching goals so the administrative team and I are working on that over the next uh several weeks we plan to be able to bring those action items to the board in September through the board committees and then for board approval uh in September at the end of the month uh in the same Spirit of feedback from thought exchange uh last year one of the items uh amongst a number of items that we received feedback on was school lunches and food services for the board and members of our community who may or may not know uh last year was the first year that we actually had maschio's food services uh brought into the district and there have been significant improvements in the Food Service program um there's always room for growth and Improvement so last year continuous feedback around uh through thought exchange was to continue to take a look not only at the options for food uh but possibly expanding offers uh offerings for more healthy options uh last year M manuso and mashos conducted uh like these small group sessions for students parents and staff to provide feedback to mashos and to be able to taste some of the food and give ideas we're going to be expanding that for next year as well uh and being able to solicit some more feedback in order to see what other changes our students uh and parents would like to see within our food service program as a followup to last month's meeting uh and also the month before we started talking about cell phones and what our policies are uh one of the things that the administrative team and I are doing with our um full administrative team um is being able to have a discussion around our current policies uh that relate to cell phone use and then we're going to be able to bring that feedback back to the board in September with recommendations as to uh how it could possibly impact policy so that way the board can do that through the appropriate committee so that's the timeline on uh the followup for cell phones and the use of it and and how we utilize those in school and then last but not least uh we have uh an update on the district logo rebranding um over the summer we've been reviewing the results with Sky designs uh just to give everybody some feedback uh the survey was part of that we did it back in the spring uh was part of the district rebranding efforts around the logo and design to understand from our community uh what the sentiments are uh we began with what sky designs calls the Discover phase with focus groups where we had almost 200 members of our community students staff and parents participa in those focus group discussions uh to really understand and craft a narrative around what the story is about who we are here in fairon uh we also sent out the community survey uh over 500 people responded to that survey which is a really great response um that all occurred that's all part of the Discover phase which then leads us into the Define phase the Define phase is the phase that we're currently in which is now analyzing all of the feedback with Sky designs um of the respondents on the survey um onethird of the respondents shared a preference for keeping the current FL logo untouched onethird it it was interesting how it it broke out 23s favored either updating the current logo or completely redesigning it so two-thirds of the community said there should be some sort of change so part of this is really making sure that throughout and this is why we're taking our time with this process not to rush it is because any type of adjustments to the logo we will continue to put out to the community for additional feedback be able to get that feedback that will inform the design process so the next steps uh we just recently met with Sky designs in August the next steps include developing new variations of the logo as a draft uh to create a unified visual identity to amplify the district's story and all of this is going to really be tied around what the story is around not only fairon as a school district and our community but also each individual school um we're going to take all of that we're going to be able to share that out so the community and the board can expect a follow-up email that has more description more update uh and another opportunity to be able to collect more feedback uh the results of that will be coming within the next month or so so expect something probably in September uh and we look to continue with this process over the next several months throughout the remainder of 2024 and then going into early 2025 so that concludes my superintendent report for this evening at this time we do have a short presentation this evening we're going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent of Education Dr lactina Who will be presenting on access for L's our English language learner spring 2024 testing assessment presentation thank you Dr ganio um so we are going to report out um as he said on the access for L's that is the name of the assessment that is given to all of our MLS our multilingual Learners um each year the name of the test is still access for L's um they have not changed that yet so again this is an English language proficiency assessment for all of our mls in grades K through 12 um and what it does is it helps us to assess our ml's Proficiency in the English language itself um it's computer-based it's adaptive um and so it kind of you know um sees where a student is at and then determines what the next question should be based on their ability level um and they are tested within four domains of listening ing reading speaking and writing there are six levels uh the students are scored on uh a sixo scale whether they are entering where they know and use minimal social language and minimal academic language um and they typically need lots of visual and graphic support at this stage level two is called emerging they know some social English and some very general academic language but again they still need that support uh visually graphically level three is developing students know and use social English and some specific academic language with that Visual and graphic support and then they start to turn that corner and need less of that support level four is expanding where students know and use social English and some technical academic language level five is bridging they know and use social and academic language working with grade level material so they are really making good strides at this point and then level six is reaching and that's when our students know and use social and academic language at the highest level measured by this particular test so this chart will show you um how our students did in each of those levels now we are not allowed uh for confidentiality purposes um we cannot share scores when there are fewer than 10 students so if I took the results and I teased them out and showed you kindergarten students for the first level and the second level and the third level you would see a chart filled with na because I'm am not allowed to share that information so in order to be able to share something meaningful we tend to bundle that information so I have enough students in each of those categories to be able to make this information meaningful so you will notice that we banded together the students in grades K through four 5 through eight and then 9 through 12 and then I also bundled levels one and two together those are the earliest levels of English language proficiency and then three and four are together in that pink color and followed by our students that are performing at the highest levels on this assessment which is level five and six um you will also see on this Slide the number of eligible test takers as well as the number of valid scores we received in each grade span as and then the participation rates we are required to share this information with you um and we are required to have a 95% participation rate and you can see that our district has a 97.5% um it's valid scores in this point but they they did actually participate all of our students um but we still have a 97.5% participation rate which is amazing um so again you can see our our students in each of those levels um you know we tend to look at the levels three and four as well as the levels five and six and in all of our grade spans you can see that the majority of our students are on the upper levels between level three and level six um it's important though to see how are we doing over time so what you're going to see on the next couple of slides you will see again those grade spans in blue you will see how did students perform in 2022 compared to 2023 in red compared to the 2024 green um so in levels one and two you will see how our students did from one year to the next same thing you can see how students performed one year to the next in levels three and four and then levels five and six and again you know these are not the exact same cohorts of students students exit each year it's not a perfect um it's not a a perfect cohort from one year to the next obviously so we aren't directly comparing Apples to Apples so we need to keep that in mind the next slide will show you how our students did in grades 5 through 8 in the Years 2022 2023 and 2024 respectively so you can see that first banding for those um that might not be able to see it the first group is for levels one and two followed by the data for levels three and four and following that on the far right is levels five and six and those are showing the percentages of students that score in each of those levels and finally we have grades 9 through 12 the same information um levels one and two followed by uh the tallest bar graphs there uh for levels three and four followed by levels five and six for each of those years 22 23 and 24 uh we took this data a step further um and what I wanted to show you though was overall proficiency so what does that really mean um so for students uh to exit or be considered proficient to exit their ml classes you need to score a point a 4.5 or Above So within those grade spans um you can see the numbers of students that scored 4.5 or above and then you see the percentage in that those grade levels so for example K through 4 44 students within that grade span scored a 4.5 or above and that represents 23.2% of the K to4 students and then when you look at grades 5 through eight we had 20 students that scored 4.5 or above and that represents 28.6% of those grades and then grades 9 through 12 eight of our students scored proficient and that represents 16.7% of those students that are mls in grades 9 through 12 I thought this was a really um great piece of information to share with you um every year we receive a district performance report it's always a year behind so last year we received this um in the spring based on information from the prior year but again it's an interesting thing when we're talking about our scores for our MLS interesting to see this information it is showing you on the top chart um the number of years that students are here in the district are MLS and then the number of students as well as the percent of students that scored 4.5 and above so you can see clearly the longer the students are with us here in faon the greater their language proficiency the higher they score um and typically we do like to um like the rule of them is we like to get those students to proficiency by year five um again those are you know those are different students than the ones I just showed you but it's the most recent data showing this kind of information I wanted to share it with you but what I'm really proud of and this does happen year after year I I give great props to our ml teachers and staff they are amazing the work they do with our students and our general education teachers that support our MLS um in 2223 they measure our students growth so not just how did they score on an access test but how much growth are they showing from one year to the next which is really important and here you can see 62.7% of all of our mls in District made the expected growth which is amazing that's a really high score the annual Target is 27.4 so we absolutely met that Target and and went beyond um so when we typically look at growth on our district performance reports historically our students again thanks to our hardworking teachers um our students exceed the expected growth in English language acquisition so um I thank them and and we have a lot to be proud of our families are so supportive our students and our our students do really really well uh thanks to that team effort um so um some of the interventions we provide our multilingual Learners um in grades K to four all of our beginner MLS so if they score a 2.5 and Below on the screener all of those students that are considered beginners receive support um during their writing period this is something fairly new that we do um in addition to support during their reading period um so that is an additional support we provide to our students all of our mls in grades 5 through six re receive two periods of support reading and writing again um typically just those students that um would be eligible for a bilingual program if we had them here in District would receive two periods but in Falon all of our students in grades five and six and grades seven and eight receive those two periods of support so they're getting an intensive ESL program even though it is not required so we're really proud of that all of our beginner mls in grades 9 through 12 also receive two periods of support they have their English class and then they also have subject area reinforcement um where students get additional support in specific content areas um again we have some ancillary support that we also um have in the high school so in addition to the two periods we also then are lucky enough to have even more teacher support um for those students during those subject areas so it's not just one teacher um we now lower that student teacher ratio um and then we also have various online resources for our students and we have been um working with our general education teachers K through 12 for the past I don't know five to eight years probably on scop which is uh sheltered instruction observation protocol where we are working with our general education teachers to teach them the effective strategy to use when working with mls in the general education setting so not only do we have our teachers that are certified in ESL working with our MLS but we also have trained general education teachers as well and we are continuing that um initiative into the future as far as we see it so we have money again set aside to continue those efforts in the upcoming school year that's it does anybody have any questions so I have a couple of questions my first question is the annual Target goal that you said was 28 that the state how did they determine that number what how did the state says 28 versus 50 versus 19 so what they do is they establish a baseline um and I'd have to find out from them what that year was but they take that Baseline they set up a goal and then they divide the difference into intervals and then that establishes what your target is each year until you ultimately in the fifth year reach the goal so if we had you know um 20% of our students that were proficient and the goal is 80 they would take 60 divide it by the five years and then those are the increments that they expect us to see each year so it's based on our school not based on other state other schools correct I was looking at the slide uh one one of your slides from grades 5 through eight it says grade level it keeps from grades 5 through eight it seems like every year from 20122 to 24 it keeps going down I was just wondering why well again it's very hard to compare apples to apples there because they're not oh sorry um the yeah let me that one yes yeah so um if you're looking so so it depends on what you're looking at right um it went down in the middle level right and that's okay because it went up in levels five and six right so overall we had more students scoring in levels one and two that year right so we would prefer to see that go down in an Ideal World um but we also had more kids scoring in the level five and six that year but again they're not the same students so it's very hard for us to always make determinations unless it's a true cohort of students and one more thing it says if the kids were here five years or more in the district you only have 43% of them exit out of I'm just wondering what happens to the other 57% of students is a huge number of kids five years but after five years only 43% exit our those are the percentage of student students that scored 4.5 or above um sometimes there are some students that score slightly below that that we use multiple measures to exit students so there are other factors that go into whether or not they could be eligible to be released so that number could be higher um these are the students that score the 4.5 which is really the goal we want to try to get them to sometimes they will score slightly less um but then there are other factors that are considered into entering and exiting a student how is this how does that compare to other years and how is it compared to other districts with that are with us I don't have that information right now thank you you're welcome thank you just a comment more than than a question uh the numbers are are excellent up there and I just want to congratulate not only our Administration our teachers and our families that work with the students at home to get them to get to this point so I just think it overall it's just a very good effort by everyone so thank you thank you thank you at this time we will open the public comments on agenda items only please limit your questions at this time to agenda items please provide your name and municipality in which you reside and sign in comments are limited to 3 minutes this is not a dialogue between 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 are qualified and in which their service will best serve the operation of the district however my reassignment to the RO restart we're continue okay good evening my name is Dina D santis and I stand before tonight to address the level four grievance regarding my involuntary reassignment the district's policy 4130 clearly states that it reserves the right to assign and transfer support staff members to the positions for which they are qualified and in which their service will best serve the operation of the district however my reassignment to the role of Student Assistance counselor seems to contradict to this policy I have not worked as a substance awareness counselor or role distinctly different from the Student Assistance counselor position in over 20 years and even then it was on a parttime basis policy 4130 also outlines that any transferred decisions made by the chief School administrator should consider the employees success in previous roles attitude toward change length of service within the district recommendation of the employee supervisor and the operational efficiency that would result from the proposed transfer it explicitly states that no support staff member should be transferred for disciplinary reasons let me address these factors one by one success in a former position I have served as a guidance counselor at Fon high school for 20 years with great success being the only counselor in the department to receive the education specialist of the Year award it seems my proven success is now being used against me attitude toward change I have consistently committ communicated to the administration and the board that this reassignment is involuntary this is not a reassignment I welcome or support length of service as the senior member of the high school guidance department and indeed the senior guidance counselor in the entire District my extensive experience should be valued not disregarded supervisor recommendation I am unclear where the directive for this transfer originated my direct supervisor Mrs gupa never discussed it with me instead I was informed by Mrs DeFranco just two days before the end of the school year with no explanation other than my possession of a relevant certification operational efficiency the district chose not to renew the contract of the untenured incumbent who was eager knowledgeable and fully qualified for this position despite having you have 30 seconds thank you despite having ample time to advertise the vacancy and find a willing replacement the district instead opted to transfer me involuntarily this decision has left the High School counseling department with additional vacancies worsening an already strained situation due to a recent resignation a maternity leave and another anticipated leave replacement which you will vote on later tonight the result is at the high school guidance Department will be staffed by four new hires with far less experience and training than I possess I'm sorry I'm going to make a motion to extend her time by couple by two minutes I object to the motion as the president of the board of that call the role I would like to uh say one more thing uh staff me unfortunately there is a roll call in place so that has to we should have also a discussion before we have a roll call that's how we have been practice as the president of the Board of Education here in fairon I have the right to object to consideration of a motion at this time and I'm going to ask for a roll call Mr baldowski no the extension of time Mr [Music] rowski Mr Banta yes Dr berini No Miss Brown no Miss F yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr spendel yes Miss Yurman yes Mayhan no the extension of time passes thank you if there is not additional people who would like to speak you are welcome to come back as long as it doesn't no the extension time should can continue that's the reason why we do extension and it was sure so there was just an up and down vote on providing the speaker to addition correct yes and that that means she gets to addition yes my apologies continue the result is that the high school guidance department will be staffed by four new hires with far less experience and training than I possess how does this enhance operational efficiency disciplinary reasons my 20-year tenure in this district is unblemished by disciplinary actions however as the association representative for the guidance Department I have been at the Forefront of multiple conversations with Administration about contract violations including one recent grievance settled in favor of the high school guidance Department by the state in your inform in your informational packet regarding this grievance Mr gorski's response to this grievance at level two stated neither Mrs Gupta nor Mr aello directed Miss DeSantis not to report a student's disciplinary infraction to a college this is simply untrue another union representative witnessed the conversation with Mr aello and it was immediately reported to the union president given these points I strongly believe that this re assignment is not only retaliatory but also detrimental to the students of the fairon school district I urge the board to consider the broader context and the underlying factors that have led to this decision as you weigh the decision that could irrevocably damage my distinguished career I ask you to reflect on the following why was the board not informed that my transfer was involuntary why was the board not made aware that the middle school student assistance counselor position was not advertised you have 30 seconds remaining even though there was ample time as the incumbent was notified of her non-renewal status before the May 15th deadline why was the board not informed that the untenured incumbent who is both knowledgeable and passionate about the position was not being rehired thus creating a vacancy that led to my involuntary transfer which isolates me in a position split between middle schools and seemingly serves to Shield the Administration from future complaints about contract violations by an Earnest Association representative excuse me your time is okay thank you thank you good evening Troy newon Townley Road maybe you don't know who I am I just wanted to um to follow up to continue Mr Sis's comments just had a few more things to say for your consideration I just want to continue with that so she asks why if the position was not advertised was I only notified by of my involuntary transfer two days before the end of the school year without any job description or identification of the responsibilities at the middle school level in my role as Association representative for fairon Education Association I have always followed the proper chain of command bringing contract violations to my supervisor's atten attention without circumventing Authority I have acted with ethical Integrity throughout my career and I respectfully request that you reconsider this reassignment which not only undermines my professional standing but also jeopardizes the effectiveness of the fellow on high school guidance department and ultimately the well-being of our students that's all Christine Weinstein Maron my name uh I'm just learning of this change and as a parent of a senior at the high school who was fortunate to have uh an as his guidance counselor now learning just now that my guidance counselor is changing and looking at the list the guidance counselor that's listed in Genesis right now is listed here as for nth grade so when were we going to communicate to the parents that guidance counselors especially senior year when they that their guidance counselors are now all changed this is not a very good um thing that's happening and I really would appreciate it if we would get some more communication regarding this because guidance counseling has always been a very uh Hot Topic with Farland High School in the last years I've heard so many complaints not because the counselors are not um helpful or not knowledgeable but that there's not enough there's not enough support there's not enough counselors especially when we're going through the college application process it is a huge process it is so overwhelming for families that people have to hire people to help them do it when some families can't do that so we need our guidance counselors so we need more of them so uh I would appreciate it if this information can be um communicated to the parents immediately so that they know who to contact when they need to get their transcripts people are starting their applications and it's going to be a total mess thank you wil Santana feron I'm commenting on the Personnel um agenda on all the new hires I'm sorry can you oh thank you pleas don't start I'm going to comment on the uh presentation for the access and on the Personnel um the new staff coming in uh first um I am a forever mul multilanguage learner uh English is my second language and as a resident of furong and as a parent those scores are not acceptable acceptable to me uh I was very sad to see them however for people who are not aware of how uh someone learns English as a second language it takes time it takes like four to five sometimes six years so please um show uh empathy and sympathy to our children it takes a lot of time um all right now um welcome back to the new school year I'm delighted to see our dedicated teachers and administrators staff and board professionals your hard work and kindness are the backbone of our schools I am grateful for everything you do a warm welcome also goes out to our new hires you're joining a team that's passionate about education and committed to Excellence we are excited to have you with us and wish you the best as you start the this new chapter as we begin this year let's remember the power of kindness in our classrooms offices and interactions kindness Fosters a positive environment where everyone feels value let's leave with empathy and make our schools a place of respect and support we must hold high expectations for all students every child has unique potential and is our job to help them Reach it by challenging and supporting our students we can guide them toward success in all areas finally our commitment to diversity equity and inclusion remains unwaver in our schools reflect the rich diversity of our community and it is crucial that every student feels seen and respect it we will continue to promote inclusivity and ensure all students have the opportunity they deserve let's make this school year one of kindness High expectation and inclusivity together we can create a thriving environment for student and each other I do have an accent still and I hope you understood everything I say thank you hi I'm Cindy Joe binbush and I am here to speak in the later part of public comments but I happen to have learned of the agenda item regarding Dina DeSantis and I just wanted to say I did send a note uh the last time it was brought to the board's attention but I just want to Echo my sentiments that I think it's a huge huge mistake to remove her from where she is glowing flowing and nurturing uh our children in the especially in the high school um I can't say enough about Dena she happened to be both of my children's uh guidance counselor um there were issues she addressed them she made them flourish she guided them when they had questions she was always there for them she has an immense amount of experience she's professional and she's a wonderful person and I think that the children are really going to miss her um especially if they don't even know that she's not going to be there when they walk in in September so I just ask you to reconsider um she doesn't want to go it's involuntary she can Excel where she should be able to Excel and do her best in what she's able to do and that's that's all I wanted to say thank you for your time is there anything on the Google form yes there is there are a few comments but I'm going to hold until later because none of them apply to the agenda items noted the floor is closed we will now move move on to board member comments on agenda items only miss valich oh thank you for acknowledging me so I'm going to vote no on seven L2 so the district is um is removing three ancillary staff position cutting the positions two will be in the high school half of it will be in the forest and half of it will be with M Morland I believe that ancillary teachers are important in our district and I think we should not cut ancillary teacher positions I think it's a great disservice to our students and as a board we save your teach uh Student First in order to be student Forest we shouldn't be cutting instructional positions from our budget they help our MLS as we just learned from our presentation they also help our students that are need more assistance last board meeting we said 78% of our students pass the St uh NJ GPA just for comparison our neighbor Ridgewood has 88% passing rate for the past two years Glenn Ridge 89% passing rid pascade Valley pascade Hills I'm sorry 82% passing rate um pascade Valley 83 Livingston 81 MAA 85 I'm sorry we could do better with our test and one way to get do better with our test is to make sure we have more support for our children than need the support having a one-on-one help from a a professional is worth more than any computer program that you can put in front of any student one-on-one can help with the student I've worked with students that are have difficulty math and no matter how much you put them in front of the computer you can fix a lot of their things that they don't understand very quickly by and by asking the proper questions so I'm going to be voting no to remove to reduce three ancillary staff position um I would like to say uh there's for the affirmative action officers TJ it says to be determined as of 3:00 today has that changed so how can we vote on something to be determined that's why I don't really understand that one can we remove that position and put that for the next board meeting because to be determined is not a name when you're done with all of your questions I'll make a comment okay um also uh we pay for the field uh can the can on the agenda reflect the field trips when we uh the board pays what is actually being paid is it transportation is it tickets what actually is act okay and then I will come back oh also I wanted to ask a question uh for the bills the district paid a uh what a gift card for 1,700 for shoppr I was wondering if they can explain why um I also don't understand why the district paid 1,350 for stumpies Fairfield 1,350 if it was for your time is up thank you go ahead Mr bant point of water aren't we supposed to ask these questions in an email before the meeting so that the administration has the proper information to give point of information I got the bills I did not know what the bills were for so I had to get the list before I can we're not EXC excuse me we are not having a back and forth that is not what this meeting is about but I was interrupted is all I'm saying I understand that but that is not I'm just asking if that's the procedure that is not what this meeting is about thank you thank you for your comment I will defer that to our superintendent or legal counsel so as far as um I'll let U Miss manuso if she has the answer otherwise we could follow up regarding the shop right gift certificate uh field trip delineating costs um that's over and above and not necessary the administration manages that we communicate if you have any specific questions regarding field trips but those costs are already put in there um on the agenda affirmative action officer it's listed as TBD because it is vacant so you're actually not approving anyone but if we didn't have that on there then justifiably so the board would then be asking why don't we have TJ on there so that's why it says TBD so as soon as we have somebody for that role we will put that in there um stumpies was part of a Leadership Retreat so it costs $34 per person for two-day Leadership Retreat for professional development I would say that the district got a bargain in regards to what the Leadership Retreat cost for PD this summer um considering we facilitated the whole thing in-house uh so I think it's a very good use of taxpayer dollars and it was a very well-received Retreat and um as far as the conversations that we've had um the Personnel committee spoke quite extensively about the ancillary teachers it was something that we really struggled with uh because anytime that we have staff positions that we have to riff um it's a challenge not only for the staff member uh but also for the fact that those are resources that don't go directly to impact children or students right so the more resources the better the only reason we're in this situation is because the federal funds were cut by over $250,000 and we receive that information most recently we have to balance the budget by law we can't just you know go borrow it from somewhere else or go cut something else in the budget that would be unfair uh it's important to note that the title funds are over and above what we already provide so that's a critically important piece and while we are not happy that we had to reduce three ancillary positions it is an unfortunate situation we did discuss it for over an hour in our Personnel committee uh we tried to look for other options at this point in time we don't have those options um we were able to be creative so we only have to riff one position and the reason for that is we did not uh appoint replacements for two other vacancies just because of the timing and then we restructured how we were going to implement the ancillary model part of the beginning of the school year in September into October is assessment of our students based on abilities so we're going to reevaluate and then that buys us more time so if our we believe that we'll be in a good place with providing the services that our students need uh should that change and should our students need more services then we will come back to the board and say we believe that we need resources elsewhere and then we'll go back to the drawing board in order to be able to figure that out but at least for right now we have one Riff on the books um that uh is communicated so in that way we can balance the budget in accordance with the more than $250,000 Title One Fund short uh shortfall or cut from the federal government uh do you have an answer on the shopr question I do um the shoppr cards that's part of our homeless Grant and we give out gift cards to all of our homeless families so that they can buy necessary items for their school year so that's what the cost was for and that is allowable within the grant [Music] guidelines no one else I have um I know we don't talk about Personnel but I wanted to ask about a position was the POS the sack position for the two Middle School ever advertised if so when was it advertised because this is the second time during a meeting it was says it wasn't advertised as much as I know being in a school district every position must be advertised you can't just fill a position without being advertised I thought that was the state law unless I am mistaken if I am if the attorney could please guide me in the right way um I'm [Music] also I'm also voting no for the district goals the distri goals are the same as last year the administration hasn't provided us what exactly is being changed I think there's lots of other things that need to be changed for example adding another language in our district that's something that the community is looking for to making sure that our state tests are higher by investing in different resources to help our students uh the CTE I'm sorry to me CTE means if I graduate high school Fair High School I learned a skill and I can go to a job and what we currently are doing doesn't it seems like oh it's going to be better for college for example they're teaching uh teaching how to be a teacher and lesson planed I've been a teacher for 16 years to do a lesson plan takes me 10 minutes I write what I need I write the objective and I write what materials and activities it's not like such a thing that it's something that is so difficult that we and I've never learned it besides college and I think it's important for us to be shown how for example the um redgar has a program a nine month boot camp for coding I would like our district to have a four-year coding program I would that would be a great um currently we only have an AP course and I'm so happy that they added a new course this year which is python so I'm very thankful for the administration but I think we need to have JavaScript we need to have a 4-year progression and if that could be part of the goal I would really appreciate because that shows that we're providing something that when they graduate they can actually get a job uh students can actually get a job in and I think that will be wonderful so I'm and also when Mr delissio came in uh during the retreat he added another goal about inclusivity about diversity and inclusivity you created a group of people that you meet you met on in June I think or may you have 30 seconds I was wondering if that goal could be added since it was already added during the retreat thank you Dr berini just a couple of follow-up points first of all I agree with Rita that we should have a four-year every now and then Rita she gave me a look uh I think we should have a fouryear SE sequence and in computer science we've agreed with this for a couple of years now and I think adding that course this year is the first step and I think in education we've talked about it and Dr Theo agrees that we're going to expand on that but it takes time to do that so I think in a couple years we'll have a four-year sequence in that so that's one point but I do agree that having more computer science classes than Dr berini if you would please just stick to agenda items and not have correspondence with other trustees at this time I can answer this oh I could answer this this way all right so the second point is that the c c cwe programs are are very diverse and read is talking about as one aspect of it and there other aspects and we want to continue expanding on that thank you Julie the floor is closed can I have have a motion for 5 a through F my question wasn't answered uh Mr KGO if you wouldn't mind um answering that question sure thank you there is no statutory requirement to post for open positions uh and board policy reserves discretion to the superintendent and to the board regard to transfers uh filling open positions uh and discusses the process positions don't have to be your saying positions don't have to be listed like advertised at all you you I think the question was or the reference was to Legal requirement to post for open positions there is no statutory requirement in New Jersey to post for open positions and then the distri goal if we can add it since it was part of the retreat last time I already provided my response to the board both verbally tonight and in writing in the board questions and responses regarding the district goals and objectives so action items will be follow up followed up next month can I get a motion for 3A point of information is the agreements on the agenda it is not can I get a motion for 3A second roll call please Mr baldowski Mr B yes Dr berini yes Miss Brown yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes M Yurman yes Miss fich Mrs Mayan yes motion passes we are I am going to ask that we get a motion for five a through c and e first so move before so fast wait I'm gonna do it second I'm gonna do it second I'm gonna do that after never mind it's moved giving you a few minutes second a through c and e we're going to hold D for a moment motion is for five a b c and second second thank you roll call Mr baldowski yes Mr Banta yes Dr berini yes m brown yes M fov no on 5f 5f yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel abstain 5f m y abstain 5D no 5f oh sorry 5f no Mrs Mayan yes motion pass can I get a motion for five D with the addition of what Mr kamno will read out now 5D is going to be amended to include uh denial of Hib appeal heard in executive session the Hib number will be added to minutes so that is added to 5D is there a motion so moved roll call so may I please so a vote in uh a vote Yes will be uh as already reflected in 5D uh it would be yes to sub U yeah affirming HIV one and two uh and also that non-hib uh was not an HIV uh yes also uh since it reflects denial would be uh agreeing with denying the HIV appeal that you're everybody clear thank you roll call Mr baldowski abstain on the addition yes on the arest or just Mr B yes Dr berini m brown yes M fich no Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel no Miss Yurman no Mrs Mayhan yes motion passes can I get a motion for 6A through e so move second roll call please Mr baldowski yes Mr B yes Dr bertolini m brown yes m fich so I have a couple so hang on 7 a B2 we're on six I'm sorry six I'm for good sorry I heard seven yes I'm sorry I heard seven sorry Mr Rosenberg yes Mr spendel yes Miss Yurman yes Mrs Mayhan yes motion passes and I have a motion for S A through l so second vot call please Mr balowski yes Mr B yes Dr berini is brown yes is fich so 7 A2 No 7 D4 No 7 D9 No 7 E2 No 7 E4 No 7 J No 7 L2 no everything else is yes yes Mr Rosenberg Yes except abstain on 7j Mr spendel 79 no everything else yes vman seven uh it's yes except for no on 7 A2 7 D9 7 7 A2 7 D9 7 E2 7 E4 7j and 7 L2 those are no and everything else is yes yes thank you I need to make a correction if I may sure I left that out 7 L2 no Mrs Mayhan yes motion passes can I have a motion for 8 a second roll call Mr baldowski yes Mr B yes Dr berini m brown movich yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr spendel yes Miss yman yes Mrs Mayhan yes motion passes can I get a motion for nine a and b roll call Mr baldowski yes Mr Banta yes Dr berini m brown yes movich [Music] yes I'm sorry Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes Miss yman yes Mrs Mayhan abstain on 9A motion passes can I have a motion for a 10 10 a through M we'll move roll call Mr baldowski yes Mr Banta yes Dr berini m brown yes Miss fich abstain on 10f and take 10K 10f and are OB yes Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes Miss yman yes Mrs Mayhan yes motion passes can I get a motion for 11a and B so moved roll call Mr baldowski yes Mr Banta yes Dr berini Miss Brown yes Miss F elovich no Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes M Yurman no Mrs Mayan yes motion passes there's nothing see this is the public or public comments on any topic please provide your name and municipality in which you reside and sign in 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 District administration will respond as best they can the floor is open hi Jen grber F on education Association quick question I know you don't have to answer that right this second um I did hear it stated that Mrs Miss DeSantis was not on the agenda however she was given a rice notice to appear so I'm just wondering how this all fits in that's [Music] it just point of order um we didn't vote on 11c 11 thank you ready good evening Madame board president Mr board vice president board trustees Dr dionio Mrs DeFranco and administrators thank you for for allowing me the opportunity to speak to you all this evening um I don't know if I need to but I'm going to introduce myself my name is Mel jerser I'm president of FL uh f is an acronym as most of you know which stands for Fair Lawn Association for special education I'm here today to clarify our function and purpose due to um I guess some confusion that I've heard recently um FL is a districtwide parent group that was founded decades ago and was officially recognized by the state of New Jersey as the special education parent group of fairon back in 1999 place trailblazed this advocacy Association way before the buzzword being used today which is the acronym cpag cpeg stands for special education parent advisory group when F began they wanted to depict that it was parents and teachers coming together for the betterment of our schools and our population in order to be inclusive and bridge the gap between home and school they labeled it a parent teacher Association we're not a regular PTO that plans carnivals classroom activities dances or other events in fact we don't even do any of those things each one of our great schools in our district has their own PTO or PTA that does all of that what F does is unique and special our bylaws state that one of our basic policies are to work with the school system to provide quality education for all exceptional youth Children and Youth ages 3 through 21 who require special education services and shall seek to participate in the decision-making process establishing school policy recognizing that the legal responsibility to make these decisions has been delegated by the people to the Board of Education I'm now going to read something straight from span's guide to um develop and conducting a effective uh cpeg group a cpag gives parents the opportunity to provide direct input to their school district about policies programs practices and services that have an impact on students with disabilities and their families an effective cpad can increase the proactive involvement of families by inviting input that can be used to shape local special education policy an effective cpeg that uses parental input can help improve educational outcomes and well-being for all students including those with disabilities all also to help identify unmet needs help shape develop help shape the development of program Services excuse me thank you uh and policies and improve the district culture and climate Place does all these things place has been doing all these things in the interest of time I'm not going to list examples of how F has done all of the above but if you require specific examples I will willingly provide them to you Dr diano and Madame President uh I'm going to wait because my next paragraph I'm going to come back Cindy Joe hackenbush round two public comment really good to see all of you thank you for your time and allowing me to speak about Place served on the board for 15 years and was the special education chair for tenure on the board La was and continues to be an instrumental part of the special education committee La is so much more than a PTO La actively works with District employees and the board to ensure the well-being of our special needs students they offer programs to the parents communicate and set up the parents with groups Andor programs to help those parents and especially the child they provide the students with love and support they support so many of our programs in this District extended school year would not be as successful without the support and dedication of our F I consider F much more than a PTO and I'm sure I'm not alone in that feeling they have helped so many of our most precious students they are recognized Group by the Board of Education prior to the committee structure change we as a committee attended monthly meetings and presentations place is always there for every parent to guide and nurture and listen to to the needs of our district personnel as well as the parents of those enrolled in the special education program the par Professionals of the district also work very closely with f they are a close nit family thank you for your time do I have to sign in again or do I just leave it okay thank you sure Christine Weinstein uh as a parent of a student in special education and as a parent who has been active in various PTO and Boards since for 14 years now since Ethan's preschool I am proud to serve on the FL board currently I'm the treasurer and I can tell you firsthand that f is an extremely unique special organization we uh advocate for all of our students in District it is not about the parties it is not about the cupcakes or the fundraising is about bringing awareness inclusion and bringing families together it's about community and everything is for the students we uh bring up awareness we have all kinds of ways that you can reach out to us and work together with us we ask people to join us and come out to our parent information exchange meetings we have guest speakers we do all of the things that the CPAC uh dictates it's just a different acronym so please FL is a wonderful thing I can tell you so many stories and so many uh experiences that I have had that without FL would have been gone a totally different direction so thank you very much sign in again yes please wilin andana feron thank you all for being here tonight um I am running for ferlon Bard education because our children deserve deserve the very best as a parent educator and longtime president I am committed to making decision that prioritize their well-being and success our schools must must be places where every child feels safe respected and value that's why I stand I stand firmly against anti-Semitism islamophobia and all forms of hate we need to combat harassment intimidation and bullying to ensure that our students and staff can learn and grow in a positive environment protecting our children's mental health is also Al crucial I believe we should consider Banning cell phones and social media use during the school day to help students focus on learning and building meaningful connection I believe that's something that is being taken care of but the sooner the better I am committed to championing all educational programs including special education stem VOC vocational Tech spanding language options to include Hebrew and Russian which will enrich our students learning experiences to enhance student achievement I will collaborate work collaboratively with fellow board members to develop policies that help every student succeed and since I was on the board member I learned uh from the past I make mistakes I learn from them and um I think that will be that will make me a better person and and board member we must ensure our curriculum is inclusive and meets the diverse needs of our community when it comes to budgeting transparency is key I will prioritize essential programs and resources to make sure we are supporting students and staff effectively I am committed to fostering a respectful and collaborative board environment maybe um have a a uh consent agenda um maybe um agree to disagree and try to not have clicks but maybe have one click which which is entire boore and just because you don't vote the same way you I vote that doesn't mean we can't be friends and we can't have a good working relation so this is a different mindset now that I have which means we have to work together it can't be one side no it's got to be only one team uh finally because seconds remain 30 seconds oh my goodness um my dad is an attorney losu called a lot of money litigation takes money away from the children I'm sensing too much litigation and as a matter of fact not only I'm sensing our uh legal bills are quite high in fer so I think uh I'm not uh I don't I'm not behind the the Personnel uh you know uh I'm not in those meetings to know what's going on um behind the current but please try to avoid any anything that is going to cost to take money away from the children to pay for more lawyers more lawsuits and litigation please and thank you and God bless everybody here and your families hi uh my name is Erica koki Colton and I'm uh teacher Edison as well as well as uh a FL rep at Edison Maly um it's hyphenated I just say mky it's easier um I just also wanted to comment on how wonderful places I know I'm preaching to the choir you guys are here and you see all the amazing things that Mel and Christine do and how they benefit our children and what they provide to our schools um there was some confusion about not having a CAG we in Hawthorne where I live we call it CAC same thing but um it's just a group of specialed parents that can mean on each other and rely on each other and we all need that whether we're specialed parents or not um just a group of people that can get together and discuss also learn um we have speakers come in and talk about what are IEPs and things like that um and that's what f is uh there's bonuses assemblies and maybe there's some extra fun stuff we do um but all in all it is recognized by the state as a support group for special education parents and I think that's vital at Edison when your child is turning three and aging into special education it can be scary there's a lot of acronyms some I still don't even know um and you know you're sitting in that meeting worried about your kiddo and these things are just being said and so it's nice to have someone someone who experience to go back to and talk to and get support from um and help you through that process so uh that's all thank you good afternoon my name is Lia Cory faon um TJ now parent of a student sorry my too long so I would like to discuss this all media consent form this is something that every single parent receives when we are when the child is enrolled I think this is required every single year I'm not sure it came to my attention that a top administrator is holding a personal website and posting pictures of our children's on it I reviewed the website and there is no disclosure that this form is for the personal website of our top administrators I know that in seven years that my child's been in school the district never had my consent to post my pictures of my child yet it was disregarded I had to contact the school when mind you I'm not very active on any kind of social medias or even the websites or anything but it just came to my attention that my child's picture was posted without my consent as a lawyer and could tell you that is a grave ramifications now I'm extremely concerned Why the top administrator has a person personal website the contact is where it says contact me is fair.org email so I am to believe that this website is supported by the board that is getting paid by the board that is my questions because now I'm questioning that I know for a fact that my child's pictures were taken I'm not aware how many employees are in a district but can you guarantee me that these pictures of my child are not posted on any of the personal website of for current and former employees because I'm extremely concerned that I worked in corporate for way too long that I know that when the top boss does it it must be okay and that is not okay and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person concerned or you know like I don't understand what is going on and I do need a public acknowledgement of this and I need you to address this immediately why a top administrator has a public public not publicly personal website there are copyrights it says this website has obtained the rights to use the photograph via license agreement with certain thirdparty stock photography so they're aware that they are laws that need to be abided by to using pictures yet on this website after reviewing the articles there approximately 30 picture 30 children's of pictures of our pictures of our um community of childrens's in our community then going back it appears to me that the pictures of these children are from our multilingual Families how many parents understand what is actually being asked on this form this form I could only find in English English is my fourth language I came to America you have 30 so it's very hard even for me who knows English extremely well I had to ask legal what does this entail to understand so how are we to understand if we are parents of a multilingual individuals and their pictures are now being posted on a personally held website this is an extremely upsetting matter to me and I this needs to be addressed publicly thank you very much as long as it's under the 30 minutes you can go again yes all right um I'm going to continue where I left off another um exerpt from the span guide uh reads learning listening and leading effective engagement of parent advisers can benefit both parents school and school districts when parental input is valued and there's a vehicle for Meaningful communication parents are empowered to facilitate change that matters when school leaders are able to work with a cohesive well-organized parent community that provides useful coordinated input they're able to move ideas into action it's a win-win the key is mutual respect now from my own personal experience I have witnessed F working hard over the years to pave the way for this community that has been for the community that has been acting as the district cpeg for years we have a long-standing relationship with our District administration and have worked positively for many years while earning the respect of many past and present fun fact when we attended a span training on building and maintaining a cpeg place actually received accolades for its function as a cpeg from span they said we were ahead of the times in conclusion a huge component of the F Association is in fact the cpag initiatives and activities within our district historically we have not used both titles but function in both capacities hence cpeg and FL being synonymous in our district as we have been for many years when referring to the association the term most commonly and publicly used is FL in reality perhaps we do need to move forward with a change using both titles when referring to ourselves so that the community has a better understanding of who we are and what we do we always welcome parents to become active members of place the more parents of children with special needs that get involved within our association the more we can accomplish collectively and Advocate more effectively for our children the more parents get involved the more we influence the special education department in our district to continue to make our program stronger for the children we want to continue to be a leader in our County and most importantly continue meeting the needs of the children and their families we look forward to continuing our collaboration with the administrators Educators and parents of our district while serving the special needs Community under the guidance of span to provide the best we can for our children place is fairon ceg make no mistake thank you for listening I'm done changing hats Jen grber West Morland I'm starting my 20th year and I think I served about 10 of them now on the F Sport right about 10 something like that um and I can attest to the function of the association throughout the years F has always helped to bring awareness and acceptance to our schools especially with our community of Learners with autism which if you don't know me you know is near and dear to my heart they have been instrumental in developing and creating new policies and programs based on the needs of the community in fact I just saw two days ago you're trying to get something special with the police department for driver you have a blue license for drivers with autism they're right on top of everything uh F has served as this district cpeg for many years now and I have always been very proud to be part of that growth La is always trying to improve the special education experience for all of the families in faon and they are always the first person to go to when a new parent moves in you can see it right away everyone is referring to place to place to place so I just wanted to share that thank you good afternoon with me loriva Falon I would like to address the response for the administration when a parent has an issue when it comes to their children education we are now seven days business days before the school start I initiated an email on June 7th in regards to my child not being happy in French that he took you know I believe schools are exploratory that everybody has an option to take a language that they like he just wasn't happy with French I know French I think it's a fun language he did not like it it is what it is so we have an option to switch yet we are still not Swit sing so we're placed back in French according to the top administrator unfortunately I will not be naming any names just for privacy matters thank you then the administrator went on to school me on the district policy which is fantastic because sometimes I don't know all the school policies this was a fantastic information so the district policy 2132 School District goal and objective state that students shall leave grades 4 8 and 11 and 12 having de having demonstrated ated cons comp competency as required and challenging subject matters including language arts literacy mathematics science social study health physical education Visual and Performing an arts and visual I apologize World languages my child been enrolled in this district for seven years since kindergarten he's been taking Spanish for seven years so where is this competency because he could tell you numbers 1 through 10 and hi s years it's a very long time to take a word language I know four languages one of those languages was English when I came to this country and I learned and Fone did an amazing job teaching me that language with proficiency to pass a lot of test to go to school to get a fantastic job and to speak in front of you yet my child is not receiving that education in the foreign language I did ask my child already actually is very well versed on another language in his foreign language so I did ask what are my option to opt out there isn't any okay then they told me that a curriculum policy 2200 states that preparation of students for employment uh so the policies basically said this curricul should provide programs in accordance with board policies and New Jersey Core Curriculum contact standard so it's preparing you students for employment and postsecondary study for graduation from his high school I can guarantee you when my child graduated from high school if he continues in this program will not have that proficiency to get a job or to be proficient in it excuse me you have 30 seconds thank you so much so this been going on since June 7th the superintendent's office is aware of this matter there's no resolution to date and I've been placed once again to the program my child been placed to the program that on June 7 I said he was unhappy with and we need to have a resolution there was nothing so this is unfortunate that there's no follow-ups when I talk to the teachers it takes three months seven days from school I need to know where my child is going to be I need to EXP explain to him why he's taking the language French again so I would like to ask why is my child back to French when we had said on June 7th that he will not be participating in it thank you very much Dr diio is there anything on the Google form unfortunately we're at our 30 minutes and I still do have a number of people on the Google form I apologize yes we have it appears four five comments um first one is from Sharon Brean here Mrs Mayan and members of The Fair Lawn Board of Ed my name is Sharon Brean and I am a lifelong resident in Falon a 1970 graduate of flhs you you may remember me as a special education teacher at TJ starfish recipient and teacher of the year when I retired in 2021 I received via Zoom accolades and heartfelt wishes from board members that left me feeling so overwhelmed and proud to have been able to serve my community thank you especially to Michael Rosenberg aside from bringing character counts and nobody has the power to ruin your day to all of the students of Falon I've always believed the gift that was given to me was that of serving on the F board for over eight years I can professionally and very personally speak to the function of the dedicated Association throughout the years has always helped bring acceptance and education to the Falon School District FL has always assisted in the development in developing special education programs and worked on New policies and programs based on the needs of the parents with the children receiving special education services place has served as the district cpeg for many years now and I was always happy to have been a part of the growth to embrace their new ideas and been a part of their Cutting Edge developments that assist staff members on every level not wanting to leave such an important organization I became co-chair of fair law access for all a volunteer committee whose mission is to help support adults with different abilities within our community and outlying areas not limiting our scope to just Bergen County we work with f to coordinate efforts share ideas and programs as well as develop new new and different programs and projects which can support our very special population please understand F like access strives to create a supportive community where communication between Administration parents teachers and support staff is Paramount there are many aspects of our students and adults coming and goings and FL members have always worked tirelessly to ensure everyone's voice is heard we network with others to continue building a social and emotional well-being platform to enhance and assist our wonderful Learners who count on FAS to advocate for them thank you for taking the time to let me share sincerely Sharon bran next comment is from Christine Souza Falon good afternoon I am writing today to share my experience with f my son Brendan entered the fairon school system at the age of three in April 20 2008 although I have too much older children who were educated in the district they are neurotypical I became acquainted with f in the summer of ' 08 when Brendan participated in extended school year I was very impressed with the enhancements they added to the extended school year program which included educational demonstrations enrichment programs and fun events La also provides support during the regular school year I was also very impressed with the seminars and support groups FL sponsored which were exceptionally valuable as a parent learning to navigate the long and winding path of raising a child on the autism spectrum I was compassionately supported by the parents who had gone before me and I knew that whatever situation arose with Brendan I could turn to the officers and members of f for assistance I was also very impressed with the support F provided to the district special education teachers therapists and Par professionals without whom our children would be unable to achieve their fullest potential I personally owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid place was essential in assisting the special education Community during covid by recognizing the unique issues our children were faced facing during the unprecedented time and providing the necessary support place is not just a special education PTO their scope and assistance reaches far beyond that of any such PTO that I am aware of and I have had children in the district for a total of 29 years sincerely Christine Susa next comment is from Viviana Korn Fon hello Mrs DeFranco my husband and I want to express our gratitude to F faon Association for special education during the time that our beloved Son Jonathan may he rest in peace attended middle school and high school in the Falon school system he and his classmates enjoyed all the fun and education activities that the place organization organized in the school classroom and also out of the school as well as classroom supplies support groups for parents and enrichment programs I wanted to attend the board meeting tonight but because other of other commitments I will not be able to attend but it was important to me to express our appreciation towards Mel jar shower and the entire organization sincerely warm regards vivana next comment is Olga Ginsburg carolon good afternoon Dr dionio thank you very much for answering my questions email to you earlier today I appreciate the Insight this open communication is very much appreciated enjoy the rest of your summer next comment Olga Ginsburg Faron I am grateful for all the work F has done as a special education PTO I would app appreciate if FL leadership defines its function in District for many parents who are not aware they are a cpeg please ensure it is updated online and this information reaches all the families whose children receive the services in the district i h I am happy we have a cpeg now thank you those are all the comments the floor is closed uh we appreciate all public comment we encourage public comment uh it's one of our precious civil liberties uh it's on display all of our meetings which is wonderful uh with regard to uh concerns that were raised uh I want to acknowledge uh the concerns and uh um indicate that we'll look into uh those concerns and uh and address them thank you the floor is open for board comments at this time Mr Banta forgot about that all right 18a col 12- 24.1 code of ethics for school board members a I will uphold and a force all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and Court owners pertaining to schools desire changes Will Made will be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures I I will support and protect School Personnel in performance of their duties and Jay I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on complaints of public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution thank you Miss may miss fich okay so I am actually concerned and I'm my daughter will be going to the district next year and I don't want her photos ever to be posted online my concern is does any administrat teachers any employee can put my child's photo on their personal website that kind of is a very as a parent I have a right where my child's photo appears and I want to make sure if we don't have a policy that we do have a policy that no employee can post on their private website pictures of our children I think that's an important role because as a parent that's my right H and it's a privilege that we have these students and we should be understanding that it's a privilege and therefore we should not post photos without parents consent number two my question that was a comment number if not I would like if we can refer to a committee I would be more than happy if people can tell me what committee it is my question is my second question is so there's no law that policies um job description jobs have to be advertised does the district have a policy that need that before filling a position h a a job uh needs to be advertised I understand there's no state law but is there something that fair loan law has versus policy I would like to know that that's my third question second question I am very sorry today it's late um my third thing is my job as a board member number is to look out for the children that's my number one job that's why I'm here and to make sure the children are number one on my list and Sack to me is a very important position why because these are the children that either could be using drugs or uh or any other things and I think someone who experienced should be in that position not someone who's new who has hasn't been doing this in the past 20 years there's lots of things that have happened uh with kids using one of the things is gummies they eat a box of gummy and they're high and if someone and so it's important something like that that somebody educates the teachers how to look out for that what to look out for this what to understand because if the teachers are not well trained and that's usually trained by the sack coun how can the teachers know exactly what to do you have 30 seconds remaining so also I believe that somebody that should have experien if some sack is a such important field that somebody that that person should have experienced so I am making a motion to Grant uh the Miss dantas um fourth grade grievance um fourth level grievance I'm sorry second in that for I'm going to defer this one to our admin our um Council coun to discuss that doesn't mean you can't vote up or down and you're elected officials that also means you can do respectfully what you choose my op all right but I wanted to wanted to note that you each have received the materials with regard to this and I will note that the effect because there often questions about the effect a yes vote here would undo the Personnel action that uh you proved that priority right is there any conversation not call a question yes a yes can I answer this question before the question's been called a yes would essentially res the prior transfer you understand no me I don't understand but my question regarding the policy do we have a policy on our we've got a motion and a second on the floor if we want to talk about uh our policies we can talk about that outside of this process questions been call no no Mr bant no Dr berini Miss Brown no Miss fich yes Mr Rosenberg no Mr Spindel yes Miss Yurman yes Mrs Mayan yeah I'm going to return to Rita uh m up oh question I just want to make sure my is that the state vers polic par lawn policy Pol does the state have a policy and also what's our policy about any employee posting on their personal websites in pictures of our children is there a policy for that I'm going to ask that that uh question be deferred back to Dr uh Dr dionisio and he will get back oh and Yes actually there was and then you're concerned about um pictures being posted I'm actually um going to refer that to both student services and education and the position can the attorney ask if they have a policy in the district that needs to be advertised before it's filled do we have a policy regarding that we'll get back to you [Music] Michael thank you first of all I I I want to state that um I do not vote on any um on any motions that are um made offered during new business that we didn't have time to discuss openly which is the reason why I did not um why my vote was what it was and I've said that many months in AO um as far as FL I want to thank uh Mel and Christine um Cindy as as the uh chair of student services I want to thank you for making F what it is today um and the teachers thank you Miss mki Miss Gruber um I want to um thank you for um everything you do for our students and just as much as what you do for our students is what you do for a parents because I raised a special needs child and I raise and I'm a grandfather of a classified child and it's very very important that the parents have a place to go to find out information to talk with each other to have contact with um the districts uh um The District's people so I think it it it and it just makes sense that f is the cpeg because it's does everything as you said so eloquently a lot more eloquently than me right now um that it does everything and more and um one of the one of the things that um that really I love about this District excuse me thank you it's place so thank you for coming tonight thank you for um telling us all about what you do so that everybody knows okay and I really appreciate it and thank you Camille for everything you do for our special ed students [Music] too the floor is closed I'm September 26th 2024 we will have our regular monthly meeting 7:30 p.m. at Thomas Edison school and October 30th 2024 is our regular monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. again at Thomas Edison school yeah I'm going to be out Trigg or-treating with my children on the 31st so thank you so much for amending that for us can I can I please can I get a motion to adjourn so moved the meeting is adjourned at 9:45 p.m. all in favor enjoy your night the rest of your summer