e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for for e e e e e e e e e e e e e than Hi how are you you any for for than okay may I have a motion to approve the following minutes may I have a motion to approve the following minutes second second thank you uh Mrs Capo this has been moved by Miss Elie KY macki and seconded by Mrs uh carbonel roll call please miss carbonel yes Mrs Mack Mr McDow yes Mr nasta yes yes Oh's on who's on are they on the members put the mic put the mic on yes yes Mrs man miss Mani no no response so Mr Scott Eden no response okay great next we have our Communications that are reflect on the operation and Personnel agenda and we will have comments from the public on the resol on the resolutions yeah sure please thank you oh yes yes yes you can go first good evening we had a um uh a comment emailed in and uh Mrs Coons will read that thank you okay good evening as I stated earlier um I have a letter that I'm asked to read into the records um um is dated June 13 2024 it's uh from njl New Jersey Association of school librarians dear superintendent Dr benaquista and board members I am writing to ask you to reconsider the decision of eliminating the full-time librarian media specialist position within your district and downgrade services to students your school library media specialist plays an important role in the lives and education of your student and staff members to eliminate this position or to rely on a non-certified or part-time individual to fill this role will be a huge disservice to your school community and will have a long lasting negative effect it is unfortunate that the role of the school librarian media Specialists are often not fully understood or appreciated Perhaps it is because a school librarian wears so many hats within the building in hearing from community members there are outrage to hear the limiting Library Services was a consideration for the 2024 25 school year school districts across the state such as Cherry Hill school district employs 21 School library media Specialists for 19 school systems as they recognize the intrical role school librarians play in education and academic success your school library media specialist carries out the responsibilities of reading teachers an instructional technology specialist an information resource specialist a professional learning facilitator an information information literacy instructor co- teing program administrator and curriculum design designer Studies have proven time and time again that school librarians enhance the development and education of all students and directly increase overall Student Success on January 4th 2023 the governor Phil Murphy signed into law the information literacy standard Bill s588 making New Jersey the first state in the nation to require instruction in information Literacy for all okay to 12 public school students are you timing yourself misson no oh right basically I'm reading a statement from the New Jersey Association of librarians three minutes okay um and I'll finish up this paragraph this bill is vital in providing students with the skills they need to be critical thinkers and discriminating readers of information in various forms of media it requires school to teach the research process ways to access forms of information and properly use the information resources research methods and distinction between fact opinion and point of view I'll stop here and anyone wish to have a copy of this you can Oprah um the uh comment thank you for your comment or thank you for the comment um next we will have Virginia Jeff to the microphone please please state your name and your address when you get to the microphone and these are time for three minutes Madam president if I may while the speaker is making her way toone um just put the record I know Miss Jeff very well um from her advocacy in the city of East Orange um but to all members of the public who are looking to speak um in accordance with board bylaw 0167 which governs public comment um I would just call question members of the public to be mindful of individual Personnel rights and privacy rights of individuals whether they employed by this District or other public entities um and that their comments may very well be violative of those individuals rights um individuals who speak um may be uh liable for personal causes of action brought by those persons who may be impacted or affected um by their comments whether it affects their employment here or in other places and I would just ask everyone to be respectful of this body as well as any individual ual that may be speaking of um with that you may speak and I'll Reserve any further comment thank you uh Mr Taylor but I do have a copy of Word policy that I brought um can I sit down can I sit down yes okay thank Virginia Jeff 236 Brighton Avenue East Orange New Jersey the open public meetings act a New Jersey state law guarantees the rights of the public to attend and participate in government meetings such as this one during the comments from the public segment suppressing and interrupting comments of any member of the public is a violation of the open public meetings Act and the first First Amendment rights of free speech under the US con Constitution at the June 11th 2024 executive session work session board pres board president chassid Santana interrupted and suppressed my comments and much more she directed my personal documents be confiscated which was an illegal action and abruptly adjourned the meeting furthermore board president chassity Santana attended the East Arch Board of Education meeting on June 13th she spoke spoke freely during the public comment segment in regard to the outgoing SBA Marissa McKenzie she voiced her unconditional support of the outgoing SBA she stressed her personal relationship with the outgoing SBA she vouched for the good character of the outgoing SBA however Bo president Chastity Santana did not disclose the following that she board president chassid Santana is an elected official offal that she is the current board president of the Union Township Board of Education that Marissa Mckenzie was the previous board president here until a few months ago that she board president chassid Santana signed the contract for Marissa McKenzie to be an assistant superintendent effective July 2024 that she as board president has implicit control over incoming assistant superintendent Marissa McKenzie and being the bo president with an obvious power and balance thank you for listening thank you for your comment I'm sorry thank you for your comment these are the these are the doc this is the document that was confiscated thank you for your comment my personal document and if anybody wants it they can have it thank you thank you for your comment and I adhere to the board policy and the laws okay thank you Mr state of New Jersey board members may I just also just State for the record that in accordance with board bylaw 0167 the presiding officer Mrs chassis of Santana um or her design Miz Miz excuse me Miz um Andor her design um does have the right pursuing to paragraph five it states specifically the presiding the presiding officer May a interrupt warn or terminate a participant statement question or inquiry if it is too lengthy B interrupt and or warn a participant when the statement question or inquiry is abusive obscene or maybe defamatory thank you thank you may I please have Jill Hall if you can say your name and address please good evening Jill Hall 509 Whitewood Road I would just like to bring the board's attention to policy nine number 2411 um those of you that have been around a while know that I have uh chosen this hill to die on and it is the hill of ceasing calling school counselors guidance counselors and if you look at the policy it is once again listed as guidance counselors um at the risk of being repetitive I would remind the board that a guidance counselor was required to have somewhere between 12 and 30 credits of Master's level education school counselors currently are required to have 66 credit hours in mental health and School counseling as well as 800 hours of internship in a school setting before before they can get their certificate as a school counselor in the state of New Jersey so I believe in the importance of language being appropriate I think that language can be very powerful and I would ask very respectfully that the language be updated to reflect the way the certificates and the certifications are currently written which is school counselor and no longer guidance counselor thank you thank you so much for your comment Kathleen Bruns Meyers name and address please thank you so much is there any other comments from the public it's going it's going it's gone thank you so much next we will have the education and student discipline committee um um Mrs carbonel to present the resolutions to be voted on tonight oh there's you oh I'm so sorry superintendent report that's what everybody is here for thank you so much thank you madam president good evening everyone so tonight um I would like to thank Mr Bruns Meer and her prek class because of uh uh we opened and went into executive session we did do the flag salute do you mind if uh Madame President if I show it again for the community uh that's uh one of the things that we're highlighting tonight yes so thank you again it become it's I think it's becoming a tradition so and the kids are amazing uh and it just shows what what uh you know they could absorb and learn and and teach so we'll get into that we'll talk talk about our uh employee recognitions our small glimpse our Hib uh that we have to do monthly as well as uh even though our our senior liaison not here uh I would like to uh congratulate them on what a fine job that they did so first I'm gonna uh play uh what we got to open the meeting with want to stand everyone join us and say it again salute so that thank you for uh you know I I know you do a lot more but it it's amazing at the end of the year to see our prek class uh do this now every year I look forward to it so I appreciate it and I look forward to more years to come with uh having our kids shine in this way um so next um you know monthly we've been highlighting a a faculty this month I would like to focus on um setting a a a new tradition uh in our district um we try to get people that um to come back and be recognized in person I'm going to try in July when I have a little more uh possibly you know the ending of the year was so I think non-traditional this year um where we uh ended late um had a lot of retirements and I'm gonna attempt to have them come back and be recognized but either way Madame President we spoke Madame vice president I would like to um uh have part of our board minutes a resolution recognizing the time and dedication to our our district that are retirements uh we did make um resolutions individually uh you know um talking about what impacts our teachers have made I would like to invite them in July to in person receive this and if uh again depending um if they are retired and moving on already they might not be able to get here but I would still like to make it where publicly we are starting to really recognize all the people that dedicate a lot of time and energy uh to helping our community um and I would like to read this uh next month and make it part of our uh uh yearly highlights um so thank you all the teachers that spent very uh so much time I would love to do the math one day on how many hours on average an educator after 25 30 years puts into uh our schools because I know I've said it before we don't realize a lot of of our Educators put so much time into our students and you know when they go home sometimes our educators are exhausted it you know especially today um where I know at times get into education part of the reason we many people get in is to be home for their families and and you know our educators are dedicated where they stay late they come early they go to nighttime events um I see them at places we have Educators that come on a regular basis monthly to our board meetings that's how we're we're going to do things and move forward together by people showing up and and sharing uh even over the summer that started a couple days ago I met with teachers to still have conversations on how we could get better so thank you to all the Educators but especially highlight all our retirements that I'm hoping uh next month we could get here to really uh show everyone so I don't know board if you remember a couple months ago we approved one of our former students to allow that child to do a video in our our district I think it it it's such a a um speaking to this young man that I was a vice principal at the time when he was in the High School uh to see him uh as a young adult uh and have a passion this isn't his technically full-time career he probably hopes it will be one day maybe I'm speaking for him but he has a full fulltime job and he he had a passion after his mom who did some stuff uh on the recording uh music uh uh field and he wrote a song and he came back to ask permission because Union left such an impact on him uh the song's called No Regrets I'm gonna play it he gave us approval it just finished he sent me to link about 5 o'clock and it's on YouTube but it's right now for our use at this point he's is going to be putting it up so um and I just want to share he said Thank you in communication uh for the board to the board for allowing him to do this project it really meant a lot to him so uh Brandon uh no regrets a always body problem from sh com best and I believe Brandon is uh at home watching um I just think that was uh uh for to have our students come back and show us uh not just um what they what they're doing but also what they're passionate about out um um is amazing um maybe Miss Bruns years to come you'll have one of the students also creating but thank you again Bard uh on I know Brandon's not with us in person I shared that he could be watching at home I know he's very excited uh to share this with you it it um it was all him and uh you know very small I guess that might be [Music] that's uh YouTube Just next one next track uh I apologize um so again just it shows in a small and we we sh we we call this segment small glimpse because there's so many incredible things that go on in our district and I try to highlight things throughout the year um whether it be current students or now you see former students uh we had a graduate student at graduation which uh we we did dedicate an addition um of our student farmer Frontline which was the first year hearing the student voice in a different way of creating a newspaper that they send out districtwide um about our elementary schools about our community about the the the high school and uh we wanted to dedicate this addition back to our students that started this because I really think I'm looking for this to evolve into something bigger where our community counts on uh hearing the student voice on what's going on in our community um so I I have a feeling next year I already have students interested in it growing um and and just hearing and from more student groups is is again hearing that voice is going to make a difference uh moving forward so I I just like to highlight uh the ition went out uh we sent it out recently uh graduation was amazing thank you to the board uh to everyone that that came that day uh we had a beautiful night one of the best nights I've I I remember and I've been to a lot of uh graduations our Junior ROTC always does an amazing job uh as they get recognized nationally uh every year when they show up to our graduation and and help us it it just adds a another level of how great are our Township and our our community is uh and we're very lucky to have them um these this will be online so you guys could go and look at some of the pictures if you didn't if you need a uh to download a copy of this but congratulations to the class of 2024 um again looking forward to amazing things happening uh you know and like like Brandon said No Regrets go forward and and your next Endeavors and have no regrets um we can't hold back in life we don't know uh you know what what what we're going to get hit with but as long as I I said it speaking to the the graduating class there's going to be obstacles you face it's how you respond to them and you gotta you can't give up and I think the the title No Regrets is such a a powerful uh group of words um so uh the valance s were highlighted at a at a breakfast we have a lot of places where our kids are going uh some amazing uh schools and they're they're still adding some schools to it but uh there's ivys up there there's there's uh schools on the west coast uh all over the place so if you look I'm very impressed as I say yearly we have students that could go anywhere uh and um a lot of them uh get accepted to multiple uh universities and colleges and just congratulations and good luck to all the the um the graduates and and whatever they're doing next uh we we recapped our scholarships again one of the one of the the the uh communities that still have a senior Awards where I think it was like 80 something thousand we gave as a community back to our students you don't hear that a lot in many I don't at least superintendents aren't sharing that with me on them uh uh they have recognition but it's not where we're giving out $86,000 it says a lot about our community it keeps growing which is amazing and you can see all the scholarships again this time of the year is such a great time of the year uh we had our senior prom again another great event you guys could look at um how awesome the kids get dressed up and uh it's always a great night um and um Rotary Club highlighted some of our uh uh students in essay contests I always say yearly it's I I look forward to those essay contests and here in our students it's amazing I wish I had the ability to to memorize um speech for I think it's four or five minutes and the passion they put into these speeches they blow me away every year so congratulations there um our student athletes had a a great uh ending in our spring Sports I think all year we did an amazing job athletically uh our Special Olympics we had uh administrators take part in it our students uh so we uh recently had our our Special Olympics uh state competition you could hear about that uh um we did our um run to Special Olympics uh annual torch run with the Union police department and our community um and like I said we had a lot of people uh taking advantage of that um you know the Key Club what what some of our clubs do um and uh Washington school I just wanted to highlight um did uh their annual career day um which is great we we constantly want to try to get these kids experience in in other areas uh recently uh that I presented on was uh the combination of or the collaboration of the town the Chamber of Commerce and us there's still that uh portal up there for internships paid and unpaid as well as Jobs not just our students are taking advantage of it they want more Union students to jump on and and take get experience uh but it's open to uh obviously anybody to apply I encourage our students over the summer even if it's just for a couple weeks that will especially you're looking to build a resume that is what colleges and universities are if you want to just go into work they're looking for you to be able to put down direct experience and have a somebody that could write you a reference and you could build a resume whether it's paid unpaid or you you got a a job uh through that portal uh it's it's also helping out our community um so they're they're looking for a lot of help in many different ways so please uh you know look into that the link is uh on the Chamber of Commerce uh and I think it's other places but I'll make sure it gets uploaded on this Edition as well of my report so I would also like uh yearly uh the Ed Foundation does highlight grants so I wanted to share the winners for next year um as you see there was one two three four five six seven eight I know one WI is in our room Miss uh Marilyn patrio um uh she received the Grant I thought I saw Mari Ellen are you still all right so she was here I know I saw her but we have uh people throughout our district that received rewards you could learn more about the grants by clicking on the link but one of the things that um I wanted to highlight from last year's Grant was a um at Hannah Caldwell uh they created with the uh funds uh sensory room and you can see a picture of that uh something our kids could tap into and use every day so that's some some great things and uh I this grew from our our Board of Education and being collaborative and and um I want to highlight I think it was 13 students this year that received are receiving the New Jersey seala by literacy thank you m madame vice president Madam president if you want to come over on this side I'm going to be calling up students that are present tonight to take pictures and receive their certificate so I'm not going to read through the whole thing uh but uh New Jersey dep Department of Education uh gives out the Seal of by Literacy for graduating students um that uh become they get recognized for the students who have studied and attained Proficiency in at least one language in addition to English by the high school graduation so uh you know not everyone could be with us tonight uh Miss uh Watson if do you want to come and just help me with the certificates as I call the people and then Madam president vice president if you want to uh come in for a photo Miss noones if you want to uh um help us with the photo so we have that so uh the 13 students I apologize if I mispronounce anyone's name Omar Amaro is Omar here ASA balagan ASA uh Marana Bago ventelan valesia uh Helen barbano uh halia Garcia did I say that right and not come on Aaliyah Haley haly Garcia or yeah Garcia so congratulations and we'll take a picture and then we'll take a picture of everyone together once whoever's here come on this side yeah you two and I'm sorry so Katherine Ruth herina laas Julia Lima Jasmine Martinez Abigail Nano Samuel Ortiz all right Samuel congratulations Jeremy rosero you have to do Carlos Andre Vera Hildago [Applause] and then Stacy Vincent did I miss anyone okay so one of all you guys come out and we'll take a group picture and then after the group picture with the students families could come up as well and then all the family members that are here come on up with uh your child and we'll take a group one with all the families and Miss noones will make sure this ends up on all the Facebook Instagram all our school stuff so you guys could share it out congratulations to everyone again thank you again another uh just small glimpse of what our students um accomplish so uh I just wanted to highlight juneth um we had uh highlight what when on in our schools a small glimpse of that but also just to let everyone know um you know before it became a Federal holiday New Jersey always stayed at the third Friday so we've been following for years the third Friday um since New Jersey adopted it as a holiday uh and then the federal came in and made it a holiday on June 19th um why I say that is because I'm going to uh meet with stakeholders community and and kind of talk about number one I want to know I'm going to lean on our our uh District uh attorney to advise me on what we're required to do but I've had people reach out to me from the community asking why we don't observe the 19th um and I just wanted to share publicly that we've always had in our calendar the third Friday because we follow New Jersey holidays so um but either way we still as a school system as we do monthly um different activities uh uh based on Heritage and we try to highlight as many as we can throughout the year so um you know there there was a small part of what we did is um jaylen's juneth surprise the links there that was uh being done uh throughout our district uh there was Sesame Street video clips about juneth they did read alouds about juneth educational videos morning announcements classroom lessons videos present ations discussions uh black roots excellent step team discussions collaborations for juneth juneth non-fiction reading passages with Comprehensive question questions so that's some of the stuff that before the end of the year um you know in June our our schools uh uh you know did as well as other other um fun activities I know I saw coloring and and depending on the age level uh they kind of adapted it to teach the kids more about juneth so as I have to do monthly I I report on our Hib so I'm affirming from May 22nd to June 11th there was eight founded five unfounded six inconclusive again it was from May 22nd to June 11th that's the schools that those cases were in um you guys could uh look at that if you need to look further it could it'll be online post it uh then we're reporting for the ending of the school year June 11th to June 25th and we had five founded one unfounded and one inconclusive and you could see that where those uh cases uh took place the other thing on Hib um yearly we don't just post our uh uh school grade reports as well as our district which is the average of all our schools so I need to report on what that uh is and I gave a little description of the NJ njd Hib grades issues a little bit about it uh the highest score is 78 so when you see these scores don't think it's out of a 100 like our schools grades are it's out of 78 um they're uh um is a link to the report but our Township uh out of the 78 we average a 71 for all our schools and it's through a self assessment so each School completes the self assessment believe uh at the end of the year they have about a month to to complete it and then report for like we'll be reporting next year soon so this is last year's we're year like a year behind so if you see the schools Battle Hill 73 brunette was a 75 Connecticut Farms was a 62 Franklin Elementary School was a 70 Hannah cell Elementary School 72 Jefferson Elementary School 69 kuami Middle School 76 Livingston Elementary School 72 Union High School 72 Washington Elementary School 71 and again the maximum is out of 78 so I want to just publicly thank uh Nisa and Gia for spending their time with us during the year um again uh last week unfortunately was the night of graduation so that's why our meetings a week later I don't want people to think we just changed the date uh it was conflicted with graduation so we pushed it back a week normally it's the the third Tuesday of the month month uh but uh you know they're graduates and I'm sure off to some incredible things already but thank you Ana and Gia will be bringing on some new um uh liaison uh NE for next school year uh thank you to the community on an incredible uh actually it's a 23 24 school year I apologize about that um but thank you everyone uh and Madame President that concludes my uh superintendent report I just had one question before so with the hibs if the number was higher the better higher to 78 78 High 78 is the highest but each the highest num the higher the number the better correct thank you if I may take this moment to just uh on behalf of the board and if I know my board they all want to say something congratulations to everyone out there the families the student students you are awesome and you make it happen for us every day I I'm happy to sit here because of everything that you guys do thank you okay so now next we will have the education student discipline committee and Madame vice president uh Mrs 6 carbonal to present the resolutions to be voted on tonight Madame President if you would permit me uh a moment I just want to congratulate the graduates of 20124 once again as they embark on a New Journey it was a phenomenal graduation and um it was really special to be there um I also want to speak about Brandon so there's a lot of things that individuals don't see behind the scenes and how we go back and forth ensuring that every decision that we make is in the benefit of the students the staff and the district as a whole and um when this request came about we had questions about the nature of the project and um our superintendent uh Dr benaquista shared with us the lyrics and uh I know that I got emotional as I read them and I just love to have SE love to see that finished product yes um I think he represented himself his family and the township of Union Schools very nicely so um kudos to you Brandon um and if you want to use the facilities again we'll be happy to lend them out to you um I want to give a shout out to you made my day Miss Bruns Meyers and your prek babies um I don't know how long you rehearsed with them but um that that was truly truly special every ah it shows and um to the students that received the Seal of biliteracy that is not a local honor that honor is bestowed upon from the um New Jersey Department of Education so kudos to them I hope that I know this is our first year I hope that we increase the numbers as we move forward one thing about being biliterate is that it affords individuals cognitive flexibility that extends Beyond language so it was really nice to see some of our students um master um two Assessments in different languages and um Dr benaquista I do have one question for you in relation to the school media library specialist a riff is when we cut staff members a non-renewal is when we part ways due to Performance were there any riffs Cuts in in reference to the school librarians no thank you okay moving it along um upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the education student discipline committee presents the following resolutions for the board's cons consideration I will call these on block um E1 through E9 um noting that E1 e1a and E9 I apologize it was through E12 E11 and E12 were voted upon in during the working session thank you so much is there a second thank you so much is there any discussion wonderful this motion has been properly moved by Miss Dixie carbonel and seconded by Mr Ronnie McDow can I have a roll call please Mrs Capo Miss carbonel yes Mr C Mr Cohen yes yes Mrs K Mack Mr McDow yes Mrs yes yes Mr n yes Mrs Scott Hayden Scott haen yes Miss Santana yes thank you so much next we will have the fiscal and planning committee chair Miss carbonal to present the resolutions to be voted on tonight upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the fiscal and planning committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration I will also call these in Block F1 through f36 um noting that F7 was approved during the work session and there's one and f33 is for informational purposes only 30 33 through 36 through 36 I apologize thank you so much is there a second any discussion seeing none the motion has properly been moved by Miss Dixie carbonel and seconded by Miss ELC County Macky can I have a roll call please Mrs Capo Miss carbonel yes mran yes Mrs Mai Mr McDow yes Mrs man yes Mr n yes Mrs Scott Heen yes Miss Santana yes thank you so much we have nothing at the moment under grievance negotiations and settlement so next we will have um we will have uh Mr nasta to present the resolutions to be voted on tonight good evening uh the operations committee resolutions upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools the operations committee presents the following resolutions for the board uh consideration I'll do these in a block it will be 01 through 010 thank you so much is there a second second any dis any discussion Madam president I do have a question yes on o10 that's an interesting wording we're rejecting a proposal can you explain Dr yeah Miss Miss do you want to just speak further on why we rejected that that company did not satisfy the requirements in the uh RFP or bid that we put to through with Miss Isabella the grants so we will be putting that back out so yes we plan to do that probably in another month July or August and we only receiv received one bidder and so she didn't comply okay thank you any further discussion thank you did we have a second yes we did Mr M Mr MCD thank you so much so this motion has been properly moved by Mr nasta and seconded by Mr Ronnie McDow can I have a roll call please Mrs Capo Miss carel yes Mr cooh Mr Cohen Mr Cohen just say one more time yes Mrs Mack Mr McDow yes Mrs yes Mr n yes Mr scoten Scott yes Miss s yes okay great so next we have the Personnel committee uh Miss Elsie KY Macky to present the following resolutions thank you upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools the personel committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration if possible I'd like to do a block for P1 through 16 yes uh 16 is the walk on 16 is the walk on all right so block for p18 through p15 and P6 I can you can read it yes P6 is a resolution to appoint Dr Jose Rodriguez as assistant superintendent of schools effective on or about August 26 2024 2024 uh June 30th 2025 at an annual salary of 19298 in accordance with the terms and conditions of the individual employment contract between the township of Union and Dr Rodriguez as approved by the County Board executive County Superintendent of Schools that's oh sorry about that Jun 11 P9 and p13 were voted on at the last work session and uh Miss Mackey we're including the hand out that in front of the boards p1a yes okay so p1a that's not a part of that's part of p1a right yes okay um as well as uh approve Anthony sella thank you for the position of facilities manager of buildings and grounds yes am I missing anything no okay and it'll be on agenda miss that Miss cello uploads it'll be updated to reflect is there second second sorry is there a second second thank you any discussion seeing none the motion has been properly moved by Miss Elsie KY Macky and seconded by Mr Greg nasta can I have a roll call please Mrs Capo Miss caranel yes Mr Cohan Mr yes Mrs Mack Mr McDow yes Mrs this is Personnel right yes okay so I need to abstain from P1 C8 and P10 and yes to everything else Mr do you need to abstain on I don't have her employee number and as well as Mr Taylor does Miss Mani um it's not a direct um to her it's just the employee number does does she have to abstain on assistant superintendent as well if she has a conflict with a teaching staff member as of now we have the votes I would say abstained yes abstain from P6 as well as well as the the staff member which I will identify with Miss capiello that okay so all right so I'm just going to abstain from P10 all together yeah okay P um and then p p16 and p uh uh 1 [Music] C8 okay and then yes to everything else Mr nasta yes Mrs Scott Hayden M Scott haen yes and if I may uh make a comment I'm not sure um is Mr Taylor is it okay for M Scot to make a comment at this time I'll hold it to um un she can say it yeah yes you can miss SC I was I'm and yes it's my vote and I would just hope that we make sure that we're supporting um the moves and transfers of our administrators and others that are coming into the district by making sure they have um the supports and structures in place to support them to be successful absolutely 100% well saidel sorry Miss Santana yes and um Miss uh Madam president if I may um we have uh Dr Jose Rodrigo with us tonight so I would like to uh introduce him as well as um I didn't get an opportunity to introduce well well I will after Dr Rodriguez um I don't know Dr Rodriguez do you want to share a couple things you're more than welcome to start approaching the the microphone but I'm I'm very excited um as as everyone knows um you know I'm trying to build a team that's going to move our district forward I I'm very excited uh that Dr uh Rodriguez uh number one applied um has an extensive um resume experience um the the several times we met um I just feel um very uh excited about him uh starting in our district and and and carrying this journey forward with me and with uh the team we're building um Dr Rod Rodriguez is currently in Trenton school system as an assistant superintendent so uh uh I know you uh I feel for you on your commute and um I'm excited that you'll have a shorter commute uh because he's locally um but he's also been in Elizabeth watang Hills and Bon uh and has a lot of experience to that matches the uh position that we need to support our our district so I I I'm excited congratulations and look forward to hopefully uh that date comes soon thank you thank can you do is that good good evening everyone I just wanted to first off thank you for your support I'm very excited to uh start here as soon as possible and uh continue to move this District forward I really do believe that uh there's a very solid foundation under Dr benaquista and uh yourselves as board members so uh really the sky is the limit I really appreciate your support like I said and uh I'm really excited to to come home and um and be here with you all thank you thank [Applause] Dr um if if I may I'm so sorry so uh I I think that what you will learn from this town from this board is that we are community that we fight for what we love thank you for coming on uh and we we are all so excited just to see everything that you can do and that we can do together um I I say this for as a mother of a child with special needs I've dreamt of someone like you in your position for so long um and I just can't wait to sit back and let you do your work uh and through it through I don't know if we'll always see eye to eye but will always be in the best interest of the children this district and moving forward together thank you so much and I'm sure sure my board has words if if if they'd like to say thank you so much Dr Rodriguez and um thank you Dr Rodriguez um next I would I think Miss Elie would like to say oh I'm sorry I'm sorry sorry Miss Macky for um welcome welcome to Union um definitely welcome home um and to counter um Madam Madam president um the whole District at a large um we welcome a fresh face a fresh new ideas um more importantly collaboration and bringing back and raising the bar for everyone across the board um and I am happy to hear that there's a deep understanding and passion for special education um one of the areas that definitely um we will look to um continue to be supported but welcome to the team um there's not really much more to say other than good luck to you um the contract is binding for a couple years so um welcome home thank you Ronnie mcdal and I would just like to say welcome to Union also it's it's I know it must be a thrill to be so close to home now and I have to spend so many hours on on the road on the road so uh hopefully all those extra hours and time will be benefit our kids and as long as you put the kids first I think we'll do well and we're looking for great things from you as well as our superintendent our new uh other assistant superintendent and our teachers and staff and students welcome aboard thank you okay any um welcome we're so happy to have you here and um um congratulations because this is a great place to be so we look forward to working with you and growing with you thank you thank you uh welcome congratulations uh we definitely look forward to working with you and as Madame vice president said growing with you and uh I think it's good now that uh Dr benaquista gets the support that he really needs in moving the district forward so thank you thank you and congratulations thank you absolutely yes thank you so much and we just so you're aware we do have three board members that are not just absent uh they're actually on professional development uh our district sent them uh they're joining tonight which shows their dedication even though they're three is it three hours difference or four three hours difference 3,000 miles ,000 miles so it shows the commitment that this board shows every every every day and uh like I said we look forward to I look forward to them each board member getting to know you and your ability uh and like everyone said you growing as a f family member with uh the township of Union Public Schools so thank you thank you thank you so much thank you so much and then Madam president since um I didn't get an opportunity um when we hired our last Super superintendent um assistant superintendent uh she wasn't at the board meeting uh yeah and um so I would like to just publicly recognize which she's not a stranger uh Miss uh um Marissa McKenzie um she'll probably uh give me a call later because I know she doesn't like being put in in in on topic but I just want to let everyone know Miss McKenzie I'm excited your start date is sooner than Jose's and I can't wait uh till the the the more help comes through that and helps me and I know um we've had many conversations uh mindset and um and just how and what we need for this community and I just look forward to again that that July 10th I can't wait it's gonna be a special day for me but thank you so much it feels so different being on this side of the the day is but I just want to first thank you Dr benaquista for your um your recommendation and your vote of confidence in me and also to this board some of whom I've served with some of whom I did not uh thank you for your votes of confidence and um when I started my career 26 years ago in public service I started at home in East Orange and here I am 26 years later and I'm hopefully going to be able to end my career at home in Union and so um I'm very thankful for the opportunity to this community which I've grown to love with all of my heart and uh I can't wait till July 10th either Dr B I can't wait so thank you all for that opportunity I really appreciate that and uh Dr Rodriguez and Ma Marissa just can you stay we want to get a picture I will Mad pres yes yes after pictures I guess yeah can the come up the whole board's not here the whole Bo's not here in California we don't need care put them on the table oh my God you better smile who is that let me see you you got a smile you're on camera okay ready I'll step [Applause] thank you so much uh uh I was going to say Dr McKenzie but that's not yet right Miss uh Marissa McKenzie one of the things that I uh wanted to say is that uh we hope we expect so much out of you uh this this cabinet that uh Dr benaquist has been building with Dr Rodriguez uh Miss Coons and yourself it needs to lead our our admin our people our our principles our building leaders our teachers to the next level one of the things that I want to implement strongly a as I continue on this board is is growing from within right we have a massive amount of talent within this district and not that I don't want to hire from outside if we need to but I want to grow what we have uh one of the things that I've Loved about uh Union is the Loyalty that is here uh people from Union are union and uh uh you live here like 20 30 years it's still not strong enough because you have people people that are like trees and roots and roots and what I want everyone to do is that just build a home here and grow I myself find it home and I any support that this cabinet needs from this board that is what we are here to do and in turn the support that this District needs lies on your shoulders uh not your just yours but Dr benaquista Dr Rodriguez Miss Coons and yours we're expecting so much greatness and thank you thank you [Applause] um I think we have something to say so please get comfortable um congratulations Miss McKenzie it has been uh a pleasure and an honor working with you as a colleague and not only that following your leadership um it is nice to see that you will be joining the team and becoming one of our change AG in continuing to improve the district so we are very excited to have you here and um count on us and our support thank you so much um officially welcome um well July 10 um and as I've told Dr fista y you know what y'all were walking into um the expectations are higher for you we may give our new other assistant a little bit of grace period um but you know what you're walking into and there's a lot of work that needs to be done and I'm confident that we have a team in place um to take our district to the next level um more Forward Thinking looking outside of the box but more importantly looking to do what is in the greater good of best interest for our students and our Educators and community at large so welcome aboard on that level um definitely it the Dynamics will change because the bar has been raised but I'm confident that you have what it takes so forgive us because we're probably not going to allow you a grace period um however um know that you are supported and we look forward to you coming on board at Mission congratulations thank you hi Mara um between uh Dr benaquista yourself and Mr Rodriguez uh I think no matter where Union is now uh a year from now we we want to be a notch higher and I think we have three people now that can get us there and I'm looking forward to it so work hard do well and we're behind you all the way thank you so much you're welcome uh again congratulations uh for me it's more of a I'm here indirectly because of you so but everything and I I follow followed the all the board members from afar uh behind the scenes for the last couple years uh I could honestly say like you know like Ronnie said in the next year this district will be better of because of the team that we now have uh I could assure you uh you have our full support uh and I could also say to anyone that I fully support you and the rest of the team 100% And I'm proud to say that and I'm excited to see the future of this District nowk so again congratulations than you thank you thank you okay sheers uh if and if there's any more comments we still we have once again at the end the public comments I did see a hand raise and you can make comments again later we'd love to hear them so moving along with the meeting next we will have the policy committee uh representative Mr McDow to present the following resolutions please absolutely Madam president policy committee upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the policy committee presents the following policies for the board's consideration and these policies are uh this is the final reading and uh adapt uh adoption of these policies and they are policies one through uh policy one through policy 22 again this is the final reading for adoption thank you uh is there a second second thank you so much and is there any discussion yes Madam president yes um Miss Joe Hall did make a point in very nice patch Miss Hall um policy 2411 should read school council so I I if you if it's not needed right away I think we should revise it and then or I don't know amend it we can okay beautiful no yes Jerry what's going to happen they pulling it no we're approving the policy P9 we changing it from guidance guidance to school counsel school counselors thank you thank you I can proceed or did did we have to do something um uh we we have to vote on the changes first or we could just move on thank you so much okay any other discussion so this motion has been properly moved by Mr Ronnie mcdal and seconded by Mr Greg nasta was it oh no miss miss miss Dixie carbonal I'm sorry you second it yeah I'm Sorry Miss seconded by Miss Dixie caranel can I have a roll call please Mrs Capo Miss caranel yes Mr Coan mran yes Mrs K ma Mr McDow yes Mrs yes Mr N Mrs Scott Heen Scot yes Miss s yes um so moving on uh upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools The Residency committee presents the following resol resolutions and they are both for informational purpos only there is no vote required um for technology this month there are no tech technology resolutions to present uh Mr mcdal as chair did you want to say something or can we move on it's up to you move on thank you so may I have a motion now to approve the bills list so moved thank you is there a second second is there any discussion on these bills any discussion so this motion has been properly moved by Mr Ronnie mcdal seconded by Miss Dixie carbonel can I have a roll call please Mrs ciolo M carel yes Mr Mr yes Mrs Mr yes Mrs yes Mr yes Mrs Scott haen yes Miss Santana yes thank you so much I want to make a comment during unfinished business you guys know we start okay with unfinished yeah start it's unfinished business um a few of the board members that are on uh line would like to make some comments Mr Scot and then I I would like to make a a brief comment uh in regard to our graduating class in 2024 as as this is the first year that I'm on the board was also the first time that I attended graduation in many years since I was a teacher there uh some 30 years ago and I I have to say that I was struck by the graduating class as a whole and as individuals uh I want to congratulate both the families and our teaching staff at Union High School and the teaching staff throughout the district because one of the things that I was struck by is that as each individual graduate came along and shook the hands of each board member and we congratulated them the overwhelming majority of each and every one of those kids said Thank you to us every single one of them and I just I thought it was notable it was something it is obvious that they were taught grateful and and I just want to make sure that I acknowledge that because it was it was a really nice thing to see the other thing I'd briefly like to comment on is as you noted before Dr bista m v Miss Scott Hayden and I are attending the California Labor Management Institute conference here in San Diego H with other members of The District staff uh leadership from the UTA and other administrators from the district and I've been very pleased by the opportunity to learn some of the things that the California folks are way ahead of us on and I'm also very pleased with the the work of our Union team uh they've been working really really hard to talk about some tough issues and to try to make some preliminary plans to get together uh between labor and management and and build future collaboration to resolve issues and solve problems and I look forward to getting that work started when we get back to the district thank you am up Jerry yes um so good evening to the um members of the public um both um in person and on Via Zoom or Facebook live um sorry I can't be there in person but again like Micha said we are in San Diego um doing the work that is required to build a strong collaborative um Unified District on behalf of uh Administration as well as the uh Educators which we employ um I wanted to say to every graduate who graduated at some level or moved up uh within our district not just our high school students but every level every child who did the work this year to move up congratulations to you and your families um we see you and I wish you well in your next Journey uh to uh Mr Rodriguez while I have not had the pleasure to meet you um congratulations and welcome I look forward to working with you and I could not I was trying to get to with Miss McKenzie while she was sitting in the seat but it's not about where you're sitting or where you are because I believe um 25 years of working with you in East St and then having an opportunity to extend that into serving on school boards and knowing you wholeheartedly as an individual who truly cares about everything that you do you put 110% into everything that you do I had the pleasure of working with you when you were the Director of Human Resources in East Orange and I was a local president um the collaboration was always um there um always on the ra always trying to do what was right and Equitable for all people I don't care who it was ESP certificated staff whoever it was if it was right and just you was in line with that so I thank you for that I know that the UTA and every other employ whether they're labor Affiliated or just um employees of the district as a whole particularly you know how I feel about ESP so you know them but I believe wholeheartedly that we as a district are on the right path with you and Mr Rodriguez coming in and completing a team and um assisting Jerry and Yolanda with the work that needs to be done I know it's going to be great I know that Union we already great right but I know that there is a lot of work to do however but I do know that you're up to the challenge and I always say this right um thank you for always reaching back and making sure that the people that was behind you felt that they were still worthy and empowered because I believe empowered people Empower others so to you I say welcome to the other side of this I know we're GNA continue to work in the collaboration uh Mr Rodriguez I say welcome to you and you will fall in line to be part of this family because I believe you two have the same vision that we have as great Public School for every student that we serve so welcome okay can I say something y okay so miss Scott Hayden is a tough act to follow so I concur with everything that she said welcome to Dr Rodriguez and Mrs McKenzie um and congratulating the the class of 2024 I did have the privilege to go to Franklin for their moving up ceremony for the kindergarten I also went to Battle Hill I went to Hannah colwell's uh music show and I also went to Burnett's graduation um I was highly impressed with all the ceremonies the staff the principles everybody does a great job the parents and of course the students so um I want to thank everybody for all their hard work and their dedication and congratulate all of those um those students and their families and we are having a great collaboration here I'm thankful that I was allowed to come and hopefully we'll be able to bring this back and get moving quickly because um it's a great Endeavor so thank you than any other unfinished business yes please yeah um I just wanted to mention to everyone the uh realignment committee that that uh I guess was initiated last month okay uh I'm going to log off there was a website created where people uh in the district could sign up um we we have so far 81 people have signed up for the nine committees uh we'll be sending out an email probably next week to see if we can uh get together at least once before the new school year begins um and I'd also like to uh remind our committee members that uh uh they can volunteer also for because there are there are eight committees that we need people for uh but it it includes committee members uh teachers instructors Administration uh stakehold stakeholders within the town so uh we we do want to keep this going since we we started it and we think it it's uh it certainly is worthwhile to look at the alignment of our schools now and see if there's anything that we can do to improve that and I think that there is so if there's anyone else listening that would like to sign up for uh one of the Committees uh feel free to go to the district's website and sign up uh never mind yeah I think you're too late but if if you would still like to volunteer uh contact me or one of the other board members and we would certainly get you on board thank you madam president uh I have two things I first I want to uh Reit reiterate what uh uh Michael Cohan had said about uh about the graduation uh not only did they all thank all of us with all the handshakes but even more important they all made eye contact as they're walking up to you shaking your hand they all made eye contact uh so you know most of that starts on a home but you could also tell that you know the district has done a real good job with them I also personally want to thank uh Dr Ben quista for including us uh you know for the graduation it was really you know it was a little warm but which was fine but it was it was really a good time and you know I really appreciate it and also in reference to the graduation I do want to congratulate as well uh the new facilities manager uh Anthony Cella uh him and his I honestly do him and his guys really busted their butt uh for three days in the heat there was probably 600 metal chairs set up uh I've had a few dealings with Anthony during my day job and I'm really happy that uh that things have worked out the way they have uh Union got it right again with him I I I fully believe uh he he really is a he's just he's a highly skilled guy but he also has a lot of leadership and that's something uh regrettably that uh that position was lacking in the past so uh again congratulations to Anthony and again thank you Dr benaquista for including us last week since we're congratulating everyone I do want to congratulate Anthony and thank him it was very hot he made sure that we have spots and that we have parking and that we can get in the building before graduation so thank you you that was very thoughtful so it was my first time um attending graduation um and I just want to say Dr bista I was really happy for you um and just the community as a whole um my son graduated two years ago so actually being in the vicinity the Ambiance of the excitement of the graduates and and more important just what we are as a community it was a true reflection of why we do what we do why we're all here why you and your assistant superintendent would take the positions that You' have taken um it made it it was so worth it um I also want to shout out to our Educators um our support staff um to see all of our students you look from kindergarten to 12th grade and they are a reflection of what union education can can be in all capacities in all areas and so each child well young adult um as my colleague said looked Us in the eye shook our hand gave hugs um and also you know we have to kind of look at new locations because we're growing as a community it was jam-packed with people and more and more kids are going to college more and more scholarships are happen so thank you to all of you um you welcome board officially um but it was an amazing experience to really see why we do what we do as from a mom's perspective um and shout out to all the kids with disabilities who you know were there and and a part of it it it's definitely a unique Village so just wanted to shout that out and and I would like to thank all the board members I know some aren't on anymore but but it it it's not possible if we're not all working together with the same mindset of who we're here for and that's our students in our community so um again I just think it we're going to keep growing but I do thank the the the late nights and the weekend meetings and the events all the board members attend I know it means a lot to our students our faculty our families uh when we show up and it's a lot of hours that again people don't realize um uh how many hours you guys put in and I just really as the year closes and we start a new year I want to thank you um and together we we will we will continue this journey I'd like to share um I'd like to share a moment that I had during the graduation um as we were shaking hands and smiling and made and making eye contact there was y one young man that um walked past us and uh he shook uh uh Senator cryan's hand and he walked past me and when I looked at him he wouldn't shake my hand and at first I was put off by it I thought I did something wrong and then when I saw him I realized he bowed he put his head down and then he kept moving and it it was just not his religion right so at that moment I remembered why 2012 when I was pregnant with my seventh child I made the decision of Union I could have moved to Springfield I could have moved to Westfield I could have moved to Milbourne I could have moved anywhere that I wanted and I moved to Union because I wanted my brown children to grow up around everything and learn everything and know what it was to live in such a diverse Community I had the L I have the luxury of growing up in New York City Washington Heights where we had everything in New York City and I'm so proud that most of my children from prek to 12 will be growing up here in Union with a diverse culture and even in its diversity it is so unique one I I I have grown in these 12 years with Union I thank everyone for putting such belief in me to sit here and to lead with this board and take our children to the next level every day I grow more and more and I'm excited for the path of and I'm sorry the Leo in me is making it about myself of where I'm going and where this community is going where this district is going where we are going as one and I'm just I had the best time in gradu graduation I sweated a lot but over and over that is why I do it that's why I listen to all these comments and that's why I hear and every day I try to make this board this district and myself better and with that I think everybody spoke I'm going to move on to new business anybody new business is going comments from the public I have one uh Virginia Jeff please name and address um Virginia Jeff 236 Brighton Avenue East Orange New Jersey um the Town of Union has a long history of immigrant populations most of them were from European countries and there was a vibrant African-American African-American population here in Union notably the Vox Hall section so recently the demographics have changed but it still Remains the Same where you have an immigrant population where the first generation are born here or maybe born someplace else and the parents and Guardians come from another country whose laws are vastly different from here in the United States which why it is so important that everyone know that they have a voice that they entitled to speak the Constitution the first Amendment to the US Constitution stresses that the public has a right to redress government so anytime any government official tries to suppress speech they are going against federal law and the laws in the state of New Jersey now previously this month I sent an email to this board I'm just going to read part of it this happened on June 11th earlier this evening I was not allowed to comment on SBA Marissa McKenzie a current employee of the East Arn School District under the guise that she is now an employee of the Union School District under the open public meetings act which sets the parameters rules on public participation in public meetings it is obvious that the board members and the board attorneys are not famili amiliar with this law furthermore the board attorney serves in an advisory capacity and only the board president has the sole Authority at board meetings in addition the board refused copies of my statement as a courtesy that not that I was not allowed to read nor distribute to the public in attendance the superintendent was directed to collect from the public in attendance documents that were my property and not the property of the Union Board of Education that was illegal once again Marissa McKenzie is currently employed as the SBA in the East Arn school district and not an employee of the Union School District that there was some confusion thank you for your for thank you for your comments yes you can read anything as long as it's for three minutes ready I'm reading into your hearing Community member Susan lipstein unfortunately I may not be able to attend tonight's meeting here are my comments of course you know I am going to speak about the school librarian situation the superintendent has indicated his final plan will be made public in July right now we have eight full-time school librarians to serve 10 schools we had hoped to have two more hired so that there would be one full-time School librarian for each School the board received a petition that was signed by 366 residents asking that we do not cut school librarians and that we do not cut any student time from The Librarians as things stand now on the 1st of July we will only have seven full-time school librarians on staff right now that is a fact and liberians deal with facts there have been studies over 50 years that show that having a full-time librarian schools has a direct and positive impact on reading and Library uh scores I have spent uh sent copies of factual reports to both both board and the superintendent I believe that the New Jersey Association of school librarians have sent even more information to all of you all of the reports are factual and backed up by research and at this time time is up are there any yes Miss Hall your um name and address please sure uh is this on Jill Hall 509 Whitewood Road hopefully I can lift the mood a tiny little bit um on Friday uh UHS abroad is taking a trip with 12 Uh current students and recent alumni to Iceland um I look forward to sharing the pictures of that opportunity and that experience with you when we return um it really speaks well to some of the things that are out there that are available to our students that a lot of people don't know about Mrs Bridges is taking a group to Japan in the spring and so um there's a lot of different ways to learn and we're we're able to give these kids these kinds of chances which is just amazing uh Mr mcdal I am really looking forward to all of the Committees uh I signed up for one you can put me on any of them that you want to very good okay whatever um I am uh exhausted from talking about this and I'm really excited that now we're going to be moving forward I look forward to sharing some of the research that I did regarding School attachment um and why some of the reconfigurations really speak well to the social emotional mental health of our kids so um let's get moving on that let's dig our heels in and get it done um and last thing I wanted to share um I think it was last week or the week before the um Los Angeles School Board voted to restrict cell phone use um in schools and I look forward to watching that experiment they're the second largest District in the country um behind New York and I it's something that I feel very strongly about I think we really can't ignore the deleterious effect that this constant um exposure to social media is doing to our kids and how it's impacting education um social interaction increasing levels of anxiety and depression I could go on and on so let's keep a close eye on that and see if maybe we can learn a few things and and and look at how we might be able to um if not restricted at least maybe limit uh some of the cell phone use um and even other forms of of technology in the classroom and maybe go back to basics a little bit more uh to the benefit of our kids so appreciate you thank you and and uh if I could add Miss Hall there's a lot uh Yonder is a company that provides individual bags I would just like to go on the record as saying 13 years ago I brought that to the board and um when East Side High School did it there there's a lot of if you go on uh students speaking about yeah they were upset in the beginning and even probably some parents but one thing that hit me watching many of these videos is that students said to other to the reporters that were do documenting this we're finally talking again um but I'm 100% um I would like this to be one of the initiatives that collaboratively we discuss and grow in our community I do believe with the with in a lot of those things you you've said I know you know that side of it um but I also know that our kids um almost detoxing six hours a day or whatever it is how many hours they're in school is so healthy yeah to be fair I'm a counselor so everything looks like an opportunity to to kind of throw that in but what we're seeing has been just the tsunami of mental health concerns that are coming up and I won't demonize it but it's certainly uh an issue that we we're going to need to look at as professional Educators absolutely I look forward to continuing the collaboration thank you drist I just want to add that it's also being linked to some of the anxiety issues that we're seeing with youngsters but also adults so that's very very interesting any other comments yes come on name and address please hello Kathleen Bruns Meyers 287 Bloomingdale Avenue Cranford New Jersey and during the day Livingston Elementary School um I'm here as the person who happens to be here right now who's an employee in this District but I'm if you take my face off and you put another any of the teachers any of the people who come to these Mee all the time who I've had the pleasure of working with for years we of all everyone is doing an incra incredible job I give a huge shout out to all the staff in this District the teachers who go the extra yard everybody the administration the IT people my kids in my class they know when Mr Cruz comes in it's a big woohoo he's gonna fix whatever it is it's not going right so we can't give enough credit for that um so I just happen to be here most of you know me I started as a parent in the district I was in a parah for many years and now I've been lucky enough to be a teacher in the district and anybody who has had me if you your children have had me you know that once you have me I don't leave ever um ever um but that's the same as so many other people Mrs newans she's probably at every event because she's blessed she gets to see and have all the children in this District because she's at Jefferson and all the other teachers they get to have everybody I got to have my 138 Washington school kids for 5 years that are now in 10th and 11th grade and will be seniors and I still try and make it just like so many others to events for them and now I'm going to give a shout out to the kids in this District the little kids from my pre four-year-olds and even the three-year-olds straight up they are amazing human beings you saw my class we do the of Allegiance every day the videotaping actually came to fruition because of covid and we were virtual and I was teaching virtual so we did still we started with the pledge allegiance every day so I gave each student a line for their parents to videotape and Dr benacquista put it together for me and where I put it together and gave it to him and he Pro provided it for the meeting when we were virtual back then so I thank you from the last four years of students who are now going into fourth grade the first class that did that for five years and I thank you for letting this become a Shining Moment for the prek because some of these prek kids are amazing so and we start every day with the Pledge of Allegiance and they know exactly what to do um and everybody in the school does we love to hear the other kids the older kids making the school announcements so I probably have gone over my minutes so I just wanted to give a shout out to all the staff I hope everybody has a wonderful summer and I wish all the students a great summer as well thank you all any other comments from the public just a comment from me oh yes sir for Mrs Bron meire uh now I I know why you are such a good teacher for the kindergarteners because you have a child's heart you do she that's all yes thank you any other comments uh from the public seeing none the board will go into executive session to discuss personal and legal issues an action may be taken once we return may I have a motion to move into executive session move SEC and can I have a second second thank you so much so miss capiola this motion has been moved by Miss Miss ELC KY macki and seconded by Miss Dixie caranel may I have a roll call please M yes mran you're G uh Mrs Mack yes Mr McDow yes Mr yes Miss s yes we just GNA leave that right because we have to come back we have to come back right following behind you ni