[Music] [Music] all right we' like to call this meeting to order uh can we all stand for the salute to the flag they move the flag put over there to the FL of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with in justice for all oh Lord good evening everybody um in accordance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as follows on January 10th and December 6th 2023 notice was sent to the home News Tribune Star Ledger Union County local source and the clerk of the municipality please note uh there is a no smoking notice by state law there is no smoking permitted in this building at any time uh please also note that in addition to listed items in this agenda this board of education may discuss and act upon other items not specifically referred to herein as is allowed at the regularly scheduled monthly board meeting under the Sunshine Law roll call Miss Armstead president Dr berghammer present Miss cillo present Miss Inon present Mr Dela Cruz here miss Peno present miss rosada quesada here miss Thomas present and Mrs ulissi present uh the board secretary which is myself will be acting as temporary chair of this organization meeting until such time as a new president is elected we will now read the election results the following election was held on Tuesday November 7th 2023 for three members to the lynon board of education for a three-year term uh Mr Sam Dela Cruz Jr and and there's a slight error on the uh order of the votes uh received 2769 votes Malaysia Thomas received 2535 votes and Kimberly ulissi received 2,670 votes um so let's congratulate them on being elected to the board of [Applause] [Music] ed the business administrator board secretary declares the following persons as duly elected members of the Lyndon Board of Education as a result of the election held on Tuesday November 7th 2023 uh for three-year terms Sam Del Cruz Jr Malaysia Thomas and Kimberly ulsi I [Applause] and now we'll uh have the administration of the oath of office to the newly elected board members we invite uh mayor Armstead to come up to give the oath [Music] dad face the other way face the public do you have a mic didn't they have a mic um they should I think that one's attachable say good name thank you [Music] [Music] laifi and I not disqualified as a voter as a voter to R 19 19 41 41 am not disqualify crime faithfully impartially impartially and and all the [Applause] this [Music] one here's the backdrop the backdrop photo backdrop oh you picture oh Dad you take a picture they later okay go take your picture over there no do it later oh no oh miss Pino sure absolutely [Laughter] I I swear that I will support theti of the United States of the United States and theti of the state of New govern EST in the United States [Music] stes I to Sly swear swear that I possessif prescrib by La by la for the office of M of the board of education for theice of not disqualified vo r1y to a conviction of crime or off n and I will Faith perform all of the duties all of that office of that office according to the best of my ability of my ab help so good that's a big b yes almost bigger than you yes yes [Music] [Applause] baby a cute this is adorable that is nice goodness that is nice isn't that it's adorable that is nice and I love the dress okay this is so cute [Music] see right there Malaysia oh Malaysia big too bigger than him know bigger than him now I can actually B [Music] okay this is so cute [Music] [Laughter] United States help me I iif by la for the office office of member of the Board of Education this year the end of this year year you got run again in [Music] November and all that office [Applause] office we finally getting good pictures MH big ho thank you that was a big pipc [Music] children are beautiful thank you [Music] it's okay we'll try to be quick with [Music] it she might as well keep her with her what you think want her mommy all right we will will now take a motion to approve the 2024 lynen Board of Education um as listed here board members Marlene berghammer with a term expiring at the end of 2024 lamari ctron with a term expiring of 2024 and tet Pino with a term expiring 2024 Brianna Armstead with a term expiring 2025 dianara rosata quesada with a term expiring 2025 sasqua cillo with a term expiring 20 25 uh and the three newest board members with two with a term expiring 2026 can I have a motion motion to approve second I um Miss Armstead yes Dr burkhammer yes Miss cillo yes Miss Centron yes Mr Del Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Miss rosada cas yes Miss Thomas yes and Mrs ulyses [Applause] yes all right uh at this time uh the business administrator board secretary entertains nominations for the office of president of the Lyndon Board of Education I would like to make a motion to nominate Dr Marina burkhammer for president I respectfully ask for a second second second mhm are there any other nominations Dr bammer do you accept the nomination yes I do all right we will now conduct a roll call um for Dr berghammer as president of the board Miss Armstead yes Dr berghammer yes Miss cillo yes Miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes M rosada quesada St Miss Thomas yes Mrs ulyses yes all right the business administrator board secretary declares election of the new president of the board and turns the gavel over to Dr berghammer to act as presiding officer of the meeting I guess have to come [Music] up Congratulations [Music] [Applause] by what your names oh my main name t theas oh you sure okay have I have good picture at this moment we would like to um make a motion to nominate the vice president of the board and nominate Malaysia Thomas for um vice president I respectfully ask for second second is anyone else that would like to nominate anyone else Miss Malaysia do you accept the position of board vice president I do okay so R Miss Armstead yes Dr berghammer yes Miss gillo yes Miss Inon yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Miss rosada quesada yes Miss Thomas yes Mrs ulissi yes thank you [Applause] [Music] guys [Music] [Music] yeah Miss Thomas is really wonderful to work with you for another year it absolutely is thank you um at this moment I believe the mayor of Lyndon would like to a word we would like to welcome mayor Derek Armstead to say a word good evening everyone even first let me start off by congratulating the reelected board members Samuel de la Cruz and Malaysia Thomas on on their re-election uh and I'd like to congratulate Kim uliss um for being elected um as you can see she clearly has a vested interest in the school um she's got some beautiful children uh and not only that you know Kim's she she was my next door neighbor she tried to get away and they moved two blocks away she couldn't get away far enough and uh and now you're going to be seeing a lot of me now because you're a board member so you you tried to escape but you couldn't get away we got you okay anyway congratulations to all of you I want to thank I want to congratulate Dr berghammer on uh her reappointment as the board president and I'd like to congratulate Malaysia Thomas on her reappointment as the uh vice president um I just want to say what a joy it is to have a board of education that works in unison with the government the city government you know I can't begin to thank you enough and I always say the most important thing in our in the city is to make sure uh that we educate our children properly uh and that we make sure we guarantee that people can afford to stay in this town and uh and I think you have all worked towards that and by in doing so I can't begin to tell you how good that makes me look as a mayor I I'm not a good I'm a a decent mayor good mayor but I'm only as good as the people who are supporting me and helping me to achieve a goal that makes lendon as great as it can possibly be uh I'm delighted to have worked with you all uh I look forward to working with our newly elected board member and and the continuance of uh working with the rest of the board members I'd like to thank uh uh the our superintendent uh Dr Perkins um she I mean you are you a doctor yet it's coming did I call that into existence it's coming I'd like to congrat thank her for all her work I'd like to thank uh Paul um ala for his work uh John Cil for his work and certainly uh Annabelle Lewis for all her work as assistant superintendent again you all do such a great job and while you doing a good job it makes the city look good and if the city looks good I look good and uh I just I'm just delighted to have you all uh working alongside my Administration and you did a great thing last year last year um balancing the budget we've we've kept taxes down Services Services haven't uh diminished and uh people have been educated in this town and uh I'm constantly in contact with you guys uh you're always uh trying to better the programs there's so much talk every time I run into one one of you folks anywhere you're always talking about some sort of program that the school has how you can make it better you're not just talking about it you're actually doing it so I again I feel I feel blessed to have people like yourselves working to keep this city great so thank you all God bless you all and look forward to this 2024 and all the good things that we're going to do thank [Music] [Applause] [Music] you at is time we're going to go to agenda item number four right yes parliamentary procedures if you do good could you take item number four the parliamentary procedures to adopt Robert's Rules or of order as the official parliamentary procedure manual to be used to conduct meetings and appoint the board secretary and board attorney to act as the parlamentar item number five board policies and regulations motions to adopt the rules and regulations of the Board of Education in the city of Lyndon bylaws policies and regulations as stated in the Lyon school district policy manual item number six adoption of the official newspapers to authorize the home News Tribune Star Ledger to happen to Lyndon and the Union County local source to be adopted as the official newspapers to be used for the advertisement of the meeting and legal ads and all other necessary Publications I ask for a second to to approve 4 through six second roll [Music] call Miss Armstead yes Miss cillo yes Miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes M rosada kada yes Miss Thomas yes Mrs juliz yes and Dr burghammer [Music] yes order of business item number seven motion to approve the order of business for 2024 as follows lendon Board of Education order of business 2024 call Mee to order salute to the flag statement of adequate notice roll call approval of minutes comments from the public agenda items only reports superintendent attorney standing committees agenda items requiring a vote education Personnel Finance buildings grounds and securities planning and policy reports of special committees delegates comments from the public new and Unfinished Business board member comments adjournment a motion to approve items before we approve may I ask a question um should we include in this I do not know if we should but the student we have a student representative should they be included in this as well um we be having when would you want the report to happen we can have it in here um would you like to have it after the superintendent's report or before it what do you guys think should we have our student Advocate um to be included in our agenda she could be included I think should go after the superintendent and attorney's report everyone else attorne so then you write in the reports here superintendent attorney and then we put her there y yes MH okay all right sorry for interrupting M where is that all so item um motion to approve number seven including aori and the reports section second Pro call Miss Armstead yes Miss Miss cillo yes Miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Miss rosada quesada yes Miss Thomas yes Mrs Julie yes and Dr bammer yes moving on to open public meetings act number eight motion to approve the calendar of board meetings as follows see the dates here if there are are there any objections or discussion you would like to have for this calendar I do have a question because lately our Thursday meetings are actually getting longer because we're having a lot of presentations I want to know if we can do the Thursday meeting at 6 p.m. [Music] also when we start at 7: we have presentation sometimes we're going late into the night so I'm trying to bring it back a little earlier if we could start at 6 I think that's a good idea another thing that um um I got comments from people who are online and even people in the audience it says that we really need to start limiting the 3 minutes of comments because sometimes people come and talk longer and it's not that we don't want to hear what they have to say but we really start to we really need to limit it to the 3 minutes so you guys want to vote for the 6:00 the 7:00 and limit and really um Paul we were talking about limiting the meeting is there Pro is there something we could do a timer or something you know sometime they have these timers that go up there that is a light that goes on and say 3 minutes and then it at the end of 3 minutes it stops you know it have those things right could we get something like that to let what do you guys think I think that's a good idea great idea abely yeah we can have our technology department look into it and we really need to start limit limiting it to the 3 minutes and not we now don't have to do the gravel and interrupt them they see for themselves that when the light is off excuse me but until then what are we going to do we'll have to a timer but we used to do a timer but can't we have it by our next board meeting that's supposed to be a simple fix it's supposed to be a simple fix yeah see if we could get it by our next board meeting we'll have and what about the 6:00 do you think we should do the 6:00 I think 6:00 is great I kind of like the seven though no I think 6:00 is good hour 6:00 is good what do you guys think you want to vote under six for vot me meetings yes mind six is good yes so motion for um number eight to move the regular Thursday meetings to 6:00 p.m. um and I ask for a second [Music] second roll call I'm going to change [Music] this okay so this is just for the 6:00 then we'll do the resolution to approve the 8 or we doing we're we're approving number eight but updated we're are approving eight as amended to 6: p.m. yes okay Miss Armstead yes Miss cillo yes Miss Centron yes Mr Del Cruz yes Miss Pino yes M rosada quesada yes Miss Thomas yes Mrs Julie yes and Dr burkhammer [Music] yes moving on to to number nine um it is a list of Ethics so we will as a board read each of these items um starting with uh Miss Armstead for number nine I'll start it off with the title and you guys are go in from a through J pursuant Su School ethics code njsa 18a col 12-2 4.1 code of ethics of school board members each member swears to affirms the following a I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures B I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing see I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them D I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the school but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well run a I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promise nor take any private action that may compromise the board F I refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest in partis and political groups or to use the school for personal gain or for the gain of friends G I will I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed will nously in injure individuals or the schools in other matter I will provide accurate information and in concerned with my fellow board members interpret it to the staff the aspiration of the community for the schools h i will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer I I will support and proect school personnel and proper performance of of their duties Jay I will refer all complaints that the chief administrative officer and I will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution motion to approve second second roll call please miss Armstead yes Miss gillo Miss Inon yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Mr rosada quesada yes Miss Thomas yes Mrs Julie yes and Dr berghammer yes [Applause] number 10 whereas the Lyon board of education is required Pur student to njsa 18a 11-12 and njac 6A col 23 a-7 to adopt policy and approve travel experential by board members using local state and federal funds to ensure that travel is educationally necessary and fiscally prudent and whereas the board of education has determined that the training and informational program sponsored by New Jersey school boards Association and Union County School boards Association and set forth below are directly related to and within the scope of the current responsibilities and the board's professional development plan and whereas the board of education has determined that the participation in the New Jersey school boards Association and Union County school board's Association training and informational programs requires school district travel experential and that this travel is critical to the instructional needs of the district end or furthers the efficient operation of the district end whereas the board of education has determined that the school district travel experential to New Jersey school boards Association and Union County boards Association programs are in compliance with the state travel guidelines as established by the Department of Treasury and within the guidelines established by the federal Office of Management and budget om except as superseded by conflicting provision of title a title 18a of the New Jersey statutes and whereas the Board of Education finds that a mileage reimbursement rate equal to the OM reimbursement rate of Point 47 47 Cent per mile is a reasonable rate and whereas the board of education has determined that the participation and New Jersey school boards Association and Union County School boards Association training and informational programs are in compliance with the district policy on travel therefore be it resolve that the Board of Education hereby approves the attendance of the listed member the listed number of school board members New Jersey school boards Association and Union County School boards Association training and informational programs and the cost of attendance including all registration fees and statuto authorized travel expedent provided that such exped denes are within the annual maximum travel experential amounts as follows Banna Armstead Marina berghammer saskia cillo lamari Centron Sam De La Cruz anet Pino dianara rosada quesada Malaysia th Thomas and Kimberly ules I ask for a motion to approve item number 10 motion to approve roll call Miss Armstead yes Miss cillo yes Miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Pino yes M rosada quesada yes Miss Thomas yes Mrs ulise yes and Dr burkhammer [Music] yes moving on to the education uh report the education committee upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent present the following motions to the lendon board of education for approval for items one [Music] through 1 through eight I respectfully ask for a second second roll call Miss Armstead I would like to recuse myself from agenda item number one and agenda item number four- one yes to all other agenda items Miss cillo yes Miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes Miss rosada quesada yes Miss Thomas yes please yes and Dr berghammer yes moving on to building's ground security report the buildings grounds and security committee upon the recommendation of the superintendent of school boards and the business administrator board secretary present the following motions to the Lyndon board of education for approval item number one use of facilities at no charge as requested by at cusser sports supervisor London Department of Parks and Recreation I respectfully ask for a second second roll call Miss Armstead yes Miss cillo I would like to abstain myself from items one miss Inon yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss penino yes Miss rosada quesada yes Miss Thomas yes Mrs Julie yes and Dr berghammer yes before moving on to the next item I just want to point out on the education report item number seven we will proclaim the month of January 24 as school board recognition month to be highlighted in the Lyndon Public Schools as outlined in the following solution below as well as item number eight proclaimed the month of January 2024 as Muslim Heritage Month to be highlighted in the Lyon Public Schools is outlined in the following resolution at this moment we will move on to P um comments from the public members of the public Desiring to make a public comment may come forward at this time for those watching online if you wish to make a comment or ask a question please utilize to raise your hand feature on the online meeting platform please begin your comments by stating your name and address individuals are invited to speak on one Topic at a time and no individual will speak more than once until all individuals so Desiring have spoken once the public is reminded that to ensure the efficient and orderly operations of the meeting members of the public will be limited to speaking on items for 3 minutes if you are approaching the podium please list your name and address and if you're online please say your name and address as [Music] well [Music] [Music] good evening uh my name is Carlos Ras I reside at 1415 House of Street in lynon I am also as per the uh support of the people one of you councilmen in the city of Lyndon and together with mayor amster we continue to say thank you to this board of location to be working together with City officials uh for the second year in a row uh the city council has appointed me as the uh Board of ucation Layon with the city council and I will be honored to work with you together on anything that this board will need um my commitment is to work together with you in everything that is for the benefit of our children's and for the benefit of the city I would like to congratulate uh our board members that were reected s La Cruz Malaysia Thomas and I would like to welcome Kimberly Le to the Board of Education you are truly Heroes uh your job is not easy I had the opportunity to experience it and I know how difficult it is to be on your chairs and trying to uh provide solutions to anything or everything that people may come into this microphone and ask from the bottom of my heart I'd like to keep thanking you for the good work that you did last year uh please continue have the good the good work together as our mayor said um and United we're going to continue to keep lend them moving forward so thank you congratulations and God bless you all thank [Music] you would anyone else from the public like to come up and make a comment [Music] all right good evening everybody happy New Year uh Rob mangel 18 Trinity Place Monclair New Jersey Lea president LHS social studies teacher first I not congratulations to our newly sworn in board members vice president Thomas Mr DEA Cruz welcome back Miss ulsi welcome I have no doubt that your time on the board of education will be eventful productive and always always interesting please do not lose sight of the reality that the decisions that you make will directly impact our students and staff please treat these decisions with the thought and care that they deserve the students and staff of Lyndon deserve nothing [Music] less a moment ago Mr Rivas noted that the work that you all do is hard and it is making these decisions weighs heavy I have no doubt about it and I wouldn't be doing a good I wouldn't be a good advocate for my membership if I didn't know what I did did I break it thank you [Music] guys I wouldn't be a good advocate for my remember if I didn't remind everybody that the work that goes on in our schools is incredibly difficult from the moment lights are flipped on in the morning until the that moment the last staff member goes home well into the night the energy in our buildings the energy of all of our staff is dedicated towards bringing is dedicated towards educating our students the energy the staff brings each day is boundless and Limitless and is always always directed towards helping our kids helping our city I'm sure that the decisions the board makes will be made with the same care for our students and staff that we bring each day thank you y'all thank [Applause] [Music] you [Music] hi Donna Hernandez 133 Princeton Road happy New Year everybody welcome back um just want to say congratulations to Mr Dela Cruz Miss Thomas and welcome uh Miss Ulisses thank you um well I just want to say um last week last month I believe you were here for the meeting it ran a little late meetings you know we run late I hope you're up for that um you've seen our students Come and Talk um they have been listening um so I you know please take that into consideration when you're you know everything's getting voted on um just want to say um about pomptonian um I did uh they had a a meeting with some of the students and I sat in on that um they're going to try and bring things into uh the school like doing some kind of a brunch trying to get more students uh to come for breakfast uh they ask the students what they like what they don't like um so there was going to be some changes uh so I know there was some ISS you know some somebody said something about the pizzas um you know we're smaller um I know I think Fridays they do have pizza coming in from from the um local pizzeria um but all I did bring that up to them uh so you know if anybody does have any questions uh Miss Marcia there she said you know you can give her a call or you know she'll be happy to come and you know go over uh like I said I know they do have to follow State guidelines uh so you know with the portions and everything but they do try and give bigger portions to you know high school students um but again welcome back and see you later on in the month thank [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you on are there is there anyone on online y okay at this time we yeah I apologize I think the it cut off the next part would be the new and unfinished business okay is there any new and unfinished business that you all would like to discuss bring back to the table for [Music] 2024 um I would like to speak on the high school graduation um we were as of last year looking into a location um outside of the stadium have we looked into that I know I um I know we were looking into Kean University at one time to do the graduation I do not know if um that is even at all possible for us to use Keen University there is this place that I don't not know if we could get it if you guys know about it it's a church Church in seille called Faith Fellowship it's a beautiful beautiful building it could hold almost a thousand people would you say that it's and it have parking it's a beautiful place um know that is just one thing that we could also look at some of those churches are awesome I just know that um some of the facilities may have already been booked for the year so I just want to make sure that we remain on top of it um so that we won't have to run into any issues this is in case there's a weather correct or an issue similar to last year's graduation because of the weather last year that was what killed us yeah cuz when our Stadium we're fine if there's no weather you know but it look at winter you know because of of global warming nobody could no longer predict the weather so so we have to basically look at an option of bringing the graduation indoors because of that we could check I know the the high school principal did inquire about Cain um so we can find out what he had found out about it um I know we all want a different place something nice but we need to look at convenience as well as everybody traveling back and forth you know cuz they've been doing this for so long and getting back and forth without issue so we need to take that into consideration as well Kane is beautiful and all but you know we have to keep in mind how is everyone going to get there and things of that nature it's been um we've been talking about it for a long time so let's keep talking about it see we can come up with bump our heads and see what's going on because convenience is most important and you know yes we want the kids to be comfortable as well but convenience is very important what do you think good evening everyone um the High School does have a graduation committee and they have been uh doing research on facilities we will have an update at our next meeting um but I do know that uh Kee University um is unavailable for graduation um they do not um support uh well I shouldn't say support but at this time high school graduations are not taking place at King University what I what one one of my concern conerns right now is um is scholarships for students how aggressive have our students been really getting with your guidance counselors are they enrolling in schools last year we got over $3 million in scholarships this year I would expect that amount of money to double when it comes to scholarship for students so um um I I just want us to get really really focused on graduating our students and helping them pay for college this is what I think should be especially for seniors is to do whatever we can to help them at this time do we have any um besides our regular I know that we spoke about this once before and I know statistics is is that there's like 400 or 350 students to one guidance counselor and the guidance counselor do a lot more than just help students what other what other programs or initiatives we have in place right now to make sure that every one of our student have meet with a guidance counselor go over courses go over training go over scholarships because this is one of the things we need to really be doing at this moment yes to your first question uh Dr Berg Hammer our high school counselors are aggressively working with our seniors in terms of exploring the various post-graduate options that are available to them whether that's pursuing College uh employment trade school or entering the military our High School counseling department has actually had several instant decision days where colleges come into lynon high school and interview students review their transcripts review their grades and offer onsite admit admittance and in many of those instances our students have been awarded scholarships and in some cases full rides uh we had a instant decision day with Kane University we had an instant decision day with Lincoln University as well as several other universities our high school counselors have also gone on several field trips with students as well as College fairs they went to a recent HBC CU college fair they went to a Hispanic college fair uh so they're working very closely with the senior class they go into the classrooms they conduct class lessons as well and work with the students on the various options available to them that's that is very very good news thank you very much and in terms of the scholarships they're also in the midst of planning our scholarship night which will be held in June uh and that there they focus on all of the local scholarships where students are awarded hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars so they're working with students and making sure that they're starting to submit their applications typically applications are doing mid spring so they're starting that now actually so with the scholarships um when do students actually start applying for scholarships do they start in n9th grade or when do they actually start because there is a saying the earlier this the young people start applying for scholarships is the more scholarships you get for example if in the ninth grade a parent apply for scholarship for their children they let's assume they sent out 25 scholar scholarship application for their children about five companies will respond the five companies will tell the children that that they are too young for college but they will give them all the instructions that they need um in a lot of the prep schools the kids start applying for Scholarships in elementary school so once they start applying for Scholarships in elementary school what happen by the time they reach to high school they already have almost over $100,000 in in potential scholarships because they start very early and not only that they also have to get scholarships is not just applying some some scholarship need needs requirements there certain things that need to be done in order to get that scholarship I think we need to have I do not know if we do it and we may may have it already but I think we need to have a scholarship committee people just focusing on helping our students get scholarship for college and it should start from elementary up what are you guys what are your thoughts on that um I do think that having a scholarship committee would be helpful um any way to cut costs from college and university expenses will be well needed I think it's a great idea to help our kids in that way to promote for them to like to awake that that willingness to go to college I think that's a great way to to start with them any thoughts yes um I agree with what everyone said that a scholarship committee could be beneficial to to our students I'd like to also add other additional things that we're doing as a district first is that every school principal has to create four school goals and one of the high school goals is on student um 12th grade students increasing their exposure to College and Career Readiness so that does tie into um increasing awareness because it's not only a goal but it's also um a need and so that was established at the beginning of the school year we also have um online programming such as College Board which provides students um scholarship access and that does allow for students um outside of 12th grade multiple grades to look for scholarships so they are there and available for students to apply we also receive broadcasts from the Department of Education and then I do and it comes through my office and I share that out with the counselors and then that gets shared out to um all of the students on their email accounts so um I just wanted to provide that information and additional things we're doing one of the reasons why I think a scholarship um committee is important is that especially at an early age for students is that when the students start talking to this the the counselors or the committee members and the start really investigating scholarships they get to understand how people actually qualify for scholarships they become more careful on what they post on the internet because they know certain stuff they post on the internet could exclude them from certain scholarships all right you know we are living in a world right now where ignorance is no longer an excuse so what we have to do is we have to eliminate the ignorance of our students from a very early age by making our students become more responsible on on under the decisions they make because if they want to get scholarships to go to SCH where there's there's millions of millions of unused scholarships out there that we need to from an early age start tapping our students into it and making them become more socially social media socially respons responsible so they do not destroy their chances of getting the type of scholarships they need to go to certain institutions Dr berghammer if I may add one additional thing that we're doing we actually have a meeting uh coming up this week where we are going to be planning a districtwide College and Career Readiness day so that we're starting conversations regarding College and Career Readiness starting with our elementary school students where it's not just a focus on high school so that meeting is actually coming up next week because our goal is to ensure that every single one of our seniors graduate being able to answer one of the three e where they're either going to be employed enlisted or enrolled I like that I like are we getting the parents involved because sometimes you might think we might be telling our kids in school this but some of the parents don't know okay and it all begins in the household cuz sometimes there household that might bring the student down okay so I think we got to educate our parents also let them know that there is help out there for their child to continue higher education that's good that is is happening and we will we we um send it in multiple ways we post on our social media sites we also email our parents as well and we'll put it on the website and I'll bring it back to as I stated um previously the great thing on our website is that it allows for translation um and so we we take pride in being able to reach out to more of our um diverse population here in Lyon by having it on a website that translates into multiple languages thank you is there any other oh yes hi um in November myself and board member Brianna Armstead attended a nonprofit organization annual event at uh Elizabeth High School and in the cafeteria they had the college and university banners hanging uh in the cafeteria and I thought it was very inspirational and I know that recently that the lunchroom was um painted from Gray from the gloomy gray that it was before so I was just trying to inspire the students and I was hoping to see if maybe we could have the banners hanging and Inspire them to uh just be enlisted like you said or enrolled in in college in the University since we're on the subject about like for example last last year we had students who got full scholarships to Princeton and over 100,000 150 is I don't know if this is a violation is there any way we could start posting these students pictures up and said this student got a 100 th what a full scholarship to Princeton or whatever I don't not know if it's possible or if it can be done but I think that sometimes people never believe it could happen to them but if you're showing them hey this is somebody that is in our school district that got a full scholarship to Princeton and we start again I do not know if it's possible but I think we need to have the the the scholarship mindset for all students and it needs to start at a very early age what are your thoughts on that Mrs Perkins I will look into how we can uh showcase students I I continue to bring it back to it's all about a exposure and that's what I'm hearing and I want to just piggyback on um what you said miss andon that yes we do have those banners in the high school right now so we have college banners we have mascots and all of that and exposing students back in November for American Education week a lot of the schools throughout the district they spent a day where it was um College awareness and the faculty and staff were their college replica to um you know expose students to to that and when we saw that on the executive leadership team we said no we want to make sure that we do it a districtwide day and that ties to um as Dr Burham stated is um exposing students early that there is a path out there for higher education then to allow them to understand that there's the financial support that can be available to them through scholarships is definitely a vision that we are moving forward in our district thank you thank you that was a a great Point Miss Centron thank you thank you are there any other comments from the board regarding new and unfinished business what about the videos that you got going on videos videos yes that you're supposed to have with the children high school students making videos and content comp the deadline is coming up in the next two weeks or so uh so we'll be able to then review the videos and uh work on selting re is is jumping in are they was it marketed properly I was it the students I'm assuming yes are you guys getting a lot of V videos already the video to go ahead I I do know I think it's moving too fast you know it's like I understand but um let's see how far it goes let's see what they have and is a lot of kids participating or no we can provide you that that information when um this initiative was pushed forth through um the board for board approval it stated that it would take place in the month of January if you believe that we um should move it to another month we will have that data for you so we did publicize in multiple ways we shared it with the school Community parents and students we put it on our website technology teachers went in and spoke to all of the students as well um on the importance of you know hearing their voice you know this video is to promote um violence and um awareness and so uh we will continue to to push forward but I will get to you um Dr bur ham to share with the board the exact the status of where we are um we currently have it planned for the winners to submit their videos to their technology teachers and then the videos will be sent to the uh city of Lyndon because it's the mayor's office who will be judging on those videos and then the um winners will be invited to the January 20 tentatively it set for the winners to be invited to the January 25th meeting that's kind of fast what do you think if the stats are low um we could possibly extend the deadline and to be fair to those who have submitted if there are any edits or revisions or anything additions that they'd like to make to their videos I think we should allow that um but I guess dependent on the stats um see how many that's my opinion yeah we'll have that for you tomorrow thank you are there any other comments on new and unfinished [Music] business well at this time we're going to move to board member comments if there are if there are any comments that any board member would like to make you may do so at this [Music] time anyone okay okay I guess I'll go guess I'll go good evening everyone happy New Year it's nice to see everyone and congratulations Sam Malaysia and Miss Ulus congrat ulations and um put your roller skates on cuz it's on and running babe okay it's on and running and welcome to everyone it's nice to see everyone and um this year we're going to take it like we took it before but this time it's not going to be smooth sailing but then again it will be because we all know what we're doing and we have each other's back and um parents and teachers thank you very much for everything thing this is a new year let's make it a new year and um thank you and have a happy day and congratulations to each and everyone Sam I know you're the only man here but it's okay all right it's okay all right well okay well good evening everyone thank you and what first Happy New Year I hope you guys had a beautiful holiday season I guess you did cuz you're here with us again and we're coming back for 2024 I want to congratulate Malaysia once again and Miss Kim looking forward to working with you and thank you guys for having faith in me to get reelected and be part of the board again I take this with pride and I do have kids in the system that I look out for the best of my kids and the best of everybody's kids so all the kids in lynon I look out for not only mine and I thank you for giving me the faith to move on forward and we're going to keep on while moving forward have a good [Music] night anyone else I just want to say congratulations to um Sam De La Cruz and Malaysia Thomas on their um new well being reelected and then a big congratulations to Miss Kim ules we're so happy to have you really looking forward to working with you your family is beautiful and I know that we're going to have a great time working together on this board happy New Year everyone and then also congratulations to Dr Dr Berg hammer on her appointment as president and Malaysia Thomas as her on her appointment as vice president and also just a special shout out to our board secretary Donna thank you for always showing up during this holiday season we really love you so much and we're so happy to have [Applause] you um I'll go ahead thank you everyone for coming out this evening it's always a pleasure to see a full room room here um thank you all and all who are out in the community who took the time to vote me back into office um this is a pleasure this is a job not for the faint of heart um it is a pleasure serving the Lyon school district and I just want to welcome Kim ules to the board um it could be a little intimidating at first to come up here and speak in front of everybody and get the hang of it but will and you'll jump in and you'll be just fine so we welcome you with open arms Sam congratulations to the both of us um and thank you board for putting me back in this chair I truly appreciate it thank you all and have a good evening I wanted to see some that's on you thank you guys for um giving me the opportunity to be the board president again I was driving in as I was driving in tonight I remembered what it was like when I first joined this board and how stressful many nights were and I would come to the meetings and I would sit in my car and I would say Lord this is hard could I continue doing it being a board member or a board president is a it's a it's a major major responsibility sometimes you make decision ision that people like sometimes you make decisions that some people don't support but most of us everyone who sits on this board I could tell you I speak with each one of them and every one of them 100% care about the students they care about the faculty and staff and they also care about the community when I look at Miss Peno she always say students come first she always say students come first when I listen to miss dianara she says the same thing when I listen to miss Brianna she loves a che leaders but she really really loved the students I look at um sassia and sassia when she when I I listen to her and Brianna and I look at these two young people people who were graduates of Lyndon High School that are sitting here trying to make a difference it is amazing then I look at Malaysia quiet but strong and I love love working with her and I thank everyone of you who supported me for board president now we have a new year coming on and again it is still all about the students to me it's all about improving test scores it's all about making sure students get scholarships to go to college it's it's all about making sure our faculty and staff is happy because together we are stronger it's all about the safety of our students it's about the safety of our community it's about hearing it's about advocacy hearing the voices of our students and let the students know that we are listening we have come a long way in the last 12 months but we have so much more to do the work never ends but if we do it together if we do it together our students will be rewarded remember we are are not here to lead but we are here to serve we are your servants here to serve you to listen to you and make decisions that we all believe is in the best interest of the people of lynon I also want to thank my superintendent she's doing an awesome job and her her assistant superintendence and of course John I think all of you guys are doing a wonderful wonderful job and I look forward I truly truly look forward to spending another year with you guys because I am confident that we have a lot of work to do and we will do it together thank you very much thank you with that being said I'd like to ask for a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting oh wait yeah adjourn oh you you ready oh all right speak take that good evening everyone um I like to take the time to thank all the residents of Lyndon who elected me here to be here because it's because of you that I'm sitting here today and cuz I'm here my parents who are sitting in the audience are very proud and I'm so proud that my children able to see this as well um my friends family everyone thank you for the support I'm also excited to be elected because now I'm here with the board members and I am so excited to work with you guys to make lynon great as as it is already is you guys are doing such a great job and I'm so happy to be here with you guys so once again thank you to the city of lynon thank you to our superintendent the board board members and also Mr Mayor Armstead thank you thank you with that being said I now ask for a motions to adjourn tonight's meeting motion to ajour second second roll call Miss Armstead yes Miss cillo yes Miss Centron yes Mr Dela Cruz yes Miss Peno yes M rosada kisada yes Miss Thomas yes Mr uliss yes and Dr buram yes yes thank you Le the [Music] turn