##VIDEO ID:b29s9wojQ1s## e e e e e e things are going to be a bit different tonight I hope you all came ready for some good entertainment and some good food we're gonna have a party so tonight is going to be a good night a bit different because at the end of the day it is um we are here for children amen and now I want you to take note who is here for children now unfortunately kiddos a lot of times grown-ups they don't always play nice in our sandbox and so we do not have enough to actually do the business of the district because some people are not playing nice in the sandbox but we are here because we want to see you and we care about the work that you do so we are going to sit back relax and enjoy the show and then we are going to have we are going to celebrate two very important people who have done amazing work for our district and then we're gonna eat and we have enough food for everybody we made sure that we we're providing food for everybody we have some good old soul food so um we will start with hillers Bell ringers and then um I will introduce the next Group after that so let's welcome heers hello my name is Aiden from Miss Martin's class hello my name is Ally from Miss Martin's class we are from hillers and our principal is Dr SoDo we have Miss na we have Rena we have IO we have Joyce we have Leandro we have Sera we have Zoe we have Milan we have Matthew we have moera we have Aiden we we have Jeffrey we have we have Joselyn we have Melanie and we have Alanis our are 2024 hillers Bell ringers we are here this evening to perform bell music for you and share our thoughts about hillers we would like to start off with some music we have two pieces for you the first piece is Cara the bells written by molon Leon toin and we have r on the piano e e here is our best winter holiday song we saved our favorite one for you it is Jingle Bells by John Pier P arranged by Martha Lynn Thompson and we have Renda on the piano e e e find hearts are the gardens I hope you enjoyed our bell performance we will now share a poem with you that will will also lead us to highlight our amazing School hillers kind hearts are the gardens by hen by Henry woodsworth Long Fellow kind kind hearts are the gardens kind thoughts are the roots kind words are the flowers kind Deeds are the fruits take care of your garden and keep out the weeds fill it with sunshine kind words and kind Deeds how meaningful was that poem to us kindness is a beautiful garden and our garden is our school we are the seeds of kindness that flourish daily our teachers and Hiller students keep out the weeds along with our teachers we are respectful to one another we use kind words offer help and emotional support always especially during the holiday season there is no greater gift than kindness with a simple smile a hug a high five or just a hello we make a difference our school is filled with sunshine and kindness and I wrote a poem about our school hillers hillers a place of Wonder events and culture pizza parties blue and gold a huge playground that stands up bold preag to fourth grade this school's got it all kindness everywhere and bullets and boards on the wall a huge cafeteria whose Lun aades are busy it may look peaceful but trust me it gets noisy 8:30 to 2:50 6 hours are fun we talk giggle and laugh till the day is done hillers a place of Wonder events and culture our love for our school is deep and immeasurable we plant our kindness seeds and care for them daily especially during the holiday season as Hill School Stars we lead by example so enjoy your holiday and go out there and play your own garden of kindness that's the best gift you can give have kind thoughts use kind words do kind Deeds take care of your loved ones share Joy thank you wish you all happy holidays thank you Hill herbs so now we'll let them get settled oh M sorry we'll let hillers get settled and then Fair Mount will let hillers get settled can you hear me now we'll let hillers get settled and then we'll let Fair Mount come up down all right now I think people can hear me now sorry so we will let hillers get settled and then we will bring up fair Mount school good evening superintendent McBride board members families parents our brothers and sisters from Hiller School Dr SoDo Mrs Madden Our Fair Mount uh staff and families who are here with us this evening it is an honor and a privilege to present to you this evening Our Fair Mount School band and Glee Club know that these students have worked very very hard and preparing for this occasion they've traveled through the rain and they are ready to perform so with that said please join me in welcoming our Fairmount school band and Glee Club led by the and only Mrs D Clemente and miss Mr kubia band teacher thank you today we're going to have our first soloist we have Samantha she's going to be playing a song called Country Walk e e next we have our next soloist we have Wilson he'll be playing a song called lightly row saxophone solo e e okay our final Ensemble we have is the clarinet ensemble they'll be playing a a song called Good King want the loss e [Music] e e e hello everyone thank you for your time thank you Mr batang and Miss service for your support thank you um Dr McBride Miss parchment Mrs Marx Mr vicory and all the Board of Education thank you for having us tonight we are going to be taking you to an island this winter um so we can escape the winter Blues e e e e e wonderful job Glee Club thank you everybody congratulations hillers and fair Mount thank you and go on ahead good evening everyone good evening everyone I hope everyone is well just want to uh just say how proud We Are of our Scholars they say that a child shall lead them and out of the mouths of babes our Scholars are teaching us as even as adults the importance of this season of showing kindness and giving love and that's what it's about and so we are so grateful for each and every one of you who came out tonight to support our Scholars and all of the staff members who took the time to make this this day happen so we want to honor our leaders all of our staff members our teachers who sat with the students and again it's not easy standing up in front of us so listen we are tough crowds but every time they get to show just how amazing and gifted they are so great job for the As as well as the schools hillers and Fairmount Elementary Schools thank you all so much for coming out all right so now I I want us to um again because we do not have a quorum tonight we cannot um have an official meeting but we do want to honor our students and we do have um our student member on the board who is going to not give a report but she's gonna tell us what her friends are doing at the high school good night everyone my name is Shena Thomas good night everyone my name is Shenika Thomas and what my friends are doing at the yeah oh yeah yeah okay well today the guidance Department hosted instant decision day I was one of the students that participated and and good news I got accepted in all my colleges thank you thank you our music department yesterday held a beautiful performance for our annual holiday Coral it was beautiful I loved it our um our aete of the week is this fantastic FC bowler named Joey Peril he is our first athlete of the week by northjersey.com this school year and um I don't know well for the holidays I'm spending some time with my friends having a little friends miss you know it's about family and friends without the parents that's it so thank you good night thank you all right so now before we eat and again I invite everyone to stay and eat um I want to honor two very important people um on our board who this will be their last meeting with us um as they are rolling off our board and um that is first I will say um is Marlene Somerville Miss Somerville and I'm G to use this mic I would normally stand up there but it's they can't hear me very well so miss Somerville has served on our board uh this is her final year of this term and she is one not only is she super smart but she is absolutely a super go-getter and she came on to this board and like a worldwind quite frankly um and and I will tell you she for me personally she taught me a lot about my own leadership and how I needed to learn how to adjust what I was doing to be able to work with different other leadership styles so I am super thankful for the work that she has done what she has taught me personally um I look forward to what watching what she does this is just one way she serves our community um she serves in many capacities so I look forward to see what you do Miss Somerville in the future and um I hope that you will continue to be in my life in other capacities so um we are thankful for you uh your plaque will be coming in um at some point in the next couple of days it's in the mail somewhere um but it will be coming in and we will get that to you but um if we can all give Miss Somerville a big thank you and a round of applause good evening everyone um thank you for thank you for the Applause I appreciate it uh Scott uh thank you I I mean I definitely mean that serving on this board is a a wonderful opportunity these kids are phenomenal right they do a lot for the district and I think that you know as board members we definitely definitely you know appreciate the work that they put in Dr McBride I know I joke that when we started the board like like this was like a marriage well I guess tonight we're divorcing but we will still stay in touch right we have kids and as any parent know has ever gone through a divorce co-parenting is the key right so we'll still be in touch we'll still have to take care of the kids we'll still be we'll still be keeping up I mean I promise Dr McBride no but in all seriousness I promised Dr McBride when I stepped on the board right that when I make a commitment when I make my word I keep it so it's not just leaving here tonight that we're saying that I'm parying right um Lance and I ran on a ticket that we were talking about education excellent and in keeping my word that I mean education ation excellence and that we'll always be an advocate the education Excellence Coalition is now a 501c4 organization right we converted that into an actual pack we will be working on behalf of the district and onal of the kids to try to see where we can get advocacy to do things within the district we will be doing fundraising we will be reaching out to different partners and different organizations to be able to get grants and benefit myself and my family will be sponsoring a scholarship for the kids because I firmly believe in giving back and like I said I put my money where my mouth is so if I say it I mean it and I will make it actionable so Dr McBride we will not be going away we will be here we made a commitment to the kids we made a commitment to the district and we will be sticking with it and as a matter of fact starting in January I will be reaching out to you and Dr Montano because we have already has a contact with the Trade Commission to talk about what we can do to action policies for our kids that do not want to go after college but actually would like to go into a trade so we will be getting you the list we will be getting you all the trade organizers and we will be talking about how we can get our kids to start from 17 when they're turning 18 to be able to roll out from here and go straight into a trade where they pay for the training they pay for the classes they pay for everything so again we have made a commitment we are here we are not going anywhere so again thank you everybody I definitely appreciate it there is more to come from me from us and there's a lot to look forward to so take care get home safely and enjoy your holidays everyone all right and so next we I want to honor Lance Lancelot Powell um so Lance has been on the board forever forever yeah for a long time and um he was president before I was and so I've I've had the opportunity to learn and grow from him and fight with him and um you all kinds of things because and and I I I play when I say that but it's one of those things that that we have had the opportunity to push and pull because finding a balance to to make sure that we were doing what's right for children was always the number one goal and that's the the beautiful part about Lance is he never lost the goal his eyes were always on the same thing and that was Children of the district and so even when things because boardrooms are not always easy Trust trust me um even when things were complicated trying to figure things out the common goal was always the same and I've learned an enormous amount from you Lance and I am thankful um for the years I mean at this point it's been years of um and and and when I became president he always called to check in give me advice all the time every week yeah that's right even when I didn't want it um so Lance we are thankful for the work that you have done over the many many years even before you were on the board you came to these meetings and were advocating for children um and we know that you will do the same afterwards so we are thankful for you and we um look forward to what's next so thank you Lance um and so let's give him okay good evening everyone good evening Merry Christmas everyone it's a joyous time of the year yeah I first I must say we are here for our children I'm going to say that again the only reason why we're here or sit on a school board is for our children there's no other reason why we're here and I I'm grateful and I'm very humble that I had the chance to serve and tonight when I looked at the kids performing tonight I was very emotional just watching them performing and I know that you know parents kids were looking forward to it and uh I was very well entertained and I just want to say thank you for all the music teachers principls that and everyone that put a lot of work into having the kids come here and perform I just want to say thank you thank you thank you hello Mr Coleman good evening our former trustee good to see you in the house I just have a couple of words and I'll let you go some chapters are sad some chapters are happy and some chapters are exciting but if you never turn the page you will never know what the next chapter is in your life or what's in store for you when I came I moved from tin to Atkinson so I'm transplanted into a and you know my son played Sports thank you aimak and I would travel to a towns and I would look at their schools and their facilities and I'm like okay we can do better and I was never satisfied with what I saw not saying what we had was bad but I like I like to see better so I said you know I'm G to get involved I came to the meetings like Scott said and I decided I was going to get involved and I'm proud Scott that I had a chance to work with you and other board members but we did a lot of work together and through our collaboration I want you to listen carefully we did new solar panels new bathrooms new locker rooms new tennis courts they were always flooded now they're beautiful they're like Wimbledon we have four new school buses isn't that awesome we have our own buses we have a new HR Director we have a new we have our African-American superintendent who is wonderful Dr McBride we had a new football field New scoreboard painting off our bleaches new lunchrooms new auditoriums new basketball floors new Lighting in our schools upgrade to our hbac systems new entrance to the high school we look like a college before when if we weren't sure which entrance but we were going into now when you drive by the high school you can attest to it it looks fabulous the bridge was always dark at night and when I drove by I'm like no it's painted new lighting and when you drive by it's wonderful I could list many things that we have accomplished but these are some of the things we have accomplished so serving on a school board is no easy task especially in today's troubling political climate it has been determined to be one of the most challenging voluntary roles our school board members receive no financial compensation but the reward of serving is the privilege to help shape the future ofering Nation by strengthening our most promising lever with is public education my son had a great public education in Akin saac and I just want to say thank you for everyone who was involved in his life it is our best help in providing Equitable access to ensure all students have a skills and dispositions to lead a life of purpose and impact I want to thank you for your confidence in electing me to the position and likee Scott said I'm a dinosaur I've been around the board for a very long time it has been the honor of my life to have been a part of that work so from the bottom of my heart the bottom I want to thank you hackin sack the community I will continue to follow the tremendous growth of a district and I will be its most loyal and Ardent supporter thank you for the joy thank you for your love and thank you for your happiness you have given me over the last how many years thank you thank you Merry Christmas everyone and this is a time where it's a time of giving there's many people who don't have I'm asking please reach out to your neighbors family friends and in whatever capacity you can give someone help there's a lot of people give back paid forward and help someone because there's a lot of people they still struggling and suffering and make it be a time of giving and loving and caring in this holiday season take care of each other Joy coming in the morning thank you and good night all right so we only have two things left one is going to be we're going to eat right now so what I'm going to ask is that if the principles would kind of I want want to let the kids go through the line first so if y'all would just help kind of guide them through um and um parents go eat um every whoever everyone yeah the kids may have already eaten great um perfect um but go eat please enjoy and then um we're g to move back over and I have a quick presentation I ask that you would stay um because it's important this is my last night as president and and I would like um I would ask that you would stay for that all right let's eat let's get everyone's attention so keep eating enjoying your food now this I will say we are going to take a bit of a turn to a more serious note um this is my last night as president so I'm going to give a a president's report can I turn this well yeah okay I don't need any heckling um oh I'm gonna I'm gonna do that part I'll all right so I want to thank you one for coming tonight I want to thank the children for doing an amazing job you are the reason that I have done this for the last six years I I will say I have not missed one meeting in six years or one committee meeting in six years as a matter of fact I flew home from a vacation and flew back the next day um because this is what I have done for six years um because the kids are who I love and you will meet my family later but I have six children that I adore I have six calm down um so Lance a lot gave some of the things that have happened over the last six years and I'm going to I'm not going to bore you with all of the the the details but I'm going to show you just a few of the things you see the turf um a lot of you remember what was there um this changed the landscape of that part of our town um that's the weight room you see the solar panels we have what we call an esip project Energy savings Improvement plan program that is um saving us large amounts of money if you remember there was a $170 million uh referendum that did not pass but we have gotten many many many of those projects completed millions of dollars of those projects completed because we have done outof the boox thinking to figure out how to make that happen and part of that is from our Energy savings Improvement program that's the uh Fitness Center um new entr to the high school uh you see all the things I'll let you read those things um a couple highlights one of the things that was noticed when I came in that is standard in most districts is we have most districts have maintenance departments we were spending literally on simple things like electricians we were doing State bids we were spending over a million dollars on simple things that a standard electrician could do we we hired a team of people now that we literally pay a salary and benefits and and for whatever that is as opposed to over a million dollars in very simple work not simple in the actual work but what we don't have to pay that amount of money for I couldn't do it but um also we have now if you notice the grounds are much more beautiful than you've ever seen them um that is because we have hired uh um people who Focus specifically on that um we have really taken a hard look we we hired um Harry Ruiz who is our safety and security coordinator we have increased the number of officers that we have we have built um uh security vestibules and all of the things to make sure that our children and staff are safe um we hired Dr McBride Dr McBride is a true instructional leader if we want to get to where we are going this is the individual that will get us there we have to trust him we have now evidence-based reading programs and other programs are coming mentoring programs the list goes on and on and on by tenfold that's just what I could think of I I started to go back through the the agendas for the last six years but you heard I have six kids right I don't have time um here is probably three of the things that I am most proud of oh I did not say that let me back up one of the things that the whole reason that I ran one of my crew broke his foot I was mad one day because he was out of school for like six weeks no Li as as she Li um five months and he had to do home instruction because and we finally even got into a boot and he still couldn't go to school because he was unsteady on the steps the Ada laws were passed 30 year 30 plus years ago now and we still had two schools that were not ADA Compliant and former boards were they would just say well we are grandparent in like it was just an excuse well that's not what that means that means until you can do something about it you should be actively working on it so now I knew that would never be done in time for my child that was not the point the point was that it should be done because I started thinking what about people who are employed there what about the parents and grandparents or caregivers that want to go see their baby in the play they can't get in the building this makes no sense and so that's the whole what started me even thinking about running for the board and so we have elevators at Fairmount and Jackson which both desperately needed to have the Ada um accommodations so here are three things that I am proud of and what I believe are the values of not only this District but this town so in the first you see it is the land acknowledgement if you hear if you ever come to our meetings you'll even hear me read a land acknowledgement at the beginning of every meeting the very name of this town is hackensac and we sit on the the lands of people who were taken off this land and so it's a way and we had a day that was one of the most beautiful days that I've ever been a part of because it wasn't just a moment that we had where we did a a fruy thing at central office it was a day of learning at all of our schools as well because not only did we have it I guess you call it simal cast or whatever you want to call it but it so it was it was fed to all the the schools but but we had people from the tribe that of the land that we sit on there in the schools teaching talking working with being a part of that moment while we were doing our fruy thing here it was really a beautiful day and then the chief chief Perry wrote this specifically for our school district and it it was memorialized in in a monument that that stays there it's beautifully lit up at night um and and so we acknowledge that we live and work um and learn on this land um that was that is not ours um then in the second you see that it says um it's the resolution where we fly the all-inclusive pride flag year round for the lgbtq community and it's inclusive of all people and we fly year round we were the first in the state of New Jersey to do that and then the last um when George Floyd was murdered I had a conversation with Miss parchment and this is what was born an anti the way that our district would work on anti-racism and how we would put our money where our mouth is and the work that we would continue to do those are the values of our district so what makes hackens sack special you see that says the Margo mentality well there's a very special lady here named Margot Calderon she was one of my many kids um first grade teachers so his name is John Presley and we moved when we moved here from Mississippi we all have obviously at that point I'll never lose it but at that point he still had his little southern accent and it wasn't that she just accept accepted his little difference because look I'm not losing my little accent it won't happen John Presley was his little quirky self from Mississippi full of energy full of life had crazy stories she didn't just accept him she loved him and she celebrated him and she like her mentality the Margot mentality for me is celebrating every part of who John Presley was it wasn't about that he was not from here it didn't matter that he didn't come from hackin saac it didn't matter that he wasn't born and raised in the north What mattered is that he was hers that right there if we we can all take on the Margo mentality then this district will soar what also makes hacken sack so special are the students we have this beautiful group of humans that come every day to learn they are fun they are excited they are sponges and they are watching everything we do everything we do they are listening to everything we do or say they are smart and they deserve the very best that we have to offer and that is also the very best example that we have to offer our teachers and administrators I have a list now I'm going to name some people they say that is dangerous but I don't care because this is my last night to be the president so I'm going to do what I want to do so I will say and some people will say this is bad I don't care take note who I'm saying and take note who I'm not Jimmy monano is a fantastic leader he can rally a team together and keep that team strong for years P Lozano can run a building she can do the work Bob Greenwood everybody loves Bob he's just a good human celo King he can connect with kids like nobody else Donna petran wall she's just a brilliant woman she is just brilliant Marcel monoa I have never seen anybody that is so dedicated and works so hard Mr sass he is new to our district I hope that everybody will take the Margo mentality with him and and use that mentality but y'all he's good he is good Miss service she was somewhere here there she is from the day that you were hired over at Fairmount because my kids went to Fairmount so I always kind of keep an eye over there you've been nothing but a rock star Mr batang wherever he went I will tell you he's another one that's didn't come from hackin saac necessarily and he had a hard Roo at the beginning but I'm telling you he hung in there and the kids are better for it Dr Judy SoDo if you if you want to see somebody fight for student and who will go head to head at all 4 foot4 however tall you are sorry I don't know how I don't know how tall she is but she will she will go head-to-head with anybody for however long it takes because she is the epitome of what it means to love and protect children and it doesn't matter if it's her job that's up it doesn't matter because she is here here for children and she will hold whoever accountable because it's about kids miss sing our business administrator I've been in about 1,692 meetings with her and every time in one way or another she brings up children Miss marks I am thankful that I've gotten to know you on this journey because I know [Music] from the roles that you have been in since I have been here you've stayed centered on the goal of loving children in adversity in Good Times your goal has been centered and I'm thankful then we have people like Rich Delio who I've never quite seen anybody get so excited about science but he does and that excitement bleeds all like he just it just oozes out of him and that makes other people love it Miss parchment your love for kids your love for making sure that all people are included Rivals no bodies and I'm thankful that you're in this District to make sure that we keep our eye where it should be because you you are a part of making sure our values are here then we have people like Mary Jones and all of her sometimes there's some some of her chaos makes us crazy but there's something about what she does that instills a love for theater my 22-year-old is here and she's still today we talked about her love and it's not just being on stage my daughter never loved being on stage it was the backstage stuff the stage man agement part she's all of my kids which we are theatrical family trust me but she they all love theater you have people like Miss Mah all of my kids love Miss Mah people like Miss panuco who I didn't think we were gonna make it through Miss pono's class but we did and she challenged our kids but they're better for it Mr Ziggler he was a lifechanger for some of our kids then we have people like Miss Clemente Romano she loved our child so deeply that we never worried about him matter of fact we worried about her when he had to leave and go to Middle School um and I can remember times when she was sick and had to miss the first day of school but at 7 in the morning she was FaceTiming him making sure that he was prepped for the day that is keeping kids in the focus then you have people like Mr King the other Mr King fourth grade Walter King who has that energy that makes kids feel like leaders he he he does something that makes kids feel great about themselves and then you have his his wife across town who will fight for kids and then you have the other Miss King I know getting confusing with the Kings right then you have the other Miss King Kim King who is not afraid to speak up when it's about kids and that's what it takes we fight for kids that's what we do we are about children then you have people like officer Suarez who is he's here tonight over there who treats kids like they're his and that's what you want you want kids coming to school knowing that their officer loves them like their own cuz that's when they that's who they'll look for they don't feel safe and you have people like Miss Barry everybody knows Miss Barry probably miss Barry she is fun she's No Nonsense she gets the job done she will jump into anything to do whatever is needed she loves kids my list goes on and on and on y'all but what I'm trying to point out is we have people in this District that are about children and those are the people that we need to make sure that we continue to hire I'm driving to a point and then finally our community support we have people here tonight we have the victor gesses of the world the Bridget Ruckers who sometimes we don't like what they say but it keeps us on point it keeps us moving in the right direction what makes Hack and Sack so hard this is my favorite part the politics what keeps us from moving forward so we're going to have a left column and a right column now I'm fixing to get this is where it's going to get a little bit more pointed politics agendas not moving from the campaign mindset to the board mindset once we finish a campaign y'all we become one board there should be no sides if you notice tonight one group's not here one group is on October 31st I got six kids y'all know where they y'all know where I was supposed to be I supposed to be getting ready with getting six kids ready for trick- or- treating right but where was I with the same people you see tonight because we had something that had to be turned we had to call a special meeting because it had to be turned in per the state it wasn't me calling a special meeting because I felt frisky it it it was because the state required it but we had one group didn't come one did wasting resources both financial and human what do I mean by that just today we have one board member who says this is an illegal board meeting for some crazy reason it was not an illegal board meeting let me be clear we've had all the legal guidance Mr Eveland who is our attorney he can verify that per all the state regulations it was not an illegal board meeting but because they are intentionally stalling until January till they have seven people who is the full full majority they created hours and hours and hours and hours at least eight or nine hours of work for Mr Eveland today that we pay at this is not about you sir that we pay $170 an hour for think about $170 an hour times8 and think about what that could have done for I'm just looking at Dr Soto's school today what or Miss dveo I see her right what could that have done for your classroom today the students resources are being drained by the board that happens regularly all of the time and when I say human resources what I mean by that Dr McBride spent most of the day on the phone with me Lydia spent half the day on the phone with me and with Mr evand and we spent half the day having to deal with that they have a job to do that deals with students they have to keep their eyes on the prize because we have students that matter and when they are dealing with bored drama then they are not able to do the work that they have to do that we pay them to do so we are wasting financial resources and human resources the blue and gold mentality that's what I'm driving that's my list of people most of the people that I referred to are not from here I need everybody to have the Margo mentality it does not matter if you are blue and gold if you were born and raised and graduated from hackin sack Public School District if you did God bless that's fantastic I have a my children have she's graduating from college this year thank God because I can't afford her but let me tell you already got a job but let me tell you that is not what makes her great having graduated from Hackensack High School what makes her great are the people that instilled the lesson in her and that is me that is her mother that are the teachers that I talked about and they're not all from hacken sack so the blue and gold mentality of which you're going to be seeing starting January because the people that have just been elected that's their big platform is that we're blue and gold that's who we're going to hire and what I want to encourage you we have to hire the best the most highly qualified it doesn't matter where they come from that is who has to be hired now if all things are equal and they happen to have come from hackensac high school then yes great hire hackensac I'm not I'm not saying don't hire hackin graduates I'm saying hire the best and if that is the hackin graduate then hire them but hire the best for our children I cannot even imagine doing anything other it makes no sense Margot mentality people Bo members who do not do the work I have a real job half of the board including the superintendent says I don't have a real job I have a real job I'm a chaplain and I'm an executive that administers a very large part of the church not a church the denomination of United Methodist I got a big job but I spend more hours doing this than I do my actual job of which I spend till 1 in the morning doing because I'm babying a bunch of grown people who will not do the work it takes work to serve on a board anybody and I want you to keep your eye out people anybody that gets up here and says that they didn't have access to something if their lips are moving and saying that they are lying we have access to everything we have something called the board Drive every single lawsuit which is a bunch everything we have everything every dime we spend every Financial document every Hib report every literally everything that we need is in a drive that we all have access to you just have to go to it they even miss Marx Miss parchment doc uh Lydia they even when we have to do certain things they even link it for us here is the whatever curriculum agenda follow the link below you don't even have to do that much work I mean they simplify it for us but instead they play games we have people who don't even look at the agenda before they get here you have to do the work because our kids are worth it they deserve the Excellence let me try that again Excellence Starts Here Union meetings instead of board meetings we have got to stop allowing these meetings to be Union meetings the same people get up here every time they're all union leaders we very rarely have parents and concerned citizens that get up here and talk we have the same C of characters every month now here's the more disturbing part is that the union meets with Dr McBride before a day or two before correct before each meeting so anything that has come that comes out in this meeting has already been brought to the attention of the superintendent where it should go there is a chain of communication that happens that should happen so bringing it to the board does nothing there's nothing the board can do about it it breaks the chain of communication and we're not going to do anything about it because we can't there is a process that has to be followed even if it's a grievance fine but there is a chain that it has to follow it doesn't get to us until like level three or four but bringing it is nothing more than grandstanding For Your Entertainment or theirs I'm not sure but allowing it and look I'm part of the problem because I allowed it because the excuse is well we're hackin sack residents but Union business should not be dealt with here here's what I I I think you need to be looking for as the new board comes in because it will be it will be a majority at least seven people what they're going to do is you're going to see Mr Eveland he won't they will get rid of him very quickly um sorry love you he's like I'm quitting don't worry um auditor they will get they'll have an auditor lined out and they'll have a new risk man manager lined out now here's the problem with that now they they have the right to do it but they don't work with those people you need to ask the people who work with those people day in and day out that is the superintendent that is Miss sing that those are all of the central office people who do the work with those people every day and it's not easy changing attorneys it's not easy we have so many lawsuits that picking up in the middle of it it's a nightmare and is expensive then you oh wait okay so then you're going to see after that then we'll start switching to finding new vendors so just I'm just saying just keep an eye out y'all voting no on Personnel decisions I just want everybody to understand how this works the board you should very rarely see the board voting no on a Personnel decision we Dr McBride can come to us and say I would like to hire a communications director okay we talk about that we put up a they our HR Director puts up a a posting or what would you call before a job description we create all that we can say yes we think that is in line with the vision of what should be happening we are going to approve this job this job title we're creating the job we have no say in the person he can hide hire whoever he wants to we hire one human we are allowed to we are responsible for one human that is the superintendent beyond that he gets to pick whoever he wants to for any job unless we have direct evidence that somebody is a murderer or what and we have to have actual evidence then there's nothing we can do so if you see people voting no on Personnel that means they are strong arming the superintendent and somebody needs to be filing some charges I'm hurrying they're micromanaging the district strong on the superintendent you will see a shift in District values mark my words the Columbus DBS is coming back mark my words they're going to try to get the Columbus Day back on the calendar it would not surprise me if they try to take down Flags just mark my words watch out for the the values of our district they are the values of our district the union and the Boe connect the dots watch for the connections only in this town can Union leadership run campaigns and be major parts of campaigns connect the dots okay now this part is a disclaimer are there any children in the room my no no mine have had to mine have had to actually experience what you're about to see there are images that could bother children and there are words that are going to be could bother children for real so I don't want your children to have to experience now that's my child I don't want I don't want anything to bother the children okay so that's a nubis that's my littlest um so all of this has happened all the things that you have seen go on that we have accomplished in this District but it has not been easy and this blue and gold mentality and and making sure that me and my family have felt very very unwelcome not just from and let me promise you by and large we are loved in this town and we know it it is a very small group mainly of the people that you see and their cohorts that are not here and Union leadership but what you're going to see is what we my family has had to endure now this is what I expect to get as a board president school is for learning subjects only it is not a perverted nightclub you are producing Sodom and Gomorrah reprobates instead of I got I got to turn more towards of respectful members of society you perverts are the reason this country is rotting I expect that okay I can handle that I don't take much offense to I mean you know okay whatever that's a Tuesday in my world now this came to both me and Mr Powell I have trashly redacted the names I did not do a very good job I mean everything's redacted and the gender so that no dots can be connected hopefully um so I am sending this letter to inform you of blank and how blank is having the blank person who works and operates the Boe meeting in your school district spying on the district emails blank is evil disrespectful person as well as a detriment to our district you need to have a plan in place of how you will exposure and bring ethic charges upon your blank if this continues I will exposure all of the wrongs within the central office please remember blank is watching you both as well concern Community now again okay that's a Wednesday now the lovely haa Muppets which is a disgusting and again I'm pretty confident who this is but making fun of I mean making me into a muppet which by the way I have this made into a magnet on my refrigerator if you like it I love it I'm not embarrassed I'm not embarrassed of my hearing so they they put my hearing piece on there because that's classy right um but this is what has happened from some of the Educators not in not here for children again it's a very small group of people very small group notes sent home in some of our children's backpacks to get to their dad statements said like you go tell your dad messages sent home for me classic NE like statements made about me in a when they were on Zoom Zoom with Abby my oldest um and then statements directly and I'll call this one out because it's on public record from Union leadership the union president saying over and over this keeps falling on deaf ears you're talking to a deaf person while they're talking about how this person is a sexist and this per excuse me me ableist language like let's not start calling out people's until we're all together now this is one of the more disturbing letters now I'm not going to read the whole letter but this is a concerned citizen of hackin now let me say this is actually common to for for um elected officials the police deal with this a lot actually um but I have redacted my children's Social Security numbers that they have found I have also so you see their names and their birthdays now aby's birthday is actually December 8th and the only place it was wrong was in Genesis which is our from our school now they they accuse me of a fraudulent last name well the name that they found in whatever search they did was vicory well we we hyphenated our last name later in our marriage so our our last I mean so that's what they're talking about and they talked about basically what they're accusing me of and what they're going to turn in as ethics charges is the fact that um I have referenced our five children at the time we had five if you've not noticed all of my children are not biological but I referenced our five children because we had not adopted them at that point and that every time that we referenced our five children they have that on public record and they were going to turn that into for ethics charges as being fraudulent now the that same concerned citizen also because at the time and I have permission from my children they were in foster care and we were required by the state during covid to get the free lunch from the schools all of all Foster families were so the same concerned people also snapped a picture of me waiting in line and posted it all over Facebook that I was stealing School resources now um also accuse me of donating to um Hudson County whoevers I will full disclaimer I only donated to Pete Buddha jedge $5 ever for politics um accused me of laying Turf my pet project of laying Turf over chemicals that were going to kill our children now we can call it my pet project fine it was something I initiated but I'm the only person in the meaning that started with the board Mr Powell was a huge part of this that took the initiative to remediate the problem our kids have been playing on that field for years it was just a dirt Dust Bowl we remediated the problem the chemical are gone and we check every year to make sure and my favorite line I was told go back to go back to the sticks where I came from and I you know one of our current board members ask me all the time is that how y'all do it in crooked letter crooked letter humpback humpback that's how apparently a thing how you spell Mississippi or something um so now this is from a former board member of when I spoke out in a very professional way they told me that you are disgusting and a despicable human you have humiliated me and my family for the last time my prayer is that your brain tumor that's what took my hearing grow so your fat wife has to wipe your vegetable ass Molly wait she that's her um has to wipe wipe your vegetable ass for the rest of your life this isn't over that's classy right now this came this is Mr oats over here in the corner former truste the only thing that Miss um Harris has actually done on the board was to get him off um you you will be taken out by Vote or by force Public Enemies and so that's what came to our home now now here's another fun fact our children were asked at school not any teachers's fault let me full disclosure not any teacher's fault all of them were like they Googled their parents name or something and it was a project this is what came up so you know I had one that had to deal with some you know he he didn't know we kept this from our kids obviously um now we're we're almost there and then we'll be we'll be we'll be out of here in 5 minutes I promise Dr McBride for the first time I was asked to address the entire body of people the whole idea was he asked what is your why meaning why do you do the work so I do the work for a lot of reasons one I was a special education teacher for many years of of a severe profound community- based special education classroom it's what D like it was what got me up every day just before I had kids don't worry um I'm a special education Advocate I'm an advocate for children in general my nephew who has now passed away had a terminal type of muscular distrophy he was in my classroom in Mississippi they let him come because he was even he was not an IND District student but they let him come because they knew he would die and then my family we have all types of children in my family you'll see my youngest in just a minute he was born blind with autism um cereal pausy and he has a shunt because he had was born of hydrus he's the joy of our house but this is what a small group of Educators felt it was appropriate to be texting back and forth so my kids if y'all will come up here WTF is James vickory talking about he is making no sense maybe he was the student in the class he is talking about instead of the teacher his why is a dead kid talking about my nephew real inspiration I can't imagine this idiot as a teacher I can't understand him how did he how did a bunch of I'm not even to say I can't even imagine saying that word these are these are again small and and let me be clear I know who these people are I guess vicory thinks flashing up a picture of his ugly kids well get him we'll get this town to like him poor Bumpkin that's just another you're not from here so stupid this is the picture that I flashed up well my family is beautiful to me and I have served I have served this community with everything that I have in me and I will not let this small group torture my children any longer so I formerly resigned as of now and I will turn my attention to my children who deserve me now just like Lance and Marlene I I'm not leaving I will still be here now I'm not going to be coming to meetings and harassing the board but I will still be on the special ed task force that has been created because that is where I have expertise and let me be clear I have expertise now let me tell you I don't like to toot my own horn but toot toot there is nobody that is coming onto this board or that is on this board that can do the work or that is Will willing to put in the time and energy and passion that I have keep your eyes open hold them accountable because our kids are worth it including the kids that are not from here keep the Margo mentality I beg of you thank you good night my name is Bridget Rucker some people know me some people don't but for me sitting in that seat and seeing those comments those people who type that have no character no morals no Compass whatsoever they are weak because they would have never ever said that to your face and if you would be so kind to tell me who those people are I will make it my business to step to them and say it to their face how dare you talk about somebody's family how dare you talk about somebody's disability I just don't understand