good evening everyone and uh welcome to tonight's hackensac Board of Education meeting please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for a moment of silence please to of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible libery and justice for all you may be seated thank you as we start our meeting let's pause to acknowledge that the hackin saac school district occupies the unseated ancestral lands of the Ramapo Mony Lenape people we are grateful to be able to learn work and gather today and we continue our commitment to support all underserved and undervalued members of our school Community as a reminder please speak slowly um and that's to our board members and to anyone who speaks from the community um so that our translators that are translating in Spanish in the back and um our interpreters can keep up with everything all right in accordance with the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting was advertised in the record posted at the board office and filed with the city clerk okay being signal by the translator I didn't know if you were that Adrian they may need you in the back for the translation we need to wait Mr saparo do we need do we need to wait just want make sure he has on uh hereby call to order the regular public meeting on June 19th 2024 in the hackin SEC high school media center 619 at 619 p M missing will you please do a roll call yes um our sending districts are not here Mr Carol is not here as yet Miss Harris is absent Mr Martin Mr poell yes Miss Pringle Miss Somerville here Mr Stein here miss carder Alton present Mr James vicory present we have a quorum all right so we will begin with our presentations and there's so there's no student report tonight and we will start with Dr Whiting good evening everyone good even good evening so glad I was just saying hello Mr pal hello Dr W uh so glad to have you uh be able to stand before you this evening to honor the react Club of hackin sack Middle School Miss Heather Mecca is one of our advisers along with uh Miss Jessica Grande we have two students represented here would you kindly join me please at the podium so this evening we're acknowledging the react club for their community service we teach our children all the time that it's not always about them but about paying it forward and the children children at the react club uh the the in kind Club at the high school is the interact Club focus on doing community service and that's a wonderful thing when you think about middle schoolers who often think about themselves have taken the opportunity to think about others and some of the things that the middle schoolers uh in the part of the react Club they have made sandwiches for the homeless they have made uh cards had a senior prom at the um at Wellington so it was a new take on the senior prom so it was a a dance for our seniors the elders and our community and they just show us at hacken stack Middle School what it is to serve others with lots of heart and so today we're acknowledging the uh react Club thanks to miss Mecca and our two students here for all that they have done to pay it forward in our community and to show by example that it is great to give and it's always better to give than to receive is what I'd like to say so on behalf of hackas Middle School Dr McBride we thank you for your service Miss Mecca and would you like to say something at this time congratulations on being know good evening everyone thank you so much uh Dr whing it has been a privilege we've we've done react Club at the middle school for seven years and and uh it has been a privilege and an honor to do so uh these young people make over 2,000 sandwiches uh a year for the homeless we do a couple town cleanups uh they go St junk yeah they go uh across the street to Wellington on multiple occasions to uh bring cheer to the older residents and um I know they're moving on to the interact Club at the high school and I wish them all of the luck in the world we're also pleased to have the support the Rotary Club um as is in our t-shirts and uh we look forward to working with them and and support in the future thank you very much so again we uh Echo the sentiments of Dr whing because you know that only what you do for others will last so we are so proud of our young people who have already started the process of knowing the importance of helping others and giving back and so in acknowledgement of that you will be receiving a plaque from our our office just acknowledging the great work that you all are doing so we are very proud of you thank you all again [Laughter] just behind back again so next I'd like to bring bring up Miss Marcel Moncler to highlight the work that's been done around by literacy so come at this time thank you good evening and thank you for having us um I want to remind everyone that the New Jersey state no seal of by literacy is an award given by the New Jersey Department of Education in recognition of students who have studied and attained proficiency geny in at least one language in addition to English and the New Jersey Department of Education established the seal in 2016 to help students recognize the value and benefits of bilingualism including cultural understanding and social acceptance so it's an honor to receive it we have tonight we have 12 students that will be honored um and I'm going to say it in Spanish then because I am bilingual and at this time we would like to acknowledge and congratulate our advanced placement teacher of Spanish language and culture Mrs Mercedes Hernandez and the whole world language department for their valuable role in promoting bilingualism in our students I want to say that Mrs Mercedes Hernandez has been the guardian of what is AP language and literature and we're so grateful for her she is retiring this year and we want to honor her she's not here with us tonight but I do want to take the moment to say she built the program and this is the last cohort that she had last year so our thoughts go out to Mrs Hernandez and now for the student awards of the Seal of biliteracy please join us in acknowledging the students who have earned the seal this year we have the seal in Spanish and English Emily AR please come up we want to see those chords tomorrow proudly for graduation Melissa Flores Shining Cassandra Enriquez Luis ernandez Perez Rosemary Reyes Anna Riva guong Daniela segobia rhas Angelica seura Marissa sunako Jessica sukwa Montero Jennifer takuri Ooa Chelsea salana couldn't be here with us tonight she'll pick up her certificate I just want you to know they're holding their seal of by literacy pin the certificate that is uh issued by the state of New Jersey we do not issue the Seal of biliteracy it is the state of New Jersey that does and of course we honor them from the district too so they're holding two certificates we'd love to take a picture of you to honor this moment I hope uh tonight's ceremony is an inspiration to everyone to um to live their lives bilingually to pursue a second and even third language and uh for our students to really aggressively pursue we have a beautiful program a very strong and robust program that we uh would like to grow hiding behind the computer over there right and now I'd like to welcome our board president Mr vicory for our S award um I'd also like to uh ask Miss Marx to come and join as well um as we give an introduction to this month's recipient good evening everyone um this month's sore Awards um are going to two young men who participated in a contest offered up by an organization called bro reement the founder of bro reement is Daniel Ratchford I'm not sure Daniel you're here hi come on up the founder of BR rement is Daniel Ratford and bro reement mission statement reads RMA provides a safe spa space for men and boys of color to navigate the emotional and psychological challenges impacting them because of a loss of a loved one they create a community to help men and young boys heal and Mr Ratford reached out to us in May and offered up a competition to win tickets to a Yankees game two tickets to a Yankees game and uh through that uh competition we had a winning entry at the high school by Xavier Winfrey Xavier would you come on up you want you want to say something about the phone he wrote a beautiful poem uh we felt his heart we felt the emotion and we felt the healing and so Xavier thank you for a beautiful entry and we have a winning essay submitted at the middle school by Jacob tole he's here Jacob congratulations D my name is Daniel Ratford and I'm the founder of bro reement so 15 years ago my wife passed away and I was left to raise to kids on my own and you know that was the hardest journey I ever had to go on you know dealing with my grief and my children's grief and you know I started bro reement to just make sure that children and men are not alone in that Journey so I'm proud of you guys I read your stuff and very impressed and looking to um get to know you guys a little better so see you at the Yankees game and our final sore award for the evening will be presented by Miss mcfaden is or is it oh miss Adams please come join us thank you so much Dr McBride good evening on behalf of our central office administration led by superintendent McBride uh our board president uh Mr James vicory our distinguished trustees the hackin sack High School administration appreciates the opportunity to acknowledge the efforts and the dedication of Diana Bermudez and her volunteer group Dr cmar nominated um Diana ber munz and a volunteer group for this award but unfortunately she couldn't be here tonight so we are here tonight to acknowledge the contributions that Diana Bermudez and her volunteer group have made to our hackin sack Community they have given their time and efforts wholeheartedly to our hackin sack families and have put them first numerous times before even their own families if any volunteers are in our audience tonight please stand so that we may publicly acknowledge you many many of our volunteers are Spanish speaking so I'm going to provide translation familias Miss Bermudez can you please come forward Diana has served as a pillar of our community by Leading our volunteers and contributing to community organizations and committees she has organized charity events she has organized educational events parents nights ESL classes for our families for 14 years 14 years whenever a family has needed help she has been the first on our mind to call over and over and over again tonight we thank you for your years of service for your love and dedication we thank you for your volunteers for serving in multiple capacities and for being an extension of you although we will miss you and our community is suffering a huge loss with your absence we are happy for you and your family and the needed time that you will have with them there will be no way to replace you but it is our hope that we will be able to work together in the future as we all know once a comment always a comment I did Patty I said just speech without time am d sry e e [Music] you right there I didn't know if it was my turn or not thank you appreciate it good evening everyone um I have here with us tonight this evening um Donald from um Donald B from Johnson Controls and also Donna Ogman from DMR and they're going to be doing a presentation on the ISA project that partially it was completed not fully completed but their portion of it is done so they're going to give us an update on what was accomplished and the schools all the Billings that they had upgrade it thank you thank you Lydia good evening hackensac Board of vet so tonight I'm here to discuss the Energy savings Improvement program that Johnson Controls did for Akin saac Board of Education over the last three years uh the Energy savings Improvement project was a law enacted by the state of New Jersey in 2009 and updated in 20 12 to allow school districts to do energy performance Contracting and uh realize the savings from that from those projects the initial investment of this project was $1 13.6 million and we started Construction in April of 2021 and finished in April 2024 the guaranteed term of the project is 20 years years so over 20 years they the district will see the investment plus uh on Energy savings the estimated construction period savings for those three years uh is a little over $2.9 million which included a uh SSB Grant which I'll discuss in a second we also had rebates totaling 2 almost $3 million or $2.3 million uh that school B school and small business grant was 2.1 of that value and that $2.1 million was a u grant that Johnson Controls found for the district and presented it and the district has received all those funds from the state the course of the project we did a whole list of um building improvements including Chiller Replacements boiler Replacements lighting uh building envelope Etc in the district we provided 100% deep LED lighting uh throughout the district and all facilities you can see the new fixtures that are in the ceiling here which contain sensors so when there's no activity the uh lights go off so that increases the savings of the district we also installed a building automation system which is one pane of glass that the facility management can go in and they can choose a school and go through and see the conditions of the school and this is a screenshot of the high school uh from today so hackin sack high school we did most of the the measures that were listed including commercial uh kitchen hoods um and then some specific items that we did we did replaced two of the chillers we replaced two of the air handling units that were in um bad need of repair and also installed a combined heat and power generator in this building at the H hackin saac middle school we did a deep lighting retrofit as well as some other uh listed items including roof upgrad and repairs uh one of the main things that we did at the middle school is we installed univent in several of the classrooms which now have outside air louvers and provide outside air to the spaces which they did not have before and in the main office we installed a split system uh heating and cooling system at Fanny Meer hillers Elementary School we also did many items uh including a total building electrical upgrade to allow us to install the airdale HVAC heating and cooling units that also includes outside air um and they do heating and cooling and to get the cooling the building needed the electrical upgrade Jackson Avenue roof upgrades and repairs deep lighting retrofit and building automation uh Nelly K Parker we installed uh steam traps Transformer replacement and roof upgrades as well there as well as lighting and weatherization uh we also installed variable frequency drives on the heating and cooling pumps to save energy uh Fairmount also had the Deep lighting uh steam boiler replace replacement steam trap replacement and pipe and valve insulation as well as roof upgrades and repairs this is the new boiler plant at font School uh pavano received weatherization as well as the Deep lighting retrofit and from this project the district has seen greenhouse gas reductions of 3,26 metric tons of CO2 which equates to 763 passenger vehicles taken off the road for one year or 360,000 gallons of gasoline consumed or 53,000 tree seedlings planted so this is a very environmental friendly project that we've performed that is the end is there any questions the solar energy and full they they are not part of our the Energy savings plan but um they are operational at the elementary schools as well as pavano any other question thank you thank you all right we will move on to our superintendent's report good evening everyone again happy Pride so we are still in celebration of the month of Pride and the various initiatives that we've had to commemorate this month filled with love so we are we're happy about that we want to honor all of our Scholars who are stepping up or being celebrated as they're transitioning from fourth grade to fifth grade and today we had our eighth grade graduation so much uh pride and and congratulations to them as well as the team that supports the actual putting on of those events so to all of our middle schools to our middle school as well as our elementary schools great job in celebrating our Scholars um over the past month we've had the opportunity to to attend the annual art show and some amazing pieces that our Scholars have created um again supporting their creativity and Innovation um in the Arts uh we want to also highlight our literacy committee has completed their uh comprehensive plan and we have identified a curriculum for next year that is science based that we're pretty excited about so you'll learn more about that very very soon uh again acknowledging all of our individual Scholars who are at the sports banquet who acknowledg who acknowledged last last night can't speak all of a sudden um as well as well as our top 20 students for their academic uh uh prowess in those areas and so now I'll transition to the actual enrollment report before I actually do a presentation this evening uh highlighting the 100 day plan uh information for the community to hear so our current enrollment is 5,34 students with an attendance rate of 96.3 five which is Stellar so great job for ensuring our Scholars are coming to school um in our residency report for the month of May there were four cases received one verified three inhome visits unverified um and zero students withdrawn as a result of the investigation as well as zero uh for parents provided updated in District proof of residency as it relates to HIV we had two incidences that were founded we had two that were unfounded totaling four um and there are three still pending and zero that have a preliminary determination of not hip at this time so that concludes that particular portion of the superintendent report and now I'll go to the podium so this is our new mantra elevating Excellence going or above and beyond an overview of the first 100 days so upon my uh process of interviewing for the the role of superintendent I highlighted these five goals or these five areas of focus one the transition into the district the introduction of the district relationship building identifying specific structures as well as the end product of strategic goals as a result of this process so for the first one first 30 days the focus was listening the second set of 30 days was assessing various structures within the districts third 30 days was learning more about the intricacies that drive the work of the district and now we're at the phase of beginning to plan and execute so these are some overarching high Leverage themes that came as a result of the various conversations that were had with parents throughout the district uh myself my assistant superintendent of curriculum Miss parchment Mrs Mrs SS parchment excuse me as well as assistant superintendent of administrative Services Mrs Marx all engaged in these conversations and so some of the highlights or the overarching patterns were there's a belief that there are supportive teachers and administrations within the district that parents felt like there are some herb Services being provided to their students that there is an openness to problem solving when there are challenges that people are open to have conversations to resolve those issues and that students come home excited some of the things they're requesting were more diversity within the staff that we really Define social emotional learning and what are the actual initiatives that are helping their students deal with a variety of challenges they may have as it relates to social emotional learning uh more inclusivity for students with special needs and ensuring that we are highlighting and providing the resources necessary to support those students as well as opportunities for enrichment and acceleration they wanted more information about how we are providing for our gifted and talented students as well and what what is our thinking behind that so here's just a few of the quotes that some of the parents have communicated again there's there are thousands of quotes that we have these are just a few um they said we need additional support for our kids they used to be able to stay after school or during lunch to get help what happened to that um I am happy to see the smooth transition between the principles the children seem very very happy they love their previous principal and they love Dr SoDo it has been seamless for their children another some other parents said we have to bring back teachers going the extra mile it would be great if the students were greeted in the morning or not left standing in the rain when the doors closed at exactly 8:30 a.m. so then we move on to the Educators they feel that their colleagues they feel like it's a family there is a sense of comet Pride par professionals felt like they were a part of the team and they said that they actually love and are committed to our kids they want more inclusivity in the decision-making process they want to be at the table when we are having conversations around things that directly impact them and their jobs and responsibilities they want more training and support for school leaders who are passing work on to them which overwhelms them as Educators they want they said facilities are not always supportive of learning the Aesthetics of our buildings are inequitable meaning that we need to do some work about the actual physical locations of our the physical uh uh space of our buildings students discipline needs to be more balanced sometimes they're too we're too hard and sometimes we are not hard enough if we're not holding students accountable so how are we supporting the teachers when those things happen more professional learning for power professionals and more full-time opportunities for our power professionals also came up as well as adequate prep time Educators State when I say Educators that's Paras that's teachers that's social workers that's a variety of different individuals in this bucket the ELA program is bad but the direction is not clear we have not had a writing program or pulling from units of study we had previously we do not have have an outline for writing and do a lot of supplementing for example we have to get materials that meet the standards it is the students kids make me feel wonderful we have wonderful colleagues it is a safe place where you have the freedom to try new things feel comfortable about taking risks and have supportive Administration the programs have helped me to become a better teacher she mentioned the pineapple teacher collaboration and doing a good job weeding out the people who do not belong and then finally pile on I.E meetings and preps it is overwhelming constant stuff assessments and admin items these are coming from our Educators students they communicate that teachers are great flexible and always available for extra help guidance counselors are excellent in supportive of mental health concerns and schedules love sports clubs field trips and events look forward to classes where they create Hands-On projects creative Studio 3D printing and virtual reality activities love learning about the cultures at assemblies and fairs and appreciate fundraisers to support students who have needs they want more of School meals that align with student cultures so they want different options bathrooms need upgrades to be cleaner prevent flooding and should be accessible teachers try to help students access and understand information the Halls are too crowded some don't feel safe academic challenges are uneven some things are really EAS really easy and others are challenging teachers and administrators are supportive and care about students students say we have choices of classes and electives and it's a good balance when work is challenging I can meet with the teachers to get help to to help me through the struggle they say stop bullying and start being nice some teachers make stricter rules kids who get suspended don't learn and keep getting in trouble we need a better way classwork doesn't match with tests classwork is a lot easier than what's put on the test we are given easy problems in class but the test has harder problems and it's not fair the third floor is the it gets hot difficult to learn AC is needed we hear you so that allow so those those the opportunity to look at every Nuance of the district here from different perspectives allow me to assess specific things that are aligned here one looked at student achievement data where we identifying different Trends and disparities among specific subgroups so we can create a plan of action we looked at Department in infrastructure we analyzed specific policies procedures looked at the budgets and resource allocation for alignment with strategic initiatives making sure that what we say we're prioritizing that our budget also matches uh with those things as well curriculum alignment are we aligned to State Standards looking at the leadership skills of our administrators and the effectiveness of our prog progress monitoring systems or the development of those Community engagement the efforts and school climate programs seal and review district and school Improvement plans and accountability Trends all that helped me to understand and learn that members of hackensac Community are passionate committed and take pride in the assets and possibilities for our schools Educators at all levels need better tools to support the diverse needs of learner Learners in the district the staff that means district and school know and understand many of the areas that can be improved these are all my learnings and more specifically we can and must do more so what does that look like what is the plan so we developed our core values which which will be the drivers of everything that we do Excellence Equity perseverance collaboration Integrity accountability and high expectations will be The Driver of the work of this plan each of our schools has create a theory of action that will guide their planning their work their priorities so we at the district also created a collaborative theory of action and it reads if the district creates a culture of high expectations for teaching and learning meaningful collaboration through the development and implementation of clear support systems and structures and provides the resources to engage in datadriven practices then schools will make data driven decisions that will ensure instructional practices are rigorous and differentiated to meet individualized student needs that support students academic achievement and social emotional development and provide all students Equitable access to a high quality education fostering a true culture of Excellence that is our theory of action so what does that look like you are seeing the unveiling of the beginning of the plan that will be provided to you all as we start the new year when we come together for our convening but here are some of the components that you could expect to hear about more in depth examining current curriculum which we've already done through the literacy piece we we're looking at opportunities to enhance and improve our instructional materials um addressing overcrowding in the middle school we have the the middle schools process is already underway um developing a professional learning plan so we want to have all of our schools clear about how they're going to be supporting all of their staff members that summer planning that will be happening with my leaders in their teams supporting teachers and delivering standards based instruction Through The Gleam framework which you will learn more about um this summer as well ensuring that we're engaging in datadriven decisionmaking identifying High leverage opportunities to improve teaching and learning using student data as well as observation and feedback data to ensure that we are able to then modify our practices to support students succeed as well as our teachers and leaders data use in operations so how are we supporting with the data being utilized in the classroom itself being able to support students needs as well and then aligning our goals and spending to make sure that what we say we prioritize we also provide the financial resources to support those things professional development was a big big bucket a lot of people said that's what they wanted more of so that's why we're developing a districtwide academic Improvement plan that outlines specific strategies for raising student achievement levels as well as curriculum as well as teacher and leader building capacity um developing a plan for support programs and interventions which we also know are necessary to provide for our students who are who have specific challenges whether academically or social emotionally and as well as the developing the district's professional development plan to meet the needs of our principes teachers and central district office staff because we want to ensure that there is Equitable access for all of our Learners so we are going to be engaging in an equity audit uh I know uh Miss Mrs parchment will be leading some of that work uh to ensure that we addressing the diversity gaps and identifying any gaps that we may have that we're not we're not being Equitable Define clear and measurable smart goals and objectives and objectives for the district as well of our as well as our schools and something we're really exciting about is developing a CTE and post-secondary education support plan and program to provide all of our students with options um so that they will be College and Career ready so the next steps are convene the teams prioritize and plan write and publish and present at the beginning of the school year in September so that's an overview of the first 100 days thank you very much all right thank you Dr McBride oh and one final thing the presentation in the actual document will be posted on our website for review all right now it's time for our public comments portion the public um the board not only wants to hear your comments we welcome them all participants must sign in when it's your turn please State the following your name your municipality any group that you may have an affiliate affiliation with um if you list more than one please clarify what hat you're speaking from um this evening each person has a limit of three minutes please direct all comments to me as the presiding officer and all responses that are appropriate will be uh responded to uh will be held to the uh the end of the public comment portion we're ready you hear me yes good evening everyone my name is Fran culo I am a lifelong hackensac resident um a hackin graduate class of 1989 HMS World Language teacher for 28 years I began my teaching career at a hackin sec high school I'm very proud of that as a student I was part of the fles uh program foreign language in the elementary schools in Maple Hill School uh now Nelly Kay Parker which piqued my interest in curi and curiosity for langu in foreign language learning and acquisition I am here to celebrate congratulate and share uh my excitement for the students who are receiving the Seal of or who received the Seal of biliteracy tonight that was uh fabulous I was very excited for them I also want to acknowledge the hard work that our world language teachers do every day uh we support each and every class in our respective schools of notable mention is our bilingual World Language director Mrs monoa thank you thank you Miss monoa for providing invaluable feedback and support throughout this process I appreciate how Miss monoa and Dr Whiting support our communication enhance in enhancing our world uh language program it's very very important and I we want to thank them for this I'm excited for a program this up upcoming school year it takes a lot for me to get excited if anyone knows me um anyway I just want I know that there may be bumps in the road but I accept and and I'm looking forward to the successes and challenges and thank you very much for hearing me all right is there anybody online hello can you hear me from we sure can go go ahead excellent good evening everyone this is Kad par um good evening and happy Jun te I am calling on behalf of the hackin I am a hackin saac resident and I'm calling on behalf of hillers I am the hillers uh PTA president and I just wanted to bring to the board's attention um just with regards to some concerns that have been raised to myself through experience as well as through experience um with the air condition the need for air conditioning in the School auditorium as well as the gymnasium I know there's been um excellent work that has been done across the district but there are some concerns and needs that are within those two specific areas of the Hiller school thank you so much thank you anybody else online uh hello can you hear me yes okay uh Anthony Ziza I'm a parent of a student at Parker School uh in hackin um I'm just calling in um I've heard some sort of uh scuttlebutt about maybe changes in the frequency of foreign language instruction at the elementary schools um right now I believe they get foreign language instruction once every six days uh I think that you know if we're preparing students for the future and certainly a future where uh bilinguality is going to be so critical um I think the frequency of foreign language instruction needs to uh increase I think once every six days or whatever the new um uh schedule will be uh is is not really sufficient you know um ele you know the elementary school students they're at the perfect age to really start um uh picking up foreign language you know the the brain pathways are are most flexible at this point um we shouldn't be giving them foreign language so infrequently if our goal is to encourage a fluency and bilinguality so I I I really think that the future needs to hold uh a greater investment in elementary level uh foreign language instruction so that we can adequately prepare students for the diverse future that um you know the diverse linguistic future that they will encounter so um you know I'm not 100% sure exactly what the schedule is going to look like um in the next school year um but certainly uh in the short term I think the conversation should be about how to increase the frequency of foreign language instruction so that the students are adequately being prepared um to uh pick up um these languages thank you good evening I'm Tom Tano um I teach the hackas high school and they is second vice president and uh I'd like to take an opportunity to congratulate the many people who are moving up and on uh across the the district students at the elementary schools middle school and at the high school I think it's a a monumentous uh you know experience to be able to to move from one facility to the next or move on from high school into uh into life I'm very very proud of the kids that we've been able to work with and I think most of the teachers that um that are employed are are extremely extremely uh happy to be able to celebrate the successes of students across the board um both the students who seem to have it easy and you know have academics come naturally to them to the students who end up having hardfought victories um that kept with it and uh maintained and endured we're flexible work with the um the staff and the resources that um that the district provides um I think mainly what I'd also like to uh kind of bring up is we're at a point teachers and students both but particularly teachers we're at point in our professional year where we have an opportunity to reflect so I think about the 10 months that have gone past um most people end up thinking that you know as 10-mth employees we end up heading off into the summer and the work we done I think Dr McBride um underscored um the importance of mental work that goes into teachers uh you know emotionally and mentally preing for the upcoming year we constantly looking to the Future constantly looking to the Future waiting for that next set of students to come through the doors and are we're all eager to uh to be able to help them achieve to the best of their ability whatever uh it is that they have as part of them you know goals goal set um I'd also like to underscore the do of prde uh ended up um presenting and I think he said at least Le twice during the presentation that uh that teachers asked to be included in the decision- making process in the planning process whether it comes to PDS where we has to be um you know at the table where the PDS were being discussed and uh you know planned for rather than uh teachers being told what PDS they have to mandatorily end up um participating in uh to some of the you know curriculum planning uh which was part of what Dr McBride's uh you know initiatives are with regards to his literacy programming I think um you know having teachers continually involved in those decision making processes is uh is essential for a very strongly and uh efficiently functioning uh School District so um let's consider that as part of our Reflections as we head into the summer and um begin toh prepare for the upcoming school year thank you uh peace everybody my name is Tony Jackson um I am a parent of a child in the hackin saac schools um uh also I I want to note that I'm asking questions and sharing information um based on Public Information um of of issues and concern within the community so I I don't expect to have any issue with that um if I if I do so somewhere else as well um I would hate to feel like I'm risking um anything including my job just trying to ask questions and share something publicly um that's of interest to the community um I want to say happy June congratulations to all of the students moving on I had two of my former fourth graders come and visit me as they're graduating high school today and it was the best feeling I got to uh speaking as a a parent I'm concerned as well as another parent voiced um about the the plans I saw something in in the agenda the Personnel agenda about Senor Suarez now Ser he wasn't at and the you know one session 40 minutes every six days um she does an incredible job with what but if if that is going to be taken away if that's going to be lessened it's that if we want them to actually get what we're trying to give them within that time what I think was in in oversight in April I don't think it was intentional uh but it was Arab American heritage month and I don't remember it being recognized with an email blast um as we've had for Black History Month Hispanic Heritage Month aapi Heritage Month Jewish American heritage month and others um and considering what is happening in the Middle East currently and how some of our community members are is truly inclusive um and I think that especially this year the absence of uh was um so I just wanted to um to mention those things and uh I appreciate the time to uh to share that with you thank you hello can you hear me yes go ahead hi my name is Tracy peka I am a hackin lum I'm a teacher in the district I'm a resident and I'm a parent to two students at Fairmount school um I wanted to just talk about a staff transfer that I saw for St soraa Suarez and she's being transferred to a district position she was our Spanish teacher as Mr Jackson said um and currently the kids get about 30 minutes of Spanish for every six days and then with days off of school and changes in schedule that ends up being much more limited um and her schedule is very tight as it is I I think we need to reconsider if there's going to be any change in that I know the comparison to other districts is very easy to say well other districts don't do that they do yet less or they do half of that or they swap Spanish in health or they do X Y and Z but instead of comparing ourselves to districts who do the bare minimum I think we should be setting the bar higher and either setting the standard or trying to reach the goal of districts that are doing better Spanish weekly Spanish bi-weekly Spanish for 50 minutes a week the goals that are set are only minimums and I think we can do better than that as um Dr McBride said you said we can and we must do more um we know that need to prepare our kids for a diverse world and being bilingual is an absolute gift providing our kids with language is essential in the world that we're living in um and I think it's also helpful to the multitude of immigrants that come into this country the more people who are bilingual the more we can bridge the gap and help people who are new to the country and might not speak English Spanish is step one for that since we have such a high Hispanic population here in hackin [Music] um as Miss monoa said she said the students who received the Seal of biliteracy were an inspiration to everyone and I completely agree with that and that we need to aggressively pursue bilingualism I started with Spanish instruction in Middle School in hackensac I continued through high school and I went on in high school to take Italian as well and then in college to take Italian in Spanish it was the first step so knowing my students were getting Spanish in elementary school was a bonus the kids go home they use the language they use it within other parts of the school day they're able to communicate with kids from the bilingual class who don't speak English yet I think it would be detrimental to the next generation of kids and citizens that we're raising if we don't give them the best opportunity to master a second language while they're within Hackensack Public Schools um congratulations to the students who did receive the Seal of biliteracy the 12 students that um received it through the hack and psychi school and thank you to miss mono for recognizing those kids I think it is extremely important to recognize and commend their hard work um and when it comes to the staff budget I've heard it before that the majority of the budget is Staffing but I really urge you to think about any expense can this be done without XY or Z and the only one that teaching can't be done without is the staff please consider that as you make your your decisions thank you hello good evening can you hear me yes go ahead hi good evening my name is maryn Rizzo I'm a part-time power professional at Nelly K Parker school I'm a resident of pamis um I haven't had the pleasure of growing up in hackensac however I do feel like I'm part of the family I've been a part-time par at hackin Nelly K Parker school for the past four years uh recently we had a change in how we sign our contracts um typically well for me the past four years have been a letter of employment we signed it it was an hourly rate and um we there we then submitted it to um admin uh this year it was changed uh notified to submit it it was on Genesis um once accessed I saw that my contract was much different formatted it was uh a salary rather than an hourly rate um I did the math myself for the hourly rate and it was much lower than what I currently was receiving um at that point you know I had to make a decision de ision and I put in my res resignation uh now I am hearing through various um people accreditation in the building that it is incorrect that all of the contracts were submitted incorrectly um I'm a little confused about what's going on because I did contact HR I haven't heard anything from them and now I see that there is no contra ra on Genesis um I don't know if you could provide any clarification I haven't heard this topic brought up um in the meeting thus far say again Chris okay got okay good evening ttin gains proud president of the hackin Education Association and teacher at hackin high school um I want to Echo go the sentiments of Tom Tano first by just congratulating all of our students who are moving up who are graduating who are going on to bigger and better um I especially want to acknowledge the Hackensack Middle School students who graduated today um they are an amazingly resilient group of students when you look at their four-year experience whether it was starting off in a pandemic and then there was a rocky start to the beginning of this school year here and um we are very excited to meet them and work with them at hackin high school next year um I also just want to Echo the sentiments from Mr shano as well about um collaboration as we move forward I know in uh Dr McBride's presentation there was some um uh sharing of what he has gained from focus groups from meeting in small groups um from talking to people people throughout the district um but one of the things that I have heard is you know so many teachers parents students have such perspectives that really can be better brought before the board the board has the opportunity to hear staff members in three minute intervals and I just ask you to think about whether it's in you know during Clos session which clearly it goes on for quite some time so I would imagine there's lots of things to discuss and those discussions probably go on for longer than three minutes on any given topic it's hard to really get a handle on things without a diverse group of opinions and viewpoints and the staff have a vital set of data points um whether they be anecdotal which is data whether they be statistical which is also data um that can help give a better view so I don't know what the most appropriate forum is for that um I ask that um you all have a curiosity about teacher perspective how um perhaps Dr McBride or the association can work with you to better solicit teacher input before major decisions are made but um as I think Dr McBride would attest to you know the ELA departments throughout the district have been doing collaborative work in looking at the needs of the district um regarding Ela instruction and working together on a plan to implement districtwide and then I assume that plan gets presented to the board on a curricular basis um that should be happening in all departments across all disciplines um because the staff have a lot to offer and to be very clear on behalf of the association we want to be part of the solution in helping all of our students succeed please put us to work in that capacity thank you it all right of course good evening everyone I would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to thank Miss Somerville for participating in our promotion ceremony today and all the board members who were able to join us it has been my pleasure serving as the principal of hackin sack Middle School our students our staff our wonderful Dr McBride talked about uh encouraging the children to be their best selves and I Echo that sentiment today I spoke to juneth having the freedom of uh bondage and and and being able to be your best self and also the the gift of Education and in that gift of Education behind the gift of education is the wonderful staff at hackin saac middle school and I wanted to acknowledge the teachers the heart the soul of hackin sack Middle School I would not be who I am if I did not thank them for all that they do and sometimes that's forgotten about in the data and I talked to Dr McBride about this the heart and soul those who give their time their talent their energy and their treasure to the children of hackin saac over 1400 children and uh sometimes I feel as if the misstep in the schedule or our issue in the beginning of the year overshadows all the great work that is done and so I'm standing before you today uh and if any Middle School teacher is listening to personally thank you for what you have done for the children at hackin saac Middle School all that you have given what you've given to me I want to personally thank the four fabulous administrators who work at hackson Tech Middle School Mr Mark Johnson Mr Angel cuado Miss Johanna espanol and Dr Tara keba the middle school is on a trajectory of greatness I look forward to working with Mr sass as we move forward to make hackin sack Middle School the best it can be but hackin sack Middle School teachers thank you for all that you've done to get hackin saac Middle School where it is have a good evening thank you Dr W anybody else all right so that's going to close our um public portion tonight um let me just see if there's anything that we can so it's it sounds like um so we had several and and we saw the um in in that social media about the the Spanish classes but it sounds like that it's not a um everyone who spoke it seemed that everyone did not have they claimed also that they didn't have necessarily the full information so um we will wait until we have the full information before um we comment on that um here so we we uh so in in response to some of the information that we was communicated earlier uh the team has uh provided a presentation around the actual topic that they could share at this point in time if you so we can do that now yes I would let's do it let's just go ahead and clear that up so just so everyone's clear um so there's been some question around the amount of Spanish um time that the the students will be receiving and there's been some um concern that has moved around the community and uh Miss monoa has come prepared with a presentation to help uh inform us tonight and I just to communicate that we are also always in support of by Literacy By by uh and ensuring that our Scholars have access to World Language in a variety of different languages um unfortunately due to time constraints in the actual schedule where you have in elementary specifically where you have science Ela math and and social studies as well as the actual uh dance or any other electives it is challenging to be able to create the kind of conditions that will allow students to be actively exposed to language on a daily basis so our only issue is the time issue and I see some shaking of heads but when you think about logistically how many hours there are in a day um aligned to specific content area uh other content areas Focus time it leaves very little time something has to kind of be able to give in that space and we're not saying that world language is the thing but we want to give you some context as to why um the shift may be happening in the way that is langage go ahead thank you so I do want to thank the staff and you know my colleagues and the parents Mr Jackson Mrs pona and Mr cesa for expressing uh in defense of fles what we used to call fles foreign language in the elementary schools I wholeheartedly con concur that uh World Language should be taught early it is um how we teach language and that's the ideal however as an institution we are always evaluating programs we're always looking at the impact of programs we look at them um through a lens through a targeted lens we also look at them in the scope of the full curricular picture and the standards and the requirements that the state puts upon us so Dr kasmar and I have been working to do exactly that to evaluate the program so we want to Just sh share with you that prior to 201627 Home Room teachers taught World language in their classrooms with District provided resources in the in 2017 school year four World Language certified teachers were hired part-time to deliver instruction one at each element school and then most recently in 2021 22 school year two World language teachers were hired full time to deliver instruction in Four elementary schools so that's a little bit of the history next year One World Language certified teacher will deliver instruction one marking period in each Elementary School World Language will take place during the library media center block and the media Specialists will support the Spanish class while executing functions of the media specialist role students will still have time to exchange books from the library so this is our rationale for the change in the world language Elementary structure after an evaluation of our program at the elementary schools and and the implementation of the 2020 World Language standards the following challenges have been identified by teachers and administrators so we do have teacher feedback significant disruption to the Daily class schedule so since the 2016 and the 2020 um since the 2016 edition of hired certified bilingual teachers the state we've had the addition of dance and health into the grade level schedule and that's resulting in a fragmented week for students and teachers we have inconsistent days for World Language instruction it was mentioned here every six days and we have instructional time for core classes an intervention instructor being impacted uh we would like through this change to achieve a uniform base of world language skills and knowledge for students and ing fifth grade uh we want to gain more content core content instructional time we want a minimization of disruptive schedules for students and teachers we want improved use of instructional time for Content areas so bringing your attention to the spirit and intent of World Language uh and jsls our standards all students have regular sequential instruction in one or more World languages beginning in kindergarten and continuing at least through the freshman year of high school so we are in compliance of that I know it was mentioned that other districts do less other districts do more um agreed I am a World Language teacher that's who I am by trade that's my first profession um however as Dr bride said something has to give we look at data we look at the full Panorama of um our benchmark assessments and we made decisions that may not be popular something gives so something else could Thrive so this is what what the Panorama is right we looking at the hours at the elementary schools this school year we provide nine hours per grade for a total at the end of your Elementary career you will a mass 40 you will have a mass 45 hours of World Language at the middle school you will have a mass 270 hours of World Language at the high school per year if you take one year of high school which is the minimum requirement to graduate you leave with 35 hours what we the change we are making for next year is that's the reduction so instead of nine hours per grade in elementaries you are going to leave with 6.5 hours again 270 at the middle school 135 hours at the high school the point for this slide for me is and miss miss ptoa raised it she said I started my career in Middle School so our sweet spot for World Language again proponent of World Language here my career our sweet spot for our students is middle school and high school because we provide for them uh in middle school it's a daily instruction in middle school it's a day a day B instruction but it's consistent and it's everyday and it is cumulative and it is impactful um and there you see the total number of hours now as a community many of our students go on to take a second year of high school and a third year of high school because they want a diploma for a four-year college that wants those three years of high school once we have that then you have then we are graduating students that are achieving way beyond what New Jersey state is what New Jersey what the state of New Jersey is um recommending for them so I wanted you to see that and I wanted you to see why the decisions were made and why where we're um holding firm on what is most impactful for our students the vision in for the NJ dooe is that World Language serves um to promote communication and cultural understanding to promote positive dispositions and understanding of cultural differences to enhance cross-cultural communication and to Value language learning so we're contending that that doesn't happen 30 minutes every six days we're contending that we as a district can leverage more more impactful ways of infusing language and culture into the school day through practices that promote the value of bilingualism in authentic and enriching ways and I say this because I visit a lot of schools I visit a lot of districts I visit districts in New York where this is going on where bilingualism is everywhere in the school that's where it lives in special presentations delivered by cultural organizations and schoolwide events um which Dr kasmar and I are fully committed to enacting uh increased exposure to World Language print all over the schools so there is a stamp and a culture that we are a Bilingual School that assemblies include spanishs speaking um presentations thank you and not by the bilingual classes because they're bilingual we want our monolingual children to be bilingual and so we as a school have to do that work students of course will continue an online program and we're looking the online program we bought I think we bought 10 years ago we haven't researched new ones since so we've been researching new and better technology over the past year um in for our learning our world language students to continue building their language skills um in the classroom when the teacher is not there and I think that's my last slide thank you if you have any questions please feel free to email me I'll come back and discuss again thank you all right um let's see if there's anything we've disc I mean the air conditioning in the auditorium in gim hillers as we know um and that's kind of on our list of things to deal with um the contract situation PA contract in Genesis that's something that someone can reach out to whoever to deal with we research that okay um and Dr Whiting um I will say first off great job today um and it while it was hot today um we I I think it was um very well done and I will say as far as the year I have on a personal note I have three children there and um we are past done with the the schedule thing like so we're gonna we're gonna I mean that has been corrected we're done with the schedule for next year as far as I know correct right so um why we have to keep bringing it up I'm not sure but we're done with it and um because I think every time we bring it up it it is just a a a space that holds us back so um from this perspective we're not going to do it we are thankful for you and your staff your staff has been uh amazing in the in their response to all that they've handled this year I know my children personally have um done well and been thankful and we are thankful as parents and um the staff is amazing amazing at Hackensack Middle School so um kudos to them for making it through the year we got one more day um and so and and hopefully they'll have some time to to to relax and and rejuvenate for next year um yes sir I I do want to respond to Mr Jackson again if there was if the the acknowledging Arab American History Month if I did not do that my apologies I I do my best to uh highlight and and show how we are inclusive how we are celebrating everyone so that that did not happen I will correct that so my apologies to anyone who who may have felt like we did not acknowledge um Arab americ history month because we value everyone all right so stop just two seconds just let me get a chance in case they leave before we come back out just to say thank you guys I definitely appreciate you guys inviting me to speak today uh honored and thank you for not outing me the year that I graduated but again thank you guys thank your staff the kids were F the staff was wonderful and I definitely really appreciate it all right so be it resolved that the heac Board of Education determines it necessary to meet an executive session on Wednesday June 19th 2024 to discuss legal Personnel student related matters HIV reports negotiations and other confidential matters and be it further resolved that these matters will be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists can I have a motion to move into executive session so move thank you Mr Stein can I have a second Miss Somerville thank you all those in favor say I I any opposed and there's none it is 7:49 uh we hope to keep it to an hour all right e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right welcome back Miss story always good to see you you're always our Trooper we appreciate you um Mr Stein we are back okay I I'd like to move that we ex extend the meeting past 10 o'clock thank you um we are meting to extend our meeting past 10:00 because we um it's because it's 9:54 and we have to get through our resolutions can I have a second to that [Music] motion 10 1015 okay we have a time limit um can we have a second can um all those in favor say I any opposed all right thank you all right let's see um we need to approve our minutes from the last meeting be it resolved that the Hackensack Board of Education approves the regular meeting minutes and executive session minutes of May 22nd 2024 can I have a motion for that moot thank you Mr Stein and we'll take that as a second Miss Pringle thank you um all those in favor say I I any knows any extensions all right thank you and we'll move on to our uh Personnel uh Personnel we are going to be adding on Z Zer uh a walkon o oh sorry o not Zer Z and I wrote that uh oo as a walk-on for the haa agreement um um right okay so uh the motion to take action on Personnel matters uh as listed uh appoint and submit to the executive County Superintendent applications for emergent hiring is that right yes so we have an offer um in way of a motion for a through oo and um we'll have either our business administrator or attorney Reed o for us it is okay o be resolved the hack Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools hereby approves the memorandum of agreement between the board and the hackensak Education Association extending the collective negotiations agreement through the 22 2024 to 2025 school year at the terms established in the MOA it is detached the board authorizes the board attorney superintendent business administrator to take all actions necessary to prepare the final version of the contract for uh approval and execution adoption and execu all right so that's o oh thank you we' read that into the record any items to be discussed or tabled yeah we need um any items to be tabled so yeah we uh I know we need to table um E and M all right so we have a motion to table e and mm from Miss Somerville may I have a second I second thank you Miss Cordo Alton um so uh we'll do a we need do a roll call uh roll call she she said roll call um go ahead um can we just can we table the um public relations man what you want me say do you know the public relations I can't Ed specialist I'm trying to think of which one number was that I was looking for I couldn't find it what were you looking for the motion on the table is to table e and mm okay so let's let's actually go one at a time so let's let's um this is just so let's just start with e oh okay sorry so that we keep it all in order um let's start with E uh to table e okay thank you uh Miss Su Miss Su Miss sing no my bad Miss sing roll call please yes Mr hello Lance this Mr Powell this is just to table e can you just refresh me e if you don't mind yeah yes sir uh e is um a a list of stipended positions that okay yeah thank you yes yes I'm good yes thank you yes yes T yes yes so that motion passes so now we will move on to mm to table we're so we're just discussing tabling mm so we'll do a roll call for that and that is to and and and actually that is a motion to table indefinitely to postpone indefinitely indefinitely correct right and is there any discussion around that no we had that in very okay so yes Mr Paulo yes that a yes M Frank yes M yes M Stein yes Mr yes Mr James yes so that motion passes now Mr Martin I'm hearing another table what number letter um under Persona [Music] B1 okay Communications media specialist hang on yes that's the one hang on one second sir B1 B one one yes oh because you need more information on this that's why I'm take one okay so we have a sir we have a motion to table B one um so um roll call please Miss Thing need a second oh I'm sorry I'm sorry yes we need a second to table B one can I get a after we have a second um can I get a t a second to table Ling B1 I'll second okay Mr Stein seconded now is there we discussing you can discuss the move to table we can discuss the move to table it but we cannot discuss not the merits of of the action yeah so Personnel gets a little bit dicey um in [Music] discussion so but I'm I'm confused we just left and we asked before we left if there's anything that is open and on the table so this is what we're trying to avoid doing right is coming out here after we have left the room and have discussions as a group and do the shock and all by dropping things in and everybody here looks stupid because we're all looking at each other like why would this come up when we just spent an hour and a half inside of a room asking multiple questions and we could have done this table because said need more information I don't have enough enough information on it based on like that's why Jackie can you explain um what we are allowed to ask because as part of the Personnel committee we did send out a communication which everyone on the board received and as trustee Somerville just stated we've spent the last hour and a half almost two hours in the back discussing items that we cannot discuss out here this being one of them that was not mentioned so from an attorney standpoint what are we allowed to ask of trustee Martin so that we can move this along sooner rather than later before the next time it's brought back up again well at this point he's given his reason for why he wants to table it we can table when a motion is Ted it can be taken off the table at any time um right now there's only a motion it hasn't been determined you would still need a majority vote to successfully table the item when we could move to go back into executive de session to to discuss yeah that sounds like a plan we could or you could L and then come back out and take it off the table or you could take it off the table at the next meeting and to and to table it it requires how many a majority of the board present which one two four I'm more than willing to hobble back there so that we can address any issues or questions you have um but the first question is whether or not your table that there's a first and second you need vote yeah all right so um that would that would be a possible motion that could come after an item is Ted all right so um why don't we go ahead and um uh do a roll call so this is whether we want to table item B1 yes Mr Po no Springville up stain Somerville no Mr Stein obain no James Victory no all right so now we are moving on with the vote for personnel which is a through oo excluding the tabled items of e and mm everybody got that yes now yes let's do a roll call on that yes yes yes yes Mr yes M yes Mr yes Mr Powell that's impressive to be able to do that without sitting in this room all right man does his homework so now policy now we're moving on to policy Miss Cordo outet is you as well yes it is it sorry my apologies be resolved that the hackin saac Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools approves the first reading of no policies uh no sorry uh policy number 0164 conduct of board meeting all right so we have a motion from Miss Cordo outon we have a second from Miss Somerville any discussion hearing none will you do a roll call please yes V yes V yes yes yes yes all right uh trusty Martin curriculum okay I like to make a motion C1 through c80 uh highlight C9 for the 2024 school year a grant will be provided to two sets of r machines for the Haack High School along to to Haack high school that's uh C9 uh highlight C11 the revision in in Innovative learning center learning school Grant in conjunction with the digital promise for the 24 25 school year the grant will provide devices for the hackers saac middle school and for hackers saac high school with funding to support professional learning and for c74 to approve the formation of the following high haac high school student Key Club for the 224 to 2025 school year uh also highlight c77 a recommendation for placeholder as a English Language Art curriculum resource for grades kindergarten through 8 for the 2425 school year and highlight c78 to approve the placehold for the Haack Middle School Hollow Holland Glo Holland wizard assembly for students of all ages using basketball players yet goes beyond basketball the wizard are a fantastic V models who entertain the educat okay okay um let's see uh we have a motion from second um discussion no there is none all right um Miss sing roll call please thank you wait wait did I uh I think I that was supposed to be C 77 I got the numbers yeah you got them wrong it's fine we got it right here mosis let's move it on all right sorry about that wor apologies okay um roll call please go ahead yes Mr yes yes yes yes M yes quickly yes all right moving on to finance okay everybody uh good evening so be resolved that we are bringing forward D1 and we're going all the way through D31 we have a few edits to make on this agenda the first one will be a motion to take D16 from the May uh meeting and it will now be converted to d8 on this month's meeting next one is a motion to take D13 from the May agenda d113 will now be represented by D31 on this agenda um board attorney may you please read the resolution for D31 just because we need a point of order we should be voting on removing them from the table by majority also we can do that when we're finished can you just read I will read it we're doing a lot of opportunities today guys this is a very educational night um to get resolved that the hackin Board of Education approves the appointment of engo Taylor to provide legal council for the 2024 2025 school year thank you also we there is a motion to missing please confirm table d26 29 is it 29 okay d29 thank you and then there is a motion to to add D30 the um settlement to that please read the resolution be it resolve that the hack Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the school business administrator F board secretary approves the settlement of the lawsuit Russell P public schools at all in the district court of New Jersey uh docet number two col 21- cv-11 1672 k-w for $87,500 thank you so we are bringing forward so just to go back and refresh we're bringing forward for board vote and approval D1 through D31 and we're tabling d29 all right thank you can I have a second I'll second thank you um hearing none yes yes yes yes yes yes all right move it on to building on ground okay coming Bring forward E1 through through E6 second sorry um second please miss springles second um any discussion on any of those items hearing none I'll roll call please miss s yes Mr yes Mr yes yes yes yes Mr yes Mr James yes all right so um I think Mr Martin was asked to do community relations yes I have there um trust this is truste Harris um who is the chair for Community uh relations her report State the community relations committee met on Thursday June 13th this was the last meeting for the school year our city council woman Stefan venberg was in attendance as a leaz on WE engage in Lively conversation and reive suggestions from the following school year some of the future projects include a town hall and a job fair for our middle school students the community relations committee is currently seeking for new members for the coming school year the applications to join the committee was posted on pen Square posting in the newspaper as well on the district website the applications will be available till the end of July last but not least I would like to thank our committee members who have shown up constantly to collaborate with shared insight and making our school Community a great one thanks again and have a great summer all right thank all right thank you sir um all right any old business which still on here until next time I'll write any new business policy that's until next time um all right so we'll move on to board comments Mr Stan will you kick us off oh thank you um our superintendent touched on them but uh we have so much to be proud of our students on uh June 3 we have the top 20 dinner um it's impressive to hear not only what colleges that each of these 20 students applied to but the ones that they have selected to go to um just astounds me um we also had um hackin sack senior Awards night on June 5th and the thousands upon thousands of dollars that our students received again is a reflection of the quality of students that we have um I also attended on June 6th the uh high school art show in the East Wing gym these kids again they're amazing at everything their creative minds can produce um just astounds me and let's see uh we had the senior Sports banquet on the 18th uh I have to tell you the awards that are students or scholarships that are students receive during the awards night senior Awards night is not all the scholarships that they can receive at the sports senior Sports banquet there are again thousands upon thousands of dollars that our athletes receive to attend colleges um and today a momentous day for our eighth graders who are promoting uh promotion I should say and moving up hopefully to the high school um we never know for sure but uh we have much to be proud of in our student body thank you everybody have a safe evening and enjoy the holidays that are coming up um I know we're in um B comments but I missed a new business we allowed to just throw that in real quick so I could present this Mr President um pass it yeah we passed it for tonight we passed it I could bring it up next thank you meeting no problem U Mr Martin you want to give your comments yes um uh first I'd like to uh I would like to uh give cud to Mr whing and his staff Michelle and Anthony tot on a wonderful evening at the uh top it was Top Shelf um uh event that they threw for the sports dinner for what I understand the athletic the Athletics um the athletes received scholarships of over 15,000 last night overall combination of sports and academic scholarships for students athletes was over $2 million this show how important it is for the athletic director job and duties that he is doing Serving over 1,200 athletes over the school year when when he started those extra duties will will our students get the 100% attention that is needed to go to the best colleges and get those scholarships and to speak to uh college coaches that night that will be interested in him or her so I say maybe we should look at the new job description and maybe reconsidered it before uh the new year start uh that's um what I have on that one and um the um react Club as uh board president I mean as um rotary president I want to congrat congratulate all the uh people that uh kids that um got the um Awards uh today and as well as the react club and the uh president of the Rotary Club and um I think that Miss Mecca and and um her assistant is doing very well and showed today how well they doing so um kudos to them and uh good job and I know they looking forward to the next uh kids that's coming in for next year and that's all I have and have a great summer thank you sir I want to thank um and say congratulations to the um the girls flag football team um from being they were inducted weren't they the proclamation the proclamation um with uh to the to the city yeah my daughter was part of that and uh Camille Whiting thank you for starting the um the girls flat football team um I want to say congratulations to and I'm very proud of the middle school graduates today and the graduates uh tomorrow um I'm proud of all the students actually has an amazing job um the teachers thank you the administration thank you uh boards thank you superintendent thank you Lydia thank you um it's the end of the school year Miss story thank you Lance thank you and um end of the school year but I'll still be seeing you guys Scott thank you was that thank you and thank myself too I like that and I'm tired so God bless love you guys good night good night po oh it's my turn okay uh good evening again or good night everyone I'll be quick uh just want to thank uh thank the public for coming out and uh today was a lovely graduation and thank you all for coming to support it I enjoyed it immensely and it's is a momentous and memorable occasion for our kids also want to just thank everyone for for celebrating juneth juneth is closely associated with freom I believe it's a responsibility to remember the lack thereof it's a chance to acknowledge the atrocities of for Nations past and to honor the lives of those enslaved people who may not have lived long enough to taste or see freedom but only dream of it it's also an opportunity to remember the torturous reality enslave African-Americans endured so I'm that note I just want to thank the superintendent and his administration and uh everyone that's involved with our students our te Department our Sports department and just everyone our teachers our parents and our lovely students thank the board for the the work the yman work that you put in and uh as the students embark on a holiday try to be safe but enjoy it because uh it's well well deserved and uh uh just thank our ba thank our board attorney and just thank her security guys just thank everyone and uh Miss mono wonderful presentation thank everyone for the S Awards M story thank you and thank you and thank you for the years of dedication coming out to support us and the obious stop Mr Stein and Mr Martin covered and M uh M springle thank you for bringing up the flag football first lady flag football history 2024 a big shout out to them and go comets and board members thank you again for serving it's not easy and thank you for what you do and everyone get on safe God bless you all and liette uh speedy recovery to you I hope you recover very quickly and thank you again everyone Miss Somerville hi everybody good night so first and foremost I would like to say thank you for the invitation from Fairmont School for the fourth grade graduation ceremony my nephew graduated and is moving on from fourth grade to fifth grade they did a phenomenal job at Fairmont School the kids really had a good time it I every time I go to that school I am so impressed by those kids they are un they are precise they hit their Mark the presentations are always spectacular so to the team that put those items together the Miss Shortridge um uh principal bang and all the staff there you guys do a really phenomenal job um with the kids and if you guys ever get an opportunity to pop by Fairmont School to see one of their shows please do so second again I would like to thank the uh president um Scott James vicory uh superintendent McBride and the hackin middle school for inviting me to come out to do the uh Keynote graduation speech had a lovely time my old St my old stomping grounds um so again the the staff everyone that participated to get up and do what they need to do day in and day out thank you very much now Dr McBride I'm going to say I this is my third year in right and normally everybody just kind of sort of sits there like you got up you're engaging you're over there you're smiling you're laughing you're having a good time I just want to say thank you it's a nice representation for our kids to see the engagement right that and I I definitely appreciate the fact that you know you get a lot of crap you get a lot of flack there's a lot of stuff that gets thrown your way but that's part of the job right that's part of being the guy in the seat it it is kind of to take the arrows that come at you and figure out you know the ones you need to deflect and the ones that you need to focus on but what I definitely appreciate and respect about you is that no matter what you can see that for a lot of times the superintendent is a title you know they come and oh I'm the superintendent of schools but you love your job and I definitely appreciate that you can see that you love your job you have a good time doing the job you enjoy the job you engage people and try to bring them along to understand what they need to do for the job to be successful and you don't always see that in people who sit in that chair so I mean I I can't thank you enough the kids had a good time like the one kid was like like he's a superintendent he's like oh smack he's shaking hands yes he's up shaking hands so thank you for that because I mean there was a lot of people there A lot of the kids that were really impressed by the fact that you were up there shaking hands you were engaging with them you were talking to them they definitely appreciate that I ran into some lady in the supermarket she had a few Choice words to say about the board at the at the last meeting I'm not going to you know repeat them but one of the things that she said said to bring up this conversation was she said you know I wasn't sure about that guy when he first came in cuz you heard lots of stuff that people were saying she's like I wasn't sure but she said to tell you that she definitely appreciate what you said when you made the last comment that I'm here for excellence and that I'm here to do the job right and I'm here to enjoy the job and bring everybody along so they understand that at the end of the day it is about delivering for the kids all the other stuff is White Noise it is about making sure that the kids have exactly what they need when they need it how they need it and you know if we see that there's gaps or places where we need to make changes move it along and make sure we get from point A to point B so from myself with nieces and nephews in the system that I want to make sure that when they graduate they can read right they can know how to do a paycheck that they get the knowledge that they deserve because God knows that it will be the only thing in life that they get for free is this education that they have right here thank you I definitely appreciate that and I cannot thank you enough and hopefully no matter what it Stakes deflect the arrows that you don't need to pay attention to and focus on the stuff that makes sense and at the end of the day please always do what you do and keep your eye on the kids because that's what matters and that is what important and cannot thank you enough and just to say my niece actually came and said something positive about you so she actually sent no she sent you an email I I had nothing to do with this and you can verify I did not intervene I did not ask I did not call you she said Mau she sent a notice to you right for a meeting right that is my niece she sent a notice to you for a meeting because she came to me with a passion project and she said she wasn't sure what to do she had already engaged the staff she got feedback but she thought she could push it to the next level and I said so what's your strategy so we sat down and I said okay map out a strategy for me where you think you want to go with this and she said well I think I want to go to the superintendent and how do you get to the superintendent send an email so she went through sending the email she's like oh do you know I said no that's not my job it is your job if it is your passion project to follow it through from start to finish I will not intervene to try to do anything for you and she called me so excited yesterday because I guess you met with her you called her up she said she met with you and Miss Marx you guys had a meeting she said one you engaged her which she appreciated two you listened to her which she was like a Ed that the superintendent would actually pay attention to her passion project and ask her questions about it three you did not interrupt you allowed her to talk it all the way through if she said if she couldn't quite put a point together you guided her you gave her feedback and at the end of the day she said that you and Miss Marx told her that you're looking to put get I guess an advisory committee and for her to come back to the table because you were excited by what she was bringing forward thank you for that because it's a lot for me to sit there to walk through with her when I talk to her about what you're supposed to do for your you know your educational goals and initiatives how you are supposed to pursue your passion because your passion can also turn into something that's profitable so again I am a beneficiary of your positive energy to those kids and I definitely appreciate that and like I said I will always tell you that I put my money where my mouth is so I will be forming a scholarship on behalf of my family I will work with you for that because again I tell you I definitely appreciate that and I know that I'm here for the time not for a long time and I would like to be able to make sure that I can give something back at the end of the day because I am a firm believer in paying it forward so again thank you from the bottom of my heart I definitely appreciate the time that you put in here but that the time that you put into my family I definitely appreciate it so in closing everybody uh the summer is here it's going to be hot stay hydrated stay safe enjoy your summer and I am definitely looking forward to what comes in 2025 take care everybody and good night all right thank you Miss Cordo outon hi good evening everybody um I would just like to first start by thanking everybody who has assisted me today in um getting here getting to everywhere I needed to get to um my broken foot thank you Lance um Miss monoa I I'm glad that you're still here and that I'm GNA have the opportunity to just thank you and Dr McBride for your preparedness today um we had a feeling and it happened and you were able to come through and show um the vision for the World Language future here at hackin saac and I really appreciate that you guys did the extra work to get that information out there um and make it so that people have a better understanding and that if they have questions they're being asked to please come and and ask the questions uh so I I greatly appreciate that uh to Dr Whiting um who has since left I would also like to say thank you for everything that you do um I appreciate that you stood up here today and that you encouraged I feel um the community by saying that you are going to continue doing what you always do which is bringing 100% to that middle school and I only hope that you realize what the district is actually trying to assist in making sure that you have continued success so I greatly appreciate that you were up here today and I and I I know you are going to continue to do the good work um that that you already do uh to Daniel Ratford and um Rosemary Marx for presenting um our two students students Xavier and I believe Jacob or Mr toi um I greatly appreciate the acknowledgement and that these students um especially our young men have the ability the capacity to express themselves in a healthy way and that we as a community as a family acknowledge that so that that continues going forward so I greatly appreciate that Mr um uh Mr rashford uh chose our two students students and I hope they have fun at the Yankee game and that it's not going to be too hot um next I would just like to say um as a board member I have greatly appreciated this year I look forward to um the upcoming school year but the work doesn't stop here so although this may be the last week of school for many uh in our district and our community the board and our staff will still be busy doing the good work work and the necessary work that being said um I would like everybody in the community to understand that there is all types of information that we as a board are given we have information readily available whether it be through a person that we can ask the question of or whether it be documents that are out on a board drive that is shared by the Board of Education any and all information you may need can be found there however we still have individuals that persist in asking questions or not doing the due diligence by looking for the answers and then also giving out Miss information to the community which only Sparks fuels and fires so I do want you to know that it is Our obligation and I really do hope that each and every single one of us go the extra mile to get the job done if you replay tonight later on in this week you're going to see several things that were brought up in which there needed me to be more more information or someone didn't know the answer there was plenty of time to get that information and to get that answer before we got here this evening and that's all I ask is that you do your due diligence that's what we all were put here to do by the same community that you're giving this misinformation to thank you have a great evening to all the students who have moved up whether it be fourth to 5ifth 8th to 9th and to our graduating high school senior class unfortunately I highly doubt I'll be able to be there but I wish you all the best congratulations you deserve it you did it and I hope that the summer finds you in the best of health and celebrating all of your accomplishments thank you all right so first off happy Pride to everyone um it's one of my favorite things about this district is that uh we are serious about our inclusion of all people and we constantly strive to find the ways that we are not being inclusive and work to include them in a more whole way um June is a very busy month for everybody um our students are on the go uh I'm not going to run everything down down Mr Stein did a great job of of giving the dates and um of the things that we do I do want to add um a couple of the the things that I attended um at hillers one was the barbecue and it was fantastic um but also uh they had their moving um up to the Middle School celebration um well I went into an actual barbecue yeah oh a celebration my bad but and it was a like um kind of a movie star type theme which was fun and exciting and they wore some of the best outfits and um all of that but I think one of the the the neatest things that they did was they established a specific award that was named after a specific student and this has never been done I don't know if this has ever been done in our in our school's history before or not but it it's not happened at Hiller's before but this student specifically when Dr stto determined that she wanted to do something like this she started with asking a few teachers and they all said the same name the same student of all the fourth graders and then but she wanted to make sure she was being fair and inclusive of so she sent out a survey to you know to make sure that she was including all of you know the right people and they said the same thing then she sent a survey to the kids of the fourth grade and they and I'll tell you when they were even talking about it they all started because you know Dr St was kind of giv some some um facts about this person and and just kind of the characteristics of this person and they all started pointing to the student before because everybody knew who this kid was um and so it's called the um William a Addison award and it will forever be given each year the William so they established it and gave it to him and then they actually started for the 2024 gave the first one he was able to hand it to a young lady it is for um leadership service exellent positive I mean like he is just that it's it's the it's just the yeah it's just the the embodiment of being a good human in that building and so um it will be something that I hope that he can come back when he's 50 and and see you know what what he's done in that building um I will say it was nice to go to the city council this month and be a part of um the the the proclamation um talking about the the girls flag football it was a um great to see all of them there and um thanks to Camille Whiting for um her excitement around that and trying to make sure that we had something where goals could be included and um it was a really fun night and just as a side note for those um it was also the night that our former trustee Mikey oats was umap was named captain um of the fire department so that was really exciting to uh be a part of that to be able to be a part of that um Miss monoa thank you for being here for having being prepared um I think it's uh the thing that struck me most is you talked about um we have to in include that and that was all before the state said we also have to include dance and whatever else you I forgot what the other piece was and health so those were added after the requirement and so there's so much to add into a day and um we have to trust our experts to make make sure that they're getting the very best and the quality education and um because I know how hard you worked and how much you love our kids um I know you're giving them the best so thank you um and I think that's all uh thank you to um all of the trustees who work so diligently to make um my job easyish sometimes um I really do appreciate you and um I hope you all have a a great summer I will see you uh tomorrow and uh can I have a motion to adjourn second second all those in favor I all right