##VIDEO ID:ovhxAP-rzUA## interest that's Nancy with her costume Nancy you have amazing this Christmas week amazing you really have it Merry Christmas Merry Christmas [Music] they're from retirement [Music] overum quum when you're done to stay straight just like that I'm doing it do without do what sit on the FLT and see if you can stand up from from a sitting position on the the regular monthly meeting of December 19th 2024 is being reconvened at 732 p.m. um at Thomas Edison school 37-1 fairon Avenue room 19 in fairon New Jersey there are 28 members of the public in attendant 2ish I may have missed somebody I'll make a note of that the record ver can I get a roll call please Mr baldowski here Mr B here Dr ber presid Miss Brown present Miss fich present Mr Rosenberg here Mr Spindel present Mrs Mayan present we the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend 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 loan 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 burden record in the Star Ledger the announcement posting for the regular monthly meeting along with the date place and time thereof was distributed on January 5th 2024 the items to be discussed during this closed session of the December 19th 2024 public monthly meeting may have included Personnel matters student matters legal matters negotiations Andor Grievances and tactics and techniques utilized in protecting the public safety and property the results of these discussions will be made public as soon as possible please join me in the flag slute I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all so we're going to start tonight with our student rep report um we have Ashi I say that right from Memorial Middle School student rep Daniel Mitch our TJ Middle School rep and Lindsay Samuels our fairon high school student representative um let's start with our TJ Memorial student reps let's start this evening with some highlights from this week's festive spirit week and it was a week of cozy chaos we kick things off on Monday with don't sweat the holidays students and staff Rock sweatpants and some questionable matching sweatsuits on ugly t on ugly sweater Tuesday the Halls were literally a glow with sweaters so taky they could double as holiday decorations Bells jingled lights twinkled and everyone agreed that ugly never looked so festive pajama Thursday is always a crowd favor students and Staff Roll straight from bed to class proving the holiday spirit pairs perfectly with flannel and fuzzy slippers it was a week of laughter holiday cheer and questionable fashion choices the TJ student council the TJ student council sponsored the annual collection of winter codes which will be distributed throughout the state to those in Need by Jersey cares there are many ways to give during the holiday season and this effort is a lesson that actual things we have but no longer need are appreciated by those less fortunate after months of learning important lessons from some of faron's finest officers Graziano O'Brien and siano our sixth grade students proudly graduated from the lead program on December 18th the celebration included a special ceremony where students received cool lead t-shirts enjoyed pizza and marked the Milestone achievement together we're confident they will carry these lessons forward and continue making healthy Positive Choices for themselves congratulations to graduates on this this important accomplishment speaking of the fairon police department this year's toy collection in collaboration with the fairon police department was a resounding success we're thrilled to announce that the donations will be delivered by the flpd the fire department and possibly even a special appearance by the big man himself Santa as they bring joy to families throughout fairon thank you to everyone who contributed by to spreading holiday cheer TJ is very thankful to all our faculty and staff and families for supporting our second annual Bergen volunteers adoptive family for the holidays this year TJ supported two families who have children with disabilities thanks to everyone's generosity they were able to purchase six to 10 toys per child as well as six to 10 outfits each along with new winter coats with gift cards to shop or ankles the teachers met after school last week on Wednesday to rap and made a delivery on Thursday Miss Ric sixth grade General music students took their talents on the road bringing some extra Sparkle to the elementary school winter concerts while the little ones already had plenty of cheer and smiles to share share with their families our sixth graders were more than happy to add their ukulele skills to the mix not only did they bring a fresh musical vibe to the festivities but they also got to show off their new hidden talent it was a perfect blend of musical cheer ukulele magic and a PR student moments each year the holiday mascot Association sends representatives to TJ Tel to celebrate special days today's CJ Al on a school made his annual appearance and landed safely on the roof we are pleased to report that the Shelf has informed Med us Mr Gman and Miss Rena have been on their best behavior this year Mr Weaver not so much since Thanksgiving teams in grades 5 to8 have been battling it out on the volleyball court for a chance to compete in tomorrow's grand finale of our annual volley for charity event benefiting the American Red Cross the ultimate match will feature the Victorious eighth grade team making on the reigning Champions the staff the teachers have dominated the court for years but could this be the moment Memorial's class of 2025 breaks their winning streak will youth triumph over experience or will the teachers hold their title once again in addition to the excitement on the court our teams have shown incredible generosity donating over 350 items to the American Red Cross and donations are still coming in we've already surpassed last year's total and are on track to donate over 400 items to support Aid relief efforts grab your popcorn your pom poms and your spirit of giving tomorrow's match is one you won't want to miss on behalf of both m M morial and TJ we wish everyone a very happy holiday and a healthy 2025 and one last thing before we go we would like to extend a warm congratulations to Dr Latina on her retirement Dr lactina thanks you thank you for all you have done for us throughout the year we wish you a fun and relaxing journey in retirement and look forward to seeing you as a substitute at both middle schools very soon go ahead Lindsay thank you hello everyone and I'm excited to be back and updating you all on Fon High School our fall spirit week has been a success our pep rally was full of fun and we enjoyed watching our teachers compete in and try to win an obstacle course to continue fostering Spirit especially in preparation for our winter break we're having a pajama day tomorrow December 20th overall our clubs have been very active our organizations have been going on trips planning events and preparing for competition season for example the interact Club partook in their annual service trip to school 133 in Patterson The Joy from the children reminds us high schoolers of why we love to partake in community service thus our cost councils are continuing their annual food drive during the national week of service in January we're looking forward to continuing incentives like this additionally our band Orchestra and chorus concerts occurred this past week and they were all huge hits and we're so proud of our music program and we would like to thank everyone who has been supporting us once again if you'd like to support one of our club's many fundraisers check out the calendar on the Fon High School website thank you for your time thank you all so much you are welcome to stay to listen to our audit um as well as participate in um the review of our agenda but we do understand although um school is out for winter break tomorrow Lindsay did share with me today that she has something to do at 12 so please stay as long as you like but I will give everyone a minute or two if they choose to um get up and walk out thank you guys so much for your update and we are really grateful we'll see you in 2025 you guys can go you're you're welcome to St you can go also you're also welcome to leave great job what we can do that yeah we'll we'll flip it yeah we just need a what Julie I like to make a motion maybe not can I make the motion you can do whatever you want no don't say that I would like to make a motion for the for the people in our audience to push 2 A and B right now so we they don't have to stay for all the other stuff including the order presentation so it's a motion to take the agenda out ofic that's correct is there a second second all in favor oh no we're gonna skip I'm sorry Shane's not here Shane's here all right so I my apologies to the audience I know that you are really looking forward to listening to our auditor I'm just going to ask that normally I wouldn't be opposed to this but I'd really love um everyone who has were was planning on attending be here refer to A and B I have to I withdraw the motion guys just bear with us awesome um so [Music] um sure it's gonna be a wonderful Dr Deano the floor is yours thank you Miss Mayan good evening everyone um at this time uh as part of the superintendent comments the superintendent report I'm going to invite our auditor to come on up and do the annual audit presentation for the Board of Education welcome I feel terrible I like downplaying it Heidi thank you for being here I'm really hot but I'm never I I'm never warm in this room and I'm like I got it never hot thank Denise brother the Flor yours there we go okay thank you so on the first page we have the general fund which is the main operating fund of the district where the bulk of the instruction Support Services Transportation custodial and some Capital Outlet expenses are are uh recorded you have three different types of Revenue local state and federal local Revenue principally your local tax levy the final budget was 98.3 million actual 101.5 million and excess of 3.2 million and that was primarily due to interest earnings of 2.6 million excess capital reserve interest earnings of 246,000 and excess miscellanous revenue of 253,000 then we have state aid or state revenue final budget 21 1.4 million actual 23675 million and excess of 2.2 million and that was due to homeless tuition reimbursement of 21,000 and excesses and non-public Transportation Aid of 187,000 and extraordinary Aid of 1.8 million then finally we have the federal revenue which is the Medicaid assistance program or semi the federal revenue budget at 70,000 actual 46,000 u a short full of 20 4,000 to overall an excess in revenue of 5.48 7 million then we have Appropriations or expenditures the final budget 133 million expended a little under 124 million leaving 9, 66,000 unexpended included in the 9 m66 is a little under 2 million of incumbrances those are purchase orders that are placed for goods or services that were not received or rendered until the next year so they roll into the next year's budget and so truly unexpended was a little over 7.1 million then fund balance for the general fund started off in fiscal year 23 with 52 million um withdrew 560,000 from capital reserve to support debt service withdrew another 6.98 one million from capital reserve for projects by board resolution 1.72 five5 million was withdrawn from maintenance Reserve there was a budgeted increase in the capital reserve of 1.2 million budgeted interest on the reserves the various reserves of 20,100 use 1.97 million to support the budget liquidated the prior incumbrances from 63023 of 3 million then we add in the excess revenue and the unexpended budget balances and we come to the ending total fund balance of 53.4 million but it's really important that we go over the different components of general fund fund bounds so if You' be kind enough to turn to the second page at the top we have a couple of restrictions first we have the capital reserve very important to have a capital reserve for the local share projects in longrange facility plan so at the end of the year it had 28.4 million that's up 1.8 million a combination the increases due to year-end transfer as you know the board at the end of the year in June can transfer money into the various reserves so there was a yearend transfer of 6.5 million also an increase for the year due to the interest and then the budgeted increase and then less the withdrawal that went to The Debt Service fund and the budgeted withdrawal of 5.6 million for projects then we have the maintenance Reserve also very good to have a maintenance reserve one of the easier reserves to get money out of um used for projects in the comprehensive maintenance plan end the year with 4.4 million it's down about 990,000 and that was due to a year- end deposit of a little less than 660 ,000 little bit of Interest less the withdrawal of 1.65 million then we have emergency reserve one of the most difficult reserves to get money out of because you can usually only take it out during the budget process for an increase over 4% in health benefits or for security improvements or you need uh permission of a a doe Comm Mercer so that just increaseed by $50 in interest earnings then we have unemployment compensation that's used for unemployment claims that's up 38,000 to 937 th000 then we have excess Surplus that was calculated at 63023 that's being used in this year's 25 budget of 8.6 million excess Surplus being used in the 20 that needs to be used in the 26 budget of 3.8 million I do want to point out that please keep in mind that the capital reserve and maintenance Reserve balances at 63024 reflect 63024 so anything that you would have withdrawn in the 25 budget is not calculated in that number and then you have n 1.9 million in incumbrances and unassigned of 4.5 million here with the Max and un assigned now incumbrances vary from year to year and that's dependent on the timing of orders and projects so if you turn to the third page I'll go over the excess Surplus calculation so in the 25 budget I do have a note here that the maintenance Reserve you were to 1.67 five million from that and 175 from emergency Reserve so this is a calculation the excess Surplus required by the Department of Education it's just a lot of math so what we do is we take the total general fund expenditures of 123 million we times that times 2% it comes to 2.46 eight million then they allow you to add in certain excess revenues principally non-public transportation and extraordinary Aid so the combination of those two for the district was 2.12 Million so you take the 2.46 eight million and the 2.12 3 million and you come to 4.5 91 that's your max that you could have so then we do another calculation where we take the total Surplus the 53.4 million then we back out money that's been set aside or restricted for different purposes the excess Surplus being used in the 25 budget the year- end Inc conferences the capital reserve the maintenance Reserve emergency reserve and the unemployment reserve and then we come down to that 8.4 number and we compare that against the max you can have of 4.5 and there is an excess and that's the amount that's being has to be used in a 26 budget so at 2% then if youd be kind enough to turn back to the first page just want to go over one or two other items so we're pretty much near the bottom of the page so we have the Enterprise fund um which is the Food Service fund or cafeteria uh it's considered an Enterprise fund because it's supposed to be self-supporting like a business so it has something called net position which is the same thing essentially as fund balance that decreased 135,000 to 3.9 million that decrease was due primarily to a decrease in federal and state reimbursements offset by a decrease in operating expenses so you have a couple of long-term liabilities you have serial bonds of 35.884827 time of the staff it's 1.69 million and that would be budgeted in the year that the staff is retiring and then we have 17.3 million and that pension liability for the PRS pension system which is a responsibility of the district so just like the other two liabilities you get they get budget and and paid they send you a bill and you pay that out that's the vesting of the staff in that and traditionally the PRS pension system covers your teachers AIDS secretaries custodians Transportation staff so that's my Financial recap I'd be happy to answer any questions that anybody might have Dr berini thank you for the presentation it was thorough uh I just curious I look at the numbers I see they they seem very positive but from your from your professional standpoint yes it is very good bad ugly average excellent I would think excellent right excellent yes that's what I thought thank you so then I'm going to move on to the auditor's management report oh oh it's oh did somebody else up no okay all right um very pleased to report there's no recommendations which is quite an accomplishment we look at a lot of things we're here for like two weeks ask a lot of questions go over many many things um we do have we did have two comments with no recommendations um one was was with respect to extraordinary Aid uh just some minor different things that we found there it's exhausting long uh application and it was an amazing improvement over the prior and then another comment that we have is um required to do calculation for the Food Service fund and it's a calculation of whether there's any net excess cash resources say that a couple times in the Food Service fund and it's over three months average expenditures then um required to reduce that but so that's like 3.1 to9 million almost every District that we had that would participate in the seamless summer option during covid has this net excess and it's just an opportunity to give the district to um purchase some additional items maybe charge some different costs there uh we have some districts where they actually have to fund from the budget the Food Service fund so I think having more is a good thing rather than a bad thing and then we'd like to include a couple suggestions every year um one is on Federal grant receival not that we saw any concerns here these are ones that we give to all our districts uh the Department of Education likes to see the reimbursement requests done monthly ideally if not quarterly and then just a final comment on the covid-19 funding they're rather brutal when they came out and looked at things so just make sure that you have all your documentation in order and then you have a new food service management contractor for 24 so um just make sure that the operating statement and District records are in agreement and another suggestion just on banking um you know the interest rates have been very favorable so maybe it's a time to look around and see what some other Banks the opportunities might be out there so overall great report the records were in excellent condition the staff here in the business office Danielle and their staff take great pride in their work and it shows and it's a pleasure working with them yes thank you so this came up like within a year so I wanted to ask you so if a so I I my question is this can a purchase order be made when there when both parties did not sign a contract can you make a purchase order if contracts are not signed for both parties I guess it dep it depends on like what it's for so it can be made without having well I'm not I'm not I'm not an attorney but I mean if you feel like there's an obligation that's going to be put in place it's probably best to encumber it to make sure that the funds or set aside for that purpose thank you you're welcome Dr berini again thank you for the second part of the presentation I know that you went over quickly but we have no um findings or recommendations you have no formal recommendations which is quite an achiev which is stunning to be quite honest and I know that some people might have heard it and I know you have but it's unusual to hear that but you went over that quickly so it is a a significant achievement yes it is there's no findings yes because you know it's all the money that's in the general fund plus there's lots of grand funds the cafeteria the Student Activity Student Activities account okay so 160 the budget was like 15 um 133 million just in the general fund yeah 133 yeah no recommendations or findings which means to be quite honest they didn't screw up they did a which what it means you are so feisty tonight I would just like to know that it is actually perfectly normal to have findings and recommendations nobody's perfect so but this year you are this year you are just in case that happens in future years there are zero years it it we're always continuing to grow and get better and we appreciate your feedback and guidance so thank you H you so just I want to wrap up I want to congratulate our business department and certainly our superintendent and Danielle and Melissa and everybody that works under you because not having any findings or recommendations even though you're being very modest there is a very significant achievement so thank you very much and thank you any other questions okay do any I do thank you so much and thank you again for coming and presenting this evening we appreciate you taking the time and for all of the work that your firm did to help support the Falone Public Schools thank you thank you thank you yeah happy holiday I would also like to just Echo and thank uh Miss manuso Mrs Bey and the entire business office it's an incredible amount of work that goes on throughout the course of the year I get to see it pretty closely and firsthand so um thank you for everything that you and your department does I do have a few quick updates that I would like to provide tonight is a a very special night um and Bittersweet at the same time um uh before we get to to that uh I would just like to say that the district has been in full swing and full of Spirit uh and gratitude over the past several weeks especially with uh all the celebrations we've had for the 100th anniversary of fairon uh and we've seen that shine through at all of our schools with our holiday concerts and especially this year with the personalization and infusion of the 100th anniversary a lot of the the famous songs that we're all accustomed to hearing um have all been modified by our music teachers and our our staff and have included reference to the faon public schools 100y year anniversary Falon Township uh burrow 100y year anniversary so it's been very very special uh we do have though it is Bittersweet this evening and I'd like to just first start off by uh saying a few words about uh Dr lactina uh we have uh I've had the honor and the privilege to be able to have served uh alongside of her for the past 14 months uh and it's been incredible honor uh she has served served dutifully uh the school district for 21 years and just to let that sink in that's over 8,000 days that she has served the fairon public schools um she's been an incredible educator uh mentor and supporter uh of not only our teachers and our support staff but also of the administration and especially the board of education so we have had an opportunity uh rightfully so to be able to celebrate her commitment and service to the district over the past several weeks um we are eternally grateful for everything that you have done uh to the school district and for all of us we've learned from you I know that I have uh and we appreciate uh everything that you've done so uh with that just wanted to thank you and wish you well in retirement this is officially your last meeting uh and I did not ask her to actually do another presentation this evening we did get close there though I I kind of teased her with it a little bit but uh in all honesty uh you will be missed but um you are not only an amazing colleague but an amazing person and a friend here to all of us so we appreciate you very very much uh best wishes in your retirement [Applause] [Applause] [Laughter] so we are going to move into um the approvals of our board member resolutions um in recognition of Mark Spindel for service at the board of uh the fair board of education I am going to ask Dr Edward berini to um read the resolution for everyone to listen to the floor is yours thank you no I I was gonna Infuse some humor into the resolution but I realized it' probably be inappropriate because Mark has Mark has made fun of me for the last two years so this was my opportunity but I'm not going to more even though I just knocked that over to get the microphone closer whereas as Mark Spindel has dedicated 12 years to the students of the fairon school district as a member of the fair board of education committed to enhancing the wellness of our students and ensuring a robust curriculum and whereas Mr Spindel a retired administrator of the pic School District began his tenure on the ferland board of education in 2012 and brought with him the experience of 40 years as a public school teacher and administrator whereas throughout his tenure on the board Mr spindell has leveraged his experience in crafting School budgets negotiating contracts and developing curriculum to contribute to collaborative decision- making that will continue to shape the direction of the district and whereas Mr spindell has long been an advocate for mental health and mindfulness supporting the expansion of mental health services and the introduction of social emotional learning and whereas committed to ensuring our students receive the modifications to their educational programs to reach their potentials Mr Spindel has promoted enhancements to our gifted and talented program now therefore be it resolved that the fair laom board of education on behalf of the faculty staff students and members of our school Community express our gratitude to Mr Spindel for his 12 years of service to the fairon school district extending its deepest appreciation for her services and be further resolved that this resolution be entered into the minutes of the fair loom board of education as a permanent record of this historic achievement and that a copy of this resolution be presented to Mrs fendel in recognition of his dedication and commitment congratulations more [Applause] I'm just going to ask everyone we are going to move forward with the additional board member resolutions I will then vote on that and then we'll take a f minute break so we can take some pictures in recognition of Eugene and Banta for service on the fairon Board of Education I will ask Michael Rosenberg to read whereas Eugene mbanta has dedicated nearly 33 years to the students of the Falon School District as a member of the Falon Board of Education committed to enhancing the educational experiences and expanding opportunities for generations of students and whereas Mr Banta first elected to the ferlon Board of Education in 19 92 has served alongside 36 board members and five superintendents contri contributing to collaborative decisionmaking that has shaped the direction of the district for over three decades and whereas since he began his service the district has experienced significant growth with student enrollment growing from less than 4,000 students to over 5600 students highlighting the success of the district in meeting the needs of an expanding community and whereas dur during his tenure Mr Banta has cumulatively served nearly two decades in leadership roles as both President and Vice President of the board guiding the district through critical moments of growth and transition including a $25 million referendum always leading with a focus on the best interests of the students staff and community and whereas with Mr banta's support the district has been remarkably remarkable I'm sorry sorry has seen remarkable progress in several years including the reopening of Thomas Jefferson Middle School and subsequent um subsequent expansion of school facilities including additions to Four elementary schools both middle schools and the construction of the d-wing at Falon High School providing for the continued growth of our community the integration of Technology moving from projectors and computer labs to interactive displays and one-on-one devices preparing our students for the challenges of the 21st century um sorry the introduction of innovative initiatives in areas such as stem education Arts Athletics and social emotional learning fostering well-rounded student development the establishment of full day kindergarten providing greater opportunities for our youngest residents to receive an exceptional education now therefore be it resolved that the Falon Board of Education on behalf of the faculty staff students and members of our school Community express our gratitude to Mr Banta for his nearly 33 years of service to the Falon School District extending its deepest appreciation for his services and be it further resolved that the resolution be entered into into the minutes of the Falon Board of Education as a permanent record of this historic achievement and that copy of this resolution be presented to Mr Banta and recognition of his unparalleled dedication and service [Applause] Madam president before we vote I would move to amend resolution 2A in recognition of Mr Banta uh in Rec 2 b 2 B uh after I say the motion you can I'll ask for a second or she will uh in recognition of Mr banta's unmatched commitment to the Fon School District I ask that the 10th paragraph beginning with now therefore be it resolved be replaced with the following now therefore be it resolved that the fairon board of education on behalf of the faculty staff students and members of our school Community express our gratitude to Mr Banta for his nearly nearly 33 years of service to the fairon school district extending its deepest appreciation for his services and that the fairon Board of Education pursuant to District policy 7250 does hereby memorialize this outstanding contributions of Mr Banta for his 32 years and 8 months of service to the fair School District as the longest serving member of the Fon Board of Education by renaming room 19 at Thomas Edison school the Eugene M Banta public meeting [Applause] room Mrs Mayhem Mrs Mayhem can I get a second [Music] second got me it's so hot [Applause] Mark I'm like sweating so feel you oh great can I so because it's I do the roll for the motion motion okay I'm going to ask for a roll call on the motion Mr baldowski yes Dr berini absolutely m brown yes Miss B elovich obain Mr Rosenberg 100% yes Mr spendel well deserved Mrs Mayan I'm going to miss you yes H Mr P yes motion [Applause] passes now I can get a motion can I get a motion for 2 a some moved second roll call Mr balowski yes Mr bza yes Dr berini I'll say absolutely again Miss Brown yes Miss fich yes Mr Rosenberg 100% yes Mr spendel yes Miss Yurman oh sorry Mrs Mayan thank you so much yes motion passes why don't we take a five minute recess and that way everyone has the opportunity to take some pictures I'm going to do a little bit of magic outside with Dr deio um I will just ask that prior to everyone's sort of going where they do that we make sure to take a picture as a current board and then make sure that we highlight um and get pictures with our former board members um Mary Wallace Cindy Joe Quackenbush Elise Frankle and Joanie palis thank you guys for being here to support and we will take oh wil Santana I'm sorry I for and flad my apologies um we are very grateful for you guys to be here um it has been some amazing years of work that you have all done together and I'd really like to memorialize that as well uh let's take five minute break so 812 n and Mrs vote our Communications officer will be uh helping assist in taking photos right here right in the center where we have plenty of room um we're going to go into public we're going to go into public comment I just want to make sure we get some pictures uh 817 I'm just gonna never sent it towhere Joe so I know I'm like like okay did I make sure every worder what if I how you did that Robert [Music] really thank you for not saying something [Music] [Music] [Music] oh yes 25 years how are you yeah good to see [Music] well you were right there [Music] everybody I was thinking about it and then I myself she come home she plays for an hour she doesn't have [Music] [Music] she she reading Russian now [Music] no I don't speak no she goes to take care and I talk to her but it's just me and her but if I talk to him she here hello evening of now telling me how [Music] they're it's okay get all current and former board members together impr than I um general election and I think that a lot of people but I you know what that's how I felt and I knew going it's [Music] right very you have more time your head yeah yeah I'm going to semi retire I'm going to work like four days a week I'll be able to do more stuff around the house I'll a hobby some sort you got board members former current if we can have board if we can just have um central office and fr sit and then we will have his vote move around whatever you want I just want to know I just want to have the [Music] all right if we can have central office and board members return to the back of the front Das table and take your seats and then miss um is going to fill in around so that we can make sure to get all central office current and former board members join our photo yeah every so do you so you have to sit Danielle has to sit ruy has to sit yeah I'm gonna have Rebecca fill it in I just I need to get everyone back their seat Mike Schmid cried when he got put in a Hall of Fame so I don't feel bad Miss manuso Natalie Danielle please come Natalie oh it's on the floor Becky would you like to join us yeah come over here come over here over squeeze in everybody where's Natalie iie thank you all so [Applause] much they're beautiful yeah good call [Music] AAL okay I like to be positive you I got Bal side what I I want to start again all right well I'm not the only one stand you're not but you're the only one not close to okay this portion of the board meeting is it's a surprise this portion of our board meeting is specifically for comments on resolutions listed in tonight's agenda when speaking please state your name and Municipality of residence not your full address specify which resolution you are addressing limit your remarks to 3 minutes state law prohibits board members and administrators from discussing Personnel matter matter student discipline or other confidential issues please note this is not a dialogue or a Q&A session between the speakers and the board while we may not respond immediately or to every comment M tonight all input is carefully considered and helps inform our decisions responses may come through email reports board me board statements website updates or after the comment period closes thank you for your participation in our school community's governments governance the floor is open Madam president can can you just amend that to add if anyone wants to make any um comments to Dr Latina as well is she not on the agenda tonight no did she ah you're right did she fall does that fall under superintendent report it's the super okay since it's in the superintendent report if anyone has any commentary for Dr lacatena please do so at this time the floor is open please just make sure to hit the button at the center of the microphone and sign in I will she one for one I'm true for one now okay my name is Mary Wallace and I'd like to say something about all three people uh because I and failor for 29 years um and this is how I first knew Dr ltina uh and she was a principal and then we worked together many years in the 29 years that I taught I was also 10 years president of the failon Education Association and we continued to work very closely together she's an amazing person she certainly has contributed to our school district and I wish you every every possible happiness and on behalf of the town of failor I'm grateful for everything you did to make this such a wonderful School District that people want to move into failor Mark I worked 12 years I didn't work 12 years with you but I worked some years with Mar and I certainly want to say that Mark was always about the children it was a wonderful thing that he was so focused on Mental Health um that to me was one of his greatest contributions uh to the district and uh again I had the greatest respect for Mark and wish you again thank you I thank you and I wish you a wonderful retirement uh but of course I have to focus a little bit more on Jean because I know Jean for many years so Jean was the chief negotiator for the board when was the chief negotiator for the teachers so Jean and I were on opposite sides of the uh issue but we weren't in the sense that Jean was issue oriented and I was issue oriented and Gan was solution oriented and so was I and Jee never ever made anything personal it was to work together to find the right solution and so I had the utmost respect for Jean and that only grew and grew and grew when I became a member of the board uh because again for Jean as for everyone that I've mentioned it was always about the children always about what was good for the children of phin so I cannot begin to thank thank the people that are being honored tonight uh I'm a resident of failon and don't intend to go anywhere uh because this is a wonderful wonderful place to live and um that's enough from me [Applause] it's okay uh good evening everyone uh my name is Wilkin Santana um I will start with Dr Latina I would like to um thank you for all the wonderful years of dedication to our children um while I was a school board member um in my first term uh I got to know you as an administrator and as a person and what I admire the most was that whenever you had anything to say to the board you had a smile on your face and during your presentations you had evidence approach based presentations you have research based presentations you um you agreed to disagree many times in such a friendly manner that I never realized when you didn't disagree you know so um that is commendable and that is something that I really admire in people um so I want to wish you a great retirement and we are lucky that you stood by for so long because any District your family your personal time all the years that you dedicated to Furon it means a lot and you went through all the ranks and I myself as an educator you know you're a true role model you know so as a feron resident and as someone's uh who's joining the board again next year I hope I hope that uh we can we can find a lot more people with your talent and dedication thank you um regards to Mr um Spindel I wrote something um I would like to take this opportunity to wish my colleague um Mr Spindel uh a great retirement uh from the Board of Education you dedicated 12 years of your life to try your best to improve our school district although um just like you know some of my ideas were not always taken by the board uh all your ideas were good ideas you work very hard to support many programs for our students and staff you always kept our students and taxpayers in mind in that order to quote a great former board member the students first okay uh you always did what you thought it was the right thing to do regardless of the outcome in the vote I'm going to miss you in January and we have something in common uh besides certain votes we both uh Drive electric cars you know uh but my car was much uh uh smaller than yours yours was just a wonderful car but I'm sure you your family your wife your your children are very happy with all the available time that you're going to have and I wish you more success and great health congratulations it's it's been like that for for years um last but not least uh I want to say a few words uh from the bottom of my heart uh I wrote something down to to my former mentor on the school board um Mr Banta the children and the taxpayers are thankful for your service to our community I know we may not have always agree or voted the same right now that doesn't matter it doesn't mean anything I'm here to recognize your great work and Leadership on the school board and dedication to our community you always did what was best for our children and when I say the children I mean all the children our special need students our gifted and talented our immigrant students our students an accent like me all the students you work very hard and I really mean sincerely you have done an amazing job and I just hope I hope that you continue having great health so you can en enjoy your free time with your family because we took a lot of time from your family all these years uh you serving on the board but you truly deserve to have this free time and iure your wife and your family are ANS to have you uh at home fulltime thank you and God bless you and F long is happy and lucky to have have you service both all of you thank [Applause] you uh Cindy Joe Quackenbush resident of far former board member um not many people know that um I Used to Know Natalie before she came to faon because my uh audit firm used to uh audit the school district that she was um a principal at um so when she walked through the doors I was really happy um because she did a wonderful job where she was she came in and she did a wonderful job here um when you became uh assistant superintendent uh I supported you um I loved working with you um I loved serving with you and I wish you um the best I was very fortunate enough to meet your um your husband now um at a uh talent show I think it was at the high school we sat at the same table and he was a wonderful man and I thought wow this is just great she's just going to fly on through her life and and serve out her her time um with us which I'm very grateful that you did um so I just wish you a lot of um happiness and free time and I'm very happy to have known you before Fair Lawn and now so good luck to you and I love you um Mark um I am um honored and privileged to have served served with you um on many special education committees together um I know we didn't always see eye to eye but I know that you always had the best intentions of the children which is why we all sat around this table um I wish you a lot of uh luck and happiness in your um Endeavors uh with your wife and your grandchildren um me me being a new Grandma um I just can't it's just amazing and I know that you will have uh many good times with them um I had to write this down because I would never get through it if I didn't Mr Banta so much I want to say but a time limit is necessary or I would be here until January telling everybody what a fantastic board member you have been and a true leader in our district and Community there is a reason you are the longest serving Bo board member in fairon history because you deserve to have that extent distinction most yell about term limits however every seat is up for election every year and every time you are up you are elected to stay and advocate for our students I had the honor and privilege of serving with you for 15 years we served on many committees together and when I was elected president I insisted that you sit at my side so you could nudge me under the table when it was is necessary you are so knowledgeable in all areas of the board you continued your training each year attended Schoolboard conventions and served as our president many many many times earning the title each and every time you were my mentor my look to guy when I needed clarification justification and you wound up being my friend for life you were fair you were honest and you were outspoken when necessary yes I can cry on a dime but no one could make me cry just by you looking at me with that stern look and I knew that I was at a line we didn't always agree and that's fine but I always did and always will respect your opinion and judgment you were a fierce negotiation negotiator with a knowledge of the salary guides and always had your calculator out figuring out what was best for the board while keeping it acceptable for all the units and that was the key to a great negotiator I am so proud to have served with such a wonderful boards man as well as a wonderful friend father and grandfather I wish for you nothing but the best and I never enjoyed a scotch more than when I was sharing it with you thank you uh my name is Elise Frankle I'm also from Thon I know all three of you um just to clarify um you each were excellent in your own way in everything that you did uh Natalie um I mean I was here for 25 years so we met pretty early on I was education committee we used to sit and discuss so many things you're awesome you'll continue to be awesome nothing's going to change you just don't have to cut up for work Mark I I've known you now for for many years uh I appreciate the fact to me you were really on the cusp of of that mindfulness and it took you a while to get other people to understand what that exactly is and to integrate it into what we what what you do what I used to do as far as you know being part of fairon I remember the first time the teachers had like a mindfulness like Monday when they had inservice and they could go do a yoga class or a dance class and that was quite the change from sitting and listening to somebody tell you what you should be doing in your classroom so I mean that it really all started with you and the mindfulness weekends now with no homework I have grandchildren in the district and even I'm appreciative of that because I get somebody to sleep over on Friday night I don't have to worry um that she has homework to do Jean you know I didn't write anything because that's just not my style but I remember coming in when I first got on the board and I sat kind of where you're sitting now maybe one over next to Anita and you were kind of where Mark is we were a little closer together I don't think the tables were as wide and I looked over and you just looked so familiar to me but you it said Eugene Banta and I'm thinking no yeah and then you looked at me and you went like CU my name changed because I got married and you looked at me and went Elise and I was we met at McDonald's I'm not going to say how many years ago yeah yes um we really both worked at McDonald's I know there was some skepticism politically about people working at McDonald's um I I did look up that that um it's like one in 11 people in the whole country have worked at McDonald's even if they work for a day it counts but it's like one in 11 people in the country have worked at McDonald's but that's where we met and I was thrilled because we really sort of connected again and um so um I I would just like to say that you know that being said um you really did always have the kids at heart and that's really what it is about being a board member it is not what you want there's several people that think you know they have a special ed kid they're going to get on the board and they're going to do everything for the special ed Department that's not what it is it's really to make the district run or allow the district to run properly and efficiently and with the kids at at heart so you have done that for 33 years and I I really respect you for that because I don't know if I would have been able to do 33 years 25 was enough but um but I definitely think that you deserve the room to be named after you and every time some of the people that are going to be walking into that room look at that sign it's going to hit them right here and I think that that's the best part about it so it's the reminder that that it can be done and it should be done so congratulations to all of you [Applause] uh good evening my name is Vladimir kkin I'm a resident of Fon I am also a former member of the Board of Education although I've been here for only one term only three years so first of all uh Natalie congratulations uh thank you for all the years you work here and good luck on your retirement uh secondly Eugene Jean uh yeah you've been here for so long that people think you really start here like after high school before that uh I know you've been you've been president of the board for many many years I cannot even calculate how many hours you gave to the board that's beyond calculation so it is definitely appreciated and we all know that you did the best for the children one thing I want to kind of point out you always listen to people even if you disagreed with people you always listen to people and this is very appreciated uh more than once we kind of agreed with each other and collaborated and it really made the difference thank you uh Mark I don't even know how to say this you're simply the best you're always the voice of the reason on the board you were my kind of informal Mentor when I was here uh so thank you very much uh all your work is very much appreciated your efforts towards improving uh g&t education thank [Applause] you my name is Joan Pala I am from feron been a resident for 75 years years I've been here for a long time um I only served for one time on the board for three years it seemed like a lot longer but it was only three years but it was it was great um Natalie we did a lot of things together you're a great person you you just veralon was your top priority when you were when you were here and now you're leaving but it was always your top priority I you just did everything from whenever you started with to the time that you're leaving now I wish you congratulations and you're going to love it you really are going to love it Mark I sat next to you for many years we talked a lot I am very grateful for the mindfulness I think that is very very important I think you did a great job you you stuck with it you got it and I'm glad that it's here in Fon um I congratulate you now you get time to spend time with your grandkids and your wife and everyone and I I wish you the best jean you're the best um it was short time that I spent with you I mean when we were in negotiations we were there till 2 three o'clock in the morning I remember that and he was a great negotiator um he was always very fair he was a great he's a great board member and that's why he was here for so long children's were always first for him an education I'm an educ I was an educator too so education is the best and all of the board members work very hard hard it's not it's a thankless job and I congratulate all of you as being part of the Board of Education and Jean I wish you your grandkids your your wife Go Go Vacation like I do do go places see things and have a very happy life to all of you thank you [Applause] hi I am Ally Jean's middle daughter um we just wanted to say thank you as a family for all of your time and effort hours late nights um weekend things Retreats and all of those things as children we probably didn't realize how much effort and what you were doing but now that we're adults and I'm an educator we really see how many people you touched as far as your colleagues um Administration me as a fairon graduate my husband and my sisters and now my son and my daughter um now attend Fon schools and my father wasn't sure if he wanted to continue to run continue to run but then once we moved back to Fon and my son was of schoolly said now what am I going to do you know the grandkids are going in so it was always about the children whether it was us as children my child or the children of Fon we all appreciate you and thank you for all your [Applause] time hello I'm Lindsay Samuel and I'm the board of educ ation representative and although I've only been the Board of Ed rep for a few months I've been a student of Fon for over a decade and I just wanted to say thank you to all of you Fon wasn't always my home but when I came here I noticed a very distinct difference between my old district and this district and that all the staff and everybody who was working towards supporting my education as well as that of my classmates have been the most compassionate and caring people and have been striving to give us extensive opportunities passionately and it's been an honor to go to fairon schools and take advantage of all these opportunities and to meet the people that have been behind my success as well as the success of my classmates I want to start with Dr Latina although as I've said I've only been to a few board meetings I have been watching the board meetings online for quite some time and I've always admired your work ethic and your passion for improving our district which shines through your presentations Mr Spindel I'm very grateful to me the individual who was behind all of the mental health incentives and I want to say coming from someone who's benefited from the wellness weekends and theal lessons that you've helped so many students including myself and some of my best friends so I just want to say thank you so much and I've really seen the impact of your work firsthand so thank you from the bottom of my heart and Mr Banta I truly appreciate your emphasis on education and providing opportunities for all students no matter their background and no matter their interests I want to say thank you specifically for your work in stem education helping students like me excel in areas and achieving great things that I couldn't even imagine and that wouldn't have been possible without all of your your work and it's been wonderful to observe your passion and commitment even though I've only attended a couple board meetings and it's so inspiring and I'm so grateful to be in a town that's run by people who are so supportive and caring for one another and seeing the community of and the families of people in Falon schools being involved and just watching that kind of growth throughout the generations I mean you three have been behind my high school career and my from through middle school and also Elementary School you've been behind everything and I truly want to say thank you and I like other people have mentioned sometimes this is a thankless job but your work really goes far and I want to I'm very grateful to say that your work has impacted me personally and that of my peers as well so I wanted to say congratulations on all of your achievements and all the recognition you've received people like you inspire me to continue to lead and give me hope for the legacy of Fon after I graduate and inspire me to come back and hopefully also be involved in local government as you have and the local Board of Education I wish nothing but the best for all of you and your families thank you for working so hard to make Fon my home and setting me and thousands of students up for success is there anything on the Google Doc almost forgot about it okay if there's no nobody else then I will close the floor um and I am going to open the floor to board member comments on agenda items only if anyone needs to excuse themelves please at no point feel like you cannot up and go so thank you uh floor is open uh Mrs Rosenberg Miss vich Dr berini Dr lactina um when I first joined the board you were principal of rurn and then I got to see you move to be principal of Memorial and then I was absolutely thrilled when you were promoted to be assistant superintendent with um in all the positions I've had on the board you have been an administrator that was very very easy to work with you listened you shared um you are so such a caring individual and watching as you saw kids from radburn graduate and then watching you as you saw kids from Memorial graduate um you you showed just how much you cared about this district there was never something that you wouldn't want to try and you just are are an incredible person and I'm going to miss you a lot on this board Mark I got to sit next to you for quite a number of years on the board um you're mench that's the best word I could think of you are just an incredible person incredible human being um you stick by your gun guns and nothing wrong with that and um you just have done so much for the kids of Falon um we're going to miss you we we are we are truly going to be to to miss you Jean I'm not going to tell the story I usually tell of my one of my first meetings yeah um but um you know I I've been working with you for um 17 and a half years and um you have taught me so much not just about school not just you know about Falon about what a board member is what our job is you've saved me from jumping off a ledge a couple times I think um you have done so much for this um I think Fon made a mistake honest to be honest with you because you have done so much for this town um and so much for this board and so much for the school system um you just you your demeanor being leading this board as many times as you did and um anyone that's been in that position knows how difficult it is and it's certainly difficult to get you know Benjamin Franklin used to say 13 Clocks to chime at the same time but nine um clocks to chime at the same time that it very difficult but you did it somehow um sorry Janice because you have him [Laughter] back but Henry it's a good thing grandpa I don't know what you call your grandfather but grandpa has a a uh G to have to spend a lot more time with you and that that's that's a positive um Jean I I wish you all the luck in the the world all the all the happiness in the world and know that I'm going to see that sign in front of the the door every time I walk through that door I'm going to see um see that sign and I'm G to smile I'm G to smile of all the memories all the memories of of school board workshops and um everything else that we've done together over the last 17 um 17 and a half years and I'm glad to I'm happy to call you my friend um a mentor and I hope uh we stay in touch thanks M vich I wanted to say thank you to Dr diio for hearing my concerns during the last board meeting regarding having three half days and reducing the three half professional days to two so I would like to say thank you to you um I also would like to say thank you to the generous gifts that our PTA provided us on this agenda which is 11a and one of the most one I really felt was to my heart was um the book for one school which is the book for one school one school program during read Across America and March provides each student with their own book to take home thanks to the uh PT's generous donation students will receive a personal copy this year instead of the usual borrowing the book from our from the other schools I think that's awesome I just wish that the read Across America in March where the board members read to each to the students would be around the whole District versus one elementary school so then more equity and plus it'll be nice that all the all the whole district will see board members engaging with students so that's my second thing my third thing is I want to say thank you to mark for everything I've been on the board for four years and he's always been um always listened to my concerns and always was L uh hearing and one uh always was there to discuss things with me then one of the two initiatives that I would like to say thank you to Mark and one of them will my daughter will be benefiting from next year is the full day kindergarten he advocated for that and he also advocated to record our board meetings so I wanted to say thank you for that uh this is the two and then so okay the next couple of things uh the 11f which is the two the collective bargaining and the Cy which is 11p I have nothing against them I'm just going to vote um abstain from them the reason why is I'm a teacher I've always abstained so I just want to make sure that everybody understands why um the next thing okay so I made a motion last um board meeting for R 2464 and the motion was sent to committee so then according to Rob rules uh according to Robert's Rules hold on I'm getting there a Commit This is used to place a motion in committee it requires a second which we did a majority of the vote must uh must vote vote must rule to carry it great at the next meeting the committee is required to prepare a report on the motion committed unfortunately I don't know where the report came maybe I missed it and if if it's if there is a report if it could be please provided to us about what the committee said regarding that since we are using Robert's Rules I would assume that would be that would occur and by the way I put that in my write up I will also be voting no for 11c because um number 12 on the write up I asked for a couple of bills I don't know I looked for them and I couldn't find them therefore I'm just going to vote no CU I wasn't provided the bills thank you so much Dr berini thank you m uh Mrs Mayan first of all I know Natalie I'm I'm a little disappointed that Mrs quacko had to leave because I wanted to ask her because Natalie and I go back to Edgewater days I worked in Leon she worked in Edgewater we were sister schools I was just wondering if there were any findings or recommendations from your audit back in 2000 because she would know and you know Aon is outstanding so I yes no Edgewater comments Natalie no I don't remember so I kidding aside I want to thank her for her years here uh I've been only on the board this is my third year coming up but I obviously know Natalie for a long time and her professionalism leadership expertise her her her some extended uh presentations were were very very informative I paid attention most of the time to the presentations but she did a wonderful job and uh I just want to wish her the best of luck I know you like to travel and you love education and we're in the same boat so I just want to wish you the best of luck Mr Spindel um I do think now that you have to to to drown me out no I thought they were gonna do that too you don't want your name on that point of order please I think was speaking I think are you done Julie fixing this sorry no it's all right Julie I'll wait I'll wait wait never overt talk a student you just wait until they quiet down that's my experience in education so Mark again I think you need to work on your sense of humor because many of your jokes against me this last two years have been okay but I do want I I as everyone else said tonight I want to thank you for your passion uh for Education both in your years of Bic and and obviously here on the board and for all the students here in Fon uh it's people like you that make me want to run for the board and and want me to be part of the system so I want to thank you Mark very much for that and then finally uh Mr Banta uh 33 years um I've been in Falon 32 years now so you've been a member of the board since I moved in back in the early 90s uh your historical knowledge your common sense sometimes a temper but mostly uh Common Sense level-headedness uh anybody that volunteers 33 years for anything and obviously doesn't get paid and you're you're volunteering not only your time but your effort uh anyone that is part of the fair laan School District uh should be very much appreciative should respect your your years of service and I certainly want to thank you personally for being a leader during my time here and as uh Mike said a few moments ago I'll be very proud as a board member to walk in this room every time and see your name on it uh for your years of dedication so thank you very much Jean thank you Mr balowski thank you um I'll keep it short just because everybody's saying similar sentiments and I think we all feel it um we are losing an immense amount of institutional knowledge with the three of you um leaving our day next year um Dr lactina you've always been such a friendly face and somebody that has helped me find my role on the board um to understand the role of a board member um and all three of you and especially you Dr lactina though um were on this board when I was a student rap when I sat in that crowd and I always remember say you saying hello because you sat on the edge over there um it was always you and Miss Quackenbush and Miss Frankle because they were the student dialogue Liaisons um and so it's G to be sad not to look over and see you um Mark we've done um many negotiations together same with Jean um and just our conversations I've truly appreciated even when we haven't agreed um it's always been disres or it's always been a respectful disagreement um um your commitment to volunteer hours is certainly something I won't forget as we continue on this board and we discuss options going forward I remember you mentioning that while I was a student um and so you've been fighting that fight for a long time and know that it doesn't go away when you leave the board um the sentiment behind it will remain um I will oh God sorry right um and so I simply thank you for for all your guidance as well and Jean um you have been on the board my entire life longer than my life so just throwing that out there I don't shy away from that um so you've controlled my entire educational experience here in Falon um I think it's so I think I turned out okay um thank you for truly everything over my three years here um you know in law school They Don't Really teach you how to be a negotiator um something you have to learn on your own but watching your lead watching your lead as well within those units um gave me that uh experience and I will certainly carry that on um but as the longest servant board member in this community longest servant elected official in our community um you should be really proud of yourself for all the work that you've done for every student that you have touched um on their educational Journey here I I simply also want to recognize um our other retirees on our agenda tonight uh Mr Egan Miss L Luca Bello and Madame Blair um I had Mr Egan as a gym teacher and then I also had Madame Blair as a French teacher um combine the three of them bring 80 years of experience to our district uh so we are losing once again a lot of institutional knowledge and commitment to our students um so we thank you all and simply enjoy this next period and chapter of your life thank [Applause] you Miss Brown it's hard it's a tough crowd to go after so um I'm going to keep it short and sweet uh Dr Latina um I so much appreciate you um not only as a board member but as a parent in the school district before I even set foot in this class in this room in the Gan banter room um before I even set foot in this room um I was able to Bear witness to your greatness in your office um as you sat with me um and heard heard me as a parent um advocating for my child so that conversation and those conversations will were profound and they will stick with me and they will mold me as an educator um and as a person um I hope to be half that at least half the educator that you are because you are incredible um um I felt heard I felt valued and I felt like a part of my child's educational team um when I didn't feel that way walking in um so I very much appreciate that um I think that you do a fine job and you will be very missed um Mark I haven't had a a long time to work with you um but one one of the memories that I do have working with you is the first time I set foot in The Retreat that we had um the conversations that we had um I was nervous to have because I didn't know I've you know I never met you before but they were thoughtful and um what I took away from that is how reflective you were in those conversations and um the care that you took in answering and taking the time to make me feel like a valued member of the board um um even though I don't know as much as you do so I wanted to thank you for that and I wanted to and I wish that I was able to spend more time with you on the board um Mr vanta my mentor um I I don't know how I'll be the only gene on the board now so I hope to hold the torch well um I appreciate your knowledge and your kindness I appreciate you um you know showing me the ropes taking me to the Falon Diner and explaining things to me and on how to be a board member and what to do um you know again I didn't spend a lot of time with you unfortunately and I wish that I was able to spend more um but the knowledge that you uh gave me and the the conversations that we had you know were Priceless and um I I will value them forever and and um I really appreciate your service to our community um I hope to be a Community member like you and I hope to serve my community in any capacity for as long as you so thank you and thank you to all three of you so that's it are you're right whether it was before a board meeting or after a board meeting or when we're all at dinner in Atlantic City or something and I know your commitment I was always impressed by your PowerPoint presentations and I'm not saying that as a joke because I know we like to make fun PowerPoint but um you know you always on top you knew your subject inside and out and you were always able to answer questions that we had about any presentation and uh that helped a lot to smooth things over a lot of times with people because you got a 40-page presentation numbers and calculators and and you were always able to make it make sense for all of us Mark um I got to tell you I wasn't crazy about the wellness thing when I was had my doubts but as it was implemented and people seem to like it and as I realized that I can't handle stress like I used to um um it's probably a good thing and I I think that that that's great that you did that we didn't always agree but I always knew that nothing was stopping you from being the best board member you can for these kids and they were always number one in your heart and even if we didn't agree on something we always had respect for each other where we could talk about it and say you know let's agree to disagree um it's it's this has been an overwhelming night for me and I am very proud I'm very proud of what I've done what this board has done uh what this this Administration prior administrations have done taking this school from a good district from a good District to a great great District we're A+ all over the place our our our numbers are perfect that that's a wrong our numbers are great I heard the auditor our our if you look at us comparing us to any other District similar in size we spend less money and get better results and and that's not me saying that that's the state report card that's people who flipped around have made these um observations so it's not Banta it's the whole state of New Jersey um I have every confidence that after I leave nothing's going to change except for the better um I have confidence in this Administration 100% I've had confidence in this leadership Joe and juli and I hope that the board sees fit to put them back in the same positions in January because I think they've done a great job and I'm very proud to have served with them and I'm very happy that the board is going to be made up the way it's going to be made up and I have no regrets about anything except I do have one regret but that's what my family and I probably should spent more time with them but um I was driven I was driven and so one last thing in November 20124 we had a retreat and a retreat was usually let's pick a couple of topics and talk about them could be negotiations it could be you know uh Finance whatever it was and I said you know what a lot of times we we get these things and we never get through it all we get halfway through and there's always a lot of questions so a few years ago I said let I had an idea I said let's ask the board members what they would like to discuss and I sent an email to all the board members and I said give me five questions this was in August and the retreat was going to be over give me five questions and you can have them answered by New Jersey school boards Association who is our trainer and they do the conventions they do the Retreats and all that so we did that so I asked the M administrator to put one of these in everybody's packet everybody that's here all right um and the reason I did that is because this is a great road map on how to be a board member a lot of questions a lot of answers it's not the whole thing it's it's the PowerPoint presentation but everybody has it in their packet and I urge you to reread it before the next meeting in January because this is how it's done and again it's not Jean banter saying this this is New Jersey school board it's 100 years of practice of doing this so everybody on the board has one wilin Anthony I have one for you guys to read before January and I'll just H them over to you I want to wish you two the best of luck happy you guys are elected and I expect nothing but the best from everybody here and I want to thank everyone for the kind words thank you thank you thank you Natalie I spoke last month and and said some uh kind words in case you want to know if it's positive or not however the terms knowledgeable hardworking passionate dedicated those are all accolades that go along with the name that I I honestly think that you are one of the key components that should one of the key components that should be attributed to making this school district what it is today I honestly honestly feel that way and I enjoyed those meetings that we used to have when I used to go to your office regarding the property maintenance uh poster contest unfortunately that went its went its way uh during Co and has not been revived however I do appreciate everything that you've done for this community I enjoyed working with you and I wish you the best of luck in the future Jean I realized I had to say something about you while I was writing my speech a couple of minutes before the meeting okay so I play got it in so so I may have to read this over here uh what an accomplishment and what a commitment what dedication and should I say what a fool 33 years 33 years serving as a board member and as they said you probably are the key board member who has served the longest term for fairon putting aside the humor for a moment you were our historian our president many many times over a logical thinker one who expressed his ideas fervently and always a supporter of our students you saw so many changes as was mentioned before that Happ happened in our District's educational system and you were there to partake in all of these successes you probably should be called Mr board president uh Mr board member of fairon for serving so long so maybe they can put that title on the door along with Banta with with the room I I am sure that I want to thank you and I'm sure everybody body want to thank you for all your service and all your dedication for these last 33 years so thank you once [Applause] again everything must come to an end and so tonight I find myself attending my last board M after 12 years of service 12 years ago I ran for the Board of Education with little expectation of ever winning the seat because it was always past practice to reelect those who were running to say that I was surprised when I was informed that I did win is an understatement and I guess the rest is history I want to thank the residents of fairon for allowing me this opportunity to serve this great district and I really mean great school district and for placing their trust in me during my tenure I was never beholden to any political party or any individual for that matter and I made all of my decisions from my experiences as an educator and as an administrator I had only two things to consider when I voted on an issue one of them what was in the best interest of the students and the other how is this going to impact on the taxpayers obviously I always chose the best interests of the student foremost I have seen many changes in this District all positive and these changes have really change the landscape of our district during this time we implemented all day kindergarten we had supported the Dual uh dual degrees with BCC we implemented the mental health issu initiatives we introduced streaming of our board meetings we hired two new superintendents along with many of the improvements that we have now in our gifted and talented in special head programs and that's just the top of it although I was a staunch advocate for the above and I voted in the affirmative there are other agenda items which I personally introduced as was mentioned which were not in favor and did not received the five votes needed for passing one of these was community service which I have been fighting now for six years and I guess I'm going to have to give up at this time I am hoping that somebody will take over this charge and we'll continue fighting it and finally achieve the community service that is much needed in this District I've learned a lot about people while serving on this board valuable lessons about hostility personality grudges and in general human nature I am sure we've learned all of us through our past meetings that words can be very harmful and we need to say we need to watch how we say them and what we say we should have also learned that negative facial expressions show just as much disparage for one another as do the words however over the past few years years I have to admit we have transitioned from an antagonistic and discordant board to one that is more understanding showing less vital to each of us and I hope that the new board continues in this vein thinking back I was probably one of the few if not the only board member that had no aspiration to run for president or vice president's positions nonetheless there are individuals to sitting here on this board who do desire these positions but have been stifled from occupying them and truthfully that's not right I think each member deserves the right to serve their capacity in those positions there were countless times when I was in the minority as was stated when it came to passing a vote and it took me years to realize and to understand that even if you are in the minority it doesn't mean that you're wrong just perhaps that the individuals are not thinking as you are at that critical time it's been an exciting it's been an interesting and it's been a rewarding 12 years serving on this board and with my newly acquired time I'm going to be able to concentrate more on my business spend more time with my family as well as my extended family and of course it wouldn't be me if I didn't end with the joke as you know I always try to bring some humor and some laughter to our meetings so that the stress level and the intensity level of some of us could be brought down to acceptable standards so I thought I'd leave you with this joke and it's not about the farmer and his daughter it's about a wife in her 50s who is very depressed and not only because of her aging but because of what she's done uh I'm sorry but because of what it has done to her when she looks in the mirror the reflection is not so flattering any longer she sees that she's been gaining some weight she's starting to get crow's feet around her eyes and many wrinkles in her face and she realizes that she's not as attractive as she was in the past so she calls her husband over and tells him what she sees in the mirror and asks that please compliment me so that I can feel better he thinks for a while and then he remarks you have excellent eyesight just as Bob Hope would always say in closing I too want to say thanks for all the memories I've copyrighted that joke so make sure you get permission if you're going to use it I'm going to let Natalie speak okay go ahead I really will be quick um first of all Jean and Mark congratulations um it has been such an honor for me to work with both of you over the years and I'm so proud of everything that we've accomplished and I just again want to Echo everybody's sentiments that um um the service that you give to the students in the community is unparalleled and um it's remarkable so thank you for all of the hard work that you have both done over the years I I've really enjoyed my time with you and I also want to thank the board um former board members current board members for your faith in me um I did sort of grow up here in Falon from elementary school to Middle School to uh central office um and each one of those experiences has left me with so many fabulous memories um it brings a huge smile to my face when I think about all of the students I worked with and the families they're very special um and we have an incredible staff you know I said it um last week that it really takes a village and it's all of us working together the collaboration of every stakeholder group that allows Falon schools to be as amazing um as they are and I can't thank uh all the staff for their support the families um the kids but again mostly the Board of Education because you have allowed me to take this journey all these years um I'm so proud of everything that we've accomplished together and I'll take all those memories with me into retirement so again thank you for all your kind words tonight and thank you for all the memories over the years I really appreciate [Applause] it just in the interest of time I do know that uh one or two people would like to uh go for a second round we are well over our 30 minutes so I'm just going to move into uh agenda items and then feel free to speak during other business that way we can exposit our time okay um I'm gonna I understand I am just going to ask that we move in into our thank you um can I get roll call please my last yeah uh point of information my question was never answered regarding the my motion and where's the uh write up for the subsidiary which is moving you to committee um Dr jie SE so at the last board meeting the minutes reflect that the subsidiary motion to move any discussion of Regulation changes to the education committee that was in reference to gifted and talented we did have an education committee meeting um there was not any discussion for any changes based on anybody at that committee meeting so as a result there's no further changes was that a topic because I didn't see that as a topic it was not a listed topic nobody brought that information forward who was in attendance at that education committee can I get a roll call on the motion Mr Mr Bowski yes Mr Banta yes Dr bertolini yes Miss Brown yes Miss fich no Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes Mrs Mayhan obstain motion passes okay can I get a motion for 4A through 13A second Mr Banta go for that one second this Mr Spindel and Mr vanta we're gonna go for it as well roll call please Mr baldowski yes Mr B yes Dr berini yes Miss Brown abstain on 11 P yes to everything else 11 P Paul Miss fich so no on 8 E6 a G2 uh 11 did you say a or a eight 8 E6 8 G2 11 C 11f uh oh I'm sorry 11 F and 11 P are abstained 11 G is no 12 A and B is no 11 G is no I'm sorry and the rest so 11f and 11 P are abstain and 11 G is no 12 a and 12b is no okay yes on everything else yes thank you Mr Rosenberg yes Mr Spindel yes Mrs Mayhan yes consent agenda passes this portion of our board meeting is specifically for comments on any matter when speaking please state your name and Municipality of residence specify which resol solution you are addressing limit your remarks to 3 minutes state law prohibits board members and administrators from discussing Personnel matters student discipline or other confidential issues please note this is not a dialogue or a Q&A session between speakers and the board while we may not respond immediately or to every comment made tonight all input is carefully considered and helps inform our decisions responses may come through emails reports board statements website updates or after the comment period closes thank you for your participation in in our school communities governance the floor is open oh hi good afternoon my name is Dea corala Fon I'm here uh so this is an ongoing issue that I've been going on for since September well since actually June so on September 26th I formerly requested for the board to in to initiate an investigation to determine why the district's topmost administrator have been permitted to publish photographs of District children on a personal website and social media in response to my grievance the superintendent asserted that release forms have been obtained yet provided no further explanation to clarify this statement his statement can be found on a26 publicly recorded meeting I wish to remind the board and the superintendent that all access form applies exclusively to board education approved webs sites and social media channels and does not extend to personal platforms this is critical as parents consent obtained via all access forms is intended solely for media under direct oversight of the board and not individual privately a private um usage by District Personnel um the board failed to formerly address my complaint as direct violation of policy in 9130 it's extremely hardening that as a parent I have to sit there and look through every single policy I voted for some of you like I like you know you are publicly voted individuals like we vote for you to be our reason like I am terrified that I don't want like the thing is that friends are calling me saying did you see your child's pictures you never had my consent to publish my child's pictures yet you did and I was gracious enough not to sue the district because I wanted to have conversations with you yet you sit here and you allow the topmost administrator post pictures of our children and not have any kind of consequences that is extremely disheartening to me the policy 90 9130 them to me you guys are not following so I went and Googled what is the board's job and is to um you know you have to uphold the district policies and you're not if there is a policy and you're not upholding it what kind of trust can parents have in you and this is it feels like you're only picking up what you want to have like what would you want to approve you're not approving things that the Grievances and it's very disheartening that I have to sit here and actually say the word grievance or complain because that's what the policy says I knew nothing about this policy until this policy is 9130 there's over 10,000 policies in Falon I literally said and read through every single policy because you are violating my child's right and you're violating child rights of other children these are you can't do this guys like it's not right like I personally cannot take pictures at the high school or anything else but there's minors you putting minor pictures on personal website without parental consent and you taking parents like I'm getting extremely upset about this issue since this issue's been going on since June and none of the board members decided to address it and some of the board members think that I'm annoying by bringing this issue thank you very much Dr Denio can you check the Google Doc we have two comments we have Mel jurow place would like to thank Dr lactina for all the love and support she has shown us over the years we will miss her and wish her a happy retirement Mr spindell thank you so much for all the support you have been a great Advocate the board is losing a strong member F wishes you all the best with your next chapter Mr Banta our 33 years of service your 33 years of service and experience have been a huge asset to our district F will miss having such a brilliant man on the board who advocated for all children in our district you are a legend and we will miss you thank you second comment is from Mel jurow it really is I can't wait to write Gan bant room on my facility use forms Exclamation point Exclamation point Exclamation point congratulations Jean exclamation point that's all the comments Mr Santana the floor is yours thank you wilin Santana again um I I mentioned it before to um Mr bant and I would like to offer again I think it would be you very useful and in the best interest of the board if uh Mr Banta ever decides to become a consultant for contracts to consider that because the district is going to lose a lot of um knowledge and skill in that regards and um we need that until we build that up uh so that historic knowledge is very very important um I want to say um for those of you that love history the will of the people is the only legitimate Foundation of any government and to protect its free expression should be a first object I I think is very distasteful while we have two members of the community who were elected to say something uh in this regard of for the will of the voters the founding fathers of our country emphasize the importance of respecting the will of the people as the corate of democracy and quoting Mr Biden our president my president you cannot love your country only when you win you cannot love your neighbor only when you agree so I love everybody here especially the people who don't agree with me because you have the right to disagree but like Mr Spindel stated we should not be making funny faces when people speak when you disagree you should not have rais your voice yell scream that is not a good example for our children and that sense a really bad message you want to talk about past practice well we're going to have to talk about past practice but I want to I want to do past practices that brings brings us together not past practices that t take everybody apart we represent the community the diversity of the community that doesn't just mean the way uh we look also the way we think so we have to accept that you know we may not have to agree a former superintendent said this to me in 2021 being a Civic leader is not easy it's not an easy job not an easy job uh and quoting Mr Spindel once stated this this trust is not the motivation should not be a motivation okay for people questioning the questions that people ask I want to uh wish everybody merry Christmas happy Hanukah happy healthy New Year okay and is it is my sincere hope and desire that we work together in peace for our children because if you don't have peace in your heart it shows thank you and have a good night anyone else the floor is closed I am going to open up board member comments I'm actually going to defer to Mr Bowski um because we were overtime I did not get to speak I will be brief and then I will turn it over to Mr Rosenberg and if there is anyone else who would like to speak um you will follow suit with Mr Rosenberg um I'm not going to beat a dead horse the three of you are incredible you're amazing um Natalie thank you what you have given our community is immeasurable Mark um thank you for your respect for your cander and for being levelheaded and gracious Jean thank you for being my friend um I think it's really hard to be somebody who has to be as Earnest as you sometimes have to be and I am so grateful that I've had the opportunity to work with you and on this board and off and lucky for me Scotch at the Dodge house doesn't go anywhere um and neither do travel baseball games so instead of sitting side by side on the board we will sit side by side cheering on our boys on a field um to Jane and Janice thank you for sharing your partners with us for as long as you did because I think at the end of the day what these two gentlemen have given our community is incredible but what you have both given up and your families have given up is something that can't be counted so thank you guys for um allowing us to have that so thank you guys all so much um and then happy holidays to the entire Community uh whether is it is a holiday you celebrating a much deserved break or for your time on as parents enjoy every moment and we will see you in 2025 Mr Rosenberg thank you because the um whole uh agenda um passed I'm not going to bring up I was going to make a comment about the school calendar but I'm not going to make that comic because it passed as it should have um so um I attended a couple things this week uh one thing I attended was Monday night no Tuesday night at um what did what did they call that event and Memorial Dr D I'm I'm sorry traps traps I was floored when when I went into that Memorial Gym the the kids the [Music] entrepreneurs was absolutely tremendous and I want to really uh hats off to the memorial students second thing today um I attended both concerts at Forest school one was K to2 and one was three and four um the first one I attended more as a grandfather and the second one I attended more as a um as a member of the Board of Education and first of all I want to thank um the music teachers of our district and the art teachers of our district because they were involved and all the teachers of our district because they were involved and say that um it was it was really nice to see a couple things first of all um the 100th anniversary of Falon was so they made songs song parodies using fa and Falon and they said a lot of different facts in Falon the the students said a lot of things that a lot of people didn't know in the audience and the other thing that it showed was our diversity in Falon and if there's one thing that I have to say that I'm proud of on my years on this board is the fact of the div diversity in Falon and that we're able to sit down and talk to each other this is Bittersweet for me some people are going to be shocked at what I'm going to say right now but this is my last meeting as a member of the Board of Education I've worked for 17 and a half years I wish a lot of luck to the members of the board because of it is a thankless job I will repeat my statement they got it wrong when you lose 30 years of History 33 years of History I want to thank everyone on this board for their kindness I waited till the end of the meeting because I didn't want to take away from Gan and Mark's accomplishments um I will send you a letter effective um the reorg meeting thank you Miss fich I wanted to thank Mr D for sending the test scores for uh for the I appreciate it during the debate the the board meeting debate uh okay our vice president says the facility assessment will be provided to the board in December I was wondering can it be please be provided to the board since he stated that in public during a speed the next thing I want to clarify is clarify that non-agenda can can non-agenda items be discussed in a committee meeting I thought we always have to follow the agenda and the following thing is we should be role models for our for the children that we serve and what happened to me last board meeting I think needs to be really the last time that it actually happens thank you okay Miss Brown um I just wanted to um wish all of our winter sports good luck uh they started um relatively recently the uh boys basketball team had a home opener um and fencing season has begun um I also wanted to congratulate the teachers and Educational Service professionals on your Governor's education of the Year Awards um two of whom I was I've had the pleasure of working with um Mrs Caitlyn kof Francesco um is a vital asset to Memorial Middle School one who I work with closely and I am proud to work uh alongside um as a team member for my children both of my children now at Memorial and I also wanted to uh highlight the year that my youngest Jack got to spend with spend with Mrs Tyler Clark in third grade um she really transformed him as a writer um and gave him the ability to um Express himself and be as creative as he is um and it's was nice to see him kind of come into into his own there um and what was what's also nice is Mrs graph um his teacher now is sharing writing samples uh that he's doing in fifth grade so I just kind I love I love this community and I love this town um and the collaboration that Educators continue to do on all levels in all um buildings I think it's commendable and it's you know the reason why you know I'm here and it's it's the reason why in fairon so I just wanted to congratulate everybody um and just say thank you okay the floor is closed our upcoming meetings are on January 2nd 2025 which will be our organization meeting for um the 2025 year it will be at 7:30 p.m. here at Thomas Edison school in room 19 the Eugene M Banta public meeting [Applause] room our regular monthly board meeting will be on January 23rd 2025 tentatively because we will do our reorg um calendar on the 2nd so it's tentative um at 7:30 at head in school room 19 Eugene and pent a public meeting room um that thing was a heater um so I would just like before I make I ask for a motion to adjourn I do I said before hold on um I do realize that it is very late it is 9:52 p.m. thank you all so much for being here for sitting here with us and for commemorating three incredible humans who have provided 66 plus years of service to our community did I get that right terrible Edition um and despite the time you can find me sitting at the Dutch House Bar toasting to you mark to you Natalie and to Eugene I do hope you will join us in that celebration for at least a um toast to all of you and for anyone in the audience who wants to get off their couch and join us I'll be there for at least a little while um happy holidays please enjoy your celebrations your time off your time on and um we will see you in 2025 can I get a motion to adjourn all in favor have a great night guys Happy New Year