##VIDEO ID:WadlT2-VI84## good evening at this time I'd like to call to order the January 2nd 2025 reorganization meeting of the sville Board of Education in accordance with chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this public reorganization meeting of the sville board of education has been established by sending a copy of the public meeting notice to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger in addition copies of the announcement of this meeting have been sent to the burough Clerk and a copy of the notice of the meeting has also been posted on the bulletin board outside of the office of the secretary to the board please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all our first order of business is to announce the official results of the board election held on November 5th 2024 for the three-year term candidates if Kya Hernandez with 7,889 votes krie chowski with 6,918 votes lady Maldonado with 5,487 votes um Matthew leeski for with 4,485 votes and Anthony Esposito with 5,123 votes our next order of business is the swearing in of our newly elected board members this will be done in alphabetical order beginning with it Mrs chowski then Mrs Hernandez and Mrs Maldonado at the podium for I Carri chowski do swear or affirm United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Al to the and to the government's established in the United States under the auth of I Carri chowski do swear or that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law office for office of member of Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a r nor disqualify due to conviction of a crime or offense listed willly perform of that Accord to the of my so y next up we have Mrs Hernandez I Kathy Hernandez to they I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United in this state under the authority of the people so help me gu hernand iic prescribed by the law for the office of member of the Board of Education and I am not disqualified suppor pursu to rs9 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listen njs 188 12-1 that I have faithfully andart and perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me God and finally we have Mrs Mal that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the SA the government established in the United States and State under the author of the people that I theic prescribed by laws for the office of member of the Board of Education and I am not disqualified as a voter pursu to RS 19 Nor does qualify due to conviction of a crime or offed in njs 181 and I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties all that of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me than okay so our next order of business is the reading of the New Jersey school boards Association code of ethics for all board members I'm going to ask each board member in alphabetical order to read a portion um they should have all have a copy that is highlighted and I'm going to start with Mrs blue and please make sure you turn on your microphone when he gets to your part I did thank you a school board member shall abide by the following code of ethics for school board members 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 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 RIS Creed sex or social standing 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 I will carry out my responsibilities not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well run I will recognize the authority rest with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its school I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution thank you everyone I will now take the roll call alphabetically Mrs Bloom here Mr Callahan here Mrs chowski here Mr Fernandez here Mrs Hernandez here Mrs Maldonado here Mrs napalitano here m M pone here Mr Smith here okay at this time uh I will open up to the floor for nominations for president of the Board of Education again please just try to hit the button on your microphone yes Mr Smith I would like to nominate Lucy Bloom for president okay are there any other nominations okay seeing none may I have a motion to close the nominations for president of the board of education so move by Mr Smith and can I get a second second second and that was Mrs Nal Tano just going to take a roll call to closed nominations Mrs Bloom yes Mr Callahan yes Mrs chowski yes Mr Fernandez yes Mrs Hernandez yes Mrs Maldonado yes Mrs napalitano yes Mrs babone yes and Mr Smith yes okay um I'm going to take a roll call vote for the president of the Board of Education um just State the last name of the person that you're voting for Mrs bloom bloom Mr C Bloom Mrs schadowski Bloom Mr Fernandez Bloom Mrs Hernandez Bloom Mrs Maldonado Bloom Mrs napalitano Bloom Mrs babone Bloom Mr Smith Bloom okay um can I get a motion to air to affirm Mrs Bloom as president of the board of education so move second okay that was Mr Smith and Mrs babone and I'm just going to do one more roll call vote um to take the to affirm Mrs Bloom as the president uh Mrs Bloom yes Mr Callahan yes Mrs judkowski yes Mr Fernandez yes Mrs Hernandez yes Mrs Maldonado yes Mrs napalitano yes Mrs babone yes Mr Smith yes okay congratulations Mrs wman at this time I'll turn the meeting over to you I need tissues tissues I'm not sick I went to the doctor today you're not sick I went to the doctor they took all the stuff you might not have Co or something but you absolutely got a cold oh they gave they gave me weird stuff there's a nasty cold going around okay I have to apologize I have been sick as a dog for the past five days I'm on meds that are making me a little loopy so we're going to have some fun tonight um Miss Hill you're going to have to help me out here with the next were you talking while I was talking the next order of business is the vote for the vice president okay so we need to take nominations for vice president so can I please get some nominations I'll make a nomination I'm nominating um Jeff Smith okay I will second that any other nominations no okay you have to help me out here eron just need close nominations next sure you can okay so we will close nominations so moved is that thank you take a motion to close nominations second yes do we need a second you have second all those in favor all those in favor I yes opposed anybody oppos no you make it this hard no I'm trying to make it easy so we have to do the same excuse me folks okay now we need to do a roll call vote you do roll call Vote Yes you got a motion you have a second thank you Miss Hill would you please do a roll call vote sure Mrs Bloom yes Mr Callahan yes Mrs chowski yes Mr Fernandez yes Mrs Hernandez yes Mrs Maldonado yes Mrs napalitano yes Mrs babone yes Mr Smith yes so now we've closed nominations okay is there a motion to we need a motion to affirm okay and now now it's a roll call now we need a roll call vote thank you okay uh Mrs blue yes Mr Callahan Smith right or is it yes or Smith Smith Mrs chowski yes Mr Fernandez yes Mrs Hernandez yes Mrs Maldonado yes Mrs napalitano yes Mrs bone yes Mr Smith yes now Okay so we've made um we've had the vote now so I believe our next order is um this to approve the reorganization agenda there's two separate agendas for tonight there's the business agenda and the reorg agenda okay so this is the reorg agenda um actually do we do we want to open it up to public for comments on the reorg agenda only you don't you don't have to do that no you could have just because it's still one meeting okay technically so you could do it as as one agenda it's up to you but you could just do one public comment period I I guess it would depend if they want to do the vote before public has had a chance to comment on the reor agenda we okay we're on here reorganization agenda thank you okay I would just go I would just go to where you normally have public comment yeah so I think we would open up for public comment for uh reor items only okay all right so um we'll do that now okay anyone from public that has anything to say on this reorganization agenda no thank you seeing none we will close public okay so now we would just need a motion for to approve motion to approve theone and I thought I heard Mr Callahan thank you okay so motion can I do the roll call vote Moll call Mrs Bloom yes Mr Callahan yes Mrs chowski yes Mr Fernandez yes Mrs Hernandez Mrs Maldonado yes Mrs napalitano yes Mrs pone yes and Mr Smith yes yes okay I guess I'm not the only one who's a little loopy seems to be everyone we're not going to Executive we're not going into executive tonight so our next thing would just be our business agenda okay so here we we're not going to the flag you don't need to call to order okay we're call to order we pledge the flag the flag roll call you're good I think the next we have is the presentation okay so no correspondents no student reps okay okay Food Service presentation y presentation all right have no idea give me medicine for as we get Mr cadino okay okay so as we all know we are kicking off our budget presentation season um the board approved our budget development calendar back in October we're happy to say that we're moving along in accordance with that we recently received received all the budget information from our administrators Miss Hill myself and our Central Administration will be working diligently to balance that preliminary budget with revenues from the previous year and of course we'll be kicking off our presentations this evening with our food services presentation recognizing though that our food services program is not funded by the budget it is its own Enterprise account however we always take the time as our first presentation of the year to give you in essence a state of our food services department where in which Mr s cadino will tell you about the different programs that we're involved in now and the programs that we want to involve ourselves in next year and then miss Hill will give you a brief synopsis of the health of Our Food Services Department that would be the fisical health so Mr citadino if you're ready let's begin all right uh today over the next few minutes we're going to chat about the reimbursement breakdown for the current school year the monthly meal totals for September October and November uh what's new and exciting in food services and then we'll round it out with the summary of Finance for this school year the uh Federal reimbursement rate is going to be as follows the free launches are going to come back at $443 the reduced rate for the lunches is $43 and the paid lunches is going to be 42 the breakfasts under the free category are going to be 284 reduced breakfast is at 54 and the paid breakfast is at 39 the monthly meal comparisons to start us off this school year uh we did 64,66 meals in September October we did 93,7 194 meals and in November we did 59,0 38 uh as I was looking at this in the hallway going through the lines I thought should have renamed this September always starts slow because it always does in the last 15 years I've been doing this the uh September numbers are always slow but we quickly picked it back up again we did 3500 meals or meals per day in September and as you can see we quickly up that to just over 4200 in October and just over 4200 again in November the top performers um from last year are the high school at 4% over what we were doing from last year and the Middle School came in just about 7% over what we were doing from last year the new and Food Services category we have uh a second new van the fleet has doubled over the summer um beautiful big white van I don't know if anyone's seen it around town we've got two of them they're lettered up they're ready to go uh if Jimmy wants to put a uh a snow plow on it I'm all for it they're they're beastly they're huge uh they they help us separate our two drivers uh we can have one driver all the way over at Wilson School delivering produce and dropping some lunches off to my students at the bombers Beyond Cafe and we can have the other driver all the way over on this side of town doing the uh Slover delivery so it all works great produce delivery day is huge half days um are also huge with two Vans splitting the guys up works out beautifully uh other two awesome things I want to chat about are the combination ovens or Combi Ovens that we call them in the industry um they have these great big uh touch screens on them they'll save your recipe there's an app for the big tall one that's downstairs here you can actually get an app for it uh I'm not going to enable the settings but you can get an app put your food in let it do its thing go grab lunch and come back and it'll tell you when it's done it'll turn it off for you it's a really really really neat piece of Machinery uh so what they also do with the combination part of it is it's a traditional oven you can turn it into an air fryer so we're putting potatoes in there and they're coming out just like they're fried from the windmill beautiful and with another push of a button we can put in fresh vegetables and it'll steam them up perfectly and then we can go right back over there put put burgers in there uh breaded chicken sandwiches and it will just treat it like a very traditional oven um next up I want to chat about pay schools uh pay schools is our new cloud-based launch account information center uh with the help of the very very userfriendly app that I'm sure everybody's downloaded already uh parents can see all the transactions from the students breakfast lunch and dinner or excuse me breakfast lunch and snack um they can also add money to the account with a credit card or debit card from the app they can even send in cash or check with their students and they can check the app right after launch period just to verify that the student handed in the check or cash to the cashiers uh added bonus with pay schools on the app is that the online lunch application is now Central with the app last year we had two different um programs there and it got a little confusing so it's great that they're both under the same roof uh we also upgraded our cash registers the uh that's this big screen in the middle here these are 18inch touchscreen monitors they have a great customizable menu board on the side so the way that it works now is the students will come into the servery for each school they can pick out their lunch they'll hop over into the lunch line a quick scan of their ID their picture comes up on this bottom uh square right here their name classroom all that relevant information comes up there um the cashier has to push a couple buttons based on whatever the student has chosen for lunch and we're getting so much better at it sometimes it's like a two or a three second transaction and places like the high school where we're doing sometimes 1100 meals a day it's just pretty quick it's really really fun to watch over there uh added bonus with these new registers are the teachers and staff are linked up there as well so teachers are coming through scanning in teachers can add money on the app it works out really really well also new and exciting is healthy Pro healthy Pro is our uh online menu viewer uh what I really like about healthy Pro is that it's going to organize all the meals all the meal components into the five categories um it's a huge upgrade from last year that also shows the nutritional information and there's a really fun build a meal feature that we're going to chat about in just a quick second uh the next slide is an example of what happens when we're looking at that menu that we had before we can click on any of the items on there and up comes allergen information in ingredients and nutritional information that is super important for our diabetic students this is what the uh Builder meal feature looks like it's going to be found on the left side if you're at home looking at it and we're just going to have a quick uh a quick little tutorial thank you Mr meley for helping me out with this kind of last minute you good so he's bringing up our high school lunch menu um Mrs Bloom help me out here pick a day for next week yep Wednesday of next week please all right so this is Wednesday at the high school uh Mr cahan what do you want to have for lunch next Wednesday at the high school what's your entree over here cheeseburger awesome choice all right so Mr meley just highlighted cheeseburger and as you can see on the side we have all the nutritional information that just popped up for the cheeseburger there uh Dr agues with your cheeseburger you want to do fresh baby carrots or a little garbanzo beans all right he's going with the garbanzo beans excellent um Miss Hill do you want to pick uh want to go fruit juice or a sorted fruit uh let's go with fruit juice fruit juice excellent um Mrs blue milk or no milk milk all right so now you can look over here and it's added everything up um we were I've been bragging about this all last spring to the nurses and they were thrilled about it like I said before the diabetic students are really taking advantage of this uh anybody that wants to see wants to care a little more about you know what we're eating and maybe make a different Choice uh based on this they can kind of hang out with that at home or maybe before they hop into the lunch line and uh take a look at thank you Mr meley next we can move on to the summary of the finances okay so I'm not going to read all of the numbers on this um small chart but just to if you look at the bottom uh section of it you'll see our net profit or loss over the last several years um the most recent information is UN audited I did get our audit over the break but um at that point I didn't have the time to go through and um change these numbers but it's not much different than what the Auditors have they use a few different figures that I don't um but it works out about the same so with this you can see that in 201920 we operated that year at a loss uh whereas in 2020 2021 we also operated at a loss the reason we operated at a loss those years is because of the pandemic in the following year 2122 that was when all of our students were eligible for free lunch uh and free breakfast so there was a large Surplus that year of 1.6 million in net profit uh and the year after we had another about $600,000 in net profit um this is because of all of the students were receiving free lunch but in addition uh the federal government raised the rates that they were paying us for the meals and they also continued to give us funding to compensate for the fact that a lot of costs of food kept going up um so in theory this is a good thing however with Food Services we are not allowed to have excess Surplus the only amount of money we're allowed to have in there is basically three months of operating expenditures so you'll see that last row on this chart is the allowed fund balance so again this is my estimate this isn't there might be things that I include that the Auditors don't but this is what our allowable fund balance is so for the 23 24 year that was around a million doar um but we are at about 2.5 million in that account so we have to spend that down as much as we can so there were some uh expenses on June 30th that hadn't actually hit the account yet because they were outstanding purchase orders for instance the van we purchased we submitted the purchase order last school year but we didn't get it until the summer so that's not included so we have about $200,000 that we um spent from last year we have a little bit from this year too so right now we have about 1.2 million in Surplus that needs to be spent down um so Mr cadino and I are actually going to be meeting later this month and he's going to give us some ideas on improvements we can make uh one of those things is a new serving line at the Middle School uh and several other things in terms of new equipment that we've been working on uh as you can see from Mr cino's presentation we've already been working on that with some equipment um because our equipment and Food Services up until about two years ago was fully depreciated which means we hadn't replaced anything in a very long time so we're in a unique situation where we can do that um but we also have to keep in mind that at some point that Surplus will go away so we don't necessarily want to use it for all recurring expenditures and yes so that's where we are I think it's the only time you'll ever hear a school business administrator talk about how we need to spend money so yeah any questions for Mr citadino or Miss Hill yeah I Do by way it's a great program you have a great job with that um I just got one one question with the nutritional information does that always pop up or is that an optional uh piece of of information that the kids can opt into um if you pull up the menu everything should be clickable that's you so it's not automatically there you have to click on the item to actually words if you're ordering a lunch the nutritional information doesn't automatically pop up this isn't even ordering launch this is just the online meal viewer for parents or students at home on a desktop or on the app but on well I mean on the app or at the desktop at home does the nutritional information automatically pop up or do they need to click on on a separate step to see that the that's what I'm saying so if if if you select the hamburger the nutritional information for that hamburger will will pop up if you click on it to see that information but if you're just looking at the menu that's not on there you have to actually click on the item to get the information and I I I apologize because I'm not that bright so help me out here I just want to make make sure we're crystal clear I'm ordering a a a hamburger I clicked that I that I want a hamburger so what are you're confusing is this is just the me viewer nobody's ordering from the the all the students are are coming into the series and picking up the food based on the eye task or whatever they're just feeling that day especially the younger students that I'm sure they're not even looking at the menu the menu isn't available in any of the schools it lives exclusivly online the diabetic students are the ones that sometimes they need that information the nurse needs to know that information and they can pull it up very quickly yeah guess it's not for ordering purposes at all but if a kid wanted want to see what was on the menu they they would have to go to this menu and see this no there's there's menus in the actual schools that just are printed menus correct so it just has the information it doesn't have any of that additional backup that's just online again I mean is there a functionality that we can make that a separate clickable item because we can ask yes we we we understand that uh diabetic kids but the truth of the matter is kids nutritional needs are vastly different than adults and overwhelmingly kids really don't need to be worrying about their calories um we're far more likely to to to have to have a child with a needing disorder whether it's diagnosed or undiagnosed and seeing that although it could be helpful to us to a certain number I think far more would may have some difficulties with that I think it's good to to have both options but I think that should be an option that someone can can click into and see it if they wanted to not necessarily if there were going to see it that they that they had to see that shock value y these guys have been around forever they've thought of everything so I'm sure I can ask them tomorrow I'll put in a uh a call that would be great and by the way listen truly amazing job you did with this you've done an amazing job since do many or so um really great job this is a fantastic thing that's just one little thing I just wanted to bring up thank you any more questions I have one question does anybody eat the garbanzo beans Little Italian dressing goes a long way to each his own great job Nick thank you maybe I don't know we'll see if that's see if they can work it out on the it front I had a question for Erin when it comes to the Surplus can it only be used for Food Services or can it be allocated anyway no so thank you for asking that it is restricted and it's very restrictive even within Food Services what you're allowed to do so we're not allowed to use it for any kind of construction either so you wouldn't be able to like rip up the floors and replace the floors in the cafeteria it's only for things that benefit the Food Services Program and that's because most of the funding that we have is federal funds so it's very restricted to just for that Federal program we were able to use it for the walk-in ice box right correct because that was um on the list of allowable equipment and we did submit to the state to get approval to do that as well so there was like minor construction but it was specifically to get that walk-in replaced walk-in freezer and refrigerator but that's where we had to be creative too with the delivery trucks uh as well as delivery Personnel um it solved the problem but also allowed us to dwindle that down correct okay that was going to be my question we were able to use that money to purchase the van yes and it's been great we satellite a lot of food in District so previously we only had the one van so they were going all over town and even over the Cheesequake so now you using buildings and grounds yes we were we were using now we're using our perfect and vans designed for the purpose of delivering food and we have we have the plan in place that we provide do we need to provide a plan to the state showing how we're going to spend it down yeah so they gave us through the end of this year because this this was really an audit recommendation not in this year the year before um but that came out late in the year so we still have a little bit of time to get some of it resolved so they're looking for us to have spent down half of that Surplus by the end of this school year so we are working diligently on that we wanted to get a food truck at one point but that wasn't no that's not that was a good idea that was a really good idea it was shot down though thanks Aon and bombers bombers Beyond is that included in the Food Service no because it's not part of that's totally separate it's part of an Enterprise fund and we're actually separating it out so that can't use any of that Surplus for that kitchen because it's not part of the national school lunch program so you can only use the funds from the national school Lune program for the national school Lun program but by the way that program does really well too yeah yes oh that's fantastic ftic I love that the best cup of coffee it is happiest place in cille by the way well we talked about this last meeting number one yeah uh viewer's choice in New Jersey number one coffee shop oh I did sorry sorry Mr [Laughter] n thank you Mr cadino thank you Miss next okay um presentation board discussion okay um board discussion now we need to open to public there's nothing there's nothing on it sorry next up would be public comment on the superintendent's report or the agenda items all right so we will now open to public for uh any questions on the present or the regular agenda okay seeing none we will close public in motion to close public we need a motion move no okay public is closed everyone says we don't need a motion okay now Dr lvy it's a real quick report going along with our presentation we're asking you on in finance to approve the purchase of a Metro model mobile Heat needed cabinet for uh the SRA War Memorial High School kitchen at a cost of $3,581 55 and then moving along to Personnel we're asking you to appoint a campus security Monitor and two substitutes that's it folks any questions on those items or anything else on the agenda I know Mr Smith you were looking forward to our retirement speech but uh I was but you're taking lessons from Mr Glock Malloy I appreciate that oh microphone you I'm sorry the shortest uh presentation I have ever heard uh we need to make a motion to accept the uh superintendent's report so move second so I have Mrs Pabon and Mrs naano um you want me to do a roll call is there anything on there that's Financial or personel all those in favor oh okay can do nous can we stick with what I I counselor I know that we're typically I have the utmost respect for you counselor for tonight we have our system here so let's just keep following our system Miss Hill roll call couple years of not attending public meetings calm down Mrs Bloom yes uh Mr Callahan yes Mrs chowski yes Mr Fernandez yes Mrs Hernandez yes Mrs Maldonado yes Mrs napalitano yes Mrs Pabon yes Mr Smith yes okay and I guess that's it public participation no we just did you did it for agenda items now just for anything oh again yeah yes okay anybody out there who wants to talk about anything at all seeing none we will close public um and now any board members who I'd like to make a comment um Mr s cadino provided some refreshments in our Lounge that I would like to welcome the members of the public that are here to support our new board members or who are just here at all if you'd like to enjoy some coffee cookies and I think there's some cakes in there as well um please join us in the staff Lounge after the meeting okay uh any board members have anything they would like to contribute before we close yeah I'd like to say a few words as we kick off this New Year I'm thrilled to welcome our three newest board members kadia Carrie and Lady each of you bring fresh ideas new energy and a unique perspective to the board and we couldn't be more excited to have you join us until today I held the dubious distinction of being the only not only the only Hispanic but the only person of color to have ever served on the board of education but today we made history for the first time this board includes not just one but two women of color and more importantly the first two Latinas on our board kadia and lady your presence here is groundbreaking and a powerful Testament to the progress of our community trust me when I say this is not an insignificant Milestone it's a big deal to put this in perspective for over a hundred years the board had never had a single person of color ever in just the last four years we've seen significant progress and today a third of our board is comprised of individuals of color including our first two women of color but our transformation goes beyond just a board thanks to the leadership of Dr Labby and Dr ages we have Diversified our staff and continue to make improvements in expanding our representation thank you Dr Labby and Dr Agy for For All You've Done Carrie don't don't think I've forgotten about you your dedication and passion for Education makes a fantastic addition to this team together the three of you will bring much needed infusion of innovation collaboration that will help us tackle the challenges ahead and keep our district moving forward as you begin this journey remember that you're not in this alone everyone in this room my fellow board members our dedicated administrators and especially our esteemed uh superintendent Dr Labby is here to help Dr Labby is not just a wealth of knowledge but also one of the most committed advocates for our students you'll ever meet as Benjamin Franklin once said tell me and I forget teach me I remember involve me and I'll learn trust me Dr Lobby will will make sure that you're involved often more more more often than than you want to be involved welcome to the team let's roll up our sleeves and get to work for the kids of Cel and if things ever get overwhelming don't forget Dr ages and I always have some Cito ready and a lot of bad jokes thank you for yourself for sacrifice and in this undertaking and welcome award I'm I would like to say something as well um I would like to welcome the new board members and I would like you you know as you ran for the Board of Ed um you had your supporters we all have our supporters we all our naysayers okay what I would like all of you to do is continue to hold your convictions don't be a chameleon don't vote for something cuz somebody else you vote for what you believe in in your heart in your mind and in your soul okay and I think you're going to do well but don't be a chameleon do not change because the situation changes or you don't need to be friends with anybody on the board you need to represent the children of cville and I think you're all going to do great so welcome aboard anyone else okay sure bear with me I wanted to thank so much um everyone who came out to vote on November 5th and those that are watching the recording or will we really appreciate those that came out to vote um and exercising that right as a citizen in this country it's so important and we appreciate it we appreciate especially those who voted for us for I'll speak for myself I appreciate those who voted for me um thank you to my family it it was quite a campaign and it took a lot of um support from our from my family so I thank you and our friends as well and everything that everyone contributed to helping with our campaign it doesn't go and I just a thousand thank yous for all the help um I accept my seat on the sville board of education with humble gratitude and I mean that to the community of sville and to the Lord for directing me onto this exciting New Path it is exciting uh this new year ahead happy new year and it's going to be quite a year I look forward to serving alongside my fellow board members to pursue academic success and Bright Futures for our students to be advocate for the parents of seille and to keep parents involved in every aspect of their child's education um I do feel the weight of the stewardship of uh your tax dollars as does the rest of the board and I'm going to do a good job for you and I thank you God bless [Applause] you okay go ahead kathia turn on your microphone good evening everyone first I want to thank our community for pray basing your trust in me to serve as a member of the Board of Education I am honored and excited to have this opportunity to represent our students parents teachers and our community education is the foundation from a strong community and I am committed to working hard to make sure every student gets the best education opportunities they need to succeed for whatever come next in their future to my fellow for members I look forward to working with you to make decisions that put our Student First and to the students you are the reason we are all here and I will do my best to serve you finally thank you to my husband and my daughters friends and everyone to support us during the campaign who encourag us through this journey your support made all the difference thank you [Applause] likewise like uh kri Kya I resonate and I say I want to thank my family my friends for your love support dedication encouragement and sacrifice for my husband and my children especially um special thank you to the community for entrusting me with the honor of serving in the Board of Education apologize for my voice I'm getting I'm getting over a cold um to the members of the Board of Education I look forward to serving with each and every one of you and understand we will have deferring views at different topics or what have you but we do have a common goal which is doing what's best for our children at hand and for the community and I ought to work with you respect your voices and always represent and lead with Integrity lastly I want to highlight and this is something personal for me the last time I spoke at the Board of Education meeting as a parent um that was on June 18th it was when I would came from my grandfather's hospital bed um that day he passed away a month and 9 days after that on July 27th um which is 8 days after I officially submitted my board of candidacy papers so these past 6 months have been one of the most if not the most difficult of my life but I have also learned so much about the importance in the perseverance resilience Integrity but most importantly the community I could not have pressed on if it wasn't for the support of my co- candidates and my family and my friends so I just wanted to share a picture of my grandfather and um I'm doing this for his honor as well thank you anybody else okay my turn once again I want to thank my colleagues for their confidence and trust in me I always say I'm a glutton for punishment so it's a blessing and a curse at the same time and for the families out there you think it was tough getting here wait committee meetings but they're all virtual but they're done at home so the ladies need quiet space for the committee meetings we get a lot done but there are several that go on a week so their time will be taken from you a little bit we try and keep them as short as possible but I think ladies look around we outnumber them this is the first time since I have been involved first as a union president that there are this many ladies up here so I'm exced exited and you should be too uh however the gentlemen that we have are outstanding we're glad to have them we will all work together to do the best for our children our grandchildren because mine are in the district and um we thank you for your confidence and your trust and moving forward everybody have a wonderful happy New Year hopefully I'll be a little less loopy next time and we will proceed as we always do with the children's best interest in mind thank you very much I will now take a motion to adjourn the meeting mve all in favor I any opposed meeting adjourned attorney