##VIDEO ID:xD-yOEyEzFc## e e okay thank you Cass uh welcome everyone to the special meeting of the Princeton Board of Education thank you all for coming uh the board is an elected unpaid group of 10 citizens who set policy and make decisions on educational financi finial and Personnel matters for the Princeton public schools on behalf of all residents we are always pleased when members of the community attend our meetings the board and the school district operate under applicable New Jersey laws and under regulations of the New Jersey State Board of Education each meeting includes an opportunity for those attending to comment on items of interest to them or items on the published agenda the board reserves a right to limit the time allotted to public participation but not tonight law limits discussion of individual personnel and confidential matters we hope our meetings provide useful opportunities for communication between the board and the community thank you for attending as required under the open public open public meeting act njsa t46 at sequentia adequate notice was given for calling this special meeting it was authorized by the Board of Education and forwarded to the municipal clerk Princeton packin and the Trenton Times on December 31st and distributed to the schools and others on the standard distribution list uh the board deserves the right to enter into executive session during all meetings of the board of education this meeting is being live streamed and recorded the representative the sending district is authorized to vote on such matters that if ex sending District students or affect the governance of the princ public schools as more specifically designated in njsa 18a 38.1 in the event this statutes amend the wall should take presidence over this by wall sending District votes pertaining to Personnel actions referred to high school Central administrative and districtwide staff only other uh votes otherwise are considered abstentions thank you Mr Balden would you please call the RO sure dafne Kendall here Beth Baron here Adam Beerman here Debbie bronfeld here Mara franceski here Elanor hubard here Susan caner here Ari misel here Chris antario here Katherine laa here we have a quorum thank you Mr Balden welcome everyone to our meeting um everyone in this room smiling um this is my ninth years as a board member I've I've never had a meeting like that so thank you all for indulging me um welcome um so tonight we're here to appoint uh the next superintendent of the Princeton Public Schools effective July 1 2025 that's Dr uh Michael Lusa who's here he'll be speaking to us in a minute we also welcome his wife Jessica and his sons Carter and thus welcome thank you for joining [Music] us um today's an exciting day for our community um we believe that the schools should United the community and um we're taking that step today with the appointment of Dr Mike Lusa um I just want to give a brief overview of um the search and thank you to Betsy uh for writing for me um the Board of Education began its search on July 29th 2024 with an executive session of the board during which the board decided to hire a search firm and create an ad hoc superintendent search committee of the board Betsy Bago chaired the search committee and the committee members were Rob Christopher Mara franches chesy Elanor hubard and myself the committee coordinated the hiring of a search firm and handled the logistical aspects of the search it was the unanimous recommendation of the search committee and the board to hire Consultants Dr Marty Brooks and Miss Reena Bader from school leadership LLC to lead the search for the board for the district's new superintendent this was the board's first excellent decision throughout the search process Marty and Reena worked quickly with the search committee as well as with the full board they spent two full days in Princeton from September 30th to October 2nd to conduct focus groups with stakeholders and held 18 iners and six virtual forms and focus group meetings more than 200 stakeholders attended these meetings and our Consultants received over 500 survey responses informed by this feedback School leadership developed six specifications that the community was seeking in the next leader of the Princeton public schools once the board accepted the specification report and approved the revised superintendent of schools job description at a special meeting meeting on October 16th 2024 the search formally launched on October 17th 2024 a superintendent search page was created on the PPS website to update the community as well as potential candidates 37 applications were received for the position including 17 from current superintendant 16 candidates were selected for screening interviews and all resumés were shared with the entire board for consideration the board interviewed eight candidates for the first round uh which were all held in person we want to um thank Marty and Reena for their incomparable knowledge professionalism Sound Advice throughout the process it was a pleasure to work with them and we joke that there should be a prin a Princeton High Maintenance Fai um we are also thankful to our board attorney Vic Laura for his assistance every step of the way including his management of the contract approval approval process uh which occurred in two days uh which is lightning fast for those of you in education um we also are thankful to Mercer County Executive superintendent darl minus Vincent for Expediting his approval of this contract so that Princeton is able to have a permanent leader in place in July we are grateful to Christa galin for all her uh handling of the communications our business administrator Matt bden for so capably handling the many Logistics related to holding additional special meetings including ensuring that the board was fed which is very very important um Corey we we're thankful to Corey lore for his instrumental assistance during our interviews and there's a funny story Dr Lusa might want to share at some point and of course we're forever grateful to Dr Kathy Foster uh for celebrating this new appointment with us while also leading our district so ably and coordinating a smooth transition over the next six months Kathy uh we once again say publicly and we'll continue to do so until the end of time um that the Princeton Public Schools is a better District thanks to your strong positive and inspiring leadership since November of 2023 well you're c um and so um after this extensive search um one candidate Rose to the top and that is Dr Mike Lusa and we are thrill thrilled to welcome Mike to our district he has a proven record of success in many administrative roles in the cadams since he was hired as a teacher there more than 20 years ago he has served um there in many positions including as a superintendent schols for the past almost 13 years and we look forward to his leadership here in Princeton Mike spent the day today in Princeton he went to all six schools um and he met with all four of our uh Union leadership um and then he ran around the building just to get some exercise um Princeton um is a lighthouse district and we know that Mike will make our light our light shine brighter but Mike is also committed to equity and the belief that all children can Su succeed we're confident that he has the skills to make meaningful improvements in the education of all our students and specifically the education of students of color and students receiving special education and related Services while we're excited to welcome Mike in July and uh we remain grateful for Kathy's study leadership of the district and we look forward to working with Kathy um through June 20 June 30th 2025 and she's committed to ensuring a smooth transition and once again we can't thank uh Kath enough for her strong and compassionate leadership for our district um and now before we turn it over to Dr Lusa to introduce himself to the community I'm gonna open up for any board comments so who would like just raise your hand let me know anyone Susan um I would just like to uh welcome Dr Lusa um I was able to tag along today as he met with um so many of the important people in our district and to see um his humor his compassion his intelligence it was really inspiring and um I know we really look forward we love Cathy I was in the car Cathy all day but we really look forward to Dr Luca leading our district and um getting to know our community on an e even deeper level and I'm so glad that his family could also join us today um it's very exciting to see um this appointment I would just like to say welcome we are very excited to have you here and um you'll see it's a great School District it's a great I don't know I don't know I didn't write anything and I'm not good um no we're really excited and um thank you for saying yes well I'll improv as well but I just want to say I've had the privilege of of watching you from afar in your work at the state level and at the Garden State and other organizations for the last I don't know seven eight years and I've admired you for all that time and for you to have come and applied to us I mean I'm thrilled and over the moon that we can bring you here I think we have so many um opportunities to make this District even better and I think you bring us the toolkit to do that and with a with a fundamental care of of kids which you know again our mission is is you know joy and purpose for our children and I think that we have a a wonderful fit with with what you bring to us so I'm I'm so excited to uh work with you and move forward uh and I thank you for for being willing to consider consider us and all that whatever that is that Debbie Debbie means but we are we are who we are we're I think this is an incredible Place uh for children to be educated we have a Vibrant Community we have parents who care passionately about education we have wonderful Community Partners and we have a great team in the district that we've built over the last couple years that we're so excited about so I'm just so bullish about our future so thank you and [Music] welcome sorry off off which I hate so I apologize but we are exceedingly thrilled to have you here we look forward to I am really loud um we looking forward to your steady leadership and um very excited to to have you here so thank [Music] you yeah I'd also like to welcome you um to our district this is a place that cares very deeply about public education our schools mean so much to us uh and I really believe that in you we have the able thoughtful and passionate educator that we need all right um I I'm gonna turn the mic over to you uh Dr Lusa but first I did want to say thank you to this board and also to the our uh former board members Brian McDonald Betsy Bago and Rob Christopher who are here to make sure that we don't screw this up um and I'm grateful for that um we met uh again we start this the mandatory Preamble is required by the state and so it says we're unpaid volunteers and and I'll just say it again you cannot ask for a better group of board members and um our new board members um who weren't even sworn in and under um a strict confidential confidentiality um negotiation uh agreement I said to them our lawyer told me not to do this we're going to include you but if if you leak anything I'm going to hunt you down I actually said that to them um I'm sorry I said that um but they participated Katherine Lara uh participated from cranberry um you know just to the community we you are so lucky to have this these people representing you in making decisions for your children and if we could just give them a round of applause they deserved it they deserve it come on give yourselves a round of applause all right I'm done now so Mike if you want to come to the podium and say a few words we would appreciate it I don't usually have to stoop down I usually have to put out go my tippy toes um I'm totally overwhelmed uh with how today is gone um and I I haven't been overwhelmed like this I don't think in a very long time um every single person that I met today from The Tech Guys to the custodians to the principal to the teacher aids and the lunch AIDS have been uh so phenomenally welcoming and enthusiastic and they have exuded a pride in this community that I honestly didn't anticipate um before today and I just want to thank of course Kathy and dapa and Susan for for bringing me along today and showing me what this community is all about or at least giving me a taste of it uh and I know that most of you don't know me from a hole in the wall um you do know that I'm leaving a place where I've been for 23 and a half years and to just put that into some real terms um my first uh full week of employment as a teacher in chadam uh was the week of the 911 terrorist attacks and um I didn't own a cell phone at the time and there was no District email and we weren't able to just dismiss the schools so uh we were there and I'm sure it was like this in Princeton but in chadam there were numerous residents that were lost on that day including parents of students in the school building that I was teaching in chadam high school um and as the day went on and stud my classes became smaller and smaller uh because parents were picking their children up and students were streaming out of the building I grabbed a uh cassette player that had an antenna and a radio dial and I just sat with my students uh and listen into the WCBS 8880 broadcast of what was happening and it was probably the first time in my career Looking Back Now that I realized how vital schools are in the lives of children and their families and it's an odd thing to to share with you tonight um but I want to give you a sense i' I've been there ever since and give you a sense of of the fact that it took a lot for me to leave that uh and what it took was a prospective opportunity that I thought was so special uh and singular that I couldn't not pursue it Princeton is a special place it's historic it's important it's a leader and what Drew me to the district uh specifically was the diversity of the student body including the language diversity the fact that I think there are some commonalities between the two districts that lead me to believe that hopefully I can contribute here in a in a meaningful way and finally the values that I see exhibited and and reflected uh in both the school system and the community at large and that was why I decided to throw my hat in the ring um the reason I actually accepted the position though uh was the board board of education um while they were questioning me and I was fumbling my way through answers uh as the as the process unfolded uh I I was trying to get a gauge on whether the board was collaborative uh whether they were a a warm group what their priorities were based on the questions they were asking the follow-up questions their reactions to some of what I was saying and by the end of the process I became convinced that this is a board that puts Children First and the care of children first uh before a lot of other uh items and issues that we sometimes can be distracted by so I want to thank the members of the board of education for entrusting me with this responsibility and I'll end by noting that my wife and uh two children are here they're twins uh and I have to say that all those years ago uh when I was a teacher uh in the classroom um my wife was an elementary school principal and she was the bread winner and when these two came along uh weighing a combined 9 pounds 3 ounces put together she made the decision to hit the pause button on her career and encourage me to move forward uh in mine and I wouldn't be standing here in the middle of this room tonight if it wasn't for her so thank you Jess thank you boys uh thank you daphna and Susan and all of the board members for uh the trust that you're putting in me and thank you to everyone who came out tonight on this frigid evening uh just to see this happen can't wait to get started and I can't wait to get working with Kathy thank [Applause] you all right so now um so I should have said how this evening was going to go but it's been a really busy day and I haven't had much time to think but we're going to have a public comment now um then we're going to vote um and then we're going to have and and usually cake is the draw tonight it's Mike um but you know please stay for cake um so with that um now it's time for public comment for anyone to come up and speak on any items of interest to them um so just come right up to the podium just state your name um and the street you live on who's okay wow that's he's gonna let go first and if you don't live in town just tell us what town we don't want your street address we're not going to visit uh D did I hear you say there's no time limit tonight all right well if you all like to use the restroom for a minute I'll I'll be quick um I know I'm supposed to do something to get a motion for something but anyway uh my name is Jill Weber um thank you for giving me a minute here to to introduce myself and talk a little bit about Mike um by way of background I've been on our board of education for about 14 years uh 12 of them as president and I've been in our district and have had three sons go through the district half of under Mike's and half of when he was a teacher um so uh thank you for letting me stay here again if I have to State my name and address it's Jill Weber in chadam New Jersey thank you um so uh it may be a cliche that our loss is your gain but in this case it really it could not be any more true but I feel nothing but immense gratitude uh toward Dr Lusa and I'm not going to cry um so chadam has been extremely fortunate for the time Dr Lusa has spent leading chadam his dedication his vision his unwavering commitment have left an indelible mark on our school district and the community at large everybody loves Mike if you everybody was in tears yesterday when the note one out my phone was blowing up did you know about this I denied any knowledge of it I don't know what you guys are talking about um while it's bittersweet to see him move on I'm excited I'm excited for him and confident that he will bring the same extraordinary leadership and transformative influence to Princeton and I really want to stress that transformative word he he is going to light your world on fire sometimes you might not agree but he is going to be transformative congratulations to the Princeton Board of Education and Betsy for your outstanding decision to select Dr Lusa as your next leader having served with him for the last 14 years I can say from personal experience that you've made an exceptional Choice one that will have a Monumental impact on your district for years to come literally years to come so you already you you you know you've met him through your interview process and he's very impressive you already Mike and of course he's extremely bright he's a phenomenal educator and all these qualities alone would make him an extraordinary administrator but beyond that he would he would make more than an extraordinary administrator what truly sets him apart is his Integrity his character and his unwavering commitment to our community and our students he will always do what's best for the students he doesn't care I remember him saying I don't care if every board member get votes against this this is the right thing to do and he he was going to die on that sword we all agreed with him but I thought it was interesting that he Saidi don't care if 10,000 people come in and disagree with me this is the right thing for students he leads by example he makes decisions based on fairness transparency and what will benefit the students most he he empowers his staff he empowers his staff to think boldly and think outside the box he encourages them to build on the district's strengths you have a great District here already and he's continuing to seek new ways to enhance the education he will set he will absolutely set high expectations for your staff but he will provide this team with the support key can't do it without support the resources and the autonomy that they need to rise to the challenges and of course you will excel as an administrator you'll realize very quick quickly though that his real superpower lies in his leadership his vision and his ability to elevate those around him Princeton is already an incredible district and then under Mike's leadership I will undoubt I undoubtedly know we reach even greater Heights so that's all the nice things I have to say about Mike but I do feel obligated to to warn you about a couple of quirks now he said it was odd oh then I bring up you know 911 yeah well that's the first odd thing it's there's a long list of OD things you'll be going like this a few times but I do feel oated up sorry um so to his future supervisors and any staff that are required to attend conferences do not do not let Mike select the hotel you will end up in a hostel that hasn't been cleaned for years and he'll Proclaim isn't this great the location is perfect and if if Princeton board plans on any Renovations or have any you know Decor project if you're tempted in any way to ask Mike for decisions on color schemes or palletes I implore you to go to absolutely anyone else anyone all and finally to your staff your students your community uh please don't be put off or make any judgments by his abilities to lead based on his very casual dress his relaxed approach that's just so we say in our district that's just Mike being and Mike um he's genuine he's approachable and he's he really just focuses on what truly matters and Bel beneath this laid-back exterior lies a very dedicated a strategic forward-thinking leader who will absolutely exceed your expectations so congratulations to you and welcome to your next chapter with Mike as your at the helm thank you jel we appreciate it name name and just tell me the street yes well this is an interesting view uh Betsy Bago lafette Road how do you spell that is it Lio it's good to be back um it has been seriously only about 24 hours but what a thrill and a joy to be back for this wonderful occasion um I want to start by thanking you Jill and I I've done a lot of getting choked up in the last few weeks but it it means a great deal to our community that you would come to share with us the experience that you've had as a leader in chadam and oh thank you look at this service when for our our speakers uh but I just want to really thank you for sharing that because we are all one Community um engaged in educating our kids and so the fact that you here tonight uh means the world I'm I got to meet Jill last week doing some reference checks and she told me she'd take a little time to find a few things to help us change our mind about Mike she did not luckily so um I just do want to thank you very much so seriously I I'm really really happy to be here uh make it to make a very short statement to the board which includes the newly elected really happy to see you all here and to of my recently exited colleagues uh with me thank you for the many many hours that you put into the search it was a pleasure to lead that process I'd like to thank as DNA already did the search committee daphna Mara Elanor and Rob as well as Marty and Reena they are watching I don't know where the camera is but they're watching and we are so so grateful for them and all of their assistance I want to thank those in our community who participated in the uh focus groups and surveys and uh we really appreciated your feedback I want to thank Kathy and Matt and Susan and Corey and Christa and everyone involved in the search and uh for what they did as well as all they do every day for the schools and to Mike I just want to be among one of the first to to heartily welcome you to Princeton this is a wonderfully engaged Community with a hardworking Innovative and caring staff and a creative and very creative inspiring and kind students so I'm so thrilled for you and for the schools and I wish you all the very best thank you all um hi I'm going to be really quick um my name is Terry Boyd I'm here with representing Princeton parents or black children organization in the community advocating for the equity here and we just want to welcome you and we really look forward to working with you and meeting you and getting to know you and working with you in our district so thank you thank you for coming thank you all the board for everything I will be quick as well just say your name and who because some of us don't know who you are really well I'm sorry my name is Crystal rck and I'm the supervisor special ed at the high school thank you um and I will be quick as well um on behalf of Princeton uh administrators Association we would like to say thank you to the board for such an extensive search also um for selecting a candidate that not only cares about um the academics but also student social emotional learning and the whole child um and their mental health Mike I want to say welcome and thank you again um thanks for making Princeton smile again we've seen so many smiles from speaking with you today and thanks for making us smile again to Kathy we're going to miss you but we know you'll be back somehow so once a princetonian always a princetonian thank you [Applause] everyone do I need to say my name too yes and and your position we have minutes here there you go Cecilia bur I'm um uh principal of Princeton High School you can hear me okay and Kathy I was gonna I started writing this but then I started crying so I'm gonna not say much to you tonight the time will come um good evening Mike and uh on behalf of the high school Community I just want to extend a really warm warm welcome to you as you step into this leadership row we're excited to collaborate with you and and benefit from your vision and expertise our school takes pride in his commitment to academic excellence inclusivity and fostering a culture where every student and and Staff feel valued as principal I'm eager to work with you to ensure that our share goals align with the needs of our students and the broader Community please note that you can count my team's support I call them my team Fabulous um for support for creativity for a genuine commitment to advancing um education Excellence we look forward to building a strong partnership with you and embracing the opportunities that lie ahead welcome to Princeton thank you and congrats to the Newport [Applause] members all right I think is there anyone else okay um I did want to oh come on up hi there I'm Melena I'm Melena Duca I'm the president of the PTO Council which in in includes all of the pto's of all of our schools and on behalf of all of us we'd like to welcome you many of us are sitting in the room today and we look forward to working closely with you as you come into Princeton welcome and Kathy she's here six months thank you thank you everybody I know it's been a long journey here and appreciate thank you [Applause] Molina all right anyone else I know it's packed back there all right um I did want to take a minute and I didn't do this um but Mike went to every school today that means every principal uh every supervisor and Cathy cleared their calendars um and I'm grateful for that so thank you very much and uh with that uh we're going can I get a motion for the appointment an employment agreement uh to appoint Michael lza as superintendent of schools Mara second [Music] Beth Dy Kendall yes Beth Baron yes Adam Beerman yes Debbie bronfeld yes Mara franceski yes Elanor hubard yes Susan caner yes Ari misel yes Chris santarpio yes Katherine Lara yes we have a uh unanimous [Applause] uh welcome to Princeton Mike we couldn't be more glad um and this will probably be the only meeting where everyone's smiling so yeah all right you smile a lot but again um there's cake and refreshment it's it's a great Community we're just very intense as you as you've seen um but um again we have Refreshments um I want to thank you all for coming this is a great day for Princeton and just a sign of great things to come for our district um so with that can I get a motion to adjourn Ari second uh Mara and it was uh 35 minutes and we talked a lot all in favor great thank you [Music]